shred (glyph of shred) 4.3

[Tareum]

Masternewbie,

You are wrong and you know it. For insulting contributors to these forums claiming their views are hot air, and for assuming yours supersede those of others. That attitude is outright vulgar and arrogant and you disguise it well. The only thing that saves you imo is being respected here as a good theory crafter, good at crunching numbers.

Surely I don’t need to elaborate too much on the notion of years invested learning a spec, the ensuing attachment to a certain game-play, etc.

This is why many kitties haven’t stopped playing that spec despite of what went on this expansion and before, why players in general shouldn’t need to abandon their spec if it doesn’t perform that well. And why those in that situation are entitled to express their disappointment here in mmo champion.

Sticking to their spec, contrary to your belief, does not make them selfish towards a greater collective goal, does not make them any less prepared and committed to be as good as they can be -as they always have been. And certainly not, not flexible.

Don’t misunderstand me, I can see the wisdom in your idea promoting changing spec or even rerolling in order to win at all cost.
But you talk of fotm, whereas me I talk of kitties [or people loving their spec].

Like I said you are wrong and you know it. I think you are trying to save face by playing devil’s advocate. So you divert the discussion by arguing “the good of the many vs the good of the few” and damning the many here that in your eyes too often make “vapid” statements not worthy of the kind of "constructive" discussion you want.

But mark my words, I am certain [and no I have no numbers to back this up] a great deal of us here, kitties or else, will tell you where to stuff you respec if faced with encounters where we’d be at a disadvantage. Not everyone is willing to sell out. Even in top guilds.

In fact the more I ponder your views, the more I find your stance disturbing promoting taking the fun out of this game. In my opinion it’s cynical and cold.
The end doesn’t always justify the means y'know...

[Wolfdragon]

Tareum vs. Masternewbie flamewar- I like this, but thing is while I might shake my head in disappointment over and over as a cat not pulling optimal dps- the sky refuses to fall, try to understand, respeccing over a 6% loss in dps (mihir's theorycraft) is less than warranted, the good of the many isn't crippled by playing feral, rerolling is a cop-out, playing balance is cheap and I don't even know where to start, and one final remark- Tareum WHY SO MAD MAN CHILL OUT. Whatever, no boss is going to make me roll something other than my trusty cat.

[MasterNewbie]

I have not and will not claim that their claims are hot air unless it is shown (i.e. when 4.3 goes live) that ferals in general are not significantly impacted by these mechanics (top dps parses aside). What do you not understand about a conditional "if..." statement? I tried to make it clear that it was conditional. If it ends up that they are right, who am I to say it is hot air? If we are significantly impacted, then my conditional statement does not apply and so I did not say they are hot air. (This is why I like to keep things that I may be wrong at lined up with conditions and/or qualifiers). Call me pedantic again if you want to, this is how it works and I will fully exploit the English language to suit my needs.

Considering specs change significantly from expansion to expansion, the most experience you could have as a good feral now would be on the order of... two years now? Experience as a feral in WotLK certainly helps with all the debuff/buff tracking, but the general rotation and strategy changed with the expansion. I don't see how experience prior to WotLK would really help you in the long run with regards to feral.

That said, I have faithfully stuck to playing cat as my main spec since the beginning of this expansion (I had to offspec heal twice if I am not mistaken before FL hit, it was either that or the 9 others who came to raid didn't get to raid). Call me traitorous to cats in general if you want, I would rather have seen them raid then have wasted a night for nothing. My hunter has remained survival, despite marksmanship generally beating it out. My warrior has been arms pve since wrath. Do not talk to me about sticking to your chosen spec despite there being higher dps/better options, I know what it is like. (Though just a quip here, my warrior is a gnome, I originally started him with the intention of doing TG with Armageddons from Naxx, those things are freaking huge, and two of them on a gnome, heck yeah! I still would like to dual wield them for show, but I like the arms style)

I conceded to you that a player who sticks to a single spec can be prepared well, but I still fail to see how they can truly be flexible. There is only so much room before another spec is needed to do something that their current spec cannot do (I am thinking Ragnaros, knocking back sons of flame is it? Cats certainly cannot do that.)

Now I will elaborate on the last part of my last post where I am trying to determine just where exactly our heads initially are butting. Before that, let me tell you how I enjoy this game. I enjoy it by getting to see the content, to see the fights, to see how Blizzard designed the endgame. Respeccing may take the fun out for you, but for me, it does not. In fact, I was a healer for most of WotLK and the only reason for it, is that the guild I applied to could provide me with the content and I could provide them with a healer. Up until that point, my druid was feral from his conception (I returned to feral when Cata came out). I still had my feral "main" spec, but to that guild, it was my off spec. But I got to enjoy the game my way (I also enjoyed wrath healing, no I didn't blanket rejuv all the time. I remember we brought in alt healer to heal something, I forget what, but I managed to do all my healing while also sniping his healing, fun times.) You may claim that I am trying to divert attention away from the topic, but I am trying to point out that sticking to your spec is not the only way to have fun in this game.

Now to elaborate on the last portion of my post. (Are you still reading this? I'd imagine this post is quite long by now.)

My opinion: Group enjoyment is supreme.
Tareum's opinion: Individual enjoyment is supreme.

Actually, now that I think about it, we both prefer individual enjoyment. We just enjoy the game in different ways. So I suppose you could effectively ignore that portion. I don't consider it to be a downer when I have to bring in an alt or switch to a different spec because it makes the game more interesting for me to see how much my knowledge extends beyond that of being a feral.

I was going to say that we both prefer to stay feral, and we both dislike it when we need to do something other than it, but truthfully, I don't really mind. So I couldn't continue my elaboration.

Don't think that this means I am cool with all the discontent being posted in the forums, no. It still is tiring to see the same thing almost every day (or every few posts, since sometimes a few days can go by between posts). If I felt as strongly as you and other ferals on it, I might not really care that the same thing is said over and over again. But I apparently don't. I'm kind of in the same boat as Wolfdragon here, so at least I am not alone on the issue. (And no, neither are you, Tareum).

E: I just wanted to point out, it is impossible to be wrong in matters of opinion. You either believe it or you don't, there is no right or wrong in the sense of being incorrect. I am not calling your opinion wrong; I think the grand scale of what is going on is not necessary for what it is. As much as that, I would expect you to not claim that I am wrong. Neither of us are wrong and neither of us are right in that regard. I do not agree with your opinion, though. As obvious as it is that you don't agree with mine.

[Deleted]

Fun fact: you can shred the Madness of Deathwing's Mutated Corruption tentacle from the front, even when standing right on top of the tank.

[MasterNewbie]

Fun fact: you can shred the Madness of Deathwing's Mutated Corruption tentacle from the front, even when standing right on top of the tank.

That is indeed pretty interesting. I suspect either that will change, or Ultraxion will change.