Infraction for pqueiro: 2. All opinions should be stated as succinctly as possible.

Kaubel · 02/01/09, 9:52 AM

Post: [Druid] The WotLK Feral PvP Thread
User: pqueiro
Infraction: 2. All opinions should be stated as succinctly as possible.
Points: 1

Administrative Note:

Message to User:

Quote-splitting.

Original Post:

Yeah, the new changes do allow for those points to be rearranged. As sweet as 200-something mana per shapeshift is, there comes a point where your limiting factor becomes your healing rather than your shifting, so you're basically paying 5 points for 4% crit in cat or 4% damage in bear, and that's just silly.

I went with Protector of the Pack and Imp. MotW, as that benefits not just me but my team mates as well.

As for going bear while being nuked, I have a sort of "Oh Poop" macro that does Trinket -> Bear -> Barkskin (or rather, should do that >_>) - I'm not terribly sure about macro syntax, so I'll refrain from posting it, but the idea is that over 10 seconds or so I should get a 22% damage reduction. It's pointless against mages - instead of three-shotting me they now four-shot - but it helps against undergeared rogues and DKs.

As for the questions posted by the OP:

Originally Posted by sal

1. What PvP Gear:

PvP gearing order. What is the value of a medallion of the alliance, off-set pieces, PvP set pieces/bonuses, PvP piece (glove?) bonuses. What pieces of gear should a druid obtain and in what order - does PvE gear change the order a feral should obtain PvP gear.

I don't pretend to have a definitive answer to these questions, but generally speaking, at the moment it's much easier to gear up through PVE than through PVP. It's silly, but it's true. For feral druids in particular, burst is so silly that trying to tank through it is useless unless you have a kickass healer and they fail to CC him/her in any significant way. Seeing as there's no defense in our gear and resilience only accumulates significantly *after* you progress quite a bit up the ladder, stacking stamina is meaningless when a mage can output 20k damage in three or four spells and then keep spamming Arcane Barrage until you die - or a muti/prep rogue/retri pally can keep you stunned more than long enough to kill you, or a DK can heal himself more than you can, etc etc etc.

The solution, then, is to stack agility, strength and AP; hit rating and expertise are nice as well against pesky rogues or prot-specced warriors and pallies. The point is, obviously, to burst them before they burst you. In these areas, PVE is far more rewarding than PVP; you can get lvl 80 epics off heroics easily enough.

In my humble opinion, as long as you have an epic Medallion (of the Horde if you don't mind :P), you're better off running heroics to gear up, unless you happen to have high-end Season 4 gear.

Originally Posted by sal

2. What PvP Stats:

What stats should a feral value in gear selection. For gems - Meta, Red, Yellow, Blue - what should be gemmed. What values of stamina or resilience are effective for what bracket. Enchants?

meta - agi+crit, armor, spellpower damage reduction

red - agi, strength, ap, dodge

yellow - haste, crit, hit, resiliance

blue - stam, mp5, spirit

Agility > Strength > Crit Rating > AP, and this goes for all gems/chants. Use of mixed-colour gems is recommended to get the socket bonuses, as is the use of a prismatic +6 to all stats gem in that extra socket you're getting on your belt :P

Essentially, try to improve your damage output as much as possible. I personally favour agility because it gives you AP in cat form, dodge, armour, melee crit chance and +healing if you have Nurturing Instincts. I also favour Strength over AP because at high enough values, the 6% extra from survival instincts makes a large difference, especially because those 6% are then affected by the extra 10% from Heart of the Wild.

Originally Posted by sal

3. PvP Spec:

How should a PvP feral spec dependent on group / bracket. Examples below show the difference between a full dps and full control spec.

I had the control spec, but my point was DPS without sacrificing too much survivability.

My guess is that your style of play matters more than your specific spec, and the success of your style of play is more dependant on your gear than your spec (assuming, ofc, you have a minimally sane spec; no dumping 20 points into resto and then complaining you can't get yummy things in the feral tree etc).

Originally Posted by sal

4. Compatible Groups:

Aside from a skilled partner do certain team compositions work better than either? For various brackets/groups does this change any of the previous conversation values.

I believe ferals stack up best with other melee classes due to Leader of the Pack. Stacking up with a healer can be tricky, as ferals can be nuked down much too fast by two dedicated people, and despite pairing with a good mage being nearly a guarantee of high ratings, in terms of class convergence I don't think that works particularly well.

Originally Posted by sal

5. Feral PvP role:

When should a feral heal/stun/dps/kite. What form should a feral be in typically to be most effective in general PvP arenas.

Depends on your partner and what you're up against, obviously. I used to play with a rogue and now play with (that's rogue's alt, actually, he says the rogue is boring nowadays) a DK, and things were working well enough until the "new system" came along. We peaked just shy of 1700.

When I played with the rogue, we'd take advantage of our stealth to settle on a strategy, but generally it revolved around me opening in cat, getting some damage in and then going bear to tank through their burst while the rogue unloaded his DPS (hopefully) unhindered. With the DK it's different now, and it even changed when he went from Unholy to Frost. Generally speaking though, he's the one (usually) tanking through bursts while I do DPS.

Kiting, for a feral, is rather pointless, as you can't slow them from afar and the only ranged damage you have in feral form is Faerie Fire in bear, which is silly.

Generally speaking, what I do is DPS while I can, keep my stuns to interrupt spells as much as possible; go bear if I'm being targeted so as to minimise damage and maximise self-healing (Frenzied Regen/Lifeblood/Endless Healing pot). I never kite, though I do run and use pillars to my advantage when I need to heal. As for healing, I have a Lifebloom macro to heal my partner and mostly use that. I'll try to pull off the occasional Nourish if our strategy isn't working and I need to stop to think for a moment (or rather, if I can stop for a moment...).

Originally Posted by sal

6. Feral vs class/team:

Depending on role on the team, and value of certain aspects to compensate or pair with partners what strategies should be used against specific teams to kill the opponent.

Always go for the healer. If their healer is a pally, pray it's a bad one.

If you have a DK partner you can try to DPS through a Resto Druid's healing, but only as long as you stop the druid's Healing Touches.

Don't be afraid to use your Maim early on (as an exception to the stuns-as-interrupts rule) to boost your Shred DPS, for which you'll obviously want a glyph. If I want to maximize my DPS I often open with Pounce - Mangle - Shred - Tiger's Fury - Maim - Shred etc. On a 2-DPS setup this can mean a dead healer on the other team before his/her partner can understand what's going on.

If you're left vs a Mage, better hope he's nearly dead.

If you're left vs a Lock, better hope it's not in an arena where he can easily teleport out of reach (Blade's Edge being the foremost example).

Versus Rogues, you'll want a few things; Protector of the Pack is a must. Barkskin during their bursts' early days as well. Remember they have Preparation, so you'll have to tank through two bursts; don't leave bear form until the second burst is over. Use Barkskin for the first one and any bear-form healing skills you have for the second. Bash is priceless for buying you time to heal *and* to let you do some DPS, as they can't dodge while stunned, but avoid using it when he has Evasion up - the fight will likely be over by the time the CD is done and odds are you'll lose that priceless stun. Also, don't let them take the eyes and vanish from your sight.