Probably not, but i'm waiting till some / all Zul'Aman drops are known.
Most Badge Rewards are nice but no match for BT counterparts.
I beg to differ! That Idol of Terror blows Idol of the White Stag out of the water, assuming the proc rate is really decent. Does anyone know if White Stag Idol got changed on PTR or is it still the same?
I would currently not trust the wowhead information regarding FCSR, because it is still not clear if they can already show the expertise rating in their database.
Wait till Monday for correct information from wowhead or till I some of us got onto the test realm and have checked their equipment.
I'm at ptr and at least Clefthoof Hide Leggings, Earthwarden and Shapeshifter's has FCSR converted directly to expertise (ie, Shapeshifter's has 20 expertise rating)
I'm at ptr and at least Clefthoof Hide Leggings, Earthwarden and Shapeshifter's has FCSR converted directly to expertise (ie, Shapeshifter's has 20 expertise rating)
That is good to hear, now does expertise actually do anything for druids?
I beg to differ! That Idol of Terror blows Idol of the White Stag out of the water, assuming the proc rate is really decent. Does anyone know if White Stag Idol got changed on PTR or is it still the same?
Assuming you are mangling once every cycle, it seems it's a bit better than Everbloom Idol.
Edit: Sorry didn't see it's been discussed before.
That is good to hear, now does expertise actually do anything for druids?
Based on the official description of expertise, I'd say yes:
As cat you'll fight only gain one benefit, anti-dodge, unless you get your expertise high enough that the anti-parry is larger than a mob's parry value, at which point you could in principle attack it from in front (which you are not going to do anyhow, because you want to shred, but the inherent possibility is there - that particular hypothetical is probably of more interest to rogues with combat-swords build).
You'll be able to achieve a higher total reduction in attacks that don't land since the expertise substracts from other portions of the "I'm not hitting stuff" than hit rating does. That's not just good, it is potentially great, but it comes at the cost of having to achieve your 9% hit solely through hit rating gear. In conclusion, you can get a better total reduction in the number of attacks that don't do damage than in 2.2 but it makes more gear to achieve it.
For tanking or praticularly offtanking feral weapon skill was bloody marvelous, and, again based on the official description of it, it still looks bloody marvelous - just in a different way. Sure, it won't give you as many more harm-dealing blows vs a L73 as weapon skill would (3% for 5 weapon skill), but reducing the mobs ability to parry by 1.25 % is almost worth it by itself without even considering the dodge reduction. I'm pretty sure that we all hate mobs parrying us, especially those unfortunate parry streaks that occasionally do happena and can turn a merely bad situation into a nightmare.
The interesting thing is, of course, whether it works in practice the way it is described in the patch notes.
What's most interesting is that they used to want weapon skill rating to be a PVE-preferenced stat, and now it looks to be the ultimate PVP stat.
BTW-- does this change make [Shoulderpads of the Stranger] really, really good? Am I putting my Shadowprowler's in the bank so I can use my T4 chest for the set bonus instead of shoulders?
i dont like the changes...
AP instead for STR will make us just scale way more less...
They sould make it Feral Strength not FAP
No AP is better for scaling than STR, it should be placed in Preditory Strikes and not Heart of the Wild. Changing Strength is more or less a slap in the face to all the itemization up until this point. They might as well make us a 1 stat class at this point, agility is the only stat we need as it is the best DPS stat, the best tanking stat, the only Hybrid stat and one of two stats which increase our combo point generation.
I am kind of annoyed at this point, am I the only one that thinks Feral Loot should be better DPS than the rogue alternative when properly gemmed and enchanted? With the changes and the nerfs to shapeshifter's now I am forced to pull out up to several rogue loots to reach the hit cap while looking for expertise that no feral gear has. Is it time for a reitemization of feral loot? Well other than sticks, cuz those have needed a fix for several months now.
Part of me shares your viewpoint (You probably can find some old posts on the Feral threads telling various people why making feral spec have an AP multiplier vs a Strength multiplier was a 'bad idea') but as it is, there are more options.
Feral loot almost universally has int and armor tacked on. Previously, even with those drains on item budget, it came out around to 'the same' DPS value as rogue loot due to the fact that Strength was 20% better (not counting kings/sotf yet) and AP was just plain shit.
Now that Str and AP are more balanced in terms of DPS value, rogue loot with no item points spent on AC/int will definitely come out farther. It doesn't make aforementioned feral-specific loot obsolete though, just shifts its focus more clearly into a tanking or hybrid raid role.
