So I have been enjoying leveling a feral UNTIL I unlocked bloodtalons talent. It seems to numerically be the best option especially when combined with tigers fury big snapshots.
My problem is it is so annoying to play around, constantly thinking about what I haven’t hit last or what I need to hit next while maintaining all my dots and stuff is yikes. Reminds me of WW monk when it punished you for spamming the same button two times in a row.
The question should I just quit feral and druid in general? Is the other 15% flat option viable? Or should I just leave the class in the dust, and no I won’t play ranged or tank/heals.
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Bloodtalons almost requires an addon like tellmewhen or weak auras. Otherwise, you will waste combo points and occasionally use an unbuffed finisher. Whereas, the 15% talent is very easy to play and you’ll almost never waste a CP and you’ll likely get more finishers off.
Are we talking PvE or PvP? Feral PvE has always been a bit complex and usually you only get the same amount of damage for twice the amount of work of other easier classes/specs. In DF though Feral damage seems to be pretty good compared to past versions so the complexity is finally being rewarded. If the game play is what is throwing you off though, feral may not be your cup of tea.
I can’t speak for PvP but in PvE Boomkin has become an underperforming over complicated mess compared to previous versions so I wouldn’t recommend that. Bear is crushing it atm and people really seem to like it but I’m fearful it’s going to get nerfed hard with how well they are performing. Resto seems incredibly solid as well from a M+ perspective but not sure about raiding. But you don’t want to play ranged tank or heals so that’s all irrelevant.
Yes this has been my experience, I don’t mind a more complicated spec maybe I’ll get used to it, but I feel like the game is holding me back from doing stuff and just waiting around pooling energy.
I had to get an addon to track it already and now I feel like I’m not watching the game I’m watching glowing lightem up now you can hit the button game.
It’s definitely easier if you get a weakaura but it isn’t that hard to manage. Just get used to rake, thrash, brs (swipe) to get it going. I honestly don’t think taking advantage of BT is nearly as complex as a WW’s mastery, but that could be just my familiarity with the spec. If feral is a spec that seems fun to you, BT isn’t nearly impactful enough in our toolkit to sway you off of it, so no I wouldn’t suggest going to another melee if feral is what sounds fun.
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BT is easier to proc now than it was in SL, Lunar Inspiration is more available and counts towards an ability to proc BT. So you have the option of Rake, Shred, BrS, Thrash and Moonfire as “builders” to proc it with.
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Bite Force is a DPS loss only if you’re very good with Blood Talons. If you’re consistently unable to keep buffing every Rip or Bite then Bite Force will actually be a DPS gain. Unless you’re playing at very high levels not playing Blood Talons shouldn’t be such a big issue. By the time you’re ready to play at those higher levels Blood Talons will likely feel like second nature to you like it does to many of the rest of us.
I understand peoples’ want to play what’s the best on paper but getting the hang of your rotation and feeling of your class and spec should come first and then the more complexities of the spec should start to come naturally soon thereafter. Just food for thought if you want to continue your feral journey.
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Thanks for all the thoughtful replies everyone, yall made me feel less intimidated and I’m going to continue to level this feral even if it just stays as an alt.
I appreciate yall have an understanding I do not and from my end it just feels like a huge confusing chore but I will try and stick it out!
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Best response here. Very similar to moc versus bt last expansion, just go with what you can get value from, the difference isn’t big enough to make or break you.
Lunar Inspiration does make it a lot easier for leveling and single target.
In M+/dungeons Bite Force is arguably a DPS gain depending on target count, since with the flood of Apex procs BT builds (A) won’t be able to buff many of their procs or (B) they will munch procs trying to buff them.
Bite Force also has the advantage of being able to use the correct abilities for the given situation instead of feeling pressure to swipe in single target or shred in aoe or refresh a rake when you otherwise wouldn’t want to.
For BT not to have a problem with Apex you need either small enough pulls that you’re not flooded or big enough pulls that your buffed Rip on PW overshadows everything (like the tree boss and the room outside the last boss in Academy, where pull the whole room seems pretty likely).
I kind of expect to see high BT representation during Tyrannical weeks and high BF representation during Fortified weeks.
I find Bloodtalons relatively easy to manage. Because the rotation includes Rake, Thrash, Brutal Slash, Shred (clearcasted); it’s hard not to trigger it between your next two finishers. The problem I encounter is when Apex procs and/or during Berserk when finishers come quicker than you can get BT back up you miss out. But that’s a feast of plenty problem and I’m not gonna complain about getting out a bunch of finishers in quick succession.