[WotLK] 39 Feral Druid viable?

[Jadyne]

So while 39s are amazingly balanced in WotLK, my feeling is still that feral druids aren't practical to roll with. Then I was reminded of CC, who used to not only FC, but also do some pro arenas back during the heyday of Bloodlust.

I'm still skeptical though, I don't see their dps being comparable to rogues, warriors, enhance shamans, and paladins, especially since they don't have any RNG burst. So how can they make up for that? Thoughts?

 

[rubikz]

So while 39s are amazingly balanced in WotLK, my feeling is still that feral druids aren't practical to roll with. Then I was reminded of CC, who used to not only FC, but also do some pro arenas back during the heyday of Bloodlust.

I'm still skeptical though, I don't see their dps being comparable to rogues, warriors, enhance shamans, and paladins, especially since they don't have any RNG burst. So how can they make up for that? Thoughts?

feral seems to be more about utility than dps or burst. spammable faerie fire is just really good against rogues. they have a lot of mobility and the potential to spam cc/restealth when ignored

in 3.3.5, it's definitely a spec that requires you to assess situations well and make good decisions to be effective

 

[Jadyne]

I feel like they'd be weaker when facing priests and shamans though, since most of their utility is magical...

 

[Pers]

I felt the main reason feral dps is gimped in WOTLK is because of the changes to the resto tree. There were tons of great damage talents in the early resto tree in TBC. In Wotlk, alot of the key talents were taken out, and imo druid is just a lot less fun because the benefit of shifting alot was mostly lost.

In TBH, you had these key talents:

1. Furor- Gain 40 energy in cat or 10 rage in bear upon shift. This was needed to get off that feral charge off the bat, now in wotlk you have to wait. Also you weren't gimped those first few seconds in cat form, you could even powershift to gain energy. If you had an energy tick mod, you could time it so you would get constant shreds off the enemy just by constantly shifting into cat.

2. Omen of Clarity- rageless/manaless proc. This was your burst, as it allowed you another shred.

When both of these talents were taken out, alot of the feral damage was lost.

 

[shanker]

agree, also losing thorns hurt ferals more than res/bal. infected wounds (crippling poison) was moved all the way to level-40. thorns and infected wounds is how many ferals dealt with rogues, warriors, hunters, mages, etc, in 19's, 20, and when i rarely played 39's. the old rejuv, thorns, go to bear till you can go back to cat is gone and was key to their survival. also feral heals are weak, even though they get Nurturing Instinct - Spell - World of Warcraft in this bracket. in CATA, imo ferals rejuvs were stronger.

i myself find trying to play feral (lower levels) , not really being able to use wild charge and having to crutch on displacer beast for survival. with attacks being energy extensive, it seems like the spec is in wait mode way too much.

other than being weak on stealth, i have experimented playing a bal-druid as feral on world mobs, and it is quite impressive, i'm actually able to attain higher agility/crit thru gear and enchants due to Killer Instinct - Spell - World of Warcraft. heals/hot's are just strong when needed and boomkin form to go into after using pounce, rake, FF in cat form.

 

[Jadyne]

agree, also losing thorns hurt ferals more than res/bal. infected wounds (crippling poison) was moved all the way to level-40. thorns and infected wounds is how many ferals dealt with rogues, warriors, hunters, mages, etc, in 19's, 20, and when i rarely played 39's. the old rejuv, thorns, go to bear till you can go back to cat is gone and was key to their survival. also feral heals are weak, even though they get Nurturing Instinct - Spell - World of Warcraft in this bracket. in CATA, imo ferals rejuvs were stronger.

i myself find trying to play feral (lower levels) , not really being able to use wild charge and having to crutch on displacer beast for survival. with attacks being energy extensive, it seems like the spec is in wait mode way too much.

other than being weak on stealth, i have experimented playing a bal-druid as feral on world mobs, and it is quite impressive, i'm actually able to attain higher agility/crit thru gear and enchants due to Killer Instinct - Spell - World of Warcraft. heals/hot's are just strong when needed and boomkin form to go into after using pounce, rake, FF in cat form.

Sorry for the misunderstanding, but we are in fact discussing whether feral is viable in WotLK. Patch 3.3.5a to be precise. =/

Anyway, looking at the 3.3.5 talent tree, it's the movement of feral charge to be a 20-point talent, that's a problem, isn't it? Before you could get both that and Omen of Clarity, but now it's one or the other.