my build…..

primarily a feral tank, with the ability to pvp on occasion, farm, and mob slaughter in both forms…

seemed to me primal aggression could be sacrificed, as ferocious bte would not be my finishing move of choice anyway, and with the extra crit/damage of the other talents, its a waste. Shred might be missed, but im not spending 5 points on a kitty talent when im primarily a Bear form bashing brutal tanking machine. I dropped a 50% chance of entanglement for those pvp moments, and that caters for cat and bear.

Only 1 point in intensity is required, as the 4 points and the 10 i get from furor gives me an instant snap mangle for threat generation…any more and its a waste…so 2 points saved there.

Primal tenacity was always a must in my previous build, but ive dropped that here as the shapeshifting and master shape shifting talents are way too handy to ignore…that and the fact that a priest can always drop a fear ward on you anyway, and now we have Berserk which iradicates the need for fear mechanic immunity so 3 points saved there also.

Brutal impact was interesting….never used it in my builds, but as things stands the extra duration on stun effects from pounce whilest in stealth might have been very handy….but i sacrificed them as i did the primal aggression as im not primarily a catform specialist.

Improved mangle, now means i get 2….yes thats right TWO mangles for free with the intensity point and furor, not just 1….so its a must. IlotP, is a welcome addition as well, as that splash healing can add up in critical fights and be very handy. KotJ and infected wounds are damn handy…maybe not for boss fights but for trash clearance a must.

All in all, i stopped playing wow a while ago now, but will be back to my bearsome best whenWotLK hits the stores!

I have to wonder if the 50% attack speed reduction on boss attacks might adversely affect rage generation. I’m sure I’d be fine if I just use Mangle/Lacerate, but on a boss I like to land as many Mauls as possible to give DPS/Healers as big of a cushion as possible. Seems like I’d have to be more careful about if/when I use Maul on mobs (boss or trash) as I might become rage starved more easily due to IW. Unfortunately, you cannot disable IW at will.

Hmmmmm….

Primal Tenacity – everyone has been talking about the Fear resist, it’s nice, but not the primary reason to get this talent. The stun resist is. Cause a stunned druid dodges no blows.

Infected Wounds – based on abilities currently in game the snare (movement debuff) will not apply to bosses but the attack speed debuff will. It is unlikely to stack with Thunderclap, Deathfrost, etc so I’d say it is looking at being a useful talent but not a required one for PVE.

Primal Precision – useful at the lower gearing levels, obviously as you get more gear you may be able to step out the points in this talent to other areas.

I think that Infected Wounds and Intensity are probably going to be the 2 areas where people can swap points in and out to fill out other areas that they want.

@all:
Frankly, I wonder if Berserk will turn out to be just a PvP talent? As a bear, I don’t get feared or stunned all that often from mobs now. And when I do, it is more annoying than a deal breaker (if it is a deal breaker bring a shammy or a priest along). Plus with the 5m CD, can it be used in effectively PvE? I guess the 30% instant health is the real bear benefit (though your healer better fill you up in 20s or else you’ll die when it expires), the anti-fear/stun is just PvP “fluff”. Unless, of course, some boss has a “fear phase” that last for 20s. Though the 3 target Maul/Mangle(bear) seems like a nice “oh crap” button when CC breaks or bad pulls. Combined with challenger Roar and you’d have mobs stuck to you for some time.

For Kitty PvE, Berserk is really nice bunch of burst damage. Not sure when you’d use it. At the beginning of a fight, you’d pull agro. Later in a fight, you don’t have the energy to take advantage of its benefits. Though combine Berserk w/ KotJ (free 60E every 30s), would make for an insane amount of burst damage later in a fight. Great for PvP, but how do you control it in PvE?

As it stands now, I don’t think I’ll pickup Berserk at lvl 70, as I’d rather have OoC for leveling. But the insane burst damage (combined with KotJ) could make short work of that Group[2] or Group[3] quest mob without have to resort to bear form.

I’m on the fence with Infected Wounds. If the attack speed reduction applies to bosses then we could potentially reduce boss attack speed by 50%. If, however, it does not apply to bosses then that’s 3 points better spent elsewhere.

As far as Master Shapeshifter vs Naturalist goes; It’s exactly the same for Bear but isn’t 4% crit more DPS in Cat than 6% physical damage over the course of a boss fight in most cases? If Infected Wounds does not work on bosses then you can expect that I’ll be getting both full Master Shapeshifter and Naturalist.

It is fun to speculate.

-50% mob attack speed….

That can not go live, or apply to Raid bosses, seriously, that is far, far too good =)

Whilst we are at it, is it me, or does the new Survival of the Fittest mean I don’t need defence gear any more? =)

Val / Elnino