feral question

[Deleted]

hey,

So i want to play an exotic class/specc ( as twink ; max nhc raids) and decided it should be a feral. Now apart from the playstyle, difficulty etc, how are ferals competing atm in raids ?

i've looked over raidbots and there feral isn't in a good position, so i wonder if you have no "chance" in raid compared other classes or if you can get them all if i'd play feral perfect ? Because atm i don't know when i saw the last feral in a raid outside of lfr :/

[Kojo]

I think feral is pretty middle pack, maybe upper middle, I dunno for sure since I haven't bothered to look into it for a good while. I do believe they're horrifically under represented though so I expect some bias in the stats.

[Jeire]

basic answer-

DO you plan to play this char in a top of the line raiding guild?

If the answer is no, then feral is more than competitive and can top hc raiding guilds meters if that's what your after.

[aggixx]

If you can play feral well it's very competitive, definitely above middle of the pack. Raidbots is hardly an accurate measure for feral due to most metrics you can look at being tainted with either it's rotational complexity or severely low raid representation. If you want numbers, percentile is probably the most fair representation:

http://raidbots.com/dpsbot/Overall_D...all/14/60/p90/

[teddabear]

You might want to check out the 5.4 changes. As it is now Feral is looking at some nerfs in PvE and PvP. There isn't really enough information in your post to give you a good answer. Imo it's a little ambitious to plan on beginning Feral and playing it perfectly anytime soon. In the end it comes down to playstyle and you either love it or you don't.

[mmokri]

How to play feral?
1. Spec balance
2. Pick Heart of the Wild
3. Use Heart of the Wild
4. Use Catform
How to play feral without painful experience? Spec rogue / Unsub.

Edit: Infracted - please don't post if you can't be constructive or helpful.

[Themessiah]

How to play feral?
1. Spec balance
2. Pick Heart of the Wild
3. Use Heart of the Wild
4. Use Catform
How to play feral without painful experience? Spec rogue / Unsub.

What exactly necessitates feral being a painful experience?

[mmokri]

What exactly necessitates feral being a painful experience?

Main reason: Melee range sucks - see www.wowprogress.com ladder
Secondary reason: Feral has nerfed rogue kit - skill does not matter

[Themessiah]

Main reason: Melee range sucks - see www.wowprogress.com ladder
Secondary reason: Feral has nerfed rogue kit - skill does not matter

When you say range, what do you mean? As in, they have to be in melee range or what?
Feral has a "different" kit to rogues - not necessarily worse or better.

Moreover what some might find painful, others might find enjoyable.

[Litre]

I've played since vanilla. I've played just about every class up to (that particular expansion's) max level. Playing a feral kitty is about the most fun I've had playing, and the only class I've stuck with, as a main, for more than an expansion. This being said, it's not for everyone. You'll know by 60-80 whether or not it's for you. While I'm not in a hardcore raiding guild, I am consistently top 5 in LFR, and top 1-3 (depending on the boss) in ToT normal 10-man with an average ilvl of 524. In Cata, I was consistently at the top.

The class has had its ups and downs, and they'll continue to be there. Give it a shot and see if you like it. The complexity of the rotation, along with positioning requirements really appeal to my play-style, which again, may not appeal to everyone.

[Silent Earth]

Coming from someone who has mained a Rogue for the majority of the expansion, I'll be switching to Feral (Balance offspec, for those certain fights where more ranged is a blessing) simply because the playstyle is infinitely more fun and is much more rewarding of skillful play.

[mmokri]

Coming from someone who has mained a Rogue for the majority of the expansion, I'll be switching to Feral (Balance offspec, for those certain fights where more ranged is a blessing) simply because the playstyle is infinitely more fun and is much more rewarding of skillful play.

More likely pro feral performance is overpowered compared to noob feral performance. Rogues Locks Mages are not comparable with Feral regards performance.

[Kojo]

Uh huh...you're saying feral is more dps than rogues, locks and mages if I understand this?

[Silent Earth]

More likely pro feral performance is overpowered compared to noob feral performance. Rogues Locks Mages are not comparable with Feral regards performance.

I don't... think I understand what you're saying? I just said I'm switching from Rogue to Feral because I enjoy Feral much more. Yeah, I'm aware I'd likely do more damage as a Rogue.

