I feel like feral is way too complex with too many things to track, Evenw ith weak aura and Hekili i was unable to beat a warlocks dps by a long shot with similar gear lvl. I can when using hekili often come top dps by a lot but soon as I turn it off, there’s such a cluster F of things to look, watch and time it becomes impossible to do optimal dps. When i just have my weak aura alone theres soo many things on there flashing, triggering and on cooldown or to upkeep it just doesnt seem worth it, I’ve played wow and druid since vanilla but still doesnt help me, Ret Paladin for example I can do almost my top dps from Hekili without it on because its a simple build and spend and upkeep judge buff, wings is a 1 min CD so can use every fight, convoke feels slow and clunky for example, paladin can also do MUCH more self healing if you use holy power where as feral has a super weak regrowth on 5 combo points which basically just counters 1 hit. I want to play Druid because the theme of it is amazing but the effort required to just be OK is insane…
I mean ret is basically the easiest spec in the game, I’d argue easier than BM.
Look up rotation: https://www.wowhead.com/guide/classes/druid/feral/rotation-cooldowns-pve-dps
Check some YouTube tutorials. Feral is not by any means a very easy spec but I wouldn’t say it’s too hard. Takes practice
If I use hekili on aoe dummy’s I get about 300k, if I use just weak auras I get about 260-270k gear score 472 ish
So use hekili?
Then I feel like I’m spending 99% of the game staring at a few boxes pressing buttons line a robot.
I play FFXIV on and off and I’m able to parse top and play thay game very well without add ons as the game doesn’t have them, the game feels designed to be played without needing add ons to track a million things, but wow seems line it’s super over complex and designed to go alongside all these add ons, imagine anyone radijg without dbm and weak auras? Would never happen…
If game need 3-rd party soft to play it with comfort – that game is poorly designed.
That’s simple.
I experienced the same issue trying to play cat-druid. You just have too many thing to press and to track to the point that you kinda “working”, but not actually playing.
The same for frost-DK with his 100 different chances, procs and chances of procs.
Feral is fun, but yeah its ability to offer anywhere the same numbers as Ret (or even the likes of Devastation or Destruction) without addons… is just not there.
I feel like they need to make the free regrowth from a 5 combo finisher automatic so it doesn’t waste a global cd, compared to my ret paladin this regrowth is pathetic in terms of healing, most of the time my AHP bar barely moves and the HOT is useless as you will need to keep doing it to try and stay alive overwriting it. yet paladin gets +100% str word of glory which can crit heal 480k if used on low health, Id even take a combo finisher that heals. And PVP wise a Paladin has full armour and dps and self healing all in 1, druid has to be forced to go bear to try and stay alive which makes your dmg non existent and the heal is a CD which is 32% of health and in cat form your army is half a paladins. I just don’t get why its designed this badly, we are no longer a hybrid class in reality like the old days after the specs were all separated and talent trees removed true hybrid style, so why shouldn’t a feral be as tanky as a ret paladin? it lit has no other bonuses than speed which doesn’t help when your getting face smashed in a stun lock or raid…
Playing Feral currently presents a unique challenge with the multitude of factors to manage, making it more hectic than ever. While the removal of energy concerns in AOE situations is appreciated due to energy-related talents, it results in a constant juggle of builders, finishers, and various buffs and debuffs like Tiger’s Fury, Rake, and Trash, etc… This high level of mental multitasking can be overwhelming, which is why I’m optimistic about the proposed energy changes in the upcoming “TWW” expansion.
However, the success of this adjustment heavily relies on balanced damage tuning. Without proper balancing, Feral Druids could find themselves struggling significantly. This brings up the question: Will bleeds receive a significant buff to compensate for the energy adjustments? While this may warrant a separate discussion, it’s a crucial consideration.
A slight slowdown in Feral gameplay could greatly enhance the management of bleeds, simplifying the tracking process. And I believe it would streamline the tuning process, leading to a more balanced and enjoyable gameplay experience for us cats.
When all the logs show cat is bottom of the DPS on raids etc why do blizzard now straight away BUFF the dmg? I never understand why they takes half a year+ to maybe do a small buff. Do the devs not look at ALL the logs on the interent see X Class is doing 50% less dmg than another class and think maybe we should add % dmg to x amount of their skills and test the rotation till its on par? These are lit nerds paid tons of money to do nothing but work on the games classes all day? and they can’t even do that? why is it so hard for them to just buff or nerf classes? to me it seems like the most simple thing in the world to do…
In the past one of Blizzard stated goals was that playing a harder spec was worth it but somewhere down the line that was no longer the case for some reason and now you take feral because you enjoy the spec or want a personal challenge but its absolutely not worth it most of the time numbers wise… I mean you can get good dps but the effort compared to other specs like ret or hunter is just big.
