Feral is far too squishy in PVP!

We’re statistically the most killed spec in solo shuffle. We’re the only melee spec that is killed that much ahead of any caster spec, the second being destro warlock. It doesn’t get much better in any other rated pvp.

We get forced to sit in bear, regrowth heals (even with recent nerf reversion) is too weak to act as a pseudo ‘defensive’. Something must change, but I’m not sure what.

I’d previously suggested making things like well-honed instincts and other defensive talents 1 pointers instead of 2, but there should be something feral specific that changes.

Maybe FR heals can be buffed again for Feral only since it was nerfed? The bear stamina increase could last longer so that it encourages shapefting (Feral to bear, FR heal, and then back to Feral).

13 Likes

i personally think we’re in an ok spot rn

Really? In Bgs we are awful can’t compete in grp combat, always on the fringes. Even if you shape-shift constantly, you’re not getting away when focused. It’s a poor play style. I can see why players go Guardian because we are in bear form most of the time anyway.

4 Likes

Feral in rbgs is the main part of the teamfight and should always be 15mil dam ahead of everyone. The heals you have aren’t good if they aren’t healing the big damage dealer. Aoe bleed build and ravage the whole place.

1 Like

Admittedly, my gear is not quite there yet. I also have not played feral in a while. It feels so squishy at times in cat form. I’ll look into that build. Thanks for the advice

What if damepning was only for healers and tanks in shuffle?

Thus certain hybrinds COUGHFERALSCOUGHENHANCE . sorry sore throat, anyway, could ignore damp mechanics and profiit from their defensives.

1 Like

Yea Feral felt best to me last expac. The self healing, the way you did damage, the ability to use cyclone to set up kills as opposed to mostly being part of your damage rotation. This expac we’re a lot more healer reliant and as a result just tend to be worse off than other melee that have easier damage to get off and more potent defensive cds.

6 Likes

We’re maybe low-A tier or high-B tier in 3v3, probably better in 2v2, but we’re dogdoo in solo shuffle and rbgs. Given that solo shuffle seems to be an important part of Blizzard’s focus (since solo rbgs are being introduced) Feral should see some much needed defensive buffs.

A big part of this could be rectified with changes to the general Druid tree. A well thought out post on this forum has already outlined this in detail. ( The Druid Class Tree: A Comparative Analysis of Why it Fails and What it Needs - #33 by Tardigrade-spirestone )

4 Likes

The fact that our dmg is hugely tied to successfullly landing clone is such a polarizing decision by the design team lol. I’m honestly still not sure if I like it or not. The noob in me hates it, the side of me that lands spam clones and gets proc city rolling feels like it’s rewarding. Ultimately though I know it needs to go. No other spec is designed to only allow big damage procs after casting a CC successfully. Especially as a melee spec. Maybe just have each of our finishing moves reduce CD of frenzy instead tbh. Example: if Frenzy is a 30s CD, each 5 point finisher reduces CD by 10s. (2s per 1 combo point)

6 Likes

Yea it’s really annoying. Outside of Cyclone(Wild Attunement) and Incarn it feels like I do poor damage on my Feral - and that’s with stacking full mastery(~80%). Like, it feels real good when you can, and absolutely horrible when you can’t do the above.

4 Likes

Agreed. If they insisting on keeping this they should add back that talent that increases dodge chance by 100% or something for a few seconds after leaving cat form.

3 Likes

Or just increase our self-healing back to how it was in Shadowlands. Our survivability was pretty much built around it and it’s why feral is so squishy now. Feral always used to take a lot of damage but it could bounce back with kiting and self heals. Bark/SI/healing was the core of our survivability since we didn’t have immunities like other melee specs. But our healing is horrible and as a result our recovery is a lot worse this expansion.

2 Likes

Our survivability in Shadowlands was also heavily tied to Fleshcraft in Bear Form with Ursine Vigor, and when we really needed it, the legendary The Natural Order’s Will (Barkskin damage reduction increased by 10%, when it starts or ends in Bear Form also gain Ironfur and Frenzied Regeneration). It would be amazing to have The Natural Order’s Will back as a talent choice.

3 Likes

Agreed. Druid deserves the whole stack including Fleshcraft. That was such a clever talent and made Feral tons of fun.

2 Likes

I personally think if Feral remains this squishy then ps cyclone should come back to compensate. It could just be cope, but I think it would definitely be cool to actually play in cat form more.

Would obviously need to make sure the pvp talent only applies to casted clones and not instant ones but I’d prefer an offensive utility addition over stronger defensives in bear. Just me though

1 Like