I agree that some new mechanic there would be welcomed. Every class getting passive haste skill is getting somewhat old and im big fan of new twists and toys in the game.
Finisher that increases all damage done, stacking +dmg debuff (maybe something like Rampage) or hell, even something that would make Rake usable.

Druids already do pretty incredible threat gen, so a little more won't really change much. Besides, you' be crazy to use WF over Agi totem for a bear tank imo. I really don't think it would change much in terms of tanking right now.

Some ideas for revising Rake:
o make the bleed stackable and rollable
o remove the bleed and add
- stacking mob -haste debuff (like TC)
- stacking mob armor pen
- stacking party haste buff
- mob debuff increasing damage from spells
o renew all bleed effects on the mob

This is most likely precisely the kind of post that is frowned upon in these forums - a "help me" kind of post - but I've been trying to wrap my brain around the math for several days now and it doesn't appear to be happening.

I recently joined, as a trialist, a high-end raiding guild (5/5 MH, 7/9 BT). I'm a feral druid (obviously), specced 0/47/14. The guild I was previously in was at the "stuck on Vashj and Kael'Thas" stage; the new guild no longer really does SSC / TK much, except when a batch of trialists need to be attuned to MH / BT.

In all my previous raiding at 70, I have been mostly employed as a tank, only functioning as added DPS in the "too many tanks for this encounter" situation. Because of this, I've been mostly focusing on improving my tanking gear first and foremost, with my DPS gear as a second priority. (I've also been ridiculously unlucky with droprate, but that's neither here nor there.)

However, in this new guild I have so far been mostly used as DPS. I suspect this is simply because I undergear the encounters, and an undergeared tank is more dangerous in a raid situation than an undergeared DPS. I don't know whether (assuming I pass the trial) they want me to function primarily as a tank, as a DPS, or even both. They're fine with the fact that I'm undergeared (I've been pretty literally told "it's fine, you'll get geared up fast").

The issue, for me, is simple. I know a good chunk of the issues with my current DPS output are simply that I'm undergeared. However, I would still like to know that I'm doing the best I can, under the circumstances and until I get better equipment. Therefore, I have a few questions.

Empirical evidence, as well as posts on this forum, suggest that the basic optimal DPS cycle for a feral druid is Mangle, then Shred until 5CP, then Rip - rinse and repeat.

1. Some sources suggest waiting until one has 81+ energy before applying Rip and resuming the cycle. I'm assuming this is so the Mangle debuff won't fall off while Rip is ticking.
   However, assuming that Mangle is indeed in danger of expiring, I was wondering what would be the best course of action in terms of increasing both my DPS and the raid's (assuming the raid's using bleeds and therefore would also get buffed by Mangle being always up) - reapply Mangle immediately when it expires (whether I have 81 energy or not, whether I have applied Rip or not), therefore wasting the combo point, or waiting anyway? Does it even make any significant difference?
2. Following on from the above: should I get lucky with crits and build up 5CP when the previous Rip is still ticking, what loses me more damage - to wait until Rip has ticked off to resume specials, or to keep performing them in the meantime (while ensuring I have enough energy to Rip as soon as it ticks off)?
3. And following from the above: I've heard some people mention that if your first Mangle and Shred crit, and you find yourself with 4CP from two specials, it's better in terms of sustained DPS to Rip immediately rather than waste a CP should the third special also crit. Is this correct? It sounds silly to me, but I'm terrible at maths and I would not want to be doing something wrong simply because it "sounds silly".
4. I've been, off and on, using Maim as a finisher (no matter on how many CP) on mobs that are of the caster type (or otherwise have channelled abilities such as Whirlwind), for the sake of the interrupt and reducing overall damage taken by the raid. This often implies watching my energy bar and only performing Mangle / Shred when I have enough energy for that plus Maim (or when it's incoming in the next energy tick).
   Exactly how badly am I gimping my damage by doing this? Should I just not care about energy (and therefore only have the chance to interrupt when an energy tick happens when the mob is casting)? Should I not care about interrupting at all and let other people do it instead?
5. Ferocious Bite as a finisher (on non-bleeders): I've been waiting on using FB and instead, casting an extra Mangle or Shred even though I have 5CP, if I have a lot more energy than FB takes, because the energy-to-damage conversion rate is so lousy and I figured it was better spent on an extra special, since it does more damage there - CP or not. Recently, though, I've read that on non-bleeders, one should FB immediately on reaching 5CP (no matter what) and then carry on. This seems to me more of the "oh no, you're wasting CP" silliness, but again - I'm not good at math, so I'm unsure.

