Seriously though, who is this talent for? Does any spec ever get this? Does going bear for 4 seconds count as a defensive cooldown for the other 3 specs? Can Guardians somehow use this effectively… ever? Like forego storing rage for any subsequent pull in lieu of activating this 2 point talent at the start of every pull?
Make it a 100% uptime passive and it might actually be amazing for Guardians and go quite a long way toward actually fixing many of their issues. Either that or just remove it.
People pick it in pvp all the time.
Also used in higher keys with Bear Form +Frenzied Regen macro to overcome major damage spikes
^^ this…
Unavoidable fight mechanics that will one shot you otherwise.
The 20% hp keeps you alive through the hit, and then FR tops you up afterwards.
It has its uses, but yes, I made a similar post about this recently. It needs to be 100% for guardian.
jdotb has been using that talent for a long time (even in SL when it was a soul conduit).
It’s incredibly useful, especially when you’re targeted for nasty abilities…one good example was SoA the machine boss…ursine vigor completely negated the dmg from that without having to burn a CD.
really strong talent, but i don’t take it cuz i’m a cat 
So it does act as a pseudo defensive cooldown then…
Should still be permanent duration.
In most situations there isnt a reason it needs to last longer then 4 seconds for our heals and damage specs. You hit it as damage comes in and then go back to damaging or healing, sitting in bear is universally bad in pve since you arent healing or damaging while in it. Being permanent would really only be a pvp buff for the 3 non-guardian specs since thats the only time you sit in bear longer then that and i think theres already pvp talents just for that.
And its original design for guardian was to help smooth out on pull damage along with the free rage you got for shifting. The idea being you would shift, get the free 25 rage and this buff to keep you alive while you got out your first thrash and ironfur; it would fall off right as you were fully set up. Not nearly as useful now that bear is so cooldown dependant but its still there for the other specs.
Instead of permanent itd be more useful if it functioned like vigil and protector do for resto. Gives everyone but guardian a buff when entering bearform as a defensive, but then work on leaving bearfrom for guardian, giving them buffer time if they need to shapeshift out to throw a heal or something.
The talent is trash. It has niche uses as people pointed out, but 99% of builds that people run it isn’t picked up.
Nobody takes this in pvp
This is actually a great idea. Make it a lingering stam buff when shifting out of bear would make it way more useful in pvp.
I’ve actually wanted this exact type of thing literally since vanilla. Druid heals have always been so ridiculously inaccessible to bear users. Paladins and shamans could always simply cast heals mid battle, while druids have to shift out of bear form… just a death sentence.