Other classes can play stylishly and deal damage without restrictions, so why does Feral Druid always have to wait for energy to recover just to use skills? Are you guys stupid or what?
Seriously, please stop with the pathetic low-energy concept and make Feral Druid stylish and playable with the next patch.
Yea I’m not a big fan of the energy changes myself. From my understanding though feral has been slaying in pvp. The low energy is def an annoyance but does passively encourage form weaving. I was enjoying it but prefer the laser bear 
wtf is feral druid? i havent seem one for 2 months.
First off, the name calling is completely unnecessary. Your question is in no way helped by calling the people you’re directing it at stupid.
But even setting that aside, there are 39 distinct specs in WoW, 26 of them DPS specs. There is room for a wide range of play styles to accommodate the most number of players. The reason feral has to wait for energy to recover is because that is the only way for its primary unique mechanic, snapshotting, to function. When feral has unlimited energy, as we did in DF, snapshotting becomes basically an afterthought. There are limited avenues for skill expression when you don’t need to plan your attacks around snapshotting, as you’re always just a couple seconds away from fixing any mistakes you made with your snapshot.
Thematically, the play style that forms out of the lack of energy also fits with the fantasy of playing a cat as well. Cats follow an activity pattern where they expend a lot of energy in short bursts followed by rest periods; it’s how they hunt, how they play, how the interact with other animals/humans. Having limited energy forces us to play in this manner as well, with a flurry of activity followed by a rest.
With all due respect, you have done nothing to demonstrate why abandoning the way feral has existed for most of WoW’s existence in favor of the full energy structure that existed during Dragonflight is better for the game. There is already another energy-using DoT spec that isn’t nearly as energy-capped in assassination rogue if that is the kind of play style you are looking for. We don’t need a second spec that plays basically the same but with differently named abilities again.
I will fully admit I’m biased; I’ve been playing feral since TBC, with a focus on DPS feral since Wrath. But you’re going to have to do more than just throw a temper tantrum and insult the spec designers to actually convince me that Blizzard should even consider making feral an energy-abundant spec again. The primary unique mechanic for the spec does not function when unlimited energy and it’s unlikely to be better for the game to have two similar specs as opposed to two specs unique from each other in order to appease the most number of players.
Feral is one of the best small group PvP specs currently. The reduction of energy coming into TWW resulted in a buff to the bleeds the spec has, which has created significant problems for opposing teams in PvP.
To start, I’m using GPT for translation to leave comments for you. If my wording sounds a bit strange, please interpret it as best as you can.
Do you not realize how unreasonable and foolish the recent changes to feral druids have been, to the point where calling them “stupid” feels justified?
You mentioned that you’ve played feral druids for many years, but have you ever considered how outdated the so-called “unique mechanic” of snapshotting is? Since the vanilla days, all DoT-based specs had the concept of snapshotting, but it has disappeared from almost every spec, leaving only feral druids behind. Can you really call that a “unique mechanic” of feral druids? It’s nothing more than a relic of the past.
If anything, the real charm of feral druids lies in their bleed debuff, or their versatility in adapting to various situations through shapeshifting. That aligns much more closely with the “unique mechanic” you mentioned. If you want to emphasize feral druids’ strength in bleed debuffs, their bleed damage should also be emphasized in single-target scenarios. But do you know what skill ranks first in feral druids’ damage meters right now? Bleed damage is only in second place. It shines in AoE situations, but that’s it.
The real problem is that the Blizzard team doesn’t seem to know whether feral druids are supposed to be a DoT-focused spec or a burst-damage spec.
If feral druids were meant to be a spec with strong bleed debuffs, then your argument about managing energy limitations would make sense—that’s how it should be. But that’s not the case right now. On the other hand, if feral druids were designed to be a burst-damage spec, then their bleed damage should be weakened, and their energy regeneration should be increased instead.
