Bear or moonkin? Fun/originality/versatility

[Dr. Doom]

So I was pondering about this one. With the class being able to do each of the 4 styles of gameplay (tanking, melee dps, ranged dps and healing) I started to think which one would be the most satisfying to play.

The most common build, restoration druid. seems unappealing to me for a number of reasons. It seems that it takes a fairly large amount of gear to perform at the same level of other healers, not being able to resurrect makes it a pain to do 5 mans with, and for what I've seen, while paladins are the best single target/tank healer, shamans are the best raid healers and priests are the most versatile and dishing out the biggest heals, restoration druid is more of a complementary set-up made to work in tandem with other healers/innervate them.

Cat dps seems to lack the utility of rogue, there's no possibility to sap and provide some CC. There is no maim in vanilla, not possible to mimic gouge either, no interrupt akin to kick either. And there won't be trap disarming, pickpocketing nor any other quirky fun mechanic. On top of the lower dmg I don't see the point in it.

That leaves bear and moonkin. I'm personally leaning for the latter as it uses different schools of magic compared to mage or warlock, the only class that actually thrives on arcane dmg in this version of the game where Arcane Blast/Arcane Barrage don't exist. Since the vast majority of items that provide spell dmg also provide spell healing, it's possible to shift out of moonkin and offheal when needed. Having a priest/paladin/shaman be the healer allows for general rezzing and peserves my battle rez for niche moments (like it should be, a complementary tool with a long CD), and the decent armor multiplier of moonkin form could even allow for some offtanking/peeling off the healer when called for, provided I stick to leather items and try to minimise the use of cloth.

The downside however being the near constant oom, I wonder if a bear druid might not be the best way to versatile. By tanking you don't have to keep up with mana use nor dps (the 2 issues moonkin seem to have), you can still jump out for 2 seconds to battle rez provided you try to kite the mobs, and with the abundance of melee dps compared to caster dps, the leader of the pack buff might actually be better for 5 mans than moonkin aura, providing for faster clearing. Bear druids might also be the best WSG flag carriers on top of that.

Since I haven't played a druid in vanilla, I'd like to ask for feedback from those of you that have tried different options/routes. Comparing moonkin and bear, which one did you have more fun playing? Why? Which one made you feel more useful and versatile when providing help for your team? Is gearing difficulty about the same or is it worse for one or the other?

And finally which one is rarer/less played?

[djiron]

rarest is moonkin for sure. as moonkin or cat you will have a hard time to be able to compete with other dps classes if the gear is on the same level. i would definately go feral because you can do both tanking and dps with the same spec and tanking as bear can actually compete with warriors (in 5 mans at least) and its really fun too. you will also find groups much easier since theres such a high demand for tanks.