Feral 3% Buff Missing

Classes Druid
1

Despite the recent blue post stating that Feral Druids were set to receive a 3% buff to their damage output, this change hasn’t actually been implemented as confirmed by the latest datamining results. Many in the community, myself included, were hopeful this small buff might help alleviate some of the performance gaps we’ve experienced lately, but it’s disappointing to see that even this small adjustment hasn’t been implemented yet.

Although, a mere 3% increase would still not adequately address the fundamental issues Feral Druids face in raid content. Currently, Feral Druids are significantly behind other melee DPS classes, and especially behind Balance Druids, who not only now excel in single-target scenarios but dominate AoE encounters and offer substantial utility in M+ (solar beam).

Given Balance Druids’ consistently stronger performance, it’s frustrating to see Feral continually overlooked or receiving insufficient tuning. A more impactful change is necessary to bring Feral Druids closer to parity with Balance Druids and other competitive DPS classes.

Edit: I should also mention that people should take a look at where Feral currently stands according to recent Warcraft Logs data and the Archon raid tier list. Overall, Feral Druids are performing just slightly better than Augmentation Evokers, who primarily provide support rather than direct DPS. This indicates just how under-tuned Feral Druids currently are.

Even on encounters where Feral should theoretically excel, such as Sprocket (a fight leaning towards single-target scenarios), the spec sits disappointingly in the middle of the pack. It is almost considered trolling to play Feral on AoE fights like Stix, where our damage numbers sit way below just about every other spec in the game.

24 Likes
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I love the spec as I always have. Im tired of being most damage taken (lack of passive dr in spec)
least damage done (blizz still hasnt buffed us and we may potentially be below aug now) and
most threat generated in keys (some sort of threat bug that hasnt been addressed).
Blizz clearly doesnt care about the spec or tuning

6 Likes
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Doing this is pointless until you understand what the data represents

4

Dont you have lfr to be progging

5 Likes
5

Ah the good ol double down on ignorance approach

Lets see how this pans out

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I’m not saying that a casual player would not enjoy playing Feral Druid, especially in Heroic raids or keys under 12s where player skill fluctuates and damage checks etc. are absent. Personally, I really enjoyed playing Feral in Heroic prog. I did a lot of damage (see my 90+ Heroic parses), and I never felt like I was impeding the group.

Flash forward to Mythic prog, and everybody is on a comparable skill level as I am. Suddenly, Feral’s weaknesses become extremely obvious, especially when comparing myself to other melee DPS who consistently pull ahead, even with similar or lower parses. At this level, minor tuning issues and class disparities become magnified, and it feels increasingly frustrating knowing that, despite optimizing gear, rotations, and positioning, I’m fundamentally limited by spec tuning rather than personal skill.

While I still love the class fantasy and gameplay, the numbers clearly indicate that at high-end Mythic content, Feral is lagging significantly behind. It’s not about enjoyment or viability at a casual or Heroic level, it’s about fairness in class tuning and maintaining a competitive environment where player skill matters more than your chosen spec.

When looking at Warcraft Logs, you compare players of similar skill level (see: Parses, which are where you sit for that specific fight when comparing you to other players of the same spec). This places everyone on equal footing, at least, the best it can be.

When comparing raw damage numbers, in the absence of skill level or other contributors, Feral just isn’t picking up it’s weight in higher content. Sure, for you, this might not be a problem as you don’t seem to be progging mythic or 15+ keys (correct me if I’m wrong). However, for a lot of us, who enjoy the more competitive content, playing this spec is not ideal.

6 Likes
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Theyre not though. Youve got people fluctuating between 20-90%. That is a huge spread and cleary shows not everyone being at a comparable level.

Youre also routinely out performing specs that are “better” than feral. This is why i say referencing rankings list is entirely pointless. They only matter when everyone is playing within 1-2% of each other. And you dont even find that in RWF teams.

Every spec is tuned to compete and beat the raid on a mythic level.

You can beat mythic raids with an overall average of 40% parses.

But these “contributors” are never absent, which is why its pointless to look at just raw numbers.

But there’s Ferals pushing 19s and already completing CE. This isnt a “feral is holding the team back” issue.

This all comes down to a personal skill level within the specs they play

8

I knew back when my guild was progging sprocket that the season was essentially ending for me with that boss.

I’m a good feral druid and I’m well established in my guild. The guild is going to make the right decisions for the sake of prog and I support that. Just that “bench the feral” shouldn’t be correct decision for so much of the raid. And with no signs of it getting better since then…

6 Likes
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FYI, just because a small amount of groups have a feral on their team in high levels of content doesn’t mean that the spec can’t be in a bad place at the same time.