Currently, feral druids struggle to manage energy to apply their bleed debuffs, and during their most powerful burst phase, Berserk, they use a flurry of skills at the start only to run out of energy and be unable to do anything. What other DPS spec in the game works like this? A spec that can’t cast its skills because it runs out of resources? Do you really think this is a normal way for a DPS spec to function?
No, in fact I think the changes to feral druid have been fantastic. As I said, I acknowledge I’m biased here. I much prefer a slower paced feral druid, I’ve greatly despised the infinite energy, full tiger’s fury uptime, ferocious bite bot that feral started to become in BFA and fully became in DF.
That’s fine if you disagree and prefer the way feral druid was before TWW. But this is a purely subjective position. The designers having a different vision for feral druid than what you would prefer doesn’t make them or the changes stupid.
You literally just explained why it is unique. The fact that other specs used to have it doesn’t change the fact that feral druid is the only spec with it today. There are many reasons why Blizzard removed it from the other specs; one such reason could have been a desire to create those unique mechanics for every spec.
Snapshotting creates the need for decision making that other DoT specs simply don’t have. It’s no longer just “hit it in pandemic,” you truly have to consider what buffs you have and will have for future applications. That creates an enjoyable gameplay loop for me.
Additionally, it enhances the class fantasy of being cat, as I mentioned previously. Having that flurry of activity followed by downtime feeds into that fantasy better than just about any other mechanic I think I could come up with.
The term “outdated” is just a buzzword that doesn’t really mean anything on its own. There are aspects of WoW that go back to MMO game design from the mid-90s that work just fine on their own. I think snapshotting still serves its purpose well, regardless when it was first added to the game.
Perhaps for PvP the difference between bleed or any other type of debuff matters; but for PvE, this distinction is completely irrelevant. There is no difference whether a DoT is physical (bleed), shadow, or fire. All that matters is the amount of damage it does. The game certainly could be designed such that being a bleed is relevant compared to any other type, but it’s just not. What separates feral druid from other DoT-based DPS specs is snapshotting, for better or worse.
The only DoT based DPS spec for which their DoTs are the highest damage dealer for them in single target is shadow priest. For affliction warlock it’s Malefic Rapture and for assassination rogue it’s Envenom. I don’t disagree in theory that feral druid’s (and all DoT specs) should find most of their damage in single target situations from their DoTs. But the game is just not designed that way for any DoT based spec. And as bad as it is today, feral is far more DoT heavy in single target than the 50% ferocious bite damage we used to have in SL and DF.
Of course, this also doesn’t really change the position of snapshotting being the unique niche for feral compared to the other DoT specs. Nor does it change the fact that the difference between snapshotting well and snapshotting poorly will have a noticeable effect on the meters, even if the top damage output is Ferocious Bite and Ravage (if playing Druid of the Claw).
I just don’t agree with this statement. Sure, the number 1 damage ability we have is Ferocious Bite, but we don’t make any of our decisions around ferocious bite. The main decision making we make as feral is when to reapply our DoTs, with ferocious bite and brutal slash/shred always being the fallback whenever our DoTs don’t need refreshed. It’s pretty clear gameplay wise that we are a DoT based spec, even if in practice we get to weave in enough bites to make that be our top damage ability in single target.
Would I turn down a higher percentage of our damage coming from bleeds, and possibly even a bleed-based option whenever Rip is in a good place? No. But rip is still our highest damage ability per global, hence why we will choose to keep rip in a healthy spot rather than biting.
First off, if you are running out of resources during Berserk, you are playing it wrong.
But more generally, having 1 spec out of 26 that plays this way is perfectly fine as far as I’m concerned. As I mentioned previously, it’s far better for the game to have options tailored to as many different play styles as possible. There are players such as myself that enjoy having the feast then famine play style feral has in TWW. It’s not good for the game to turn feral back into the bad assassination rogue clone that existed for the last couple expansions prior to TWW. Even if you aren’t a fan of the feral play style, I have to imagine you can at least understand how it’s better to have feral play distinctly from another spec when trying to appeal to the most players.
