cyal8r

Just one thing that really bothers me. One of my favorite sets is the craftable Wild Draenish armor set. My playstyle uses a primary feral build with 11 points in Ballance to obtain Improved Moonfire and Insect swarm. On a PvP server, I find too often I need an insta ranged attack to improve my DPS, and these two upgrades in the ballance tree have really proven worth it. Insect Swarm in particular is an ecellent low mana sustained DPS spell needed in a relativly low Mana Pool feral/hybrid build. At any rate, the Wild Draenish set really compliments this play style.

http://thottbot.com/?set=614

This set is directed toward the true hybrid druid with stats for Feral (+str, +agi) decent armor, and stats for casters (+int) as well as some nice stamina. The Bonus include +damage&Healing as well as some nice +STA and +Healing set bonuses.

Since this set is green and ranges from lvl 58-65, it is not an end-game set. The only thing that even comes close is the single lv 69 leather item "Stylin Jungle Hat"

http://thottbot.com/i25682

So why no end game hybrid set like this? Specificcally with +dmg AND +Heal with STR and AGI stats? I know you can mix and match, but that kills your ability to get set bonuses.

I mean, for a true hybrid class, you would think you would have a true hybrid set of armor. Any thoughts on why a similar end game set does not exist? Is Blizzard saying hybrid is not a legitimate end-game PvP/PvE option?

 

Bovie

The short answer is that outside a small handful, no Druids want such a set.

There used to be a bunch of epic hybrid pieces in Heroics, but Blizzard changed them into legitimately powerful Feral pieces. Most of us are pleased.

There are still a few hybrid-ish pieces left, though. The Moonglade and Gladiator's Dragonhide sets come to mind. A lot of Feral pieces still have +Int on them. Alternatively, why not just string together strong Feral pieces with strong caster pieces?

 

DecimusGarona

The feral and balance trees and playstyles don't really compliment each other very well, and neither does gear designed for both. If you want gear that adds bonuses to both, just get caster gear in some slots and feral gear in others. I wouldn't hold my breath for blizzard to release some brand new itemization that would probably be used by less than 5% of one of the least played classes in the game.

 

mek

To me, str/agi and spelldamage are completely contrary stats that don't belong on the same gearset, as you can only ever capitalize on one or the other at a time; either you're in caster form and missing out on feral dps, or you're in feral form and missing out on caster dps. +Healing has a use, as you can shift to blow your spare mana and shift back; and int has a point as it increases that mana pool, allowing you to shift more and heal more between shifts. Spelldamage and feral stats? It's simply bad itemization.

Between feral charge, nature's grasp, entangling roots, sprint, travel form, +movespeed cat talent, being able to break snares and roots, and +movespeed pvp set bonuses, druids really really don't have a problem with closing to melee, so your emphasis on instant ranged dps seems odd. If you simply do the math you'll see that melee stats are far more beneficial for increasing your damage done than +spelldamage being applied only to two dots.

If you really want some spelldamage when you find yourself at range, weapon swap when you shift out of bear/cat, and click a +dmg trinket.

 

cyal8r

I can see your points, but still...they went to the trouble to create the Wild Draenish (and other pre TBC sets) in the first place so it makes no sense to me not to follow up to end game. I also respectfully disagree about feral and Ballance not working together. They do if you use them correctly. Two insta dots help on targets that are running away, they can be used to open a fight at range when you are already in combat and cant stealth. There are just too many situation where in large PvP fights you simply cannot maximize your DPS using only feral forms. Not to mention you may be required to stay back an heal/DPS because you have pleanty of tanks but not enough healers or DPS. I guess I like being able to help my team be adapting on the fly...I like to think that makes me a different kind of threat and asset than just roaming around in bear form hoping to get a Mangle crit and pray my bash does not get doged.

 

subscience

Perhaps mix & match by slots? Adds a finer bit of granularity and you can decide which stats are more important than others.

 

cyal8r

Well, my plan is to use this set (assuming i can make the push in Leatherworking from 360-375 and farm heroics)

http://www.thottbot.com/?set=618

The craftable Windhawk set seems to be the best bet for overall +damage and +healing and has decent armor. Not sure what I will do with my other slots...probly 5man drops/quest items for rings/cloak/trinket and 4 items of the PvP dragonhide set (head. gloves, legs, boots) FTW. And the Earthwarden of course...only 10 more Steamvalt runs now...gah...

 

Kretschmer

"Hybrid" gear is rejected by the vast majority of druids. Most players don't want to water down their primary role for stats that are used on a minority basis. The gear that you want would be disenchanted by 90+% of druids.de.

 

Kullulu

It would be interesting to play a tri spec druid with a gearset to back it up. An upgraded wild draenish set with lots of sockets could fit the bill, along with an end of dreams upgrade.

 

Dalamar

No, it really wouldn't be interesting to play a trispec, it would be like having 3 level 55 druids on 3 different computers that couldn't be used together.

 

cyal8r

One thing your guys have to keep in mind is that the value of a Hybrid Druid places much more emphasis on the ability of the player to adapt and be effective at whatever role they are filling at the time. Even assuming the end game gear for a hybrid existed, few would choose it becasue of the difficulty of the playstyle, not its effectiveness. Most toons are one trick pony's. Rogues Stunlock and crit you to death, Warlocks fear you and dot you to death, Pally's bubble and bore you to death...well, you get the point. A druid (and to a lesser extent a shaman) are the only classes that could potentially beat you by attacking and defending using a variety of playstyles. In 5V5 you never know what your are going to face. Being able to become a backup Tank, Healer, melee, or Caster DPS gives your team an edge...at least a potential edge. Again, assuming you know when and how to alter your role.