Yes, you can be good enough at the spec to outparse people who are bad at better specs, but this is entirely irrelevant to my argument. My argument is that when comparing specs at a flat line (ex. 90th percentile), Feral sits in a really bad spot. You essentially have to be playing at a higher-than-average level with people at a lower-than-average level to do well in these types of content.

If I picked up my sin rogue that I played last season tomorrow (which I can play at a comparable level to Feral Druid), I’d be doing substantially higher damage while exerting significantly less effort. This discrepancy highlights the fundamental issue with Feral right now, it’s disproportionately punishing to achieve average or competitive results, whereas other specs, such as assassination rogue, offer superior outcomes with similar or even lower skill investment.

This imbalance isn’t just a matter of individual skill; it’s about the relative power level of specs when played at comparable proficiency. That’s why it’s so frustrating to see Feral remain overlooked in tuning adjustments, leaving players feeling like they’re playing on “hard mode” for results that other specs achieve with much less strain.

6 Likes
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I’m not saying Feral can’t get buffs or doesn’t deserve buffs.
I’m saying I’m against this whole “someone is better than us, whaaa, we need buffs” mentality.

And most good Ferals do (yourself included). The reality of it all, is you’re not going to be finding groups of players who are all playing at that 90% baseline. If that were the case, then yes, Feral is going to be very lackluster. But since:

is more commonplace than not, we can’t enter a discussion based on “a perfect world” where everyone is playing on that same baseline.

But this is always the case, and this case is ever changing. Someone is always going perform better than someone else. And next season, we could see Feral being the one who’s out performing others. At that point do we advocate for the other specs to get buffed to put them above Ferals?

Again, I’m not against buffs. I’d happily take them. But there has to be a better reason than “someone else is doing better than us”.

It is. Otherwise:

wouldn’t exist.

What’s the “hard” part about playing Feral? Snapshotting really isn’t a difficult concept. It’s a buff window, and many other specs operate the same (Sin and Kingsbane windows for example - Spriest and Voidform/Dark Ascension - Destro Locks and their Summon Infernal). Even performing snapshotting at only 50% efficiency isn’t a huge drop off in damage (noticeable by those perform the spec well, but not enough to “kill” the spec).

In order for these “buff feral” threads to be of any use, examples and numbers and logs should be pulled to actually build a case. Instead we get “look at WCL charts that 95% of people don’t understand what it’s representing”.

For example, I’d like to see Wildstalker buffed by allowing Rampant Ferocity to also proc Bursting Growth (4pc still restricted to ST). This would increase Wildstalkers AoE, but not over take DoTC in pure AoE scenarios, whilst remaining the better ST option.

This would also allow better “cleave burst” as it would work on all our Bites (finishers) instead of being heavily reliant on a proc from auto attack (Ravage). We’d do a little better overall in raids while still not overtaking DH’s and Enhancement and Fury in the 45 burst windows surrounding adds.

Bottom of the barrel or top shelf, the spec is tuned to complete and compete in Mythic raiding. Feral could be the bottom 2-3 spots in a fight (under the assumption everyone is playing well), and still be an asset.

No one is hitting an enrage timer because that one Feral in the raid group is tuned and balanced that low.

11

Why do you think dropping down the ranks to play with bad players is a solution to feral’s poor balance?

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No one ever suggested such a thing lol but if that’s what you need to do to feel better about yourself, then by all means

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The data must be extra pointless for you since you constantly misinterpret it or spread misinformation lol

6 Likes
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You should go read the guide on the site and see why it shows ferals at the bottom yet ferals are performing near the top in their raid groups

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No thanks I can read statistics and see that they aren’t

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https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/c38QCafAtR17TF2B?fight=28&type=damage-done

Even your own Feral is beating specs theyre not supposed to be according to

https://www.warcraftlogs.com/zone/statistics/42/?boss=3009

How is this possible if Ferals are the bottom? How is he at the top? Perhaps its because the charts youre so willing to represent arent showing you the thing you think they are.

So clearly you cannot lol

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There’s absolutely no way you linked vexie parses to try to prove your point. I am actually laughing so hard right it’s unbelievable. That actually caused me to lose a few brain cells haha

1 Like
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There’s nothing wrong with linking vexie parses when you haven’t set foot into a raid since 2012 and haven’t left your mom’s basement except for the occasional nuggie run since 2020 like our good friend Grizzle aka The Grizzler aka GrizzleGod aka lil gRizz

3 Likes
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I linked a Vexie parse with a Vexie rankings list.

Your deflection because you cant actually read statistics is on another level

I can do this with any encounter.
There isnt a single log out there that mirrors the WCL rankings list.
But you and donkey here cant comprehend why

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Your right we shouldn’t bother tuning since I can find one log that contradicts the aggregate data of every log for the season good take 5 big BOOMS