Heya! I’m here to share my point of view on the current and planned iterations of the Feral druid. (BfA vs Shadowlands) Naturally this will touch on some of the class wide changes, mostly regarding the affinity (lvl 30) talents and utility/cc (lvl 35) talents.
This is all from the perspective of a mythic raider who has achieved some pretty good parses (95th percentile and above). I’ve dabbled with some Arena gameplay too (peaked at 2k rating so far, aiming for 2.4k). So, I’d like to believe that my thoughts and opinions on the spec and its changes have some weight to them even if I’m not a «veteran» of the spec/class.
I will make an attempt to hit what I think are the major flaws of both the Live and the Alpha variant of the spec. These are mainly focused on our utility (what does a Feral bring to a group/raid) and talent row imbalance (Sabertooth, Soul of the Forest vs Savage Roar and lastly Bloodtalons).
What utility does a Feral bring in Shadowlands?
Feral only:
Predatory Swiftness - Occasional healing and instant roots
Maim - A stun that costs CP/energy
All druids:
Stampeding Roar - (Class wide in Shadowlands)
Cyclone. (Shadowlands)
Soothe - an Enrage dispel
Remove Corruption - a Curse/Poison dispel
Rebirth - Full HP combat ress
Hibernate - A beast/dragonkin specific CC, ultra niche. (castable in cat form btw)
Typhoon/Incap/Vortex (Shadowlands talents)
Bash/Mass Entanglement/HotW - An off healing/tanking CD (Shadowlands talents)
TL DR: (Essential, Important, Worth looking into)
Two charges of Survival Instincts
(or at least Leader of the Pack to compensate for the major loss of survivability)
Execute based Sabertooth baseline
(Bite extending Rip on targets below 25% hp and a cool bleed/bite talent instead?)
Feral affinity Mighty Bash instead of Maim as our unique CC tool
Cyclone instead of Mighty Bash as the single target CC talent
Let Savage Roar scale with Mastery
Wild Fleshrending instead of Scent of Blood
(or maybe a reason to use Thrash more?)
Do something about Soul of the Forest’s energy refund
Rework/Reimagine Berserk
(Tiger’s Fury feels like the actual CD of the spec)
Leader of the Pack baseline?
Bloodtalons: Seems cool, personally still prefer the current (bfa) version.
Rebirth in cat form: A Predatory Swiftness interaction makes perfect sense.
TALENTS
LEVEL 15 TALENTS - Simple energy expenditure modifiers.
PREDATOR – Nice and simple, gives you more energy.
Has its potential for AoE/cleave while also being a simple option for newer players. It helps reinforce the value Tiger’s Fury provides whilst also reinforcing the idea that it should be used whenever available. Maybe a «Jungle Fury» like crit % bonus could be added to the talent to make it more competitive for ST?
SABERTOOTH – THE major design flaw of the spec.
A “more dmg per energy spent” talent done wrong.
I’m sure there has been plenty of feedback on just how bad and unfun this talent is, so I won’t go into any deep details on it since there is plenty of that going around. My short take on it would be: “Talents should enhance a spec”, in other words make it more interesting/fun/flavorful. The current sabertooth does the opposite. It sometimes feels like it enters a cheat code for infinite ammo on Rip, which can be fun sometimes* but it can quickly become stale»
Reverting Sabertooth back to where it only refreshed/added Rip duration on targets below 25% and then replacing the talent row with something else seems like the only way to go. I’d suggest adding a «jagged wounds» esque effect/debuff talent there instead. «Your Ferocious Bite now applies Jagged wounds to the target, increasing the tick rate of all bleeds on the target by xx% for y seconds» or a «Ferocious Bite now consumes up to x seconds of your bleeds on the target based on CP spent" (example: 2s of Rake, Rip, Thrash and/or Feral Frenzy)
Either of these would enhance Ferocious Bite in a way that both makes it more impactful and alters your gameplay. This would also reinforce the bleed management aspect of the spec whilst giving both new and experience Feral players a more fun and interactive talent.
LUNAR INSPIRATION – Not only flashy but also useful in situations.
Another energy spender.
I often find myself using it for world quests or in some mob farms, it’s useful but not always in harder content. The easiest way to make this talent more “viable” and interesting would be to decrease its energy cost to 20/25 to make it more worthwhile and easier to spread.
Maybe let it have a small boost to its damage or maybe an added effect? Maybe making it slightly boost the damage of your bleeds on its target could be cool, as in making every bleed tick on a moonfired target also deal a small “lunar” dmg tick? (think Flametongue Weapon for shamans). Another idea: “Moonsear - Moonfire deals an additional xx% bonus damage for each bleed active on the target”.
LEVEL 25 TALENTS – Proactivity / Reactivity
TIGER DASH – Fun and niche. Wild Charge outshines it in most content, but it definitely has its uses.
RENEWAL – A more reactive choice in a seemingly proactive row. Feels a bit out of place but it somehow also makes sense to put it here. Even though experienced player won’t ever use this outside of extreme niche scenarios, it still has its uses for less experienced players who would be more comfortable playing with a big heal rather than more enhanced mobility. All in all, I don’t mind Renewal staying as it is. It seems to be a great option for Thorgast.
