So... Legion Feral (PvP)

[Krusza]

Still got no alpha access but I need to know what I'm going to be playing.

If feral is as fucking terrible as it was on alpha release I sure as hell won't be playing it. Any improvements?

[TZM]

Dont have access to Alpha.

Just by watching youtube vids, i think they are okish if you dont look at loss of instant Cyclone for example.

[Deleted]

Dont have access to Alpha.

Just by watching youtube vids, i think they are okish if you dont look at loss of instant Cyclone for example.

Instant clones were removed back in Mist of Pandaria right?

[Rivin]

Instant clones were removed back in Mist of Pandaria right?

Yes, in 5.4. What Feral is losing in Legion is Cyclone itself.

[Krusza]

Dont have access to Alpha.

Just by watching youtube vids, i think they are okish if you dont look at loss of instant Cyclone for example.

The loss of cyclone is one of the major things that makes it look awful. Initially when the alpha came out, I was holding onto hope that they were going to give us a replacement CC and feral didn't look "too" bad without it, on paper it looked like it was going to be awesome to play again with affinities, removal of shirvallah, removal of passive healing (both of these means we actually have to leave form again to offheal) and more of an emphasis back on the old damage-dealing style of low burst and high bleed damage.

However, when it was released on alpha it looked awfully boring. I've only judged from watching gameplay but it actually looked like the most braindead, dull, uninteresting spec ever. A huge disappointment for me. Since release it's also lost a few other things, one of which is powershifting... why? It just makes no sense to implement any of these changes unless you want to intentionally create a boring spec.

I've heard it's the case of a lot of specs on Alpha. A lot of the specs just feel god damn boring. I already found every other spec besides feral, balance and ret to be boring, so do I even bother playing Legion or what?

[TZM]

The loss of cyclone is one of the major things that makes it look awful. Initially when the alpha came out, I was holding onto hope that they were going to give us a replacement CC and feral didn't look "too" bad without it, on paper it looked like it was going to be awesome to play again with affinities, removal of shirvallah, removal of passive healing (both of these means we actually have to leave form again to offheal) and more of an emphasis back on the old damage-dealing style of low burst and high bleed damage.

However, when it was released on alpha it looked awfully boring. I've only judged from watching gameplay but it actually looked like the most braindead, dull, uninteresting spec ever. A huge disappointment for me. Since release it's also lost a few other things, one of which is powershifting... why? It just makes no sense to implement any of these changes unless you want to intentionally create a boring spec.

I've heard it's the case of a lot of specs on Alpha. A lot of the specs just feel god damn boring. I already found every other spec besides feral, balance and ret to be boring, so do I even bother playing Legion or what?

Well they are trying to make all specs ''more easy to play'', so no surprises there. I just have came to the point where i dont complain about it, because, whats the point?

About feral - i have feeling they are going more and more like ''pure dps'' clases that mean loosing utility. Is it a bad thing? probably.

p.s. just want to mention i am a filthy casual.

[Krusza]

So is there no one on this forum that's played it?

There's literally no good videos or anyone else talking about it PvP-wise. Can Blizzard sort out their damn beta invite prio so people who actually want to do in-depth class testing get it over people that only roleplay?

[Exerionx]

Can Blizzard sort out their damn beta invite prio so people who actually want to do in-depth class testing get it over people that only roleplay?

You and me both mate...

[Deleted]

Since release it's also lost a few other things, one of which is powershifting... why?

So no more cyclone and getting rid of roots/snares through powershifting, damn that seems quite bad for ferals.

I feel like all classes are made easier, less things to watch and do. I think its bad, boring and bland. I didn't like ithe transition from MoP into WoD and WoD to Legion seems to be even worse.

[Krusza]

So no more cyclone and getting rid of roots/snares through powershifting, damn that seems quite bad for ferals.

I feel like all classes are made easier, less things to watch and do. I think its bad, boring and bland. I didn't like ithe transition from MoP into WoD and WoD to Legion seems to be even worse.

