Can't decide Feral or Balance 7.2.5

[Experimantal]

Hello all!

This question probably got asked multiple times already but not having found the advanced search engine for the forums, the basic one was no luck to find a thread I wanted :/

I am currently leveling my druid and start to really like all the shapeshifting of the druid etc all of the nature aspects of it, but seem to have reached an issue: I cannot choose weither i want to proceed as a Balance or Feral druid! At high level I know my secondary spec WILL be guardian (that tower bear form!) but I seek my main spec here.

Both are fun to me, being a laser shooting dot-ing monster or a blood ripping sabertooth, it is incredibly fun.

If you wonder of my other classes experience, I have a ilvl 900 Rogue, Paladin and a Shadow Priest who is recently level 110.

Could you please advice me about those two specs, as I have heard for exemple that Feral isn't in a good spot right now, better than before since 7.2.5 but that it isn't it still and that Balance isn't that good but neither is it bad in raiding.

Thank you all in advance!

[Myztikrice]

Feral is slightly ahead of Balance in ST and far behind in AoE. You are not in a world top guild so play whatever you find more fun. Community perception of Balance is stronger than Feral atm.

[Experimantal]

Thanks for the answer, the problem is that both are equally fun, hence why I ask people advice on the matter, not in term of damage (because as long as I do not get kicked from PuGs I'm happy) but more maybe mechanics, look of animations etc

[Julmara]

play balance why woud you play a melee when you have the chance to play range

[Lucifer Morningstar]

Since you are going to be having your secondary talent spec set to Guardian, I would say feral is the way to go since the Feral gear is mostly Mastery based, which is good for tanks as well.

However, what I noticed from playing Feral is that it's VERY gear dependent and I could barely catch up with my peers playing in a top 50 ranked guild. You do have to put in double their effort to keep up. Probably not going to be topping meters in a while.

Balance on the other hand does well with low gear, and even better with higher gear. Shines in AOE and is all around the go to spec for dps.

Your choice will most likely be between what's more fun to you, compared to what's best for the group/raid/team/guild.

P.S. Cat Magic tower is lovely

[Experimantal]

play balance why woud you play a melee when you have the chance to play range

Range with space lasers! But isn't it fun to also prowl in the darkness and shred your unknowing prey to a bloody mess?

Since you are going to be having your secondary talent spec set to Guardian, I would say feral is the way to go since the Feral gear is mostly Mastery based, which is good for tanks as well.

However, what I noticed from playing Feral is that it's VERY gear dependent and I could barely catch up with my peers playing in a top 50 ranked guild. You do have to put in double their effort to keep up. Probably not going to be topping meters in a while.

Balance on the other hand does well with low gear, and even better with higher gear. Shines in AOE and is all around the go to spec for dps.

Your choice will most likely be between what's more fun to you, compared to what's best for the group/raid/team/guild.

P.S. Cat Magic tower is lovely

Are you sure about the stats? Icy vein top 3 stats for Guardian says Versa > Mastery > Haste, and for Balance Mastery > Haste > Crit so mastery wise it does have similarities, but yes versability wise no as it the lowest for Balance (I also know it should be Haste > Mastery for Balance dunno why Icy Vein inversed those two)

[Skyden]

Hello there! long time Druid here and have played both feral and balance. Without a doubt the play style of feral is extremely difficult and hard to pull off correctly in a raid environment which is why you see so many feral do poorly. If feral is done right they can perform decently well but for the amount of effort and power curve of player skill unless you REALLY want to be a sparkle cat balance is the way to go. Now (Tier 20) there has never been a better rendition of balance in the history of the game. Our ST rotation is smooth and fun along with being able to have decent movement from pooling 130AP (aka 3 star surges). and our AOE is king on a few of the fights in tomb. I can not say enough good things about balance currently and I would highly recommend jumping on the Chicken Train. Feral is getting changed in 7.3 so if you change your mind I would in the least try feral next patch once they sort out a lot of the class design problems. Cheers!

Edit: Balance normally runs with a lot of mastery in their gear so if you want to run guardian as a secondary a lot of the gear you'll end up using in both specs. Of course trinkets you'll have to swap but if you were feral you would have to swap them out anyway to tank ones. Hope this helps!

[Experimantal]

Hello there! long time Druid here and have played both feral and balance. Without a doubt the play style of feral is extremely difficult and hard to pull off correctly in a raid environment which is why you see so many feral do poorly. If feral is done right they can perform decently well but for the amount of effort and power curve of player skill unless you REALLY want to be a sparkle cat balance is the way to go. Now (Tier 20) there has never been a better rendition of balance in the history of the game. Our ST rotation is smooth and fun along with being able to have decent movement from pooling 130AP (aka 3 star surges). and our AOE is king on a few of the fights in tomb. I can not say enough good things about balance currently and I would highly recommend jumping on the Chicken Train. Feral is getting changed in 7.3 so if you change your mind I would in the least try feral next patch once they sort out a lot of the class design problems. Cheers!

Edit: Balance normally runs with a lot of mastery in their gear so if you want to run guardian as a secondary a lot of the gear you'll end up using in both specs. Of course trinkets you'll have to swap but if you were feral you would have to swap them out anyway to tank ones. Hope this helps!

My that sure helps a lot! You convinced me I shall level and play a MoonMoonChicken and then try out Feral during 7.3 as you adviced! Thank you kind stranger and everyone else who replied to this thread!

[Skyden]

You are very welcome! Glad I could help!

[Polarthief]

Since you are going to be having your secondary talent spec set to Guardian, I would say feral is the way to go since the Feral gear is mostly Mastery based, which is good for tanks as well.