Uh huh...you're saying feral is more dps than rogues, locks and mages if I understand this?

That's what it seems like...? *shrug*

[Helieos]

Feral is in a wired spot where all other classes, especially in a 10 man environment, are more useful. Feral brings nothing special to the raid other then rebirth so the chances of having one in a 10 man raiding group is very slim since other classes like rogues do more damage and have more utility. Also most groups try to opt for more ranged rather then melee. Feral also has a slightly higher skill cap to play at maximum potential which discourages people from playing one. In 25 man where raid comp is not so much an issue you tend to see them more. My guild switched from 25 to 10 a few months back and at the time I was playing my feral as my main but was forced to switch to my MW monk to keep my spot because we already had a DK and rogue for our melee spots. Personally feral is my favorite spec in the whole game and if I had the choice I would switch back in a heartbeat.

[Kaiarra]

Would you be looking at 10 or 25 raiding? As a 10man raid leader I can quite happily say I would personally love to run 1 melee max, and that would probably be a Rogue. Maybe 25-man is more flexible but running more than 1 melee for both ToT (and looking at the PTR forums SoO), is nothing more than a total hindrance to your raid for 10s. At best you might take them to even out loot distribution (and Feral competes with both BM/Guardian/Rogues which are arguably better choices).

If you're just picking classes on a whim I would highly suggest trying to find a range class you enjoy if you plan to do 10s - this is coming from someone who has played as a Feral (now Guardian) since Kara. I'm already having to strongly encourage 2 of our 3 melee (Warr and Ret) to reroll to a ranged class; melee just isn't in a happy place currently.

If you're dead set on melee, well I'd love to tell you to go ahead with Feral but... as things stand from a raiding perspective you'd do better with a Rogue if all you want to do is DPS and try to top meters. The only current reason to stick with a PvE raiding Feral is if you really love the playstyle/rotation or the Druid class as a whole. I'd still, especially looking at PTR raiding, and from my raid leading experience, encourage you to consider pretty much any ranged DPS spec instead.

Probably not the sort of opinion you wanted to hear though.

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/9661646382 pretty much covers the melee vs ranged debate people are mentioning if you're interested.

[Drench]

I'd say just try it out with how quick making a alt is and gearing you could get a good feel for it without a ton of effort and then always have the toon ready if you need it.

[Kaiarra]

I'd say just try it out with how quick making a alt is and gearing you could get a good feel for it without a ton of effort and then always have the toon ready if you need it.

Also has the advantage of 4 different specs/ 3 roles available, so levelling a Druid up is certainly never a waste of time - if nothing else you can use it as a good herb/mining alt.

[teddabear]

Also has the advantage of 4 different specs/ 3 roles available, so levelling a Druid up is certainly never a waste of time - if nothing else you can use it as a good herb/mining alt.

That is really only an advantage for the extremely casual or if Blizzard goes a year without releasing content. Since Valor is capped and is needed to upgrade gear you are unlikely have much VP left over for off-pieces. If you are Feral and there is no Balance Druid you are unlikely to be given offset pieces until the price of the DE mats has crashed.

[Silent Earth]

As a 10man raid leader I can quite happily say I would personally love to run 1 melee max

This is pretty much the situation I'm finding myself in. Due to crazy (and annoying, and stupid) roster changes, my raid group has gone from looking like it was going to go into SoO with 3 melee, to now going in with 1 or 0, depending on what I play. So, I've sort of settled on maining Feral, and keeping up a Balance spec just in case there are those fights where melee does nothing but drag down your raid. Which happens more often than it should, unfortunately.

Melee is indeed in a bit of an unhappy place, and pretty much has been since T11 where they were more or less required due to the overabundance of "interrupt this or die" mechanics (if you can call that a happy place).

As always, it comes down to your raid group, your own strengths and weaknesses, and the content you'll be planning on doing. My guild doesn't really push HC content, so I feel no worries switching from a Rogue to a Druid, and I'm confident in my ability to play both Feral and Balance reasonably well, and playing a spec/class you are familiar with and enjoy is often enough to make up for any apparent "failings" they may have.

TL;DR -- If you're not pushing HC content (or, at least not CRAZY hard), go ahead and play a Feral. They're fun.