What do we do, we shift, shift…

What do we do, we shift, shift…

You know, those of you that don’t have kids, and/or haven’t seen Finding Nemo must think I’m crazy sometimes. I love Dory.

Anyway, tomorrow brings changes.

It’s been confirmed that tomorrow brings “The Patch”.

First change… we get an out-of-combat resurrect spell.

Now, seriously… I have heard there are people honestly QQing about this.

Protip: QQ is stupid speak for crying. I guess the QQ is supposed to represent two eyes with tears coming off the bottom. Whatever. Oops, I meant emoticon slang, not stupid. My mistake. *cough*

I have myself personally been on a Shadow Labyrinth run with a Resto-specced Druid as the healer, for a Kara key run, a long time ago. We were about appropriately geared and certainly not overpowered, not by a long shot.

Even though it was a pretty reasonable run, with no outright wipes, we had a single person die on pulls and boss fights pretty dang frequently, especially on the pulls prior to the mind control boss fight.

Having a Resto Druid as the 5 man healer, with only the original long-cooldown battle rez was HELL.

Pull, fight, someone dies, 10 minute wait for the run back. Pull, fight, whew good. Still alive. Pull, fight, someone dies, 10 minute wait for the run back. Over and over.

In the end, I think that one run, from start to Murmur clear, took like three hours. Maybe longer. It was pure Hell. 

Every healer class needs a no-cooldown out of combat resurrection. Period.

As far as the whining, I’ve heard that if Druids get an OOC rez, they either need to lose battle rez, or every other class needs to get one.

Well, keep in mind that I believe that all classes fundamentally should be buffed if there is inequality. You getting new fun stuff does not, in any way, make my character somehow less fun to play. If you reduce what I already have, then you have hurt my fun. If a Dev buffs your class… well, I’m still the same. Same class, same fun. What, I’m supposed to be jealous of you? Oh, please. That is so 9th grade.

But anyway, the Druid battle rez is a unique aspect of the class. Just like the Shaman self-rez, which healing Shamans can Talent to be able to use every 40 minutes. Is that too long of a cooldown? Well, I think that it should be shortened. It certainly wouldn’t hurt me if a Shaman can self-resurrect more often. Sure! Paladins can bubble, and can bubble others to prevent a full on raid wipe. Do Druids get that? No. Are we crying about it? No. Priests kinda get a rock with the “Oh I died, but I got to linger on as an angel for a bit and still heal”, but you know what? A reasonable response is to ask for a Priest BUFF. I think people that get jealous at what other classes get and demand a nerf are silly. 

I swear, I think that all it comes down to is, the whining non-Resto Druids want less competition for 5 man pugs. So get over it.

People get so worked up about whether they will still be wanted in a raid, if their class isn’t a unique and special little snowflake.

Guess what. They are rebalancing everything and removing many gimmicky fights with the stated intention of making it so that every class overlaps on key areas. So, if you aren’t brought on a raid, Blizzard says the only real reason should be that you suck, not your class.

I think that’s hilarious. If any single thing is going to create strife, it is going to be the restructuring that comes when raid leaders in serious raiding guilds examine what key buffs they need for raids, see who can supply them, and then cut people out of runs that used to be a sure thing, because now they can get what they want without having to take someone they hate.

Oooh, there is gonna be some angst.

Moving on….

As of tomorrow, Swipe is supposed to affect unlimited numbers of mobs.

So we get to play around a LOT more.

Tomorrow, I want to hear stories of Feral Druids off-tanking the adds on Illhoof and Swiping them ALL into oblivion, without Warlocks.

Oh sure, if you always have a Warlock or two, that’s fine… but I best not hear anyone say they are passing on Illhoof because they don’t have a Warlock available, when a Feral Druid is in the house.

I think it sounds fun, and I’m looking forward to trying that out just to see if we can rock the joint. Plus, I want to go tank a Heroic Magisters run or three on my Druid, and see how she goes. Our guild Paladins are burnt out on it.

And for a bonus, Threat generation has been buffed, so even with the loss of Salvation, classes are supposed to be able to focus on dealing damage and keeping the tank alive, and spend less time worrying about threat levels.

I’ll believe it when I see it, but doesn’t that sound fun? After all, how many times do you hear someone say “Oh crap, I keep pulling off the tank, what happened? Oh shoot, that’s right, we don’t have a Paladin in the group. Sorry gang! Can I get a rez?”

A lot will change, but remember, my Druid brethren, this is the best possible time for this to happen. We get our new Talent trees, we get new abilities, and we get lots of time for addons to break, and be reborn. Serious raids are mostly shut down, so we have plenty of time to raid existing content, and get used to how what we were doing has changed, before we step up to the new Expansion.

Hold on tight, because tomorrow is going to be a crazy day for everyone.

For the Sidhe Devils, this Friday’s Karazhan run is going to be nuts. I know we have an internal Fight Club going down over who gets to main tank with the new changes. We all want to see it firsthand.