WILD CHARGE – Could easily be baseline. Super versatile and useful all around. Giving players the option to choose to have or not have this does make for some interesting «do I want a or b for this» thoughts sometimes.
LEVEL 30 TALENTS – Affinities
Feral affinity - Our baseline. Used for catweaving for Guardian and Restoration. Maim being the additional CC ability does not make any damn sense here when compared to the other 3. Typhoon, Incapacitating Roar and Ursol’s Vortex are all usable in ANY form at ANY time. Maim however, requires not only cat form, but also the time to build and spend combo points. The only real time Maim would be used would be from Resto druids going Feral Affinity in arenas.
Not only are the requirements needed to even use main rather silly, but it then only affects 1 target and is less effective for each stun that target may have received/will receive. «Maim» does not compete with the other 3 cc abilities at all.
Give feral affinity «Mighty Bash» instead. Not only does it not require any setup like the other options don’t, but it also grants the Feral another albeit niche utility tool to its kit. What would replace Mighty Bash as a talent in the next row would then be Cyclone, but more on this later.
Late note: there is practically NO reason to pick Feral affinity for Maim as long as Mighty Bash is a talent option in another row. If a player wants a stun then Mighty Bash is VASTLY superior and easier to use. The Maim portion of the affinity is just straight up a worse version of another talent row.
Balance affinity – Pretty much picked for the extended range for the vast majority of scenarios. Typhoon does thematically make sense here as the added CC ability.
Guardian Affinity – Great for Arena or fights where damage taken is high. Incapacitating Roar feels like a great reason to consider this talent more often.
Resto affinity – Great for m+, raids and Arenas. Swiftmend now consuming a HoT is not that big of a drawback for Feral thanks to our free Regrowth casts. Ursol’s Vortex being the CC option is also a nice touch.
LEVEL 35 TALENTS – Utility / CC
Mighty Bash – Make it baseline for Feral affinity and replace this talent with Cyclone instead. This would make the choice between a strong but niche single target CC, another strong but also niche AoE CC and a strong but niche general utility CD. Each of these have their moments of glory in their own fields. Seems like a rather obvious change if you’d ask me.
MASS ENTANGLEMENT – Good stuff.
HEART OF THE WILD – Niche but flavorful. Might be a bit too long of a CD. Maybe give it a passive akin to the Legion Legendary chest «Ekowraith» where the passive bonuses of the affinities are boosted?
LEVEL 40 TALENTS – Energy management / damage amplifiers
SOUL OF THE FOREST – Honestly feels too good.
However, it does sometimes feel too strong compared to the other options in this row. It gives us too much energy for no effort, 5 energy per combo point is insane. Rip/Primal Wrath costs 25 energy and Bite costs 50, so by taking this talent you “effectively” remove the energy cost of Rip/Primal Wrath and halve the cost of Bite. It is currently so good that it makes me feel punished for choosing Savage Roar or Incarnation.
SAVAGE ROAR – In my opinion an ability with sweet potential for experienced players to shine. However, it is currently too weak compared to Soul of the Forest (edit: Soul of the Forest is too strong). A full 5cp savage roar only nets you about 40 energy, or 15 when counting in the cost of it (at 0% haste. 30% haste would give only 50 energy ect.)
I’d suggest letting it scale with mastery. The overall percentage of how much it would be affected by mastery would be a simple tuning knob if it would be too strong/weak. A 1:1 could be worth trying out, possibly where it’d be split. (Example: 40% mastery would increase the damage and healing parts by 20%, i.e 2% more dmg and energy regenerated. Make notice on how mastery affects “finishing moves” and that Savage Roar is exactly that.
Either the energy return from Soul of the Forest needs to be lowered significantly or Savage Roar needs to be buffed for it to worth considering. Savage Roar should be more rewarding for experienced players due to its added complexity, whilst Soul of the Forest should also be a good option for players who want a more simplified rotation.
INCARNATION – Fun and impactful, but still not “ideal” as it’s design is bound to Berserk which itself has a lot of issues. Compared to Berserk this feels more like a impactful button to press. It is entirely tied to Berserk and has a lot of the same flaws. It is a 10s longer Berserk where you get the stealth benefits for Rake (100% increased dmg) and Shred (30% increased dmg + 2x crit chance) with a 1 time use of Prowl in combat… Gameplay wise it opens up for some good Rakes and a useful “vanish” button.
LEVEL 45 TALENTS - AoE / Cleave
SCENT OF BLOOD – Never used, SEVERELY outperformed by the other two options. I heavily suggest replacing it with some form of Wild Fleshrending instead, making Shred/Swipe do more dmg to targets affected by Thrash. Might even be cool if it made Thrash do more dmg, as in making it more than just a «pseudo colossus smash» debuff.
