That said, while I think they shouldn't get deep rothe, I do think they should keep the other wildshapes as is. From a gameplay standpoint, giving them access to those weaker versions you suggested will just unneccessarily hurt land druid players too much
It really wouldn't. The way I propose it, they'd be weaker from levels 2-3 (which is fine as wildshape is incredibly strong at these levels) and ideally their shapes would get buffed at level 4 and become similar in power to the current forms (which these forms are still combat viable at levels 4-5 currently, at the very least as back up options).
My whole point of this post is to give moon druids a wildshape that is better at melee than the rest and that land doesn't have access to. Not to make land druids wildshaping unviable.
Yes I'm making a similar point. You say moon druids should have the best 'melee damage' dealer wildshape but I see it as they should have the best 'combat' wildshapes. The difference in power between the two doesn't have to be so massive that it makes land druids wildshapes not viable in combat. Also, the way I see it, is that you have 'combat viable' wildshapes that serve different roles.
-Tank: bear
-Charger: rothe
-CC'er: spider
-Damage: wolf (yes I believe the wolf is the true best pure damage wildshape as it only averages 1.5 less damage than the rothe but has pact tactics making it hit way more often. Though the giant spider, again, can be considered the best damage dealer if you view your party as a whole, as it consistently applies AoE advantage with enweb every turn)
**side not but you could also add 'mob-killer' to this group with beasts that deal AoE or have rampage effects like the giant hyena, which I think Larian should definitely add to the game as they already have animated models and it serves a different role that other wildshapes do not**
The way you propose it, the biggest flaw with wildshape that I see is still present. Moon druid will have its best form (your proposed rothe) and it'll only ever turn into that form instead of having a variety and balance between its combat forms. Taking away the variety from land druid does the same. If you separate both subclasses wildshapes and assign them a baseline power level it allows you to both
1. give moon druid the strongest wildshapes
2. give both druids a variety of options of wildshapes depending on combat (as hopefully there would not be a blatant strongest form as there is now)
And again I do not believe the proposed nerf to land druids forms at level 2 will render it unviable. I don't think the wildshape stats should be like the referenced RAW ones. The power difference between the subclasses doesn't need to be as big as it is in RAW. Just the land druid will be a bit weaker at lvl 2, back to similar current power now and the moon druid will be stronger than it is now at level 4.
