Anyone else kinda bummed out we get this a mazing new patch, lots of updates for pretty much every other class and spec.
And feral gets absolutely nothing.
Either blizzard thinks feral is in perfect equilibrium. (I would personally disagree)
Or there’s a huge change for feral on the horizon. For multiple patches now, I’ve never seen a spec so neglected, especially for a 20th anniversary celebration.
Edit:
Blizzard has since found some missing files apparently. So I withdraw my comment of neglect.
Still… it Showcases the extra love feral needs along with the druid class as a whole right now.
Seeing no changes at all is extremely disappointing, I skipped playing Feral after trying the changes at the start of the expansion, and just felt they were terrible changes to how the spec feels, they seem okay damage wise but not when the playstyle has so much friction and barely any QoL compared to the loads other classes are getting, even losing QoL due to those changes too.
A class being good or bad in PVP should have no bearing for how they are in PVE, that was the whole point of them finally splitting and adding aura/separate values for PVP specifically
Honestly I’m happy Blizzard isn’t making a change to feral. The change to the free energy and Tiger’s Fury is a pretty big change to how the spec feels. I get that it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but there are many people who love feral’s return to form. Making another big change so quickly simply because the anniversary event is coming up seems a bit premature.
I’m really not sure how you can say that. Feral may not have gotten some flashy new abilities, but the changes to the feel of the spec were some of the largest coming into TWW. Feral genuinely is not the same spec today than it was even in Dragonflight.
What friction do you think the play style has? I get that the slower pace isn’t for everyone, and I’m not going to try to suggest you’re somehow wrong for disliking the spec. But I actually think the spec feels far smoother with the clear windows of activity followed by windows of downtime with snapshotting.
I’m not sad that there weren’t any changes to the Feral spec tree, I think Feral the spec is in a good spot right now. Druid the class is not. The class tree is a mess. We all know it’s a mess. We’ve been talking about the mess since beta, articles have been written about the mess.
Normally I’d say that this sort of patch isn’t the place for a rework like what the Druid class tree needs… but multiple specs got a rework on the scope of what Druid needs. So why were we one of the only classes to not be touched at all? Does Blizzard think the Druid class tree is fine? Because no one else does. It’s one of the few things I see all four Druid specs united on.
I’d venture it’s safe to assume the devs know everyone thinks the druid class tree is a mess. But until they actually have a way forward and possible solutions, there is no point for them to bring it up.
First off, and the biggest one, is the removal of the extra range, I don’t think I would have minded the other changes so much if it was just those changes, but that was the main one that really just threw the wrench into the gears for me after being used to it for so long. The other change to a lesser extent being the Tiger’s fury resets, I get why they wanted to change it but it does make it feel a lot more starved/stunted in M+ in situations where you might have to start a new pack without TF up and maybe even low energy depending on how close the pulls are together.
im looking forward to next season so i can bench my druid and play something else as this doesnt feel fun. whoever works on druids as a class has proven time after time they have no idea what there doing let alone how feral has always been treated. im only on my druid still cause it screws up my keys group if i change and i dont want to take gear from other people in my raid group just cause it feels awful to play
I actually agree with the statement that this sort of patch probably isn’t the place for the rework druid needs. The formula Blizzard came up with for the class trees, with core abilities as the top item in a tree and each spec having largely its own path down a third of its class tree, frankly doesn’t work for druid because of forms. Yeah an Outlaw rogue is never going to press Shiv rotationally, but they don’t have to commit 2 globals to literally nothing, possibly giving up defensive capability as a tank, in order to press it.
I really think Blizzard would need to tear the class tree down to the studs and then rebuild it completely. And such a change very well could require them to touch the spec trees as well. Those wouldn’t necessarily need full reworks, but if the design philosophy over how the class tree is built significantly changes, I could see a full review of the spec tree being in order.
Yeah the range reduction definitely feels terrible, I’m with you there.
This is definitely a controversial change, but one that I think was necessary. Snapshotting simply does not work when we have unlimited energy and full Tiger’s Fury uptime. Perhaps there could be some level of resetting of TF for large packs that wouldn’t completely invalidate snapshotting as a mechanic. But in general, having the ability to always press Tiger’s Fury makes snapshotting an afterthought.
Perhaps Blizzard should look to retire snapshotting as a mechanic for feral and come up with something new. I personally appreciate how much it contributes to the fantasy of being a cat as it forces periods of high activity then low activity; but I also recognize there probably could be other mechanics that accomplish a similar goal.
Most importantly for me was Blizzard fixing the identity crisis of a spec whose primary mechanic relies on low energy and low Tiger’s Fury uptime having full energy and 100% Tiger’s Fury uptime; and Blizzard fixed it going into TWW. I would have accepted Blizzard moving away from snapshotting to something else if that’s how they decided to address the identity crisis, even though I’m happier they chose to keep it and resolve the resource side of the equation.
I mean I’m with you, I am not going to advocate to remove snapshotting. I was just trying to highlight that I’d rather give it up if it’s going to be an afterthought due to unlimited energy and 100% TF uptime. But I’m glad Blizzard instead chose to get rid of the latter rather than snapshotting.
the only thing that feral needed was changes to their sound for their abilities. God knows that they are the best melee class in PVP where players that have been playing one class for 20 years have now ditched them to play feral.