Feral druids

Tegellan · Post by **Tegellan** » April 24, 2005, 12:26 pm

I have had a bit of difficulty finding good info on how effective the various specialties in the feral tree is, so i thought i would check what experiences other druids have on here?

So far I am wanting to spec catform for groups, since I don't find myself soloing a lot, and I am pretty much always grouped with a warrior. I am thinking I will do the following this far:

Ferocity 5/5
Sharpened Claws 5/5
Blood Frenzy 5/5
Faerie Fire(cat) 1/1
Predatory Strikes 5/5
Feline Swiftness 1/1
Feral Charge 1/1
Improved Bash 2/2
Improved Ravage 2/2
Strength of the Wild 4/4
Primal Instinct 1/1

Thinking I will put the rest of my talent points into restoration for improved buffs and some healing aa's.

At the moment i am also pondering if improved pounce might be worth getting as well, is it worth it?

Also, I seem to remember Sylvos whining about getting polearms taken away, but also seem to remember him rejoicing about getting them back. Can we or can we not use polearms later on?

Thanks in advance guys.

Lynks · Post by **Lynks** » April 24, 2005, 2:36 pm

I rarely use pounce as it is. If I'm prowling and behind someone, I usually just backstab them, it does more damage.

Thats about all the ifo I can give since I'm a restoration druid.

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » April 24, 2005, 4:49 pm

Make a rogue.

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » April 24, 2005, 6:05 pm

I was originally a feral druid, but respeced to my current restoration/balance build. The feral build just didn't have any "must haves" anywhere within the tree (other than feral charge, which I do miss!).

Adding combo points and additional critical strikes just didn't seem to give me enough results. I'm much happier with skills like Innervate and Nature's Swiftness. Those 2 skills alone are enough to save the day. Innervate doubles your mana pool, or someone else's should you feel the urge. Nature's Swiftness is an insta heal. Add to that, is the fact that you will find yourself being called on to be healer in pretty much 80% of your instances and feral pretty much falls on the back burner. Oh yeah, don't even get me started on PvP and the feral build. You are cutting out a major portion of your bag o' tricks.

You said you play with a warrior as your partner. It seems to me that feral is not the direction to take your character. A feral druid and a caster would make more sense, but not with a warrior.

With the build I have I still usually go animal form for a portion of most fights by either starting in cat for a ravage/pounce, or end up in bear for tanking adds. Both forms perform thier roles just fine without being feral specced. I could not say the same about healing when I was feral specced. I especially use bear from in instances when I get multiple mobs on me and the group is too stupid to try and pull them off me. Bear from w/ frenzied regen is a lifesaver. Remember, you can always drop bear form for a Nature's Swiftness + complete heal, Bear from again, and pop up for a potion once you are low on health again. That combo is basically 3 lives right there and usually plenty of time for adds to either be pulled off you or killed by the group.

Tegellan · Post by **Tegellan** » April 25, 2005, 6:16 am

Well, I wasn't specific enough about my groupage, I partner quite a bit with a warrior, but I also group a lot with some friends who include a priest.

So i want to bring some decent healing power to the table for back ups, but also want to bring some utility in the form of the feral tree, so i cna sort of fill the roles that are needed, which will mostly be a damage dealer I suspect.

Bubba Grizz · Post by **Bubba Grizz** » April 25, 2005, 9:34 am

I took my Druid on Hyjal up the Feral path. I hit 41 before I switched to WW. I had 10 points in Resto right away, 5 in MoW and 5 in the one that keeps you from being interupted while casting a heal. The rest I put into Cat form skills or those that benefit both. My main goal was to get Feline Swiftness. Because I primarily solo'd at the time I wanted as much stealth as I could get. I could solo instances by bypassing the content and reach my goal.

Then I discovered that in Bear form I could solo mobs that are 4 levels higher than me. Starfire, Moonfire, Regrowth, Bear and then pop out to heal and either finish up with some moonfire or go back to bear. When frenzied regen came out that made it so I didn't have to pop out of bear if I had the rage built up. So I was going to put all my remaining points into bear stuff as I leveled on up to 60. But I switch servers.

Now I still play a druid but I am only putting 11 points into Bear stuff and the rest into Restoration. This is mainly because I do group a whole lot more and my healing has been pivotal in many battles. I am not a pvp type of person so I am not worried about going the Balance route. I'm too old to match twitch ability with all the kids that play. I still have moments of solo'ing so my Bear tactics still work and when in a group with a Priest who is healing you can backup heal, nuke, or off tank as the bear.

I am only 36 right now but I already have all the feral tree I need. Though as the game evolves who knows what may become the "IN" thing to do.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » April 25, 2005, 10:37 am

I've never touched the feral tree at all. I find that the forms don't have enough diverse abilities to make em worthwhile. Also the fact that you don't have access to your spells in forms makes them even less appealing.

Only time I use bear is when I'm soloing and get multiple mobs, cat I use purely when there're too many healers around in raids(this has happened to me only once...) and I wanna screw around or to get the drop on an unsuspecting pvp'er.

masteen · Post by **masteen** » April 25, 2005, 1:51 pm

Feral got a good buff this patch, but IMO, you have a lot of wasted talents there.

Pretty sure that Primal Fury would benefit you more for bear tanking than will extra combo points in cat. The shapshifted FF is kinda a waste as well, since you can just slip the FF on with Moonfire before you shift.

Tegellan · Post by **Tegellan** » April 25, 2005, 9:33 pm

What Feral buff are you refering to?

I think i am gonna try sticking it out with Feral for a bit longer, see how it works for me, but primal fury might actually be a better idea instead of cat the added combo points, i will take that under advisement.

Thanks for the input so far, and does anyone know about those damn polearms btw?

Post by **pyrella** » April 25, 2005, 9:40 pm

No druid polearms since they were called spears in beta =/

I personally was a Balance druid for 1-60 and then a Resto(innervate)/Balance for 60(raiding)

I keep a pretty mean bear kit and can hit 6400+ hp/6200ac, with another 1.5k ac once I finish farming guardian stones, and get my ring of defense.

Even with a high str kit, I don't seem to hit worth a crap in cat form, and there isn't enough utility in combat for it to be worth it to me to really ever use (stuns/blind/sapping/anything a rogue can do except occasionaly 'bigger' damage that isn't that special)

All 3 forms get used every day tho, so it's not that I don't value the feral abilities, I just find the spell casting to be most beneficial over all.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » April 25, 2005, 9:43 pm

I was fully feral up until around level 53, and I only changed because I play on a PvP server. The only time I would ever use forms in PvP was cat to gank someone.