Druid Changes Patch 3.1 - Page 8

nightcrowler · 02/08/09, 7:45 AM

Originally Posted by Fallenangel

Remember that a warrior/paladin's block % is additive with his avoidance. So for (random numbers) 50% avoidance and 25% block, he will actually block 50% of non-avoided attacks. Of course for paladins this is usually 100% of non-avoided attacks due to holy shield.

True, so the uptime for warr and druids will be similar afterall

• Melthu · 02/08/09, 9:27 AM

What's interesting to me is that this could change the way we tank. Instead of mashing our abilities every GCD it may be preferable to stagger Mangle/Lacerate/Swipe once every boss swing on occasions where we have enough threat to slow down our ability usage. I'm not excited at the thought that in order to be a better tank you have to sit and *not* do anything for periods of time, but I suppose it's not that different from what healers do now in order to get OO5SR mana regen.

halmmar · 02/08/09, 10:28 AM

Killing a 3-minute boss like patchwerk 7 seconds sooner would probably help you more than "blocking" even an extra 10-20 hits. Go for 2800 DPS while keeping up Demoralizing Roar and FFF instead. I'm sure that's better.

mandala · 02/08/09, 2:34 PM

My main question, concerning resto--> will spirit become a more desirable stat, or will we value intellect more.

Also, with WG being added to "revitalize," will that make it a viable talent?

Playered · 02/08/09, 2:44 PM

Originally Posted by mandala

My main question, concerning resto--> will spirit become a more desirable stat, or will we value intellect more.

Also, with WG being added to "revitalize," will that make it a viable talent?

Impossible to answer either of these right now before we see the real numbers from the PTR.
The worth of Spi/Int is based around what happens to Innervate. If it is left as it is then Int will go down slightly in value and Spirit will go down a lot (compared to MP5), if it gets compensated to match the new regeneration values then nothing changes much at all.

Mijae · 02/08/09, 2:55 PM

Originally Posted by Melthu

What's interesting to me is that this could change the way we tank. Instead of mashing our abilities every GCD it may be preferable to stagger Mangle/Lacerate/Swipe once every boss swing on occasions where we have enough threat to slow down our ability usage. I'm not excited at the thought that in order to be a better tank you have to sit and *not* do anything for periods of time, but I suppose it's not that different from what healers do now in order to get OO5SR mana regen.

The amount of the shield is relatively small and would only be useful in saving us from an attack that would 1-shot us. So, this tactic would only work when trying to reduce some significant damage hit like Sarth breaths. If he wasn't immune, it would effectively be like Twilight Torment dancing again. It will be next to impossible to use this on any boss ability that does not have a cast time or reliable set timer (which are both quite rare).

IMO, this does the exact opposite. The change makes it such that we need to spam abilities. If we slow down our offense, our defense goes down as well.

nightcrowler · 02/09/09, 2:45 AM

Mijae, I suppose Melthu missread the notes (as I did at first glance, sometimes Blizzard english is worst than mine).

The shield will be earased on the next hit we take, not on our next hit.

I think that there was the confusion of Melthu, because was also mine at first (and of many other druids if you read the official forum)

Daboran · 02/09/09, 4:48 AM

My concerns about Savage Defense are similar to others here.

SD definitely has its flaws, even if numbers show it theoreticallyy better, there are plenty of boss and trash scenarios where we would be losing mitigation from armor in favour of a shield that doesn't really help in that situation.

Changes:

- There should be a minimum total damage requirement to drop the shield rather than have it drop on any damage at all, else low damage or something like reflected damage e.g from Thorns negates any advantage the shield gives.

- A decent suggestion earlier was that the shield should proc whenever we are hit based on our crit chance and attack speed, not proc as a result of our crits themselves. This would cure some odd situations such as stuns or Twilight torment.

I really hope there's not an internal cooldown on the shield proc...

nightcrowler · 02/09/09, 5:04 AM

Patch 3.0.9:

Ferocious Bite: This ability now only uses up to 30 energy in addition to its base cost.

I really hoped they removed completly the extra energy.

Centarion · 02/09/09, 5:26 AM

Yeah... Doesn't fix anything for FB´s raid-utility.

Other cat-regarding change to rogues:

Slice and Dice: This ability now increases melee attack speed by 40%, up from 30%.

*facepalm*

Ja7us · 02/09/09, 5:53 AM

Originally Posted by Centarion

Slice and Dice: This ability now increases melee attack speed by 40%, up from 30%.

*facepalm*

That's obviously meant to address the massive gutting that Mutilate took. It's to compensate them in PvE while nerfing them in PvP.

Originally Posted by nightcrowler

Patch 3.0.9:

Ferocious Bite: This ability now only uses up to 30 energy in addition to its base cost.

I really hoped they removed completly the extra energy.

That was my hope, as well. It really seemed like the obvious solution.

Pzychotix · 02/09/09, 6:10 AM

I honestly don't get why they didn't just remove the entire extra energy portion to it.

I don't think there's a single feral druid that supports having FB using the extra energy.

Centarion · 02/09/09, 6:26 AM

Probably because they don't want to simple turn it into a simple copy-version of Eviscerate.

Nitz · 02/09/09, 6:28 AM

They nerfed Mutilate damage to reduce burst while maintaining sustained DPS.

Korhaug · 02/09/09, 7:00 AM

Originally Posted by Centarion

Probably because they don't want to simple turn it into a simple copy-version of Eviscerate.

The FB concept is not neccesarily bad, if the damage from extra energy scales correctly. Making the DPE on the extra energy better then mangle but worse then shred can make it an interesting option to play with.

That said, I'd prefer a copy of Eviscerate.