Same in PvP right now you have to play like at least 500cr above your cr to make it work because if you line your healer for microsecond you get sent behind the sun as Feral whereis a DH can just follow you anywhere with no worries because of many oh sh*t buttons
So ive just made this video showing balance druid. I’ve been trying balance as an alt to feral but im constantly out damaged all the time, in the video the hunter is a few il above me and but look at the damage difference, how is this fair? but in a more improtant note can you explain…
What is the point and purpose of making us BAD with RAMP UP DAMAGE? Like I would understand if after the ramp we did INSANE DPS but we take 10 years to ramp up to do LESS than everyone else? not to mention on top of that we’re super gimped in ST damage… it feels truly dam awful to play… see the video below.
So I didnt pöay lots of pve lately but basically some specs like MM are front loaded burst specs where they dish out tons of dmg early on same with dh… for rotting specs that need ramp up it will be tough in lower keys where stuff die fast but in theory should excel in higher keys and dotting multiple targets… in practice though some specs will always be meta and dish out dmg all the time.
feral is not complex, especially if you don’t take bloodtalons which are certainly not mandatory anymore.
feral is just too squishy, brings no unique stuff to the group and its dmg is very much lackluster
all in all it is a balance issue
Let’s address a reality many new players face: diving into WoW as a new player and opting for the feral means embracing a steep learning curve unlike some other specs. Over the years, Blizzard has grappled with finding the right balance for feral’s damage output. I vividly recall when feral’s bleeds seemed unstoppable, only to see them swiftly nerfed in favor of boosting bite damage. Yet, the community’s response was a resounding dissatisfaction as the bleed-focused gameplay vanished.
This repetitive cycle of bleed tuning followed by bite adjustments has left many of us frustrated. Instead of perpetually toggling between these two aspects of feral, perhaps it’s time for Blizzard to commit to a singular damage profile and refine it without constant backpedaling. Such an approach would not only simplify tuning but also provide a more consistent gameplay experience for feral enthusiasts. Let’s move forward by building upon what works, rather than endlessly toggling between the past and present.
But this balance issue seems to persist and many issue I read are from cataclysm lol? So if they don’t fix 8 year old problems, do we have any hope of them fixing it? And regrowth needs at least a 150% buff, I just used it in a raid when I was taken to half health and it prob took me to 55% lol… paladin WOG on low health and a crit will full heal you.
My problem in this area is also not just with druid but all classes, How am I supposed to track bosses, mechanics, keep an eye on 5+ cooldowns and timers, also keep an eye on DOTS PER Enemy, in the MESS of a UI with so many nameplates on screen it merges into a blob. The only reason I manage dots semi well is because I use Hekili which tells me when to tab and rake etc but there’s no way I could track dots on many multiple enemies or in a hard busy boss fight.
Weak Auras is basically such a MUST HAVE the devs may as well buy it out and put it in the game by default…
This isn’t an issue with “feral’s ability” but an issue with player ability. It’s easier to achieve those numbers with simpler specs, so more people do it.
That said, feral is undertuned right now, so no-one should expect to do high damage with it.
This will no longer be an issue in TWW. They’re changing feral’s energy generation to make energy management a thing again and require pauses in button-pressing to allow energy to regenerate. “Empty” GCDs that we can use for healing and utility will become normal.
Tagging you because you might not be aware this is exactly what they’re planning.
It’s a low key. Don’t expect to perform well in any DoT spec at below +10.
We could call it a skill issue but when i have done multiple raids today, warlocks in 460 gear are doing MUCH more dmg than even my ret paladin in much higher gear, and to back this up warcraft logs, shows the best players and the min and max dmg and median, and that shows you just how overpowered some classes are, demo warlocks being top.
The energy slowdown, wouldnt this be bad? I just rage quitted hard SOD lol because feral PVP was abysmal, When out of energy in a few seconds you run around doing nothing until you pop in a few seconds. The feeling of waiting around doing nothing is utterly the worst feeling ever, slow it down sure, but don’t have me standing there with 0 energy while the enemy player kills me back, didn’t feel good in classic at all.
As for high keys… As a druid I can go 30 min just trying to get into a +2 key… No one will invite me most of the time for a +2 with 480+ gear. I think there should be a Mythic LFG option lol just so people can queue for mythic without being judged and not invited because of meta chasers, It’s depressing asf to apply for 100+ groups and not get an invite.
Yeah in both raids and m+ feral & balance or bottom tier dps sadly.
Feral & balance are also the specs in game with lowest survivability.
And my go-to for when something like this happens, guardian, is now also bottom tier tank…good times to be druid LOL
But why is this happening? It’s 100% on purpose, you are a blizzard dev with your 1 job to work on the druid and this is the case, it’s obviously done on purpose, if we can check logs and see this poor performance, blizzard obviously can. yet they CHOOSE to leave it in this state, the question is why?