dukes

News
Dates are DD/MM/YYYY for clarification, and I will try and link the source wherever possible.

25/03/08+26/03/08 (NA/EU) - 2.4 Released on Live

09/02/08 - 2.4 PTR class mechanics system - Drysc has stated on the official forums that the 2.4 notes look slightly bare of class changes because they're starting slow and adding changes, instead of starting with loads of changes and removing/changing them as they have done with previous "point release" patches
In case the blizzard forums break or anything (as they tend to) I've screenshotted it: Drysc post.
This means more changes could be incoming. Keep your eyes open.

09/02/08 - 2.4 PTR Notes - Patch notes are out for the 2.4 PTR. I've picked out some of the more interesting parts below:
07/02/08 - Mechanics stuff - This post here which is on the official WoW forums (no need to look at me like I'm a loony, it's a legitimate post) is attempting to find if there's a problem with LotP not affecting druids, or the crit rate just generally being crap. If you have any constructive information to add to it, go for it. If you want to discuss it here, feel free, but it's probably of more worth over there seeing as you might actually get a blizz response. Maybe.

02/02/08 - 2.4 News - Lacerate is to scale with Attack Power.

12/01/07 - 2.3.2 News - Ravage damage bonus increase (350%->385%). It appears shapeshifting quickly through the use of macro's is also slightly broken - a fix for this has been suggested in replacing form shifts in macros as below:
Old: /cast xxx Form
New: /cast !xxx Form

02/11/07 - 2.3 News - Growl and Challenging Roar affected by +hit instead of +spellhit

18/10/07 - 2.3 News - New command - /console autoUnshift # - Setting this value to 1 will allow use of spells which will automatically unshift you from form to cast it, similar to auto-dismount. Setting the value to 0 will mean that you still need to manually shift out of form before casting the spell.

15/10/07 - 2.3 News - Cancelform not working as intended? - /cancelform is now working correctly - you can use it to powershift/use items in between shifts. The mana cost still applies for the shift. It may not work on PTR right now, but it has been corrected and will be in the next build/on live when 2.3 hits.

12/10/07 - 2.3 News - New Idol and Leather Items (links from World of Raids).

12/10/07 - 2.3 News - FAP Weapons post - PTR values
Syntax: Weapon = New (Current)
Pillar of Ferocity = 1059 (826)
Merciless Gladiator's Maul = 1010 (788)
Wildfury Greatstaff = 992 (733)
Gladitor's Maul = 829 (697)
Terestian's Stranglestaff = 829 (647)
Earthwarden = 712 (556)
Total approximate buff of 28% AP. Remember that due to the HoTW change this is a total relative buff of ~40% in comparison to the old values (826 -> 1164 = ~40%).

08/10/07 - 2.3 News - Heart of the Wild changing from +20% Strength in Cat Form to +10% AP in Cat Form. Feral Attack Power Items to be reviewed.

27/09/07 - 2.3 News - /cancelform recognised instantly (client side command)

Changelog
I'll try and keep this up to date with notes on what has been changed and when in this post.

