How are Ferals looking in 5.3? (Experienced Feral Druids GTIH!!!)

[Icecreamcake]

So how are Ferals looking in 5.3? I'm coming back and recently had to decide between Rogue and Warrior, chose Rogue but after catching up with all that I've missed, I'm really tempted to go back to Feral now. Only thing is mine is a Tauren and I wish I was a troll

Back to the subject, I miss playing Feral. I haven't seriously played Feral since WotLK and I loved Mangle, Rip, Rake, Shred, SR and all that! I think PvE wise it had one of the most exciting rotations and single boss fight! Which is why I like the Rogue so much, in single target DPS they're just amazing and such a rush! I saw that SR is going to be increase damage, but I keep hearing that in top teir Ferals don't really hang that well with Rogues.

PvP wise, I wasn't all that good at it. I had such trouble understanding when to properly cyclone, root and all that during PvP. Whichever class I choose to come back on I will definitely have the patience and determination to understand both classes strengths, weaknesses and strategies. I feel like Rogues are much better in dropping people quick, while Ferals definitely have that survivability and DoT damage with some burst capabilities in there as well.

I'd like to hear your anecdotes and experience perhaps playing one or playing against one. If I played Rogue I'd mostly be looking forward to PvP, while Feral I think I would have more fun overall since they can do a lot and are fairly decent (from what I remember but then again Blizzard likes to troll in buffing and nerfing classes each patch).

[ErothTV]

Rogue is FotM at this moment. Good in both PvE and PvP.

Feral is fine with PvE, but the rotation is much easier than in WotLK at the moment, example is the Glyph of Savagery, but still fun!
We lack like Retri Pallys, good sustain damage. The 5.3 Savagery buff will help with that, at least a bit. If you're going to play more PvP and You try to be good at it, remeber that Feral is a class hard to be good at or to master it.


In my opinion, at if I were You - I'd go Rogue, however I just leveled my Feral @90

Oh, remeber that You can see transmog on Your Rogue, and in catty, You can't see Your precious gear

[Paloro]

Feral is a very under represented spec. Not only is SR getting a 10% damage buff in 5.3, but tranq will also heal 12 targets up from 5 (in 25m) which helps in the category of raid cd's. If you like playing a feral, I would say go for it. I'm doing quite well with it this expansion and it is the most fun I've had with it thus far (since BC).

[Deleted]

Feral druids are doing alright... In my guild me and the other are pretty hige on the meter from fight to fight. If you manly wanting to know how the damage output is i'd say we'r not the worst spec atleast. However it isn't as rewarding when played well as many other classes are imo but it is by far in the top category in fun specs when you got it all down.

[Kraineth]

10% buff to SR in 5.3, catches me off guard since we're not bottom tier PvE wise at all, but hey I won't complain. And with Burning Seeds now in the game for perma fire-kitty I couldn't be more pleased.

The overall rotation is a lot more relaxed than it was in Wrath what with mangle no longer being necessary among other things, which gives us a lot more room to edge out more dps as we learn a fight.

[Pacab]

but the rotation is much easier than in WotLK at the moment

You're doing something terribly wrong if this is the case.

[ErothTV]

You're doing something terribly wrong if this is the case.

Oh, please.
HT with DoC was added only.
We have now Rip refreshed by FB, already mentioned Glyph of Savagery, Glyph of Shred..

[Deleted]

Oh, please.
HT with DoC was added only.
We have now Rip refreshed by FB, already mentioned Glyph of Savagery, Glyph of Shred..

Somehow I get the feeling you just trolling...

Please do not post just to call someone a troll.

[Dysheki]

Oh, please.
HT with DoC was added only.
We have now Rip refreshed by FB, already mentioned Glyph of Savagery, Glyph of Shred..

I agree, probably just trolling, however: Savagery/Shred glyphs are more or less quality of life glyphs and don't really lower the difficulty of anything druids do.

WotLK style feral is easier. You had the same things to worry about before and now you have DoC to deal with on top of it. How much easier is up for debate, but which is easier is not.

[Paloro]

Since I've been playing feral since BC, I feel that I can say that Mists DoC/RPPM feral is nearly 2x as complicated as Wrath feral.

We have now Rip refreshed by FB, already mentioned Glyph of Savagery, Glyph of Shred..