For myself, I’m looking at respeccing Windshadow to the following;

Level 70 Druid (0/50/11)

Balance (0 points)

None

Feral Combat (50 points)

Ferocity – Rank 5/5
Reduces the cost of your Maul, Swipe, Claw, Rake and Mangle abilities by 5 Rage or Energy.

Feral Instinct – Rank 3/3
Increases the damage done by your Swipe (Bear) ability by 30% and reduces the chance enemies have to detect you while Prowling.

Savage Fury – Rank 2/2
Increases the damage caused by your Claw, Rake, Mangle (Cat), Mangle (Bear), and Maul abilities by 20%.

Thick Hide – Rank 3/3
Increases your Armor contribution from items by 10%.

Feral Swiftness – Rank 2/2
Increases your movement speed by 30% in Cat Form and increases your chance to dodge while in Cat Form, Bear Form and Dire Bear Form by 4%.

Survival Instincts – Rank 1/1
When activated, this ability temporarily grants you 30% of your maximum health for 20 sec while in Bear Form, Cat Form, or Dire Bear Form. After the effect expires, the health is lost.

Sharpened Claws – Rank 3/3
Increases your critical strike chance while in Bear, Dire Bear or Cat Form by 6%.

Predatory Strikes – Rank 3/3
Increases your melee attack power in Cat, Bear, Dire Bear and Moonkin Forms by 150% of your level and 20% of any attack power on your equipped weapon.

Primal Fury – Rank 2/2
Gives you a 100% chance to gain an additional 5 Rage anytime you get a critical strike while in Bear and Dire Bear Form and your critical strikes from Cat Form abilities that add combo points have a 100% chance to add an additional combo point.

Primal Precision – Rank 2/2
Increases your expertise by 10, and you are refunded 80% of the energy cost of a finishing move if it fails to land.

Feral Charge – Rank 1/1
Teaches Feral Charge (Bear) and Feral Charge (Cat).

Feral Charge (Bear) – Causes you to charge an enemy, immobilizing and interrupting any spell being cast for 4 sec. This ability can be used in Bear Form and Dire Bear Form. 15 second cooldown.

Feral Charge (Cat) – Causes you to leap behind an enemy, dazing them for 3 sec. 30 second cooldown.

Natural Reaction – Rank 3/3
Increases your dodge while in Bear Form or Dire Bear Form by 6%, and you regenerate 3 rage every time you dodge while in Bear Form or Dire Bear Form.

Heart of the Wild – Rank 5/5
Increases your Intellect by 20%. In addition, while in Bear or Dire Bear Form your Stamina is increased by 20% and while in Cat Form your attack power is increased by 10%.

Survival of the Fittest – Rank 3/3
Increases all attributes by 6% and reduces the chance you’ll be critically hit by melee attacks by 6%.

Leader of the Pack – Rank 1/1
While in Cat, Bear or Dire Bear Form, the Leader of the Pack increases ranged and melee critical chance of all party members within 45 yards by 5%.

Improved Leader of the Pack – Rank 2/2
Your Leader of the Pack ability also causes affected targets to heal themselves for 4% of their total health when they critically hit with a melee or ranged attack. The healing effect cannot occur more than once every 6 sec. In addition, you gain 8% of your maximum mana when you benefit from this heal.

Protector of the Pack – Rank 3/3
Increases your attack power in Bear Form and Dire Bear Form by 6%, and for each friendly player in your party when you enter Bear Form or Dire Bear Form, damage you take is reduced while in Bear Form and Dire Bear Form by 3%.

Infected Wounds – Rank 2/3
Your Shred, Maul, and Mangle attacks cause an Infected Wound in the target. The Infected Wound reduces the movement speed of the target by 17% and the attack speed by 7%. Stacks up to 2 times. Lasts 12 sec.

Mangle – Rank 1/1
Mangle the target, inflicting damage and causing the target to take additional damage from bleed effects for 12 sec. This ability can be used in Cat Form or Dire Bear Form.

Improved Mangle – Rank 3/3
Reduces the cooldown of your Mangle (Bear) ability by 1.5 sec., and reduces the energy cost of your Mangle (Cat) ability by 6.

Restoration (11 points)

Furor – Rank 5/5
Gives you 100% chance to gain 10 Rage when you shapeshift into Bear and Dire Bear Form, and you keep up to 100 of your Energy when you shapeshift into Cat Form, and increases your total Intellect while in Moonkin form by 10%.

Naturalist – Rank 5/5
Reduces the cast time of your Healing Touch spell by 0.5 sec and increases the damage you deal with physical attacks in all forms by 10%.

Omen of Clarity – Rank 1/1
Each of the Druid’s damage, healing spells and auto attacks has a chance of causing the caster to enter a Clearcasting state. The Clearcasting state reduces the Mana, Rage or Energy cost of your next damage, healing spell or offensive ability by 100%.

