How is feral?

[AutomaticBadger]

I'm thinking of coming back, after loosing interest with having no one to play with even though I don't have anyone yet but eh I want to kill Garrosh so much, and as such I think I need a start over. I like having a class that can do anything, I was a Paladin, and thought I would try either Druid or Warrior given both can tank and are pretty fun to play usually. Anyway.

How is Feral? Is it hard to learn and get going? Is it really poorly represented in general? How is the damage thy deal? Would you recommend someone plays it as a main spec with a Bear or Boomchicken offspec? I always liked specs that used dots since it was a case where being off target wasn't breaking on the output of the spec.

[Tarazet]

Feral is one of the easier specs to play, and they appear to be removing what little difficulty it had in 5.4 with the change to DoC. If you use a mod like Cat's Eye to track bleeds and debuffs and follow the priority list from Icy-Veins, you can play at full potential pretty easily. Sims put Ferals in the top 25% DPS specs currently.

[Aleksej89]

If you like rogue or monk-WW then you will probably like feral.

Bear and Resto specs can also be used to quickly amass JP/VP+fastQueues and buy gear for your Cat/Moonkin specs.

Feral has, in my opinion, a few annoying things - the short duration Rake bleed that needs constant reapply, the Savage Roar active buff that passively increases damage (i don't like those types of spells), and the short-cooldown Tiger's Fury that tends to make the rotation feel hectic/frantic.

However Feral is a good spec, has it's uses in both PvE and PvP (one of the rare melee specs who is good against casters/hunters).
Depending on your talent choices even their off-healing is good, and in PvE you can Heart of the Wild to replace a tank/healer if needed for 45 seconds.

After you get sufficient gear (Crafted/5manHC or Honor Gear), i suggest going Feral and Moonkin specs (if you prefer dps) since they are very different and provide a lot of fun in both PvE and PvP, allowing you to swap as you feel like or is needed.

[vlobben]

Sims put Ferals in the top 25% DPS specs currently.

Real world logs put them in the bottom half though. Sims does not tell the entire story.

[teddabear]

I won't comment whether it's difficult but comparatively speaking most consider it the most challenging spec in the game.

[Pacab]

Feral is one of the easier specs to play, and they appear to be removing what little difficulty it had in 5.4 with the change to DoC. If you use a mod like Cat's Eye to track bleeds and debuffs and follow the priority list from Icy-Veins, you can play at full potential pretty easily. Sims put Ferals in the top 25% DPS specs currently.

Bad trolling and to top it all off uses terribly made sims to say top 25 %DPS.

0/10

Infracted. Please do not accuse others of trolling.

[Mormolyce]

I've always felt the ferals have the most complex (read: fussy, high maintenance, annoying) melee rotation personally. It's like a Sub rogue before Blizzard made all those quality of life improvements.

Real world logs put them in the bottom half though. Sims does not tell the entire story.

Sims top 25%, logs put them in the "bottom half"? Sounds like they're middle of the pack, ie well balanced.

[dashflash890]

Feral is one of the easier specs to play, and they appear to be removing what little difficulty it had in 5.4 with the change to DoC. If you use a mod like Cat's Eye to track bleeds and debuffs and follow the priority list from Icy-Veins, you can play at full potential pretty easily. Sims put Ferals in the top 25% DPS specs currently.

Played all classes and specs feral is not one of the easiest ever played a fire mage ,Elemental Shaman, survival hunter, MM hunter? THOSE are the easiest specs.

[Deleted]

Feral is rewarding (particularly with DoC the way it is) but it is a dot class with positioning requirements and micro-management. Most dps classes are easier to learn and play well but that's generally why people play feral

[cFortyfive]

I think decent. Good singletarget, decent aoe and good mobility. Rather durable especially with symbiosis. Raid support isn't that impressive though which might be a problem.

[Deleted]

Sims top 25%, logs put them in the "bottom half"? Sounds like they're middle of the pack, ie well balanced.

I consider Ferals a bit over average if only damage is compared, but Boomkins are so much better. Their damage is more or less the same (except on a Patchwerk fight where Feral pulls ahead slightly), but the Boomer utility is so much better.

[Tarazet]

I consider Ferals a bit over average if only damage is compared, but Boomkins are so much better. Their damage is more or less the same (except on a Patchwerk fight where Feral pulls ahead slightly), but the Boomer utility is so much better.

What specifically are you thinking of? I think in some ways Feral utility is actually better thanks to Skull Bash and no need to use a glyph for Stampeding Roar. It is going to take a hit with the Innervate nerf though.

[Deleted]

What specifically are you thinking of? I think in some ways Feral utility is actually better thanks to Skull Bash and no need to use a glyph for Stampeding Roar. It is going to take a hit with the Innervate nerf though.

When someone mentions raid utility i think off. Banners SL Smoke Bombs etc, We do have tranq thought :-)

[vlobben]

Sims top 25%, logs put them in the "bottom half"? Sounds like they're middle of the pack, ie well balanced.

Sounds about right to me

[Deleted]

When someone mentions raid utility i think off. Banners SL Smoke Bombs etc, We do have tranq thought :-)

And a bit of off tanking
I've reset so many stacks on some of the ToT encounters. I recall an Iron Qon kill where we lost our second tank halfway through the last dog. I reset his stacks what... 3 times?

It is going to take a hit with the Innervate nerf though.

Don't worry. Innervate only gave 6k mana before. "You come from nothing, you're going back to nothing. What have you lost? Nothing."

But yeah.. in a lot (read: most) of cases it would probably be more beneficial for my raid if I was a balance druid. I just hate the spec compared.

[Honnycorns]

Moonkin are awforkingsome at the moment. Not the top dps but very strong in pve because of their tools and tranquility.

Bad side is they require good gears to have a significant output, and a tracker such as Weakauras would be required for Dots and Procs tracking.

Feral is cool, but I felt like it wasnt a spect I would enjoy in pve. I do pvp as both feral and Moonkin and enjoy both, but for pve, I am the master chicken.

[Senathor]

Well feral is by far the best melee for arena if you ever get into that. Immune to slows roots. Passive mini sprint. Tons of sprints. Tons of CC and damage and defesnives. They have everything.

[Glurp]

Feral is one of the easier specs to play

I fell out of my chair. Feral is easily the hardest spec to play properly behind Warlocks. You show me your Feral logs if you think they are easy to play and I'll judge them.

[Tarazet]

I fell out of my chair. Feral is easily the hardest spec to play properly behind Warlocks. You show me your Feral logs if you think they are easy to play and I'll judge them.

If you take out the complexity of DoC - which is, after all, a talent and no one's forcing you at gunpoint to take it - you have an easy rotation that just requires a bit of pacing and patience. It's nothing like the kind of crazy machinations you perform to play a Demo Lock.

[Glurp]

If you take out the complexity of DoC - which is, after all, a talent and no one's forcing you at gunpoint to take it - you have an easy rotation that just requires a bit of pacing and patience. It's nothing like the kind of crazy machinations you perform to play a Demo Lock.

Note the point where I said to play it properly. This includes perfectly managing DoC, Rune of Reorigination and Renataki's Soul Charm ontop of the normal Feral rotation, which is still hard to maximize completely in terms of maximizing Ferocious Bite damage without hurting your other damage.