Feral Feedback - 18th Nov Changes
Prior to the changes pushed on Nov 18th, I was cautiously optimistic about the state of Feral in the Midnight Beta. While not overly thrilled with the removal of Blood Talons, Adaptive Swarm or Brutal Slash, I could understand the reasoning coming from Blizzard in regards to the raising of the skill floor of specs and the simplification required with the removal of combat add-ons. Spells like Chomp and Frantic Frenzy were interesting new additions to add to Feral’s kit and some of the new passive effects in the bottom half of the tree have some real potential. To be honest, other than tuning, the inconsistency when casting Chomp and the fact we were pressing Shred/Swipe more than I would like, I was, overall, pretty satisfied with the Feral rotation in the previous beta build.
However, the changes pushed in the recent beta build are so far left of field, I am still reeling from them. I have zero idea to whom these changes are meant to appeal; where Blizzard is sourcing the feedback they are using to design the spec; what the archetype of Feral is meant to be in Midnight; where the ‘Skill Expression’ of the spec is coming from; or if I even want to play this iteration of the spec at all.
Thrash
Previously, Feral’s prime archetype was, ‘the melee DoT spec’. Thrash’s removal means Feral now has two (2) DoTs baseline, killing Feral’s iconic role.
While Thrash was hardly the most exciting spell in Feral’s kit, it did have a role in breaking up the monotony of the rotation with its relatively short DoT duration and use in triggering Blood Talons.
I was excited for the original Midnight changes made to Thrash; giving it a longer CD and bumping its damage from the initial hit could have made it a somewhat satisfying spell to press, given the correct tuning.
Just removing the spell outright makes the rotational Feral gameplay loop so completely monotonous that it feels like a bad joke.
The developer note provided by Blizzard regarding the removal of Thrash also does not track:
DoTs are key to the identity of a DoT spec. Removing said DoTs without providing a new spec identity just leaves it floundering, killing the interest of the established Feral player-base and giving no reason for others to try it.
If Thrash is uninteresting or non-essential, it is on the onus of the developers to make it so. Flat-out removing it and claiming it is due to UI or Keybinding issues is a truly Bad Faith argument and kills any confidence players may have that the spec is being handled by people who care or who even play it.
Claw Rampage
The change to Claw Rampage to no longer scale the chance to trigger Ravage based on the number of targets hit is a real blow to one of Feral’s historically weaker areas; Burst AoE.
While an infinitely scaling chance to trigger Ravage based on targets may have been too strong, the same flat-percentage chance in both AoE and single target feels like a major step backwards.
Feral was one of the few specs in The War Within where both Hero talent trees saw play in raids; in both Season One and Season Three you could play both talent trees on the same fights with much the same success.
By removing Druid of the Claw’s ability to “fish" for Ravages, you greatly reduce the viability and enjoyment of the Hero Talent tree. With the current Beta tuning, one may not be playing Druid of the Claw in any scenario, as the volatility of Ravage procs is just too high to be practical and removes any player agency from the CD window.
Chomp
Overall, I am quite happy with the addition of Chomp. It adds a nice dichotomy between pooling energy for Ferocious Bite then draining energy when Chomp is available. I am somewhat concerned that Chomp does not quite have the strength behind it to see consistent play compared to Feral’s Mastery scaling spells. The adjustment of triple critical damage is a nice addition to the spell, but it still feels like it needs a little more “oomph”.
One issue with Chomp is that you can get into situations where it is quite awkward to drop enough energy to actual cast it, specifically during our cooldown windows with Bloodlust/Heroism active. A suggestion to help this would be to allow Chomp to be cast while Berserk/Incarnation is active. Allowing at least one Chomp to be cast during our cooldown window and alleviating the ‘feelsbad’ of seeing Chomp go unused for ~45 seconds at the start of an encounter.
Other options to keep Chomp relevant without simply adding Mastery scaling could include; causing the DoTs on a recently Chomp’ed target to have a faster tick rate, a la Adaptive Swarm, or having Chomp trigger Ravage/Bloodseeker Vines when cast; adding some much need agency to Feral’s Hero talents - do you want to Chomp on CD for large damage on a prio target, or hold Chomp to trigger Ravage/Vines for incoming adds or damage amp phases?
