I cannot find a source for that, Helistar, but it's been that way for as long as I can recall for both rogues and druids - missed combo point generators refund 80% of their energy, and finishers only do when talented for (and don't refund anything if not).

After reading through i want to make sure I'm clear on the main points-
Most of the time Shred will be superior in dps output over mangle/mangle glyph by about 5%
There might be some cases where they are close to equal
At 5.4k GS level feral gear with no set bonuses I'm pulling very similar numbers on my experiments with the 2 glyphs and techniques. About 6k dps in ICC rep runs. (my guild doesn't yet run TOC or ICC yet in 10-25 so I'm trying to pug them)
It looks like for a growing (or gear leveling) 80 mangle spam may be a more attractive option up until tier 9-10 set bonuses and improved play. Certainly a easier rotation and postional situation to master as has been mentioned.
It appears that the loss of extra ticks off of rip are only slightly higher than the 10% mangle glyph gain.

The benefit you get from a Mangle spec is going to come down to how good you are at reacting to being unable to Shred due to bosses turning. If you can react and reposition fast enough, or rapidly adjust your ability priority so that you do not waste Energy regen or lose DoT up time, then obviously Shred is at an advantage. If you aren't able to handle that then you are losing damage potential because of it, and a Mangle cycle will likely draw fairly close to, or maybe even slightly overtake Shred. I think its definitely a method worth considering if, like me, you can't tell a bosses face from its arse half the time.

This seems like a good opportunity to bring up a topic for which I'd like to see a concise report: qualitative comparison of weapon enchants. Please point out any errors or ideas for better formatting/comparison.

Massacre / Scourgebane
Provides:
+ Massacre: consistent DPS on rapid target switches
- Scourgebane: requires Undead mobs*
Modified by:
+ Scales typically with crit, ArPen, haste
+ HotW
+ Predatory Strikes

Berserking
Provides:
+ Limited potential for timing CDs, DoT refreshes, and Shred bursts with procs
Modified by:
+ Scales typically with crit, ArPen, haste
+ HotW
+ Scales additionally with haste, via increased PPM

Mongoose
Provides:
+ Haste component increases OOC and other on-attack procs
+ Limited potential for timing CDs, DoT refreshes, and Shred bursts with procs
Modified by:
+ AP component scales typically with crit, ArPen, haste
+ Crit component scales typically with AP, ArPen, haste
- Crit component subject to soft capping
+ AP/crit component: HotW
+ AP/crit component: SotF, Imp. MotW, BoK
+ Haste component scales typically with AP, crit, ArPen
+ Scales additionally with haste, via increased PPM

Executioner
Provides:
+ Limited potential for timing CDs, DoT refreshes, and Shred bursts with procs
Modified by:
+ Scales typically with crit, haste, AP
+ Supralinear scaling with ArPen
- Non-concurrent procs with ArPen trinkets are sub-optimal
- ArPen subject to soft and hard capping

*Non-Undead mobs range from trivial (Gunship, ice tombs) to significant (bonespikes, PP's oozes). However, all non-undead ICC mobs also die quite quickly, yielding inconsistent benefits from all proc'd enchants as well.

Info from pre 3.3.3 is valid in regards to BQL data with Scourgebane. Her tracking as a Giant is during her RP while resurrecting the Blood Prince Council. She has always been an Undead while fighting her.

From the look of things, looks like Scourgebane is incredibly powerful for most fights, but I would personally have swap weapons for Transition phases on Put and Phase 3 of Sindragosa. Losing a single GCD during a time of no dps is not a dps loss.

I have calculated SB regarding predatory instincts a while back but switched back to Mongoose. If you rely on very steady damage SB is the way to go, for max DPS you want Mongoose, Berserking is WORSE than SB, Massacre is not even worth looking at. Compare those 4 enchants in Rawr or Simulationcraft... that's what I did. The only drawback (besides very little less DPS (Simulationcraft told me) of SB are the Oozes at profressor 25 HM, the rest are either UD or it doesnt matter.

I searched this thread and didn't find anyone bringing this up:

With the change to Mangle debuff time (now 60 seconds), is Improved Mangle 3/3 still worth taking? 6 energy every minute doesn't seem worth it. Of course this assumes that you are not mangle spamming and that for most fights you are capable of being behind your target. Those 3 pts could go into Feral Instinct 3/3 for the added AoE benefit.

I was talking to a guildy DK about Hysteria the other day on who should be getting Hysteria. Needless to say he was persistent in his reasoning of using the ability on himself since all he does is "Heart Strike and [something else which I forget off-hand]." But I digress. During the conversation I showed him this thread and he made a few comments about the Hysteria section that I thought should be looked at.

- He noted that feral druids have a similar problem to that of warriors that Berserking is hard to time with Hysteria the same way that Warriors have a hard time timing both Death Wish and Hysteria. yes Hysteria does not stack with but the timing is still the same.

- As a side note, I'm not sure if the Hysteria section has been updated with any of the other classes' rotation changes in the last couple of patches that could effect the amount of value the classes gain from Hysteria.

- the last line "As long as you are quite close to the top DPS in your raid, try to convince your Blood-DK or your raidleader, that you should get Hysteria!" The way the line is written a druid could go to a raid leader and have him tell the raid leader to order the blood dk to give the feral druid Hysteria. This could cause raid disputes.


any thoughts on these?

All things being equal (gear, skill at playing the class etc.), a feral druid will get the most benefit -- case closed (I don't know what you are talking about with 'timing', Berserk stacks with Hysteria and has the same c/d -- not sure what could be simpler). Whether you can navigate around the actual logistics of actually arranging that is another issue. One would argue that with the stacking zone buff (in ICC particularly) it matters very little anyhow.

I can kindof see where your getting that last part. Just doing some napkin math, if a druid is doing 10k dps outside of ICC, he only is gaining about 333 dps with hysteria. At the current 10% buff inside ICC he is gaining just 366 dps with Hysteria. With each % of the ICC buff one is gain 1/6th of the original value of hysteria, so that by the time 30% increase rolls around your only looking at a 433 dps increase. This of course only holds true if you do 10k dps now and don't gain any new pieces of gear between now in 30% (whenever that is given).

I'm using the formula (10k * (1 + ICC buff % ) * ( 1 + ( 20% * 30/180 ) ) ). I know this doesn't factor in other buffs and what-not just trying to get a general idea on the buff as it relates to the ICC buff.

I'm pretty sure that spikes are undead.