What are your thoughts on the future of Feral Druids? How would you like to see them developed?
I almost feel that they should be a highly mobile class that specializes in DoTs and have a hit and run type playstyle.
2 Likes
In terms of feral druid play-style, my “ideal” style would revolve around a “glass cannon” play-style. With high mobility comes at severe disadvantages in survivability (unless you use talent specs to offset the lack of physical survivability). As described below, my ideal play-style is a mixure of both hit and run and toe to toe. Mobility and defensive should be used on a reaction basis due to a feral druids versatility in abilities
I’d focus on two play-styles that are generally the same but have difference nuances:
1. Hit and Run:
Feral Druids should be the master of damage over time, while maintaining cushions between you and the enemy. Classes that counter this class should revolve around those who can slow and grip feral druids. Spells that this play-style would focus on is Rip/Rake/Thrash and Lunar Inspiration. I’d imagine that this type of play-style acts more like a warlock dotting classes and keeping distance, except to dot, you need to be in range.
Pros:
- This is the way feral druids should be meant to play (using dots and mobility)
- Sustained pressure on your target
- Cannot dispel
Cons:
- Unable to “finish off targets” in a meaninful way
- Lack of strong single target dots that are able to put meaningful pressure on your enemy
2. Toe to Toe:
Like the Hit and Run idea, this play-style tends to spend a bit more time upfront of their enemy. When I think “cats” (especially wild cats,) I see them on the enemies neck not letting go. Spells that you can focus on in this play-style would be stronger versions of Ferocious Bite and Lunar Inspiration. This class would act very similar to a rogue with its “in your face” play-style.
Pros:
- Immensely dangerous in toe to toe
- Using your mobility to get to targets instead of getting away from targets
Cons:
- Being in a fight too long is dangerous would have to disengage at proper moments
3. A mixture of both
The beautiful thing about druids is they are suppose to be a versatile class. Thus, I’d like to see my ideal play-style have elements of both a hit and run attack play-style matched with a toe to toe play-style. As a druid, I think the highlight of the class is utilizing spells and abilities that match your situation. Thus, the class should be highly situational (reaction based.)
Thanks to a poster below, I wanted to edit this post. In that I do agree with more of a survival hunter play-style. [quote=“Zuulakusus-bleeding-hollow, post:5, topic:53386”]
I like the style of Survival Hunters, they can customize their style to fit certain situations. A mixture of Melee and Ranged at any moment.
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Note:
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Lunar Inspiration is essential because a feral druid (with its high mobility) should be able to build combo points while creating proper distance between you and the enemy. I’d make this a baseline ability. Or create another spell that is able to build combo points mid range.
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Both playstyles of a feral druid should come with a whole kit of “get away” or “get in the fight” spells such as: Stun, Root, Cyclone, Typhoon, Tiger Dash, Stampeding Roar and etc…
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Feral druids must be more versatile in everything they do. Thus, our toolkit should be much more than other classes.
Edit:
After reading what I wrote, I essentially described what feral druids already are! They already have the toolkit, the mobility, the rip (to create dots) and the ferocious bite to finish off targets in a meaningful way.
I think the only thing I am truly missing is a combo point generator builder mid range such as Lunar Inspiration. Hence, in legion I really missed Balance Affinity & Elkowrath Legendary Chest Piece so that I could build dots/combos while creating good distance.
2 Likes
I think feral should play like a predator. we stalk our prey then pounce. realistically how often do you see wild cats in our world scratching stuff and watching it bleed out? they dont do that lol they jump them and tear them up til they are dead. I want feral to be similar to outlaw in a sense of being more of a toe to toe fighter, with our mobility and healing we have now to fulfill the druid fantasy.
1 Like
End of ICC-era Feral was basically perfect, let’s get that again.
3 Likes
I agree that we do have the toolkit to play any of these styles. I think our survivability should come from our mobility. We are cats… we are agile, fast, and should be able to get out of a tricky scenario. I think Stuns should be our weakness but snares and roots should never be a problem.
I don’t favor the Toe to Toe style because I fear we will always be compared to Rogues and that will keep us from having our own style or getting any meaningful attention.
I like the style of Survival Hunters, they can customize their style to fit certain situations. A mixture of Melee and Ranged at any moment.
