Compilation of Questions for CMs/DEVs

#33 - Nov. 20, 2006, 9:26 a.m.

Q u o t e:
Recently our kind CM Vaneras has clearly stated that the CMs are indeed reading our posts and mentioned that as soon as possible they will try to be more active in this community of angry kittens (reference to the angry kitten picture that is now on my desktop) ;), so i was wondering if something very similar to what was don in the mages foruns could incite our friend Vaneras to speak up with a couple of answers to some questions i had the liberty to gather up from the community:


So, in short, here goes:


1- Usease of consumables in forms:
Why restrain the feral druids from using such an important aspect of the game? The developers think it'll overpower druids in any form in concrete or is it purely to avoid druids to stick to one form for too long thus making the druid lose some of the "shifting" ability? Is this definate or still in testing?

2- Weapon procs in feral
The most commonly asked is the enchant "crusader", but as we all know, the ramifications are much deaper than only just that enchant. Most people say its incoherent to lose weapon procs based on the fact that we dont "use" the weapon but we still use its stats and still have to repair the weapon... Question is, what is the reasoning behind the weapon proccing in forms, the 1.0s fast attack rate or the added dps from WF totems (for example), would put the feral druid out of the proportion blizzard intends for out estimated dps?

3- Cat form weapon speed normalization:
I'm not great at maths, but its been proven by lots of calculations that the 1.0s weapon speed simply doesnt scale in the same way other melee classes do based on the game mechanics atm. The only way blizzard has found untill now to upgrade dps in cat form was based on the addition of large quantities of +feral attack power in gear. Can we expect anytime a weapon speed normalization for cat form or the way blizzard is going is simply by adding more +attack power ?

4- ShapeShifting Costs:
Druids are counted as shapeshifters to adjust to the situation and, if played well, overcome the obstacles. Being the shapeshifting the "thing" that makes the druid versatile and the primary source of power most people think that shapeshifting should be given incentives, not a very large mana cost as it is now. The current mana costs are based exactly on what? To prevent feral druids from going all out in melee stats, disregarding +INT, or simply because shapeshifting too much could put the druid into a much more hybrid role (hum, althought this doesnt make much sense).

5- Raid usefullness in non-resto specs.
A buff to +5% crit in moonkin and feral forms was indeed noticable by the druidic community, but unfortunately it's not enough to warrant both this specs in a raiding scenario. Imp LOTP was a good step in the right direction but the recent nerf was generaly accepted as a hit on the foot. Imp LOTP was our trumph card to get into raids i hope blizzard has that idea. If the reasoning behind the nerf was Solo PVE / tanking another solution should be brought up to compensate our ability to buff the raid in some way. Was it "nerfed" because of the recent bear +STA bonus? then why?

6- Tree of Life.
I could write a single gigantic post around this one... but i'll keep it short. Why in fact the reduction in speed? To make it less viable in pvp because it could unbalance group pvp or for "lore" reasons meaning that a tree should run slower? Taking the usease of Healing touch in the final tier 41 talent while at least 10 talents points before buff healing touch seems rather strange, why remove healing touch from the tree of life, because the -20% cost on healing touch could make it overpowered? In sum, can you please explain why this two limitation to this form while Shadow priests and moonkin only lose access to a certain "tree" of spells ? (generaly ppl sugest that you could only cast resto spells in this form)

7- Moonkin Melee mechanics
I think 100% of the posts i've read (yes, 100%) say that a moonkin meleeing is simply not working. Problems like swing timers and lack of damage (even with the gigantic +attack power in forms) make it an idea simply put to waste because its simply not working. Is blizzard aware of this problem and trying to make any kind of alterations? if so, can you give us a light on the issue?

8- Parry in forms
Even a level 20 beast mob has it. Druids, the almighty sons of cenarion cant even parry. From all the melee classes, we (even if specced in that tree by choice) are the only ones who cant parry (well, taking into account talents). Is this for balance issues in tanking in bear form or generaly because you already think we are overpowered in cat form survival (i hope you dont think this honestly ;) ) Why the reasoning behind this shortfall?

9- The "epic" feel
Is this a worry from the developers? at level 60, we look the same as a level 20-30 Bear/cat. THis COULD be looked as an advantage because we could make our oponent think "hum, his he epicced or casual???", but i think the general population feel that we should look a little more menacing or a little better in (for example) cat form with 2000 attack power epicced tier 4 gear. Other issue is (for example) the graphics i saw in the Earthwarden (Cenarion expedition exalted reward). While i simply DROOL over hundreds of grpahics on epicced swords/maces/staffs/axes (even crafted), i simply go "HUm?" with the druid items... they lack... you know... Shiny epicx syndrome?! question is, is this being looked at at all or is it an issue the developers simply cant look into it right now?