As an example, opening a 5v5 stealthed in Cat, doing the Pounce, Mangle, Rake, maim dance...pop out, heal the tank, Dot the casters, cyclone the healer, then go bear and charge/bash...adaptablility means your team has less predictablility...in general I think that is a good thing...but I know I am in the Minority.

 

oldmandennis

Jumping on the pile - this is a bad idea.

Your description of 5v5 is OK, except nuking with such a modest amount of spell damage isn't going to do very much, even if you had the set you wanted. A rejuvenation uses the same GCD as moonfire, but heals for much more especially when you consider that +heal is cheaper then +damage. If the other team is attacking you, you need to get back to bear ASAP. If not, throw out a root or start catting something down.

If you remove the nuking, which is by far the weakest part of your sequence, you can go with the Moonglade or Gladiator's sanctuary sets, which will serve you very well.

 

Larisroth

A better question would be where's the end-game feral crafted gear. It's especially sad as we (kind of stupidly) share set tokens with warriors and priests, two numerous classes with multiple sets of gear, in our 25 man runs we typically have 10-12 of those classes, so it's hard to get tokens.

I can sort of understand why most of the raid drops are orientated to rogues, although given that far too many of them seem to have no agility on then which is sad.

Before they added a couple of recipes in the last patch that drop in raid zones, there was only heavy clefthoof that I'd really consider feral druid gear, and that was pretty crappy. It has since been buffed, but it is still blue and no match for the BoP sets that every other spec in the game seem to get.

The feral druid is a different beast altogether.

 

Kullulu

Yes it *really* would be interesting. If you wanted the ability to nuke, claw stuff, and have an instant heal, you might be open to the idea. That may not be your cup of tea, so be it. Would it be so terrible to even have the option?

Eschewing specialization while gaining more flexability is what I'd like to try if gear existed for it. In no way do I claim this would be ideal for pvp, arenas, raiding, 5 mans, or sitting in shattrath.

Edit: It would be nice to have a set with the bonuses designed for that Beliandra. Moonglade's shifting cost reduction almost fits the bill, just tune a few stats (+healing -> +damage/healing).

 

Beliandra

But the gear does exist for this playstyle. All you have to do, as several have suggested already, is wear a mixture of feral-styled pieces and balance-styled pieces. Voila! True end-game hybrid gear!

 

Randor

As T2.5 for warriors were a mix of tank and dps gear, all I can say is either match pieces individually or use itemrack as needed.

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Boevis

It was interesting. Back when I did it as part of the PvP grind to Warlord. 19 Balance (4 Vengeance) 11 Feral (charge) 21 Resto (NS). Back then it was very feasible because of the much lower health, unbuffed Moonfire was an easy 5% of someone's life back then compared to the maybe 3% it is now. A good druid was one that knew when to stun-shift-heal, root-starfire-moonfire, FC-run-root-HT, etc.

What killed the full hybrid? Honestly, the removal of shapeshifting's immunity to snares while shifting killed the PvP druid, a warrior mashing hamstring can keep a druid within reach no matter how fast we mash that button. As such, shifting is less important. When running away from 2 intelligent people, you will die with few exceptions (luckily I rarely face 2 people with more than half a brain).

Now, Feral is a DPS bastion with bearform, we don't match most classes survivability+dps (odd that we aren't very "hybrid" in this area per se), but we are capable of attaining higher survivability while maintaining non-ignorable DPS (Mages being the opposite as glass cannons) And Balance is still a very powerful tree when combined with Resto for NS, nuke for 3k, heal for 7k mmmmmm. Because the tree's are powerful, there's no real reason to Hybrid that much, a Moonfire to kill someone that's running away doesn't require points in Balance.

Don't get me wrong, I love the Int on my Feral sets, it helps me power shift, heal myself (how many rogues heal themselves after shatter/cave in/watery grave?), rez someone and still be able to shift a few times, or step back and heal when it's unsafe for me to DPS (Maulgars WW, bad Infernals on Prince) But I don't need, or want more caster stats than than necessary eating into my primary role's stats. I'm already kinda bummed about how much +healing is on the arena set, while I do cast heals sometimes, I'd prefer more Sta to match other classes survivability, or more Agi to increase my damage. Almost all of my mana pool goes to shifting for energy/rage or casting cyclone.

But if you really want to boost your caster stats ... look to your weapons. You can get +200 spell damage +idol by swapping those 3 slots. Happy spamming.

 

Kink

Quote says it all. I really do not understand this mental block a lot of people have. I had a friend whine to me about how he is no longer a true hybrid because the feral sets became more feral and lost a lot of their caster stats. I asked him why he does not mix up his sets and he sort of just felt a bit dumb after that I think. If you want to be a caster and a feral druid without switching gear, wear half and half. Use rings and trinkets to balance out what you lack. I really don't see a problem here =/.

There is light at the end of the tunnel.
The only problem is, it's often an incoming train.

 

• Daboran

While I agree mainly, there is the issue that due to item budgeting you gain more if you equip many items with 5+ stats on them rather than a split of items with only 3 stats on them.

 

Farstrider

I'm not sure why I'm even responding to this dreadful thread, but there is a decent amount of hybrid gear out there for you if you care to look for it.

The Windhawk set is a good starting point, but there is also lots of gear with feral stats and +heal, like the Dreamstalker stuff from taking Halaa, as well as the whole Moonglade set. There are a handful of rings like the Spellsword's Mark of the Redemption :- http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31076 and you can just tailor your trinkets to match. Switch your weapon when you change forms and you're doing about as well as you can.

For those moaning above that you can mix and match gear, sure you can, but you are overlooking the fact that you'll tend to get slightly better value out of the itemization formula by using perfectly budgetted hybrid gear, but it's not a massive deal.

edit:- Snap.

John O'Groats to Lands End 2009 for Leukaemia Research