Re-check your info. Feral also wants Crit which is AWFUL for Guardian (even for DPS it's not that great), and 3rd for Balance.

Balance wants Mastery (one of the best stats for Guardian) and Haste (not great for Guardian survivability, but amazing for Guardian DPS).

Range with space lasers! But isn't it fun to also prowl in the darkness and shred your unknowing prey to a bloody mess?

Now hear me out, I absolutely love stealthers. In single player RPG "make your own character" games, I tend to go with a Rogue-Ranger (Thief-type character with a bow) and stealth-kill everything. WoW however takes stealthing to a very boring and shitty level in comparison where you get literally one stealth attack on an encounter. Resetting a fight causes all bosses/monsters to evade and heal back to full while in other RPGs, that doesn't happen. It makes me very biased against playing a Rogue/Stealther in a game like WoW as a result. That shouldn't necessarily turn you off from playing Feral, but it's a reason why I don't particularly care for it.

That said, Balance is doing quite well right now and Feral is being changed quite a bit in 7.3. Check the changes and make sure you enjoy them before investing too much time into the spec. Also, if you enjoy doing AoE at all, Balance is so the way to go. DoTing and dumping Starfalls on enemies just feels great, especially since you also get Mobile Casting while you're inside the Starfall as well (Level 100 Talent: Stellar Drift). You'll also be wanted by many more groups not only for your AoE but Feral also has a negative stigma right now. Even though Feral isn't that bad, you know how pugs are.

[Experimantal]

Re-check your info. Feral also wants Crit which is AWFUL for Guardian (even for DPS it's not that great), and 3rd for Balance.

Balance wants Mastery (one of the best stats for Guardian) and Haste (not great for Guardian survivability, but amazing for Guardian DPS).



Now hear me out, I absolutely love stealthers. In single player RPG "make your own character" games, I tend to go with a Rogue-Ranger (Thief-type character with a bow) and stealth-kill everything. WoW however takes stealthing to a very boring and shitty level in comparison where you get literally one stealth attack on an encounter. Resetting a fight causes all bosses/monsters to evade and heal back to full while in other RPGs, that doesn't happen. It makes me very biased against playing a Rogue/Stealther in a game like WoW as a result. That shouldn't necessarily turn you off from playing Feral, but it's a reason why I don't particularly care for it.

That said, Balance is doing quite well right now and Feral is being changed quite a bit in 7.3. Check the changes and make sure you enjoy them before investing too much time into the spec. Also, if you enjoy doing AoE at all, Balance is so the way to go. DoTing and dumping Starfalls on enemies just feels great, especially since you also get Mobile Casting while you're inside the Starfall as well (Level 100 Talent: Stellar Drift). You'll also be wanted by many more groups not only for your AoE but Feral also has a negative stigma right now. Even though Feral isn't that bad, you know how pugs are.

And beside, I already have a Rogue, so doing Feral MIGHT be redoing slightly the same thing again...

[Gemini Soul]

However, what I noticed from playing Feral is that it's VERY gear dependent

Can say that about every spec, idk why people keep saying that like it only pertains to the spec in question.

[Soisoisoi]

And beside, I already have a Rogue, so doing Feral MIGHT be redoing slightly the same thing again...

No, playing Feral will be like playing a gutted copy of Rogue.

+1 for boomy. Only reason you'd want to play Feral is if you prefer melee over ranged.

[PragmaticGamer]

As a complete novice and casual, I'm planning on getting the artifacts for all four specs, but PLAYING balance/guardian...

[Devilyaki]

Do you want to be a cool tiger or a fluffy chicken, I'd take tiger.

[Fahrenheit]

Unless you're already invested, stay away from Feral until at least 7.3.
Source: Played & raided Feral since Classic WoW.

[cface]

As a complete novice and casual, I'm planning on getting the artifacts for all four specs, but PLAYING balance/guardian...

I'm playing balance(ms)/guardian as well, it's amazing. Ranged for raids, guardian for farming lesser stuff. And Guardian is a lot more fun then I thought it would be. Also Balance is very very solid to play now, it doesn't even have rng (except some legs).
Being ranged is the reason I rerolled from ret/prot.

[Lahis]

(I also know it should be Haste > Mastery for Balance dunno why Icy Vein inversed those two)

It used to be Haste > Mastery but changes to legendaries and tuning has flipped the priority there.

[Zilthy]

It used to be Haste > Mastery but changes to legendaries and tuning has flipped the priority there.

That and the haste buff from T20 4pc which gives a good chunk of haste.

[Valqt]

Feral is looking way better in 7.3 which I'm glad for.

there's always been a stigma regarding ferals though, so pugging things like mythic+ is going to be significantly harder. I always get the whisper "boomkin or cat", and if i say cat, it's usually an instant decline. Heck, even in guilds ferals are one of - if not the ones - who are most likely to be benched, especially since warriors and rogues are so broken atm.

honestly, since you've said you like playing both equally as much, I'd say go boomkin since that is always going to be a viable choice. I'm a long-time feral main myself, but I have swapped to guardian, boomkin or even my shaman for longer periods of time than I would've liked to, a major downside to hardcore raiding unfortunately!

If you like complex rotations, melee DPS and breaking your fingers whilst mashing your keys but still doing mediocre dps in most cases, but your guild doesn't care -- go feral.
If you like easy playstyles, always doing solid dps and being a viable addition to the raid team (ranged is always preferred anyways) -- go boomkin.

just my two cents. Personally I still tend to stick with Feral as I like a challenge.