Out of curiosity, any reasoning behind why druids can no longer wild shape into elementals? Also is there any plans to bring the ability back? I miss the ability to be so in tune with nature that you can literally turn into a creature made of one of the 5 elements of life. 

So only moon druids could do so in 5e and Elementals don't align with theme of the Circle of the Moon.  

I expect they will introduce another subclass that does elemental shapes, probably as templates in a future product.

Personally I like the idea of a moon druid like wild shaper but with elemental spells in wild shape like Elementalism, Sorcerous Burst (call it Elemental Burst), Absorb Elements, Dragon breath, Elemental Weapon, Conjure Minor Elementalss and Conjure Elemental.  Tack on Cure wounds as an extra.

Druids already get Elemental Weapon, Absorb E, Conjure Minor Elementals and Conjure Elementals. However, all conjuration spells have been nerfed hard in 2024. 

The fact is that b/c the devs wanted to re-do the Wildshape feature entirely, Elemental Wildshape became harder to justify b/c it added another thing for the devs to try to to balance. They probably could have done it, but Chris Cox, the current CEO of Hasbro, has had the dev team on a tight timeline for over 2 years. Makes sense because he just laid off a bunch of people last year and plans to lay off a bunch more this year.  

If the developers decide to add a subclass that has the ability to transform into elemental forms, it will completely destroy the purpose of the existence of the circle of the moon. 

I agree. Why does everyone keep saying circle of the moon Druid, btw? The main lore of druids is their connection to the natural world.  The 5 elements are the basis of nature in many ways. Why they couldn't do an aspect like they've introduced, idk. I think it would be cool and still fit the class. 

Quote from bigjwallace >>

I agree. Why does everyone keep saying circle of the moon Druid, btw? The main lore of druids is their connection to the natural world.  The 5 elements are the basis of nature in many ways. Why they couldn't do an aspect like they've introduced, idk. I think it would be cool and still fit the class. 

Everyone says Circle of the Moon druid, because it was only Moon druids that could wildshape into elementals in the previous edition.

I think with the new edition they just tried to be a bit more thematically focused. So the Moon druid subclass specifically focused on the shapeshifting aspect of the D&D druid as well as other abilities associated with the moon in folklore.

But to your point, all druids now get Elemental Fury at level 7 and Improved Elemental Fury at level 15, adding elemental damage to a weapon or a Beast form's attack. So there is still that connection to the elements.

Its a shame the Wildfire druid - as a fire-themed druid - never got a 5.5 update, though its still perfectly playable with the new rules. And the new Sea druid is certainly water-themed. No real 'earth' or 'air' focused druid as such unless you count Land druids as 'earth-themed'. Kind of.

And just to mention that as a Moon druid, even though you can't specifically wildshape into an Elemental type creature, you are - in my opinion - now turning into an 'elemental beast' from 7th level if you think of it in that way (not quite the same, I know, but in my head I'm now a 'fire bear'!).