Rotation
As mentioned previously, Feral’s main gameplay loop post-change is now laughable, with the vast majority of key-presses in single target simply being Shred. The spec genuinely feels more like something you would find in Classic or The Burning Crusade than in modern WoW;
Single Target
- Apply Dots (two) in pandemic windows.
- Press Shred to 5 combo points.
- Press Ferocious Bite.
AoE
- Apply Dots (two) in pandemic windows.
- Press Swipe to 5 combo points.
- Press Ferocious Bite.
The removal of Sudden Ambush (allowing for the upgrading of Rake DoTs), the removal of Brutal Slash, and now the removal of Thrash means that outside of CDs, you are not generating combo-points outside of your “Blizzard Approved” generator (Shred or Swipe).
There are no procs to react to, no charges to consider, no weaving of generators; you just press Shred til you hit five combo points, Bite, then go again.
Feral desperately needs anything to break up this gameplay loop. Either a previously removed Feral mechanic or something brand new, but just sitting and spamming a single generator is a miserable experience.
There a number of ways to fill this gap:
Returning Brutal Slash. This does not take up a keybind, nor does this have a DoT to track. Tuning this could allow some real depth in the rotation. The Legion iteration - especially with the long recharge time and huge direct damage - offers players multiple decision points without being overwhelming. Do you want to spend all your charges in your CD window? Do you want to pool charges for adds spawning/Damage Amp phase? Do you want to press another key 'cos your finger is sore from pressing Shred? Brutal Slash has multiple knobs (recharge time, charge stacks, damage done) that allow for developers to fine tune it to suit the Feral playstyle they are aiming for.
Another option to break up the rotation could be to add something like Survival Hunter’s Tip of the Spear. What if weaving in Shreds buffed the strength of your next Swipe or vice versa?
Alternatively, what if Sudden Ambush (or another proc) made you next Rake do huge direct damage and encouraged you to weave in Rakes outside of their pandemic window?
Damage Breakdown
While I appreciate that tuning is not final and that commenting on it this early into the development cycle is normally useless, the current Feral damage breakdown on the Beta is pretty egregious.
Many melee specs had the damage of their Auto-attacks buffed in the recent Beta build, Feral included. While I am all for auto-attacks dealing more damage, they (along with Shred) make up such a large portion of Feral’s Damage output on the Beta, it makes most of our other abilities feel absolutely meaningless.
This once again erodes away at one of Feral’s strengths; previously Feral lost less damage than other melee specs from forced boss downtime due to how much of our damage came from our DoT effects. With so much of our damage now coming from Shred and auto-attacks, any time away from your target feels extremely punishing.
Currently the only thing akin to skill-expression that the spec has left feels like, ‘Did you get less RNG raid mechanics on you, so that you could Shred/auto-attack more than the guy you are completing against?’.
Closing Thoughts
I am finding it challenging to adequately put into words how I feel about these Feral changes other than to state that I am utterly deflated. While I am normally quietly content to allow others to voice their opinions during Beta/PTR cycles, these changes have forced me to provide my own feedback, as it is clear Blizzard is either not receiving any for Feral, or they are taking feedback solely from players pushing it in a miserably boring direction.
Currently, it feels like there is a real lack of player agency with Feral Druid. Both of the hero talent tree’s abilities are passive procs. Our new Apex talent is a passive proc. Our base rotation is devoid of anything other than pressing the appropriate generator until you hit five combo-points. The variability of Apex Predator can lead to real drown or drought moments that ultimately make it feel like Feral’s potential damage output is completely out of the hands of the player. The skill expression of the spec has devolved to, ‘did you press your CDs on CD?’, and, ‘did you refresh your (2) DoTs within their pandemic windows?’.
These changes push the spec in such a basic direction that I am genuinely unsure to whom they are intended to appeal. Feral has historically always had a small but devoted population. Even when Feral has not been particularly strong (or even downright bad), I have chosen to play it because its rotation was engaging or, at least, enjoyable to me.
The current iteration of Feral’s rotation - as seen in the beta - feels so bare-bones and a step back from the really excellent changes made throughout Dragonflight and The War Within. I am now strongly considering what other specs I could raid on or if I even want to raid at all.
This version of Feral feels like it has been designed to appeal to an audience that it currently does not have and potentially does not even exist, while at the same time removing the aspects that kept the current player base engaged for the last decade. Honestly, it feels like a real kick in the teeth, with the only goal being to drive active end-game players away.