If feral is going to ditch the activity flurry followed by downtime approach, it needs to be a complete rework of the spec that brings fresh ideas so the spec is still unique. While I would miss it, I could live with snapshotting being removed provided there was something else that separates feral from other DoT based specs in that rework.
What I have been vehemently opposed to is having snapshotting when it serves little purpose, as was the case in SL and especially DF. If Blizzard is going to raise the APM of the spec and cut out the downtime, snapshotting needs to be eliminated. Having the central mechanic of a spec involve nearly zero skill expression because there is no consequence to playing it wrong is unhealthy for the game. Certainly far unhealthier than having a spec that plays slower than others would like.
Taking this question more generically - the answer is yes. Every spec should have to worry about its resource generation and expenditure. If a spec has unlimited quantities of a resource then that resource serves no purpose and should simply be removed. Not every spec has to have a resource that governs all of its abilities and be as limited as energy is for feral; but there shouldn’t be a single spec that is balanced around proper use of a resource if that resource is functionally limitless.
Sure, if you prefer a slower-paced feral druid, that’s your style, and I respect that.
But I can’t agree with your opinion that “there shouldn’t be enough energy.”
Take one skill as an example: Ferocious Bite. You describe it as “a flurry of activity followed by downtime,” but with a limited energy resource of 120, using skills that consume 40 or 35 energy means you run out of resources after 2-3 uses. These skills are far from creating the “flurry of activity” you mentioned; they’re just preparatory skills to use Ferocious Bite.
Especially with Ferocious Bite’s additional energy condition (spending 25 more energy to deal 100% extra damage), you need downtime to maximize its efficiency after using preparatory skills. But after that downtime, when you use the skill, how does it compare to the powerful abilities of other classes? Is it strong? No, it’s either weaker or roughly the same.
The “explosive moment” you described after downtime doesn’t actually feel explosive when compared to other classes. The only real “explosive moment” happens when Convoke the Spirits and Berserk are used together. Without those two? Does it really feel like the situation you described?
And let’s not forget about Ravage’s activation condition: auto-attacks. What happens if you’re in a situation where you can’t auto-attack? It doesn’t activate at all.
And one more thing to add: you’re repeatedly referring to “Feral Druid” as a “Cat” and linking the real-life behavior of cats to the gameplay style.
Isn’t it odd to associate “Feral Druid” in WoW with “Cat” just because they use “Cat Form”? Their appearance is more like big cats, such as lions or panthers, rather than domestic cats.
Complaining that ferals shouldn’t be limited by energy regen because real life “big cats” don’t rest until landing a kill has to be one of the dumbest things to grace the forums… which says a lot.
It’s just as strong if you’re snapshotting properly, which is the entire premise behind lower energy. You have to play the mechanic of the play style properly.
If you play properly yes. There’s a lot of energy regen in the game (not enough to be GCD locked like you want) to allow a lot of big Bites back to back.
Yay bleeds then eh? What happens when other melee aren’t able to be within melee range for auto attacks either? That’s right, they can’t activate their big hits either. This isn’t exclusive to Feral.
Only if you hit the abilities as soon as they’re available. The flurry of activity comes from pooling energy waiting for the next cycle prior to hitting your finisher. Energy regenerates at the same rate the entire fight; so long as you don’t cap on energy, you will have the same damage potential over a minute regardless whether you use energy immediately or wait until you have more stored up. When we factor in cooldown use, this makes pooling a damage increase despite the resource generation being constant. And then since we are a DoT based spec, we’re still getting damage out during the period when we’re pooling.
That’s the flurry of activity I am referring to, the fact that the ideal play is to wait on energy to regenerate prior to hitting our abilities. If you aren’t doing so, then sure, the play style will be jagged and disjointed as you will always be pressing an ability then waiting for the next ability.