After I got over lamenting the death of the feral druid's itemization niche, it really seems that much better to have -guaranteed- itemization in future, regardless how many upgrade tiers go in the game.
Now that Str and AP are more balanced in terms of DPS value, rogue loot with no item points spent on AC/int will definitely come out farther. It doesn't make aforementioned feral-specific loot obsolete though, just shifts its focus more clearly into a tanking or hybrid raid role.
The real problem is that the extra armor on items is rare so these are invariably our tanking items...yet they all have int on them which is completely useless if you're raid tanking (its pretty useless as raid dps too in fact...I have more than enough mana to powershift, Bres, innervate and tranq as needed).
I would really like to see Int become something useful for actual Feraling, not just being able to shift and "heal", expertise seems like the perfect stat to turn Int into. Perhaps a redesign or addition of Preditory Strikes to change Int into Expertise at like a 25% rate, or just items with int = expertise in feral forms.
Hmm one can dream.
On a side note, just got on the test server. Yes one button shifts with pots and other no gcd abilities do infact work on a one button macro. It appears as an instant shift and I do see a mana bar during any point.
I really think it is time for a legit blizz made addition of Druid Bar for us..
I would really like to see Int become something useful for actual Feraling, not just being able to shift and "heal", expertise seems like the perfect stat to turn Int into. Perhaps a redesign or addition of Preditory Strikes to change Int into Expertise at like a 25% rate, or just items with int = expertise in feral forms.
Hmm one can dream.
On a side note, just got on the test server. Yes one button shifts with pots and other no gcd abilities do infact work on a one button macro. It appears as an instant shift and I do see a mana bar during any point.
I really think it is time for a legit blizz made addition of Druid Bar for us..
Have you tried powershifting? Curious as to if its a single button press to essentially set your energy at 40 (which would be sweet). Also if you start a shift during the global cooldown does the 1 button switch fail?
Why on earth would they not give it expertise as a trade stat for Shapeshifter Signet? Perhaps the change over is not complete. I hope so otherwise the ring is now only worth vendor fodder.
<read the followup posts - appears this is a wait and see that is likely to be in our favor - happy to have several expertise items within reach versus 1 or 2 FCR items>
I can't get the single button macro to shift me back into cat form. I'm using /cancelform /cast Cat form and it still requires two clicks. Same with stopcast thrown in there.
That aside, I believe the [Idol of Terror] has a 10s cooldown. I couldn't get it to refresh even once over a hundred mangles. However, it does indeed seem to be 85% proc change. It will take a lot more testing to verify but it was up on my first mangle on 19/20 mobs.
After a little bit more testing, you can only shift from one form to a different form via macro. It just drops you to caster form if you try to go from cat->cat or bear->bear.
After a little bit more testing, you can only shift from one form to a different form via macro. It just drops you to caster form if you try to go from cat->cat or bear->bear.
Hmm thats kinda pointless then...I suppose it has some PvP usage but almost NO PvE usage. Is it the same if you try shifting and doing something in between the shift (like pot?)
Also, since I cant get on to test it myself, make sure you remove the Safe Shifting or whatever that option is that doesnt let you shift too quickly in cases of lag. That could do it too :P
Yes, you can go bear to cat and drink a pot all with one click. I tried [nostance] and various other things as well as disabling the secure ability toggle. No luck :/
Also, there's a BB like trinket from Zul'Jin which is 150 ap average that might be better than current endgame trinkets for us (at least it's a viable alternative).
BTW-- does this change make [Shoulderpads of the Stranger] really, really good? Am I putting my Shadowprowler's in the bank so I can use my T4 chest for the set bonus instead of shoulders?
Between the Expertise and HOTW changes, it does seem nicely itemized for cat DPS:
Whether it's worth swapping out other items, to deal with the tier4 bonus, will no doubt have to be calculated out.
Wow, pillar still got str which is the most awesome stat for tanking ... oh wait, maybe not.
So they just upped AP but still left it as a sidegrade to wildfury, sigh. Why cant they just change the str into agi to make it really nice staff.
Maybe it's going to require us to spam report suggestions on the PTR for them to change the Str to Agi on Pillar of Ferocity. We had to do it for T4 gloves, worth a shot for this too.
edit: The funny thing is, changing the Str to Agi would not only make it better for tanking, but for DPS also =x
10/12/07, 1:09 PM
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