You can still shift roots/snares but shifting into the same form has a cooldown. Removal of cyclone on top of it's current state in beta is going to probably make it unviable in arena. Berserk has been merged into Incarn which means it will last 30 seconds but you can no longer stagger the cooldowns. The fact they've merged these two abilities and buffed them means we probably have to always take Incarn over SR, meaning we're even more completely based around a 3 minute cooldown. I was actually hyped for this tier as I thought it was a revert back to cata where you only really had Berserk for your burst, but high sustained damage. It seems like it's either high sustained damage and no burst or no sustained damage and high(?) burst. They've heavily nerfed SR's damage increase as well as duration, so it's like they don't want people to take it. Considering there's a lot of dumb burst specs in Legion, you're going to have to take Incarn or be left behind. The removal of Nature's Vigil means that Incarn is going to be less of the god-mode it is currently as it won't give you the dumb self-healing that keeps you offensive during it.

Are there any good points? Not really.

Affinities looked promising, as well as the removal of passive healing/casting in form which may have brought that old feel that feral used to have back. It seems like due to the tuning that the best option is Guardian though, and it's the least interesting option. I was also looking forward to the approach of going back to bleed damage with some of the new talents which could be combined to make some sort of multi-dotting melee spec, which I think would've been really fun to play in something like FLS. Apparently even with these talents bleed damage is still lackluster though.

So what's left? Not much. A trainbot with poor survivability and mediocre damage with no utility based around a 3 minute cooldown that doesn't match up to most other spec's cooldowns. I don't see any reason to play it, mained it and spent hundreds of days on it since Cata and it's annoying I'll probably either have to reroll or quit entirely. I don't care about whether a spec is strong or not, but if it's boring to play AND awful in terms of viability, there's literally no reason to play it. Guardian actually has a lot more depth than feral at the moment, it's crazy.

[Turtlewithnoshell]

I was playing BGs on the beta and faced a couple of ferals on my rogue and hunter. They did a lot of damage, kept up well. That's all I've got for you sorry.

[Will]

Obviously tuning isn't complete, but what I am about to tell you is based on the CURRENT state of beta:

Guardian. I will PvP as bear. It's looking deliciously viable. It'll have strong survivability, an incredibly powerful artifact cooldown called Rage of the Sleeper, and pretty good damage. Combine Rage with Brambles and melee classes will practically kill themselves just by auto-attacking you. PvP-talents such as Enraged Mangle and Alpha Challenge allow you to dish out some serious damage. They'll have serious battlefield control, a 30 yd (talented) AoE gouge on a 30s CD, the ability to redistribute damage from their allies to them making a focal point for healers, extra mobility (Overrun) and all sorts of other disgusting benefits. A PvP talent will also enable taunt to make the target take 20% more damage from ALL sources which is great for nuking down healers.

So unless things change, no, I do not find kitty as appealing to play.

[Deleted]

You can still shift roots/snares but shifting into the same form has a cooldown. Removal of cyclone on top of it's current state in beta is going to probably make it unviable in arena. Berserk has been merged into Incarn which means it will last 30 seconds but you can no longer stagger the cooldowns. The fact they've merged these two abilities and buffed them means we probably have to always take Incarn over SR, meaning we're even more completely based around a 3 minute cooldown. I was actually hyped for this tier as I thought it was a revert back to cata where you only really had Berserk for your burst, but high sustained damage. It seems like it's either high sustained damage and no burst or no sustained damage and high(?) burst. They've heavily nerfed SR's damage increase as well as duration, so it's like they don't want people to take it. Considering there's a lot of dumb burst specs in Legion, you're going to have to take Incarn or be left behind. The removal of Nature's Vigil means that Incarn is going to be less of the god-mode it is currently as it won't give you the dumb self-healing that keeps you offensive during it.

Are there any good points? Not really.

Affinities looked promising, as well as the removal of passive healing/casting in form which may have brought that old feel that feral used to have back. It seems like due to the tuning that the best option is Guardian though, and it's the least interesting option. I was also looking forward to the approach of going back to bleed damage with some of the new talents which could be combined to make some sort of multi-dotting melee spec, which I think would've been really fun to play in something like FLS. Apparently even with these talents bleed damage is still lackluster though.

So what's left? Not much. A trainbot with poor survivability and mediocre damage with no utility based around a 3 minute cooldown that doesn't match up to most other spec's cooldowns. I don't see any reason to play it, mained it and spent hundreds of days on it since Cata and it's annoying I'll probably either have to reroll or quit entirely. I don't care about whether a spec is strong or not, but if it's boring to play AND awful in terms of viability, there's literally no reason to play it. Guardian actually has a lot more depth than feral at the moment, it's crazy.

