Tips for a new Feral Tank Druid

[Grinde]

So, I'm brand spankin' new to WoW. I've logged in twice so far and I've tried a little bit of every class. I think I've settled on going with a druid because I want to be able to tank and not be the overpopulated warrior class.

Having said that, is there anything I need to know? For instance, are cat and bear forms trained or do I have to quest for them?

I'm not looking to be told that druid tanks rarely raid for a few reasons: 1) I have no idea if I ever even make it to 60, let alone raid. 2) I have no interest in being a raid healer. I'd rather not raid than be forced to heal.

Optimally, I know that warrior would fit the goal of my character much better, but there are just too many running around. Beyond that, I do like the ability to be a hybrid tank/dps or tank/heals via the skill trees. Plus, shapeshifting is boss.

I read a lot of stuff that says I'd level in cat (which makes sense) but is it horrendously inefficient to level in bear?

Last question: Any talents that are basically essential in the other two druid lines beyond feral?

Thanks for helping a newb out!

[euronmisc]

Druids are fine for 5 mans, and even UBRS.

Either way, you specifically stated you didn't want to hear pros and cons of tanking as a druid so I'll leave it at that

Druids have a decent amount of class quests, most of which you'll get from a trainer in Thunder Bluff / Darnassus. There's a quest for bear form at 10, cleanse poison at 14 and aqua form at 16. That being said, cat form, travel form and dire bear are all trained directly from the trainer.

Upto level 20 you'll probably want to level as bear, since you simply don't have catform yet. You can keep grinding in bear but it's a lot slower than catform. There's really no reason to do it, but if you want to, go ahead.

If you're looking at talents outside of feral for tanking you will most definitely want Furor in Resto, and the reduced shapeshift mana cost in Balance. Druid talents are a mixed bag and pretty potato in vanilla, so you might be best of with dumping everything in feral.

GL and have fun

[Viorus]

Cat form is trained at level 20, Bear form requires a quest at level 10.

You can level in bear or cat form. Bear takes longer but you can fight multiple monsters at a time.

Make sure your gear has plenty of + stamina. Other than that, have fun.

[Aniva]

I've been tanking 5 mans fine as feral druid. Lvl up as cat and you will be more than fine as tank while lvling. I'd recommend collecting that resto gear because u might want to go to a raid once an awhile. Look at / world every group needs a tank. I get the pick which groups I want to go with I post tank lfg and get 5 whispers. I can put a group together in 5 mins as a tank. So I recommend tanking but also knowing that it's very hard to find a guild to let you off tank in raids. I personally like to take priest healers because they cant use the good leather healing gear like Pallys can and it ends up just given to you. I'm almost BiS resto with out ever healing an instance.

[Grinde]

Started my feral last night. Level 6!

Anything in particular I should train until I reach feral stuff at 10? Haven't trained anything so far...

[Droanux]

Started my feral last night. Level 6!

Anything in particular I should train until I reach feral stuff at 10? Haven't trained anything so far...

Basically until you're 10 you're a boomkin, just keep wrath and moonfire trained, along with healing spells. Then after 10, don't buy balance spell ranks unless you have an access of money, maybe wrath of moonfire just for those annoying runaway mobs, though I think roots will work fine usually.

[Grinde]

Regen good to invest in?

[tunguska]

Put ALL your points in feral until you get feline swiftness (you can be 2/2 at lvl 21), which will give you a huge speed increase. this helps a TON until you get travel form (lvl 30), so I'd recommend that for sure.

Otherwise, have fun! Feral tanks kick ass, but they can be hard to itemize if you don't know what you are doing. Come back to the forums once you are level 50+ and we can advise you on what gear to start collecting to become a suitable tank for 5/10 mans, and even offtank in raids!

[Viorus]

Yes, Rejuv / Healing Touch / Regrowth are great because you can heal yourself / others.