The thing is, some of the talents have a greater increase for dps vs a greater increase for tanking. Due to the fact that you HAVE to go 11 points in to resto (I wish I could swing 16 to get Master Shapeshifter), that leaves you with 60 talent points at max level to get every useful talent in the feral tree for dpsing and tanking. With the changes to Ferocious Bite and the Feral Aggression / Rend and Tear buffs to it, you'd need 66 talent points and this is skipping Brutal Impact, Nurturing Instinct and Primal Tenacity entirely.

The idea of having to choose between Bear and Cat in your spec is annoying because neither will be as good as the class you're imitating. You don't scale as well as a rogue in cat form and you don't tank as well as a warrior in bear form.

Why even bother to spec feral if no matter what you do, you can't do it as well as a base class. The old argument of other utility has no merit any longer because it's not accurate at all. You're not going to jump out and battle rez someone when you're tanking, so why list that as a benefit of the class?

You cannot dps and heal like the corresponding main class with the same spec and/or gearset.

Beside that: If I do not the same dps (bit less due to lotp) as a rogue, why would I deserve a dps slot in a fight where it matters? Think of Brutallus: you don't kill him beofre enrage, you raidleader ask you to make oom for a rogue. What will you reply? "Hey, but I can come in and heal if you want"? When it comes down to min/maxing, you either are competetive or not. If you're not, it's not going to help you that you would be able to respecc and do something else sub-par.

Oh, and if ferals are not allowed to be competetive with at least their tank or dps pendant, why are trees?

That's a really stupid comparison, sorry. Sure a druid CAN change roles and gear and become a healer. But that isn't what I am arguing. If that rogue really wants to play a healer then he can level one. Maybe that druid really DOESN'T want to play a healer and enjoys being feral only.

The feral tree is a separate beast (forgive the pun). You have two rolls in that tree, tanking and melee dps. You shouldn't HAVE to choose between the two within the one tree.

Currently, the fact that you get both in one tree is balanced by the fact that you're 80% to both roles. Having you choose one or the other without making you 100% in the one you choose is lame. In the expansion, if I choose to be a cat-based melee dps, then that dps should be able to be as good as a rogue's dps. If I choose to be a bear-based tank, then I should be able to tank as well as a warrior.

A Cat-specialised Druid shouldn't be 100% of a rogue. Rogues don't bring a crit buff, res or refill anyone's mana bar. A Bear-specialised Druid does need to be 100% of a Warrior since caster form utility isn't accessible while tanking.

Don't forget that there's still that whole 'two talent builds that you can swap between' thing that may be coming, which will let us swap between Cat and Bear specs perhaps. Dunno when you'll be able to swap though, perhaps any time out of combat, perhaps only back at a trainer... Who knows, but that's definitely relevant.

I would agree though with them splitting talents up between cat and bear more, if they want us to specialize in one.

Cat should be on par w/ fury warriors if they are going to redo the whole tree as cat and bear.

I seriously doubt they are going to redesign the entire tree however. More likely that blue doesn't really understand what they are talking about. Remember this same one that thinks kitty does equal rogue DPS currently and that the Lich King talent trees are already split into cat and bear.

Could any beta testes clarify how the new predictive movement system works with regards to feral combat.

I read beta notes (I believe) on the subject yet I had understood that it was a combination of both hitbox size and latency that would factor into the inability to properly hit targets without being on top of them.

Is it now that when in cat & bear forms the hitboxes of your opponent are passively increased in size for only you ?

This is not a limitation of your talent trees, it's a limitation (by design) of your class as a whole.

It isn't an acceptable limitation with the looming changes to the feral tree requiring you to pick one role to excel at (dps/tanking)

You left out the part where even though you excel at one role, you're still pretty damn awesome at the other one.

A secondary spec, or talent bank, or whatever would help, but.... I also seem to think many folks are wanting a little too much. Sure we want to spec appropriately for encounters, but there is so much to be considered. Do you plan on tanking 5 mans, 10 mans, 25 mans,OT,MT, etc? A spec for 5 man where you are pretty much guaranteed to be the only tank might require a few extra points in one area vs. a 25 man tank spec that has many classes providing buffs/debuffs. In the case of a 25 man tank I can't see where things like IW and Feral Aggression would be required. Those few points right there pretty much give you everything you need to DPS **and** tank in a 25 man.

So to me I think the big tree is nice it really does give flexibility and allows us to "specialize" a bit.

ON EDIT: People are talking like DPS vs. Tank is some huge change, when in reality it's simply swapping a few points around. I think this is getting a bit blown out of proportion.