Opinions on Feral Druids, for Cataclysm BG's (Rated and Normal)

[Ualaa]

Healing Touch vs Regrowth.
- HT is more initial healing.
- Regrowth can be dispelled/spell stolen, but glyphed it will auto refresh on any target (currently 25%) at 50% or lower.



I like Rip the most for Finishers.
At the moment, I don't have the talent where FB refreshes Rip on targets at/below 25%.
In BG's so far (I mostly play AV, as that's the only BG with more than 50% wins - I usually hold towers or retake bunkers), I don't get to land finishers on anyone; they're dead after either Mangle + Rake or sometimes the next Mangle.
But if there was a healer on someone, that would be more of a consideration.



Regarding Berserk.
I wouldn't mind so much if it acted as a Fear break, rather than also making you immune; granted the immunity is nice.
My DPS will likely increase, if the Berserk nerf goes through; at the moment, I save it for the Fear instead tying it to my default DPS as an auto cast.

[Kromtor]

the berserk nerf kills any potential of this comp being solo boxed to 2200+ i think. your dps wont go up because whereas you saved your berserk for their fear they now save their fear for your berserk. you'll just be running around real angry-like. all boxed teams need some sort of protection against fear bombs or they just wont work. dk's have it, rets have it, shaman have it. feral sadly no more =( my kitties will remain at level 80.

[Ualaa]

The notes suggest Berserk won't be an activated ability, but rather a chance on any hit to "proc". Similar to omen of clarity maybe? Not overly clear.

I didn't expect to reach 2200 with this composition, or any other really. Just to be competitive and have a lot of fun with it.

I could live without Berserk = Fear Immunity, but it would be really nice if they at least left a clickable ability that broke fear.

Too bad they had to go and destroy the talent trees. Was really looking forward to +5 talent points, and the old trees without new talents added. That would have been Berserk + Nature's Swiftness with four talents left over. Quite a bit of Resto, but that allows for more of a hybrid build.

[remanz]

well, i really felt for the druids lol.

I thought gave power shift a CD would be sufficient. But they just flat out killed it. I haven't seen this massive outcry since the retribution paladin nerf. I guess druids had its time.

[Ualaa]

General Tactics:
The old adage, pick your fights...

As a Feral team, I have very strong stealth; unless a horde literally ran over my they never noticed, not even if they were close enough to brush shoulders.... easily bypassed 4-5 horde who were "blockading" the choke between IB Tower and IB Graveyard.
Stealth is available 10 seconds after dropping stealth; so I would "power-shift" as I approached an objective, as it takes six second to cap something. As soon as it was tapped, immediately re-stealth as attention is drawn to whatever but it appears no one is there.
Then move away from the objective, and prepare to Charge-Ravage if anyone comes to reclaim it.



Feral Charge can get you places you cannot run to.
Or to enemies who are casting at you from above.
For example, Feral Charge up into the Iceblood Graveyard, by targeting someone up there.
If this was done from Stealth, we are still stealthed on arrival and can choose to engage or not.



Powershifting, was frequently used against root effects.
Simple macro: /cast !Cat Form
I would frequently alternate between this macro and my follow macro.
And disengage, to heal up some in "bad" fights.
Throw in Dash, once I was in the clear.



Unlike with Shammies, Towers vs Bunkers is the exact reverse.
With Shammies, Alliance Bunkers were so much easier to defend and/or recap.
But with a melee team, the "Donut Ring" around the top bluntly sucks, with IWT and Follow.
The best tactic was either Charge-Ravage, Follow Away, Repeat.
Or act as support healing from the stairs upwards almost to the Bunker.
Conversely, getting into the Towers Flag room, while a bit of a pain... it was much easier to fight up there.



I used Stampeding Roar, to give a very slight advantage getting out of the Gate.
Crusader Aura, already on or not on at all was fine.
Having it turned on or off, would frequently cause my mounted slaves to lose follow.