The game cannot be balanced ability per ability like this, though. How much damage are those other specs getting in between presses of their powerful abilities? Yeah, ferocious bite is the number one damage ability for feral, but that doesn’t mean the DoTs are insignificant. The DoTs continue to contribute to our damage output while we’re in between pressing bite, which most other specs do not have; their only source of damage in between ability presses are auto-attacks.
I never said anything about having an explosive moment, that’s purely yours. I spoke about the level of activity alternating between waiting and a flurry. Not once did I say anything about it being some massive crescendo on par with other classes.
But more importantly, not everyone is looking for those big moments of output in their gameplay. Some players want mostly consistent damage with spurts of burst rather than their entire experience being burst followed by nothing. For the players that do want that kind of play, there are specs that have this. Taking away one of the few examples that aren’t like other specs is not a good idea for appeasing the most number of players.
I’m not really sure what you’re trying to drive at with this. If you can’t auto-attack, you also won’t be able to build or spend your abilities either. There are going to be far more problems for any builder/spender spec than whether you get a proc that boosts a finisher’s output.
Not once did I limit my class fantasy discussion to domestic cats, and everything I mentioned applies to nearly every family of feline on earth. Whether you’re talking a house cat, a jungle cat, or plains cat, they all spend most of their time resting except when they exhibit a burst activity while hunting or playing.
At no point has even a quarter of my argument revolved around class fantasy. The vast majority of my arguments are around having a gameplay loop that many players enjoy with feral that would be missed if feral were to become yet another burst spec. I just also recognize class fantasy in an RPG is important for many, and the play style encouraged by a low energy DoT spec accurately depicts the cat fantasy inhabited by feral players.
And that’s to say nothing of the fact that my class fantasy argument has nothing to do with waiting until landing a kill to rest…
I wasn’t responding to you so…Hongcat edited it out of his post. I guess he doesn’t realize we can see he edited it…
Perhaps I misread what you said. I thought you were agreeing with Hongcat who was criticizing my class fantasy argument. My apologies if that was an incorrect understanding.
No worries… I was poking fun at Hongcat who literally said ferals shouldn’t be limited by energy regen because tigers and lions don’t rest until after landing a kill. He deleted it, I assume not knowing we can see the edits.
Got it, that makes more sense then.
just put dwelk on ignore and your times in the forums will be much more enjoyable. He has something to say about everything.
I don’t even click into 5% of the posts made on the forums because they are topics that do not concern me. I just happen to feel strongly about the corner of the WoW universe that most affect me, so I will be very active in those topics.
The spec I have played for nearly half my life happens to be one such topic…
That’s what I said though 
it’s great in PvP. I am however allowed to have my own opinion regarding the energy cycle . I don’t mind it, however it does get annoying at times. I’m guessing we can agree to half disagree 
Yes, I was just confirming what you posed as an unknown regarding feral’s viability in PvP. Feral is absolutely slapping in PvP.
I was not trying to discredit your opinion on the energy cycle with my response to you. I’ve certainly made my opinion known on the subject, but fully recognize that’s purely subjective. I was not and will not try to convince you that you’re somehow wrong for having a different opinion regarding our energy situation. I apologize for whatever in my post made it seem like that was my intention.
No problemo at all my dude. Like I said I don’t even really mind it there’s just been times in pve where I’m like sheet but honestly it just takes practice. All good in the hood 
I always loved feral even at the times when it’s not that great.
I’ve always preferred options in games that reward planning and knowing when to strike rather than being able to press the right buttons as fast as possible. That’s what drew me to feral initially back in TBC, it was the spec that most rewarded that forethought. Now the spec was objectively terrible come the middle of the expansion, but at least the difference in how well one feral did compared to another came down to that planning.
I didn’t particularly like the last few expansions where feral became a bite-spamming bot. Outside of when Sabertooth extended rip indefinitely in ST fights, there was enough of the old style that I stuck with the spec, but I felt like I may as well be planning sin rogue instead. So I’m quite happy with how feral feels in TWW, myself.