This topic has received a ton of discussion from a variety of angles, and just as a disclaimer in case some people are still confused: Powershifting is the act of leaving and re-entering a Druid form in a single GCD. Powershifting is done while DPSing in Cat Form in order to take advantage of the talent Furor and the item Wolfshead Helm. The long and short of it is that when Blizzard changed how resource regeneration updated with temporary buffs, gear changes, consumables, etc, along with it came changes to how and when Energy updates and regenerates for Druids in Cat Form, which reduced how much Energy we can get while doing a Powershift.
Presently, Druids are either stuck doing a weaker Powershift in TBCC compared to Classic, OR, resigned to do very absurd workarounds to force Energy updates.
So why this thread? Many of the other threads are directly asking for changes to how Powershifting works so that it works better to smooth out our DPS rotation, either by giving a small buff to how much Energy we get per Powershift or reverting the full Energy tic reset that occurs when we Powershift or some other method that still results in a net buff. In many of these threads, there is a general concept that Powershifting is fun (which is subjective, but fair) and intended by the Devs simply due to the existence of Furor/Wolfshead Helm. It is rare that the Devs let us in on their thinking and intent when designing the game or making various changes. Powershifting just so happens to be one of them.
I remembered discussions in the Wrath of the Lich King era that stuck out thanks to the above. Ghostcrawler, whether you loved him or hated him, was quite the unique Blizzard Dev when it came to these forums. During that time we had Role based forums, that is a forum dedicated Tanks, Healers, and DPS, respectively, and GC spent quite a bit of time responding to all manner of theorycrafting and suggested changes discussions there. The WotLK Beta was probably the most chatty time for any of this, and for good reason, a LOT of changes occurred all at once, but that wasn’t the only time. For example here is a community Q&A done in July 2009, the summer before ICC released:
https://web.archive.org/web/20090719092700/http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=18600870072&sid=1&pageNo=1
Notably, you can find a lot of information about what the Devs were thinking about Feral complexity, PvP power, etc.
Regarding Powershifting specifically:
https://thebigbearbutt.com/category/wotlk-beta/
- Cat charge being linked to Bear charge. – Why is this the intended mechanic for these two attacks?
GC: We think this would encourage quickly shifting from one form to another, which is something we have actually taken pains to discourage (RIP powershifting).
I use cat in short bursts when I feel like the opportunity to survive is there, but this seems to indicate you want people staying in cat OR bear for extended periods.
GC: No, that’s not exactly it. Using cat in short bursts is awesome. Shifting out of feral to Innervate or Rebirth is cool, even if you immediately go feral again. Where it starts to cross the line is being a bear, going cat to hit a button, then going back to bear to benefit from the cat button. Doing feral charge bear, shifting and doing feral charge cat is not what we want. Anything that starts to feel like the old powershifting (changing just to generate mana) is what we’re trying to avoid. If it helps, think about it this way: shifting once in a small window is cool. Shifting several times in a small window is less cool.
So before anyone gets persnickety, yes these are quotes pulled from Devs during Wrath of the Lich King, not TBC. I know this. However, to contrast these kinds of comments, consider instead this:
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/780185739484332082/816050478466465852/unknown.png
Powershifting was understood but considered a non-widespread matter during TBC, and largely this is true. Hosts of old comments in archived threads show people either being rather religious about the use of Powershifting (see: EJ threads and addon threads) or showing people scoffing at the idea of putting in so much “work” to get marginal DPS gains and just outright skipping it.
By the time Wrath hits, Powershifting is just dead. They kill it, entirely.
- Furor simply allows you to RETAIN whatever Rage or Energy you had or would have while shifting around, meaning you don’t gain any resource, you just don’t lose them when you shift.
- Consumables are usable in forms.
- CDs like Barkskin are usable in forms.
- Weapon procs activate in forms.
- Etc.
The “pains” that GC talks about above are these and more. They made it such that Ferals no longer had to make awkward cancelaura macros just to use a Healing Potion like literally every other class. They also made sure to discourage and remove any reason to be rapidly shifting in and out of forms outside of PvP snare/slow breaks (which they removed in Cataclysm FYI).
So what?
A lot of threads are asking for additional Dev oversight and alteration to how Ferals currently work, and the hope of most of those threads is that whatever the Devs do, it scores Ferals that bit of extra Energy so they can pump out more DPS (a buff). However, with WoWHead making a long-form post about the frustrations and workarounds for Ferals, and the many many threads on the matter begging for changes/buffs, what is likely to come is very unlikely to make Ferals happy.
- The reference client is 2.4.3, where Energy regen fully reset on shift, so this is unlikely to change easily.
- The current workarounds abusing the regen update mechanic are using Mana per 5 and Health per 5 changes to trigger an Energy regen update, which is as awkward and weird as it sounds, so this is unlikely to remain if the Devs have any easy fixes for it.
- The future of Feral is the death of powershifting, as seen above, so the very concept of doing a powershift is likely, although not guaranteed, to be a disfavored activity from the start.
- Classic kept a lot more warts-n-all than TBCC appears to be doing, so while Classic’s preservation of powershifting makes sense, there is a good chance powershifting may be an unfun “wart” for the Devs to remove.
I would love it if a happy compromise was struck as a lot of Ferals love the Powershift playstyle. Ferals aren’t really in danger of destroying meters or upending metas from a DPS perspective so a buff wouldn’t really alter the world. However, I am skeptical and highly doubtful such a happy compromise would come down the pipe. If I had to put money on it, I’d wager the Mp5/Hp5 workaround gets hotfixed and nothing else is done or said.
A Blizzard response would certainly help clear the air. Right now people are trying to play a variety of rhetorical games to “force” a Blizzard response in their favor and I just don’t see that happening, but some kind of communication would be greatly appreciated.