Secondly: while I would like to avoid this post sounding like one of the multitude of "please rate my gear" threads that seem to sometimes pollute the official forums, I've been wondering if I could possibly squeeze more DPS out of my current gear, pretty sub-par though it is. (Note: in case the armory decides to not behave, as it apparently is right now - my second trinket is Hourglass of the Unraveller, I use Everbloom Idol in raids, and my chestpiece is Shadowprowler's Chestguard.)

1. Unless my calculations are wrong (which is fully possible), I'm barely at the hit cap counting the feral attack skill rating on the Clefthoof Hide Leggings and the two-piece Wastewalker set bonus.
   I have Gloves of Dexterous Manipulation, Wastewalker Leggings and Ring of a Thousand Marks in my bank.
   Gloves of Dexterous Manipulation, on their own, are an upgrade over Wastewalker Gloves; the issue is I lose more +hit than I can afford to. Originally, I thought of replacing the gloves, replacing Clefthoof Hide Leggings with WastWastewalker Leggings (thus keeping the set bonus) and either using Ring of a Thousand Marks or gems to cover for the missing +hit. The math, though, is doing my head in, and I wouldn't particularly want to go through gear replacing, re-gemming and re-enchanting only to find myself sitting at roughly the same DPS output. So - assuming I lack access to epic gems beyond what drops in Heroics (since the guild, wisely, does not hand them out except for Tier5+ or equivalent items) - what's the best combination of items and gems in those three slots (though I'm also willing to re-gem other items, if it takes that) in terms of DPS output, without shorting myself on +hit? Should I even bother, or should I just wait for gear upgrades?
   Or should I just bite the bullet and get myself a Shapeshifter's Signet?
2. Furthermore: I've heard many, many good things about the two-piece T4 set bonus in terms of DPS. The problem is simple: I have only two pieces of T4, gloves and legs. They're both enchanted for tanking (15agi on the gloves - which is good for DPS as well, or at least I would reckon it's better than strength - and 40sta 12agi on the legs, which is, well, less good, and which I'm also loath to re-enchant as it was expensive and I would still like to use these legs for tanking as I've nothing better).
   The guild doesn't do Gruul or Maghteridon at all, and only does Karazhan rarely and for alts, so unless I luck out with a PUG (ugh), I don't have very many chances of getting other pieces of T4. That, and using the gloves and legs for DPS would hit the same issue as mentioned in point 1 - I'd be shorting myself on +hit (and therefore would need massive re-gemming of other items to make up for that).
   I'm just not sure exactly how much two-piece T4 is worth in terms of DPS, and therefore I have no idea what would or would not be worth losing to get it - because my impression is that the potential DPS loss from changing gems to be massively +hit and using the "wrong" kit on the legs might not be worth the potential gain from the set bonus.
   (Note that I would have no issue re-enchanting the T4 legs if I was 100% sure the guild wants to use me only for DPS, and I'll never use them for tanking again... but I'm not, and until I am or I get a replacement, I don't think it's worth it.)
3. Lastly: could I squeeze more DPS output from my gear by re-gemming or re-enchanting anything? (I find this quite probable, given that I'm fairly clueless about maximizing DPS output as I've never done it before - but I wouldn't really know even where to begin.)
4. For that matter - is there a program or website anywhere that would let me "try on" various sets of equipment (including gems / enchants) and see what the results are in terms of DPS output? (Something similar to what Rawr is for tanking item comparisons, in other words.)

And finally: Idol of the Raven Goddess versus Everbloom Idol. Assuming I'm stuck in a melee DPS group (which is typically composed of two rogues, a DPS warrior, an Enhancement shaman, and me): at which point, if any, does the extra crit rating on the whole group outweigh, in terms of raid DPS, the benefit I get from Everbloom?

I have ran searches, but haven't found much - which is why I'm asking. If I somehow missed a relevant thread (or two, or five) in my searching, feel free to throw things at me.