Note: Brutal slash does not get bonus dmg from bleeding targets, making Thrash less valuable. Primal wrath applies an AoE bleed so Swipe gets its bonus dmg from that, also making Thrash less valuable. A talent that actually makes Thrash more valuable seems to make perfect sense in this row.
BRUTAL SLASH – Interesting and fun. Currently the only option for more single target damage in the row, making it the default pick for «standard» boss fights. If Wild Fleshrending became the 1st option in this row, then this would be able to be a more «burst» oriented option.
PRIMAL WRATH – A gift from heaven. Feels great and gives us our much needed AoE option.
I’m not sure on how I feel of it potentially being target capped. If so then 8 targets would be my guess. A lot of the damage it provides is via the Rips it applies, so putting a cap on the targets it hits can open up for some potential niche gameplay where you’d have to position yourself between each cast to make sure you hit targets that don’t have Rip active. But if Thrash is uncapped then I think Primal Wrath too should be uncapped.
LEVEL 50 TALENTS - Flow / Rotation modifiers
MOMENT OF CLARITY – Nice and smooth. Nothing to say here really. Could be cool if the proc rate increase was lower, but it instead made the empowered ability always crit?
BLOODTALONS – The new version seems interesting, however it does not feel “druidic”. Old bloodtalons was «weird» in that it required a non damaging spell to activate, but it also made room for players to achieve decent mastery of the spec. It indirectly taught you to make more use of your heals/roots, possibly opening the player up to the idea of healing other targets than himself.
Personally I prefer the current version (Regrowth/Roots). I don’t really see why this talent is the one being prioritized for an overhaul. Sure, putting a dps increase behind a heal/utility spell is outside the norm but when you’re a druid that just fits the fantasy. I’d rather have a talent that promotes using the instant casts that are baseline to the spec (predatory swiftness).
The new Bloodtalons could be cool. Maybe if could interact with whether or not you had Primal Wrath talented? So that if PW was chosen then it would require Swipe instead of Shred, making it more niched towards AoE if you were using a more AoE oriented build?
FERAL FRENZY – Amazing for PvP and really fun to use while doing quests and dailies. It feels kinda simple compared to Ashamane’s Frenzy paired with the 30% dmg window trait. In its current state it could be viewed as a supercharged Rake on a 45s CD.
Worthy mentions:
Berserk - “An offensive cooldown should not feel situational”
Pressing it doesn’t feel “fun” or engaging, you press it and ignore energy management for a while, a “200-300 energy over 20s” button. It hardly affects gameplay other than letting you spam Shred/Swipe/Bite more than usual. That’s it. It feels like a clunkier version of Outlaw’s Adrenaline Rush which speeds up your gameplay and makes for some more “intense” moments. Pressing Tiger’s Fury feels WAY more impactful than Berserk.
Sure, having a cooldown that grants us tons of energy and spam potential in an otherwise energy starved spec is “nice” in a way, but in terms of actually empowering the spec there are way better alternatives.
Now think about the setup a Affliction or Demonology Warlock gets to do to maximize their burst cooldown. They must manage dots/pets to make sure its ideal, we just want to save some energy before using it (or spend some during bloodlust).
An ability that deal damage based on how much bleed damage the target has received could be fitting, either as a BIG bite or a nasty bleed. Maybe an ability that summons/conjures 2-3 big cats to do some good damage/effects, giving us a “pack” feeling ability? (would open for some great visuals/glyphs too!)
What if Feral had no real “large cd” and instead a passive that increased Ferocious Bite’s dmg by a significant amount based on the target’s missing HP, and/or make it restore a percentage of the energy spent on the bite based en the targets missing health? Maybe a tiny energy gain every time Rip or Rake deals damage? (1 energy per tick, more if Soul of the Forest is talented?)
Leader of the Pack - a potential fix to our lack of unique utility.
It fits the spec fantasy, provides the spec (maybe guardian too?) something unique in terms of utility. If a warrior gets brought for Battle shout, a DH for the 5% more magic dmg then why can’t a Feral/guardian bring some form of crit scaling and/or passive healing.
5% critical strike chance would be alot to bring and would quite possibly make Feral/guardian mandatory in every high end raid group. Giving LotP to both these specs would help evening out the utility imbalance between the druid’s melee and casters specs now that Stampeding Roar is baseline.
Toning LotP down a notch, make it affect critical strike damage or a mix of both are all simple knobs that can be used to balance it. Making it only affect the Feral and it’s party members could lead to some unhealthy class stacking, so having it affect the whole raid seems to be healthy option. Another possibility would be to make it like the DH/Monk debuff where it only boosts the Crit dmg/chance on targets recently hit by the druid.
(which could open up for some interesting talents for both feral and guardian, as in having it only last a few seconds but also do some sort of bleed damage?)
It would also help alleviate some of Ferals survivability concerns now with Survival Instincts being limited to 1 charge. 4% HP healed roughly every 6 seconds would further strengthen the “druidic” fantasy of being self sufficient. With instant Regrowths and LotP a Feral could easily be close to completely self healed in scenarios where the group doesn’t take tons of damage (raids, high m+, pvp ect).