10- Final, but not least, a more generic question:
What does Blizzard expect from druids? a class that fills in the gaps in a 25 man raid when the guild is short on people, mainly a healer with a few perks that dies in 5 seconds if he tries to off-tank in resto oriented gear (ahem), or the itemization will be the eden of level 70 druids with hybrid heavy stats that wont gimp us too much if we are main-doing a job in a certain circunstance and want to be on top 10 in anything (damage, healing, etc).



There you go, 10 simple questions that some of the druids would like answered. I'm sure theres a couple more questions that druids wanted to see answered but then again we would have to make an open letter to the press annoucing it and taking the chance it would be so big that the entire HQ of Blizzard would have to make a meeting to try and answer it ;)

I'm hoping for a response but heck, even if i dont have an answer, at least i got it out of my system, after nearly 1 year of building up "steam" inside my head.

Cheers and thanks for reading (those few brave ones).

#117 - Nov. 23, 2006, 4:40 p.m.

Q u o t e:

1- Usease of consumables in forms:
Why restrain the feral druids from using such an important aspect of the game? The developers think it'll overpower druids in any form in concrete or is it purely to avoid druids to stick to one form for too long thus making the druid lose some of the "shifting" ability? Is this definate or still in testing?

Q u o t e:

2- Weapon procs in feral
The most commonly asked is the enchant "crusader", but as we all know, the ramifications are much deaper than only just that enchant. Most people say its incoherent to lose weapon procs based on the fact that we dont "use" the weapon but we still use its stats and still have to repair the weapon... Question is, what is the reasoning behind the weapon proccing in forms, the 1.0s fast attack rate or the added dps from WF totems (for example), would put the feral druid out of the proportion blizzard intends for out estimated dps?

#126 - Nov. 23, 2006, 5:12 p.m.

Q u o t e:


Thanks very much for posting this Vaneras - but bugs don't get the description of rage potions being altered to Class: Warrior Druid, and bugs don't add animations of bandaging etc.... I'm afraid I find your answer at odds to the reality.

Q u o t e:
Secondly - what reason is there for limiting druids, and only druids to certain consumables and procs - why are we treated as second rate?

#198 - Nov. 24, 2006, 3:24 p.m.

Q u o t e:
Original post Edited.


Vaneras i would like to point out that we still miss the answer to cat form range issue, and as of now i think its the biggest issue all feral have at the moment.

Q u o t e:
CHeers and thanks again for the attention that was given to this thread.

#202 - Nov. 24, 2006, 3:49 p.m.

Q u o t e:



Dear Vaneras, i beg to differ on this little issue ;) cat form bugs/issues have been reported and asked for nearly 2 years now ;) There's been videos made, dozens of threads and questions posted about it, etc.

Q u o t e:
But ofc we will all wait for the answers to come, you certainly delivered them so far, recently in the past week has been the "role model" for custommer support. Blizzard always made fabulous games, its about time to raise the bar in custommer support like this, "gratz" on that.

#247 - Nov. 28, 2006, 9:22 a.m.

Q u o t e:
5- Raid usefullness in non-resto specs.
A buff to +5% crit in moonkin and feral forms was indeed noticable by the druidic community, but unfortunately it's not enough to warrant both this specs in a raiding scenario. Imp LOTP was a good step in the right direction but the recent nerf was generaly accepted as a hit on the foot. Imp LOTP was our trumph card to get into raids i hope blizzard has that idea. If the reasoning behind the nerf was Solo PVE / tanking another solution should be brought up to compensate our ability to buff the raid in some way. Was it "nerfed" because of the recent bear +STA bonus? then why?

#287 - Nov. 30, 2006, 1:59 p.m.

Q u o t e:
I could write a single gigantic post around this one... but i'll keep it short. Why in fact the reduction in speed? To make it less viable in pvp because it could unbalance group pvp or for "lore" reasons meaning that a tree should run slower? Taking the usease of Healing touch in the final tier 41 talent while at least 10 talents points before buff healing touch seems rather strange, why remove healing touch from the tree of life, because the -20% cost on healing touch could make it overpowered? In sum, can you please explain why this two limitation to this form while Shadow priests and moonkin only lose access to a certain "tree" of spells ? (generaly ppl sugest that you could only cast resto spells in this form)

Q u o t e:
What does Blizzard expect from druids? a class that fills in the gaps in a 25 man raid when the guild is short on people, mainly a healer with a few perks that dies in 5 seconds if he tries to off-tank in resto oriented gear (ahem), or the itemization will be the eden of level 70 druids with hybrid heavy stats that wont gimp us too much if we are main-doing a job in a certain circunstance and want to be on top 10 in anything (damage, healing, etc).

#344 - Dec. 18, 2006, 1:41 p.m.

Q u o t e:
Still waiting for a couple of answers, especialy the cat form range issue.