#0 - Aug. 17, 2007, 5:07 p.m.
I warn all readers right now that this is a long post and there is no TLDR version. A post of this nature simply cannot be condensed into a TLDR version and if I tried to it would not convey the points I wish to make.
If this is not your cup of tea please stop reading right now and go back to the forum from which you came. I only want to see constructive posts from people who have actually taken the time to read and absorb my words.
What is this about?
This is a thread to explain the problems Druids are facing in the game currently. It is a thread that gives problems but not solutions as per the request of Tigole. I am hoping it will be read by the forum moderators and ultimately the developers but I also hope that the Druid community input their feedback to help me improve the message as a whole.
The plan
I will look at the issues of each spec - feral, restoration and finally balance - in PvE and PvP. Most of my focus will be on end-game raiding and high-end arena play, it is my belief that if you get the end results right the rest will generally follow.
I am starting with feral since this is the most discussed spec and also the one with some of the most glaring issues in PvP; thus, always a subject of hot debate.
Feral - PvE
Feral has proven to be a popular PvE spec for raiding, tanking and is a very strong solo grinding and levelling spec. However, feral does have issues in PvE which should be addressed.
Scaling: In the end game
As gear progresses across the field the feral Druid is being left behind in both tanking and DPS roles. A feral Druid will start to see fewer and fewer upgrades as they progress through the tier sets, however other classes are increasing at a linear rate or even exponentially faster.
With the current armour caps, the main portion of damage reduction for a feral Druid stop scaling after getting tier 5 equivalent gear since the armour cap will have been reached. After this a tanking Druid can only scale in one direction; dodge. The two other tanks in the game never cap out on armour, dodge, parry, block or block value; all areas are capable of improvement as their gear improves.
In a DPS setting, feral Druids are not scaling as well as their other melee counterparts. This can be attributed to a few things such as no benefit from Windfury and little benefit from haste rating since we get a lot less damage from auto-attacks. In addition there are some itemisation issues, these are covered next.
Itemisation (part one): Feral specific items
After Terestrian’s Stranglestaff, there are no pure DPS weapon upgrades for a feral Druid within raiding in existing content. Whilst the staff from Hyjal is of significantly higher item level, it is only a slight upgrade over the Stranglestaff and not as good tanking weapon as the Wildfury Greatstaff. Since Wildfury is a better tanking weapon, and weapons can be switched in combat, the armour and stamina on the Hyjal staff are somewhat wasted; any DPS feral who must quickly tank something can just switch to the Greatstaff. In addition, despite the Hyjal staff being item level 141, the season 2 PvP mace is better for DPS than it.
There are also no feral Druid specific items for:
• Neck (after Kara)
• Back (after SSC)
• Wrist (after PvP rewards, after heroics for PvE)
• Belt (after SSC)
• Rings (after SSC)
• Trinkets (after SSC, but even that one is poor)
The only exception to these non-tier slots is boots in Treads of the Den Mother from BT. Other than that, a feral Druid will not get any DPS upgrades after SSC (in general) unless they take Rogue gear. Items such as the Money Belt are an upgrade over Belt of Natural Power; but if there was a Druid specific belt with item level 141 (the same as the Money Belt) it would be streets ahead for a Druid. The example of this is the Treads of the Den Mother; it is 26% better [according to Emmerald’s rating] than the item level 141 Rogue specific boots - Black Featherlike Boots.
Part of the reason we’re seeing reduced scaling in the end-game for feral Druid DPS is that they are starved for items after SSC. If a Rogue had to wear only strength gear (akin to Druids wearing only AP gear) after SSC they would have exactly the same problem. If a Rogue had to use the same main-hand and off-hand from Karazhan throughout all their raiding they would have exactly the same problem.
Feral Druid tanks have exactly the same problems; there are few feral Druid specific items after leaving the early instances. These are the best items for the following slots as rated again by Emmerald:
• Neck: The Darkener’s Grasp (SSC) - Has shield block rating on it
• Back: Gilded Thorium Cloak (Kara)
• Wrist: Insidious Bands (BT) - Rogue DPS bracers
• Belt: Belt of Natural Power (SSC)
• Rings: Violet Signet of the Great Protector (Kara)
• Trinkets: Badge of Tenacity (Blue BoE)
• Weapon: Wildfury Greatstaff (SSC)
So again after SSC we see no upgrades to non-set pieces for feral Druid tanking except for a pair of BT Rogue wrists which just happen to be good for tanking. Again, if Warriors only had access to DPS plate after SSC they would have similar scaling problems in end-game.
If ferals are to be competitive in end-game raiding, either in DPS or tanking, they need the itemisation to support them. Balance Druids can somewhat make up for bad itemisation by using cloth pieces which are just as potent as leather pieces would be, but feral Druids do not have this luxury since their stat bias is so different to other leather/cloth wearing classes.
Feral - PvP
Feral PvP is classically strong in the battlegrounds and weak in the arena. Druids of all specs are doing badly in 3v3 and especially 5v5 but the feral Druid is not doing well in any bracket. In 2v2 where Druids are supposedly improving and currently placed 3rd (07/08/07 numbers from Caster), there are only 6 feral Druids out of 58.
Itemisation (part two): Resilience rings and cloaks
Similar to the PvE issues, feral Druids must make do with obviously Rogue/Warrior bias non-tier slot items. The rings and cloaks available all have an AP bias with no strength or agility to be seen, nor intellect to help with shifting. Things are slightly better in the PvP zone since there are custom bracers/belt/boots available for feral Druids; however, the itemisation still isn’t complete.
Itemisation (part three): Armour bonuses
Whilst this can be said about a lot of classes, the glove bonus for Druids as a whole - but especially ferals - is somewhat useless. 0.1s reduction in casting time on Cyclone doesn’t even make up for the 100ms+ latency that nearly all players experience. Also, it is a glove bonus which a feral is much less likely to use than a restoration or balance Druid.
Bugs: The infamous feral range bug
There really isn’t a lot to say about the feral range bug because it’s all been said before thousands of times. I am hoping that after the current PTR changes and the comments at Blizzcon, this bug will finally go away.