09/10/07 - First posted.
10/10/07 - Intensity replaced with Reflection (talents). Seminarca quote (useful mods). Larisroth quote (bear/cat enchants). Added /cancelform to news. Added /cancelform (things to add). Added Spreadsheets section + link to Lolaan's. Added Useful Threads section. Added more useful threads (things to add). Attempted to clarify agility (bear stats). Clarified windfury (cat section). Added other items note and Toskk's link to spreadsheets. Seminarca quote (feral combat skill). Clarified defence part (bear stats). Haste rating change (stat rating link). Added threat generation part (bear post). Added crit immunity without SotF (bear stats). Clarified DPS gain from Raven Goddess idol. Trinket list + text (cat form). Added ashtongue talisman (cat trinkets). Added Malazaar AEP values post (cat-other items). More links (thread links - main post). Gems -> Itemlinks (cat stuff).
11/10/07 - Updated weapon skill-> Expertise (2.3 stats - cat form). Added Athinira blog + Rawr links (cat/bear posts).
12/10/07 - News on FAP weapons, and new items on PTR.
15/10/07 - /cancelform thread about implementation added (news). Cleaned up news section to be more consistent/easier to read. Added ring enchants (cat).
16/10/07 - Consumables sections idea "procured" from the Rogue thread (cat/bear).
17/10/07 - Added bear tanking boss list.
18/10/07 - auto-unshift command added to news.
24/10/07 - added Professions list (not completed yet).
29/10/07 - added Volden's spreadsheet.
31/10/07 - Corrected consumables summary(cat) - thanks Hobbes!
02/11/07 - Clarified swipe/lacerate threat crossover. Finished off the professions section (although could do with a better summary of engineering). Added links to the pre-raid bear tank set thread. Added growl/chall roar news.
09/11/07 - Added Flask of Chromatic Wonder to both cat and bear consumables, updated version of Voldin's spreadsheet, added another mixed bear/cat spreadsheet.
14/11/07 - Added "Making Posts" section, updated To Do list.
21/11/07 - Added Valerian's summary of set gear (Cat, Set Bonuses).
23/11/07 - Updated stuff for 2.3.
04/12/07 - Added Zul'aman list for Bear tanking (based from this post). Re-added "The Cat post" title and explanation on the second post. Revised the summary of windfury in this post.
10/12/07 - Removed reference to weapon skill from cat summary. Added hit rating and expertise section to bear post.
18/12/07 - Clarified bear tanking list (Illidan entry).
31/12/07 - Fixed Jewelcrafting trinket links (thanks caladein). Added Idol of Terror to the idols section (thanks the KRIS).
07/01/08 - Fixed armour value in Bear post (thanks Liar for pointing that out).
09/01/08 - Added "The value of avoidance" to the Bear post.
12/01/08 - Added "Threat Stats" to Bear post. Cleaned up stats sections of bear/cat posts to be in code boxes (much easier to read). Added news item about 2.3.2. Updated some of the formatting to better break up the sections in the posts, should make it easier to read/find bits.
13/01/08 - Added link to speed interaction chart (thanks for the link Mijae). Updated Voldin's spreadsheet link to 2.3.2 version.
18/01/08 - Changed High Warlord Naj'entus tanking description in the bear post.
19/01/08 - Removed 12 hit rating/added 24 attack power under jewelcrafting specific gems (thanks Pokkai).
22/01/08 - Added note about announcements in the making posts section of introductory post.
27/01/08 - Added Rawr to Cat spreadsheets/etc section, updated note in bear section to show it can be used for Cat too.
30/01/08 - Updated powershift macro (removed /cancelform.)
12/02/08 - Updated idols section for Raven Goddess in 2.4 (cat post + summary).
13/02/08 - Changed the set bonuses section to be clearer about 2t4 benefit (cat post).
28/02/08 - Changed Ashtongue Talisman of Equilibrium description/list order (cat post, trinkets).
25/03/08 - Added macro for pot-shift-pot with GCD protection (thanks Sadirin, bear post).
26/03/08 - Updated idols to make it clearer with 2.4 change to Idol of the Raven Goddess (cat post (idols) + summary). Updated hit rating to show that it uses the spell hit % but physical hit rating for taunt resists (bear post (stats) + summary). Added note about lacerate scaling with AP but it not having much effect on threat due to the way lacerate threat is calculated (bear post (threat gen) + summary).
01/04/08 - Adjusted Lacerate threat text for ability summary (bear post, threat gen).
20/04/08 - Updated Lacerate text and post link (bear post, threat gen) due to thread conversation.
30/04/08 - Added Haste and Armor Penetration text (cat post, stats).
16/05/08 - Added links to Allev's Macro's post in the Cat and Bear sections (powershifting and macros).


Summary

Catform:
- Stats: Agility is very good (primary stat).
- Stats: ~9% hit (142 rating) for the hit cap.

- Gems: Pure agility gems are the best. Still worth meeting the requirements for the Relentless Earthstorm Diamond though.

- Enchants: Most are "obvious", Runspeed can give more gains than is obvious though. Ring enchants (+2wpn dmg/+4 stats) are approximately equal in pure DPS terms.

- Set Bonuses: 2t4 ~= 4t6 >> *

- Idols: When in a group with 2 or more other physical DPS, [Idol of the Raven Goddess] is the best idol. If you are the only physical DPS, [Everbloom Idol] ~=~ [Idol of Terror].

- Trinkets: All high-ish end level trinkets are good, as long as it's not the Living Root.

- Consumables: Elixirs for non-wipe content, flasks for wipe content. Both are pretty comparable (major agility vs relentless assault). Food is easy to farm, use it!

- Powershifting: Making use of Furor to convert mana -> energy through shifting.

- Windfury: Would be a decent increase in DPS on initial inspection (~8%). Possibly not needed with the current cat DPS, but would still be nice to benefit from as a group buff.

- DPS Cycle: Mangle -> Shred to 4 // 5 Combo Points -> wait for energy (70+, 80+ preferably), Rip->restart.

Bearform:

- Stats: Agility is good, Stamina is good, Armour is good. A split of three is probably the best.
- Stats: You need 156 defence or 103 resillience to be crit immune with SotF. Mixing the two stats is fine, just make sure you check that you're still crit immune with rounding errors!
- Stats: Hit rating is good, Expertise is very good. A small amount of both can make a major difference! Hit rating will increase taunt hit (but 17% or 268 hit rating worth is needed to cap it).

- Gems: Agility is good. Stamina is good. A mix of both is also good.

- Enchants: Runspeed can give more gains than is obvious.

- Consumables: Major Agility elixir with Major Fortitude is the best combination, but for 'wipe content' you may want to use a flask of Fortification. Food is easy to farm, use it!

- Raid Boss Tanking: There are a couple of bosses which seriously favour Warriors due to abilities only they have. In most other situations Druid's are either slightly favoured (threat generation) or perfectly acceptable (disadvantages/advantages either way).

- Threat Generation: Mangle is very good. Swipe scales with DPS, Lacerate does but very minimally. Generally, if swipe does 225 damage or more on a default hit, it will do more threat than Lacerate.
- Threat Generation: If you're rage starved, don't use Maul. It's effective rage cost is a lot higher than you might think.