Ferals should be focused on their strengths of DoTs and Mobility.
Shapeshifting breaks snare effects. Freedom of the Herd (pvp talent) breaks snare/root for you and your allies within X yards.
I like the hit and hide kinda play. Wish we had a bit more damage/focus on bleeds, and not so much into Bite.
Allow you to multidot again, for a bit more damage, all the while avoiding getting stuck in melee range and whailed on for too long.
So make it to where our bleeds deal a bit more damage, at the expense of being a glass cannon. We have the toolkit to keep away, we just need to get in close for a bleed or two or a stun, and then get booking again. Rinse and repeat. Hit and run
I like the shred and tear on the spot. Like it was in WOD but without being constantly energy starved.
Actually each cat hunts differently. Since feral is portrayed as a lion most of their fatalities do come from infected injury or loss of blood after a fight. Tigers and jaguars are what ferals actually are, solo stealth killers. Tigers are known for being king of the cats (sorry lion fans but Tigers win this) and for being the only cat that boxes. Jaguars are known for having the strongest bite of all land animals, and the unique kill method of crushing the skull.
I like ferals in legion after their buff, after they got toned down, i felt like they were the perfect class, they had everything, cc, heals, burst, sustain, survivability, mobility, terror factor. I hope that’s the case at 120.
It’s not really. We are a shell of what we were legion 7.3.5. We have alright healing but we take so much damage and lack damage it’s pretty sad.
If they’d make it so we could cast our chosen affinity talent, in form, we’d be able to take Resto and have off heals and do decent. Increase cooldowns on them so we can’t spam them back to back, or have them cost a set amount of energy, so that way we have to choose between heals or damage or cc.
Or, if taking balance/resto affinity, give us like a 20k mana pool on top of our energy resource, and make it like hybrids where it depletes after like 4-5 spam heals (enhance shamans, i’m looking at you lol).
Guardian affinity could just use our own energy pool
/shrug - ideas
They shouldn’t have one single playstyle, the player should be able to decide how they want to play it and then set it up accordingly; having to pick and choose between damage mitigation, healing, direct damage, dots, mobility, etc. If one person wants DoTs/mobility/healing, and another wants mitigation/direct damage, then both should be viable.
The problem is lack of control over stats and azerite traits - if you can pick and choose from all traits then it’ll function more like talents and the game will become more fun. You can then “spec” as a dagger in the back DoT feral, or battlefield precision DoT feral, or a Gushing Lacerations dot/finisher hybrid with quick cp generation, or 3x masterful instincts for a +1900 mastery&armor zerg build that has a 1min downtime. Because I have some faint semblance of choice and control (which hasn’t existed since 5.0.4), I’m actually enjoying feral more now than I have in a long time, despite the obvious shortcomings.
Blizz will either embrace that, making the game more fun; or nerf it (as they have for ~8 years) to enforce a single playstyle per spec, by narrowing options and removing control you have over your character.
I miss how feral felt back in BC, when I could do respectable damage - and if the tank died, I could brez and off-tank until he got stabilized and rebuffed; if the healer died, I could brez and off-heal until innervate brought their mana back up. I did zero DPS while doing that, but I felt like a badass preventing many group wipes and a long run back from the GY. The game design rewarded us for doing that, now we’re just a liability if our damage is too low, and anyone who dies is “bad” and shouldn’t be in the group, so there’s no reason to have us around. Feral actually feels a lot closer to that BC playstyle now than it has in a very long time (the few heals I can throw out can top 1 person up, and bear isn’t completely useless)… but PvE is so much easier and what we can offer is no longer desirable.
Blizz doesn’t seem to be moving in the direction of each class can do everything. I don’t think we will see the Ferals that could heal, tank, and just all around do it all.
If you increase the strengths of Feral, then you have a unique class.
Below is some of the discussion from Q&A with Ion Hazzikostas
PvP
"The team would like to have space in the game for sustained pressure, with DoT classes wearing down the healers, giving a burst class a chance to jump in and get the kill. Weakness in one area should be made up with strengths in another. If you are less mobile, you should be harder to kill. If you have high mobility, you should probably go down more easily if people are able to focus on you.
The team would rather focus on increasing strengths rather than mitigating weaknesses. Always bolstering weaknesses makes everyone more average at everything."