I myself play a moonkin ( feral for 2's) and I think they are better off, losing the instant roots and NV hurts them a lot as well though. Having to choose between beam and cyclone is also not really ideal but cc is reduced across the board.

The druid depends quite heavily on their burst healing through NV to survive and with that gone and not many defensive cd's and healing that requires you to get away and heal up which still heals for lackluster amounts is pretty shitty.

I'll just wait for the tuning and see where it takes us. Maybe I'm just a bit paranoid.

[Krusza]

Obviously tuning isn't complete, but what I am about to tell you is based on the CURRENT state of beta:

Guardian. I will PvP as bear. It's looking deliciously viable. It'll have strong survivability, an incredibly powerful artifact cooldown called Rage of the Sleeper, and pretty good damage. Combine Rage with Brambles and melee classes will practically kill themselves just by auto-attacking you. PvP-talents such as Enraged Mangle and Alpha Challenge allow you to dish out some serious damage. They'll have serious battlefield control, a 30 yd (talented) AoE gouge on a 30s CD, the ability to redistribute damage from their allies to them making a focal point for healers, extra mobility (Overrun) and all sorts of other disgusting benefits. A PvP talent will also enable taunt to make the target take 20% more damage from ALL sources which is great for nuking down healers.

So unless things change, no, I do not find kitty as appealing to play.

I'm in the exact same predicament. I've been keeping an eye on Guardian and got a friend to test it, it seems like it's actually going to be really fun to play and apparently it's the strongest PvP tank at the moment. I'm not really sure about arena viability, maybe? They do bring a bit of utility with the growl and a few other things as well as doing a bit of damage. They're pretty much untargetable due to the strong damage reflection. Heard that besides the damage reflection they're actually pretty impossible to kill anyway, as they have so many cooldowns to burn through and apparently resto affinity swiftmend is healing shit loads. I'm really hoping Guardian stays as it is, maybe a bit of tuning but no more pruning/ability changes. As someone who got hero playing FC in RBGs during MoP I'd actually be really fucking happy if it was viable as a flag carrier again also. I'm not really that bothered about arena anymore, haven't been since WoD, definitely won't be in Legion.

[Crovyn]

I love the new cat form:

[Krusza]

I love the new cat form:

So any opinions from beta besides cosmetics?

[Crovyn]

So any opinions from beta besides cosmetics?

Actually yes:
Without getting into details, my general impression after working on dummies and doing PVP:

1.) you could also categorize this as "cosmetic" but the gamplay-FEELING is way better. It's insane what a difference the new sound effects and animations make. You really feel like a powerful big cat. I love it. Palying with sound off is almost a sin now.
2.) Gameplay itself fells very similar but I think the new talents offer more variety than we can see immeditely. The affinity talents can provide interesting pvp gameplay variants. Do NOT believe the youtubers who try to downplay it and give their "it's clear that you have to choose X here" BS. Bleeds are also more powerful. Overall the gamplay simply feels better than in WOD. I will have to get into it to figure out why that is and what's optimal, but the start is great.
my 2 cents

[Trample]

Well, I main an enh shaman (PVE) and a feral druid (PVP) since 10 years. And after a little less than a week on the beta, I can say that my new PVE/PVP main is my feral druid !

The gameplay feels more smooth with the good talents, and we are still really good in pvp but less "god mode" than in wod (and it's a good thing). And there are already some pvp videos on youtube.

[Krusza]

Well, I main an enh shaman (PVE) and a feral druid (PVP) since 10 years. And after a little less than a week on the beta, I can say that my new PVE/PVP main is my feral druid !

The gameplay feels more smooth with the good talents, and we are still really good in pvp but less "god mode" than in wod (and it's a good thing). And there are already some pvp videos on youtube.

Yeah, I've looked at the vids but I've not really found anyone good.

What makes it feel more smooth exactly? What makes it feel better to play in Legion? How does it feel having no CC?

[Trample]

We still have CC : the bash (for me the best one : on demand stun), and instant root. I never was a fan of cyclone. The smooth part comes from the energy handling. I find myself starving on energy WAY less than on live !
People just have to realize that Savare roar is NOT mandatory. When it was baseline of course you were supposed to keep it rolling for maximum DPS (obvious). But now it's a talent, the rest of the class is balanced around it being optional. I prefer 30s incarnation and even Soul of the forest (which was up by 50% by the way and now really feels quite good).
Elune's Guidance is also great for the smooth part feeling. And finally I LOVE Moment of clarity.