I ended up making a macro, to help my seemingly clueless allies out some.
I would press this once per AV, shortly before the gate opened.

Macro 1:
/bg Fast games = HONOR.
/bg 1. SKIP GALV, we do not want to rez on Def.
/bg 2. Take and HOLD Iceblood Graveyard, so we rez on Off.
/bg 3. Avoid Belinda, we do not want them to rez on Def.
/bg 4. Give them Stonehearth Graveyard, so they rez Off.

Macro 2:
/BG 5. Once IBGY is tapped, leave some there to hold it.
/BG 6. Send LOTS to IBT and TP, these are the key to winning.
/BG 7. Backcapping our middle field bunkers is great too.
/BG 8. At 10 mins in, Galv will be wide open and is really easy honor.

Macro 3:
/BG 9. Send a group to R. Hut, cap it before FW Graveyard.
/BG 0. Talk to Wing Commanders, honor when they make it home.
/BG X. Good hunting.



Large-scale PvP:
Have set up Grid to display eight columns wide, five rows deep.
With my toons always in column one.
And have a Repeater Region over the entire Grid frame.

Stick towards the back of any large scale altercation.
Have each Feral cast a Healing Touch on anyone below 60% health.
Which is anywhere from 50-80k in healing.

Cast five of these, then go into Kitty and run from the combat.
Without auto attack on, or an enemy targeted, combat drops almost right away.
Drink... the conjured mage table food gets me from OOM to full, in 4 seconds or so.
Less than 10 seconds later, start to throw another five heals.

In AV, there are lots of places to heal from unobtrusively.
In the "ditch" (where the harpies and rams are) on the stretch between the last alliance bunker and the hill up to Stormpike.
You can see everyone on the road, via Grid.
And no one seems to clue in where the heals come from.




Medium-scale PvP:
Anytime I came across more than four or five horde already in combat.

My tactics were to Heal as per the large-scale PvP.
And then go into Kitty form, and engage rather than run and drink.

Priority targets were:
a) Mages - these guys die very easily on Pounce, Ravage, Mangle, but are a pain otherwise.
b) Healers - always a priority target.
c) Fear Classes - with both Berserk + Trinkets, these are lower priority but still a priority target.

Mana would regenerate to full after a short combat.
A combination of not casting anything, so full spirit based regeneration.
And gaining mana almost every critical hit, which is better than every third hit.

Finish the combat by topping anyone up who needed it.




Smaller-scale PvP:
Ravage x5, would occasionally down targets (probably lower resilience players).
The first Mangle x5, would drop anyone, if the Ravage did not.
So this combination worked as an auto kill for any target, if I opened from stealth.
And the Ravage is not dependent upon stealth, but healers who were on the ball could react quickly enough to make it a few hits; Pallies bubbling the target were the only way to actually save someone.



Against a solo Paladin or Mage, or if they were the last target in a group.
As soon as they bubble, drop target and stop auto attack.
Run away and stealth.
Easy kill, when the immunity effect drops.

[Ualaa]

well, i really felt for the druids lol.

I thought gave power shift a CD would be sufficient. But they just flat out killed it. I haven't seen this massive outcry since the retribution paladin nerf. I guess druids had its time.

Power Shifting costs the mana to assume Kitty Form (or whatever form you're already in).
And it costs a GCD, so you're doing nothing else for those 1.5 seconds.

It is useful to break root.
But useless against any snare effect while in combat.
Since those will be reapplied immediately.

It is fairly useful against snare effects when running away.

I'm pretty sure the Power Shift change, is purely to take attention away from the Berserk change.
Something they can relent on, and be seen as on the side of druids.
But who knows, it might actually be a nerf they're looking at implementing.

I have canceled all my accounts.
But have game time, till the third week of March.
If the class sucks after the next patch, I doubt I'll renew.
But whether they nerf druids 29 ways or none, if the class remains fun I will renew.