Tree Form and What it means to be a Druid?

 Here is the current definition of what a druid is, according to Blizzard's us.battle.net/wow:

"Druids harness the vast powers of nature to preserve balance and protect life. As master shapeshifters, druids can take on the forms of a variety of beasts, morphing into a bear, cat, storm crow, or sea lion with ease.

Druid Features:
Versatility: Druids' changing forms let them assume different roles and focus on either tanking, healing or damage. They can also shapeshift to travel faster on land, sea, and air.

Healing: By calling upon the powers of nature, druids are able to swiftly restore health to their injured allies.

Defense: When shapeshifted into their bear forms, druids possess a thick skin and imposing presence that makes them ideal front-line protectors of weaker party members.

Melee and Ranged Damage: Druids can take on the form of a savage cat in order to claw and bite their enemies up close, or that of a wild moonkin to blast enemies from afar."

Note that Blizzard has been very careful to omit that druids can shapeshift into a tree.

However, a core feature of a druid is that they are "master shapeshifters."
What does that mean?

"...druids can take the forms of a variety of beasts..."

"Due to their need to shapeshift to fulfill roles, they can only perform one role at a time..."
-Wowwiki.com

Tree of Life Form changes over the expansions


-The biggest ToL change came on the advent of The Shattering/Cataclysm.
ToL was a stagnant shapeshift, similar to that of cat/bear/moonkin form, which only healing spells  could be cast while in it. It increased healing spellpower, increased our armor (although over time, it was increased, then decreased), and was, as all shapeshift forms are, immune to polymorph.
It is now similar to Metamorphasis for Warlocks; a cooldown that increases our power, enhances spells, and transforms us physically. It lasts currently for 40 seconds fully talented and has a 3 minute cd. For long raid boss fights, you can pull it off maybe 2-3 times.

The effect on me:
At first, I was devastated. I loved bouncing around as a Treant. One of my favorite memories in <Straw Man> was when me and 2 other trees followed our boomkin around for a good 5 mins, pretending to be his treants. I love the way I cast, and my bottom jaw would grind out the top one; I loved emoting. I purposely ran around in tree form, loved all the animations;I loved crafting and emoting in Tree form. I was devastated by this change.
For me, the feel of my character, the way they move, cast, craft, dance, etc, is very important and is a large portion of why I pick the races I do. I personally don't like tauren, and I've written (but never published) a long list of why I won't race change into a troll. Over time, getting used to my tauren has worked out, and costume items, Savory Deviate Delights and my Faded Mage Hat, have given me a way to escape being a druid. So adjusting to this change was a forced, but doable one.

Then they changed Tree form. Into the most fugly form I've ever seen.
Every time I used ToL in ICC, the entire guild would break out laughing at me. I was a giant trunk tree thing, with a beard and an afro.
Then to add insult to injury, they made the casting animation the DUMBEST thing ever. Basically, I wave my hands around when I cast. So I'm throwing Lifeblooms on the raid, and look like I'm dancing around.
The sheer size of it is another annoyance. The final fight in Throne of Tides, where you fight Ozruk (?), and you get buffed, grow huge and attack the wall. We usually pop bloodlust then too, because its a burn/survival phase. I pop ToL....I can no longer, and neither can the rest of my group, see the screen. They just see leaves and trunk...

Yes, yes. I do know there is a glyph. But I don't think it's fair I have to glyph this.


-The newest change is making ToL no longer immune to polymorphing.
 Okay. I know Blizzard is all about "balance" and trying to "balance" PvP and PvE is a daunting, almost impossible task; you can never please everyone. And I'm assuming that the removal of polymorph immunity is a PvP balancing choice.
The only reason I would think this would be directed to PvE is when there is a boss that can CC and druid's can't be polymorphed(Heroic/25m LDW ICC), and this allows for the resto druid to be easily CC'd with a polymorph.

The PvP defense is weak.
- All other druids are in a shapeshifted form that is immune to Polymorph. Why are resto druids the exception from this?
- ToL is a 40 second (31 seconds atm for PTR Patch 4.06 hits) ability with a 3 minute cd. So we aren't even getting immunity to Polymorph the entire time...

The main defense that I can think of is that because ToL is a powerful cd (as it should be), it is making restoration druids impossible to kill, particularly in Arenas.

I don't PvP myself, especially on my druid. But from experience, I find that ToL isn't strong enough to make or break a fight/duel/etc...

The enhanced spells are, yes, enhanced, but not ridiculously so.
-All healing power is increased, but isn't that the point of a cd...
-Regrowth is instant, but it's still a fairly weak and expensive spell.
-Lifebloom can be cast on multiple targets, but it's still a HoT, so it won't instantly heal someone, unless it blooms, and that is still 9 seconds away, which is refreshed every time its newly cast. Yes, this can increase the proc of Clearcasting and thus, free instant Regrowths, but with the Clearcasting nerf also coming in Patch 4.06, I think this makes it irrelevant.
-Wild Growth can be placed on more people. Doesn't really matter in an arena
-Entangling Roots is an instant cast and is 200% more stronger. I can understand this, but it doesn't mean anything if your a caster.
-Wrath is cast faster and increased by 30%. Not a healing thing, but I guess druid's can help kill more.

I can understand that ToL is no longer a true shapeshift; its a transforming cd that makes you more powerful. Thus it should be polymorphable.  


Druids and Shapeshifting


ToL is a representation of us as a druid.
Druids are "master shapeshifters." All forms should be equal. Each one only allows certain spells to be used and thus, each plays a specific role. We are forced into a certain role, so that a hybrid class cannot truly become "hybrid" when they reach endgame content.


ToL as of now is an interesting deviation from this.
We have abilities with ToL that are different from the role that druid's and their relationship with shapeshifting has always been.
-ToL is the only role that can use other spec spells, those two being Wrath and Entangling Roots.
-ToL is again, a cd hindered ability that enhances spells (changes them).

What does all this QQing mean?

My friend, Hak from Undermine, said it best.
"...you're just a nature loving priest who can turn into a seal."

While the actual aspect of how we heal (HoTs) hasn't necessarily changed, or hasn't changed any more than a regular "Blizzard Buff and Nerf" balancing act, ToL has become the most unique aspect of what it means to be a druid.

Blizzard gives us multiple reasons for doing these changes.
-We want you to shift more.
-We want you look at your awesome gear.

Don't get me started on "shifting more"...

I could argue that I don't wanna look at my gear. Druid is the most restrictive class when it comes to races (and even now, I can't afford to pay for a race change into a troll even if I wanted to.) Everything looks bulky and/or funky on a Tauren. 

But I don't understand why it has to be focused on Restoration druids only. The polymorph things urks me because it continually downgrades the shapeshift of the restoration druid into nothing more than a meer cd.

I don't feel that I am a druid anymore.

Update: I guess they took out the ToL nerf, and it is no longer polymorph-able.