EDIT: Okay, this is an edited version, because I stupidly used my pre-Predatory Instincts version. Careless, careless Bear. As I said a couple weeks ago in Shifting Perspectives, Predatory Instincts doesn’t work in Bear anymore. Sadly, I assumed that I had updated my build notes since then. Thank you to everyone that caught that.

First, keep in mind I only play Windshadow as a tank. I almost never, ever solo as Cat. Since I will not be soloing until the expansion is released, I looked at what to respec to as a main tank for 5 mans and raid groups.

Second, from my own personal playing on the Beta, I have decided, just for me, that I want to roll with Omen of Clarity at level 70 while tanking, rather than Berserk.

I expect, at level 70, to see the extra attacks from Omen of Clarity being more frequently beneficial than Berserk. I bet most of you want to take Berserk instead to play with it. If so, That point in OOC can easily be put in Berserk instead. I imagine I will be respeccing often, and will do the same to taste test the differences. I’m just saying, keep in mind it may be perfectly valid at 70 to take a pass on Berserk. 

It comes down to rage generation.

I expect there will be a point where gear and Dodge/Crit values return enough Rage from Natural Reaction and Primal Fury to make Omen of Clarity preferred for Cat builds, but irrelevant for Bear tanks. With infinite Rage, Berserk becomes godlike, and OOC useless.

But until I playtest everything, I am going to assume Omen of Clarity is a superior Talent investment in terms of Rage at 70. That explains why I do not have Berserk in this build, at this time.

I did, in this build, take Feral Charge, because I feel that 2 points in Infected Wounds will be fun enough, and I just want to have the leap attack in Kitty to play with. I dearly love it. In my older build, I didn’t take it because I wanted the bonus to Crit damage in Bear form and, more importantly, the avoidance, but now that those three points are freed up I feel it’s okay to lose one point in Infected Wounds just for fun. Remember that with the change to Growl having the range increased to 20′, the main reason in PvE to use Feral Charge is removed; now it can be used solely for magic interrupts. 

I took the two extra points in Improved Leader of the Pack, because I DO love being able to shift frequently when tanking/raiding, and the Mana regen looks quite good. Plus, I currently do an incredible amount of self-healing with ILotP, and when other classes get those ticks of healing from MY ILotP buff, *I* get the threat. Don’t ever discount that extra group threat from heals. I do NOT expect to keep ILotP as part of my long term spec, but before the expansion, at level 70, I think it will be beneficial.

I did not take King of the Jungle, because the damage buff is gained when you use Enrage in a combat situation, and when Enrage is activated, your Armor plummets. I never, ever use Enrage when actively tanking. It is ALWAYS used prior to the actual pull, to generate Rage. So the damage buff, for me, is non-existant. A very good Cat Talent that would put Tiger’s Fury back on my button bars, but not something I need for Bear tanking.

Please, before disputing my statement on the effects of Enrage on your armor, check it yourself in game. I have had people tell me, frequently, that Enrage does little to nothing to armor. That’s pure BS. It does HORRIBLE things to your armor while active. Check it yourself and see, you will be terrified if you’ve ever popped it while main tanking a boss and didn’t realize what it did to you.

Primal Tenacity and Infected Wounds are difficult choices.

The attack speed reduction of Infected Wounds is very attractive. In my first build, I passed on it in favor of the avoidance of Predatory Instincts. When PI was nerfed, everyone breathed a sigh of relief at having three more points freed up to put into other things. That let me put two points here for a 7% speed reduction.  

Primal Tenacity sounds attractive when I have more points to play with, but to be honest, as long as I have a Shaman with Tremor Totem or a Priest with Fear Ward, the benefit from this Talent is more situational. I may regret it later, but for now I’m going to see how things go without it.

I’m curious to hear your thoughts on this build, while keeping in mind, it’s a level 70 Bear tanking build with current gear, pre-expansion.

And please keep the comments relevant, folks. Level 80 builds are a completely seperate topic, spells above level 70 are a seperate topic, and anything in the expansion is a seperate topic. This is about tomorrow. We’ll get to the rest when we get nearer to having the expansion in our hands.

EDIT: Thank you again for catching the PI mistake. Sadly, with all the changes in Beta, I have worked on several different builds, and I was very careless about proofreading my notes on the one I posted today. Purely my own carelessness. 

As a second Edit… just because they have buffed our Threat generation, does not mean that we shouldn’t take advantage of every way to generate threat that we have available to us, so long as we don’t gimp our survivability, IMO. Remember, still no Salvation, and Blizzard is looking at our numbers with an eye to what we CAN do if fully Talented.

And yes, I do intend to see how far I can push current gear to remove all Defense Rating and Resilience, to make maximum use of SotF, and stack Agility and Stamina (and armor), just for fun. So I am planning on gutting my gear for the next month and messing around with it. Why not?

This entry was posted on Monday, October 13th, 2008 at 7:38 am and is filed under Druiding, Raiding. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.