I'm not sure how this makes the rotation easier.
Refreshing Rip by FB is just another thing to look at (target <25% hp) and overall just increases damage during that time.
Savagery makes the opener slightly more complicated if you are using the 3 second "tick" component of it. Again though, it increases your damage from having it up 100% and allowing Rip to be applied faster.
Glyph of Shred can actually be considered a dps loss in some cases. With SotF, Mangle is the new cp generator regardless unless you are in berserk or under TF.

[Verain]

Rogue main here. My druid is my alt.

Feral is undertuned, but is being buffed. Rogue and Feral both bring some great tools to the raid, so consider what your group is looking for the most. The things that feral excels at over the rogue are mostly utility based- heart of the wild is not at all trivial, and the innervate / battle res are still things outside of the rogue scope. Note that smokebomb is a powerful raid cooldown (20% less damage taken for 7 seconds if glyphed), and of course feint allows a rogue to save healer mana, cover misplays, and stay on target longer. You also gain the ability to swap guardian in mostly the same gear, which could be important depending on how your raid is configured.

The feral rotation and the sub rotation are pretty similar, with rough equivalents, but if you go rogue you'll probably be playing mutilate for most of at least this tier.


I would recommend you choose based on what you want to play, and what your guild needs. Feral tuning should be addressed next patch, and both are solidly fun with rewarding rotations.

[Kojo]

Innervate...lol

Anyways we'll see where this 7% damage buff takes us, my wager is it's not far.

[Paloro]

Innervate...lol

Anyways we'll see where this 7% damage buff takes us, my wager is it's not far.

Where do you get 7% from?
SR is getting buffed by 10%. Multiply your average uptime of SR by 0.1 and that is the % of buff you should receive.
Last night I had no less then 99.2% uptime on any fight so at minimum it is a 9.92% flat damage increase.

[SilverSnake]

Where do you get 7% from?
SR is getting buffed by 10%. Multiply your average uptime of SR by 0.1 and that is the % of buff you should receive.
Last night I had no less then 99.2% uptime on any fight so at minimum it is a 9.92% flat damage increase.

Savage Roar is being buffed from a 30% damage increase to a 40% damage increase. That means, with SR up, you will be doing 140% damage instead of 130% damage. That is not a 10% increase but rather roughly a 7% increase. (130 * 1.07 ~= 140). To be a 10% increase it would need to go to 143%. (130 * 1.10 ~= 143). Assuming a 100% uptime.

Almost just semantics, I know. But that's where 7% comes from and it's not wrong.

[Paloro]

Completely forgot it was 30 to 40 and thought it was 10%. Your math is correct.

[Icecreamcake]

Yes the character looks are one of the main downside to a Druid, you are basically one skin the whole game regardless of gear. Not to mention sometimes Taurens look ridiculous with their gear.

I've looked a bit into Cat DPS more and it does seem more intriguing, still a little complicated for me in PvP and seems to be that I'll need a lot of luck on that aspect of the game lol.

One of the other reasons I'm considering Druid over Rogue is because I can go Bear off spec then tank and/or farm for mount drops which is something I'll also want to do. But like I said, I'm scared about the PvP aspect as it is something I want to address when I do start playing shortly here again soon.

[Verain]

It's a common mistake. You'll frequently see stuff like "Master of Schlongs increased from 150% to 160%", and you have to do 160/150 = 6.7% instead of the incorrect 160-150 = 10% to get the overall damage boost.

Innervate...lol

Anyways we'll see where this 7% damage buff takes us, my wager is it's not far.

I don't know why you would lol innervate. It's not amazing, but it's still a button. The question was a comparison with a rogue, and rogues definitely don't have innervate.

I suspect the buff will take you about 7% farther :P

I don't think ferals are too far off from where Blizzard wants them, but they are below, so up they go a bit.

[Sunfyre]

I don't know why you would lol innervate. It's not amazing, but it's still a button. The question was a comparison with a rogue, and rogues definitely don't have innervate.

Innervate gives 10% of the casters maximum mana over 10 seconds. That's 6000 mana. Really not worth shifting to cast it. Innervate was specifically changed to nerf ferals giving it to other classes.

[aggixx]

Innervate is worth using if you're in a period of a fight where you can't attack anything and on yourself for more mana to buff/rez. That's pretty much all it's good for as feral (and guardian).

[Sunfyre]

Innervate is worth using if you're in a period of a fight where you can't attack anything and on yourself for more mana to buff/rez. That's pretty much all it's good for as feral (and guardian).

Right, but listing that as a bonus over a rogue is pretty silly.