#1 - Jan. 13, 2011, 11:14 p.m.
Okay, so by now we've all heard about the shapeshifting nerf that is currently being tested on the PTR. I realize this is just testing and nothing is final but still, seeing how people who call for nerfs to the feral spec rarely understand it (yes this even includes 2600+ players). I have a feeling this has a good chance of making it to live. I've played WoW for 6 years and played arena at 2500-2600 in all brackets, although it's not MLG or Blizzcon status I feel like I have a very good understanding of the game. Instead of making a wall of text I'll just make bullets.
-Has anyone thought of how this is going to effect Balance and Resto, I'm assuming this change is for feral druids but it's really going to hurt balance which really isn't in the best place at the moment.
-Feral Druids don't have cooldowns like rogues and warriors do, we rely on our mobility for survivability. Warriors, Rogues, Deathknights ect. all have cooldowns and built in mechanics for survivability unlike Ferals. Warriors have defensive stance, spell reflect, intervene ect. Rogues have cloak and vanish, Death Knights have anti magic shell and anti magic shield. Ret Paladins have freedom, dispels, and bubble. Ferals don't have any cooldowns like this. We will just be left in the dark and have no survivability.
-Feral Druids need a lot of uptime to actually do damage. This is a huge problem if this change goes live. Feral Druids have to have a Mangle, Rake, and Rip up to even be a threat at all. Anyone that plays feral knows that you don't instantly start doing good damage as soon as you get on a target. Rogues and Warriors do direct damage and don't have very much if any ramp up at all.
-Feral Druids have to be behind our target to do our main direct damage ability, Shred. This is also a huge problem with this change. Feral Druids not having the ability to shapeshift is going to make it really hard to get shreds off. By the time we get our ramp up abilities up (Mangle,Rake,Rip) we will most likely be snared again and really never get off any damage at all.
-Now I'm not 100% sure how this mechanic will work and if it will let us shift in and out while we are snared but it won't get us out of the root. But if it works the way I think it will then we will be very open to scare beast, Hex, and Polymorph. Say I'm fighting a BM Hunter/Enh Shaman/Resto Druid in 3v3, I get rooted and the hunter starts casting scare beast on me, I see it and shift out of form and don't get feared, then I get hexed because I can't shift back into form. Again I don't know if this will be the case but it's definitely a concern of mine.
-Mobility has been a key part of the druid class since day 1...I honestly can't believe blizzard is going to take it out of the game. Doing this will just mean we are a rogue without cooldowns or utility.
-You cannot skull bash while rooted in place, as skull bash uses a 'charge' mechanic, and you cannot 'charge' while rooted. We can't Skull Bash someone right beside us if we are in roots...awesome
-Feral Druids have always been the king of mobility. I just love how this mechanic was 100% fine in season 1-8 when feral druids were sub par. But as soon as we become viable it's this big new thing that hasn't been in the game for years.
-We still have to use global cooldowns to get out of roots. For some reason people seem to think that feral druids are 100% immune to all slows just because we can shapeshift out of them. This isn't the case, every root and slow we shift out of costs us a global where we can't attack.
-Cyclone is only 20 yards. Our main CC as a feral druid is only 20 yards and any healer/caster with half a brain in arena always max ranges vs a feral. Another reason why our mobility is very important
-3v3 is the only bracket that matters, I don't see that many high rated Ferals at the moment. The only high rated Feral I see is Miirkat who is a very good feral who's been playing feral for years. I don't see any ferals at all really, I just see a bracket dominated by spell cleaves with mages...
Just think about it for a sec...
Will add more when I get home
please THUMB UP this thread so blizzard see's it and maybe thinks about it...
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