Kain Elderan
07-14-2006, 03:39 AM
I'm currently level 18 on my druid (yay, almost to kitty!). Anyways, I have been using the guides I stickied over on the official Druid forums, but I noticed some things that I didn't totally agree with. Perhaps its just my opinion, or I could be totally wrong. The following is what I'm talking about.
Feral tree: Ferocity (-5 rage/energy for Maul/Swipe/Claw/Rake)
10-14 5/5 Ferocity
By lowering the cost for your primary attack, you just increased your DPS by a significant amount. At this level, there are no talents to use Furor with, IMotW is a waste (see Q&A), and remember, Feral is more efficient that Balance.
15-16 2/2 Brutal Impact (+1s stun for Bash and Pounce)
What? Why? Because you will now have a 3s stun instead of the normal 2s. This should be enough to allow you to get an emergency Bash-> Regrowth or Root off, or save that silly clothies life by stunning the mob for an extra second. This becomes markedly better with higher ranks of Bash.
17-19 3/5 Feral Instinct (+stealth in catform and +9% threat generation in bear form oint)
But I dont even have catform yet!?! But you will, and you will spend a lot of time in it. The first rule for rogues and kitties is not to be seen. Each level of FI adds roughly 0.6 a level of stealth. Thus, with three ranks of FI, you will stealth as if you were 2 levels higher than you are. Nelfs Shadowmeld grants them a passive bonus to stealth as if they add an additional point in FI. Bears will also enjoy the +9% threat generation bonus. \
This leaves you as 0/10/0 for the 10-19 WSG. Please see the PvP section for tactics there.
20! Yay for catform!
Your next points will immediately go into:
20-21 2/2 Feline Swiftness (+30% to run speed while outdoors or while prowling)
This is the reason you put your first ten points into Feral. Increased runspeed means decreased travel time -> higher exp gain. It also allows you to outrun those youre chasing or being chased by. As an additional bonus, only the fastest mobs you run past will be able to get more than one shot on you as you run by. (Known bug: If at anytime you go indoors you will lose the FS bonus and will not regain it when going outside. You must reshift again once outside for the bonus to return.)
22 1/1 Feral Charge (Charge an enemy 8-25 yds away, interrupting the spell they were casting and immobilizing them for 4s)
One of the best talents available to druids. This should be a keystone of any druid build as it allows many different options when paired with 5/5 Furor. You can engage an enemy from a distance, stop a runner/flag carrier, interrupt a spellcaster, or use it as an escape tool (target a mob/critter/player 8-25yds distant and charge).
As stated, Feral Charge is best when it can be used right away so . . . .
23-27 5/5 Furor (100% chance to generate 10 rage/40 energy when shifting)
The 10 rage is invaluable for bear form (see Feral Charge) and makes building combo points with cat that much easier. Instant Claw/Rake or wait a tic for a shred.
Ok, so I agree with the first part, Ferocity is definitely the best thing to start off with. But Brutal Impact next? I realize it increases your Bash stun time, but truthfully my bashes seem to get resisted quite often, and even when they don't.. an increase of 1sec is not going to make or break a fight imo. Of course, I'm playing from Iraq on a crappy connection so I lag out so often that 1s difference really makes no difference at all for me. I went with Furor over Impact because I am usually solo'ing and the free rage when shifting has greatly reduced the time it takes me to finish a fight.
They suggest taking Feral Instinct next. I can understand the threat generation being nice if you're grouping alot and end up tanking... but more often then not, won't a druid be healing or solo'ing at this level? And the stealth bonus.. puleease. I don't consider this that great at this time.. but then again I'm still low level.
Feline swiftness.. only useful outdoors. Alot of the quests I'm getting to do now take me inside, meaning this is almost useless. I just don't get how this path is the most efficient, but I admit I could be wrong. To me, the path below would work alot better, especially for solo feraling.
10-14 Ferocity
15-19 Furor (100% chance to get free rage/combo points, yes, I know combo points are bugged but eventually this should be fixed)
20-24 Feral Instinct - Gain this while its useful. At this point you should be starting to group more often, doing Deadmines, etc. Gaining a talent *before* (as suggestion above) its useful is just ridiculous.
25 Feral Charge - Definitely useful to stop those casters from healing themselves or dropping spells on you.
At this point, there are too many paths to set a definite route, its really up to the player's choice of talent build. But this path imho makes alot more sense, and allows you to solo alot easier. I currently play on a connection that can go up over 2000 - 3000ms, and I can still easily down mobs same level and even 1-2 levels higher. If I get adds, I bash 1 mob, shift, Restoration(or whichever one is the instant cast one)/HT if needed, shift back and continue.
I won't say I'm great.. I have definitely died quite abit, especially on the stupid Mushroom quest. Damn things kept running away and agro'ing their buddies.
Anyways, does this make more sense to anyone, or am I totally off my kilter?
Feral tree: Ferocity (-5 rage/energy for Maul/Swipe/Claw/Rake)
10-14 5/5 Ferocity
By lowering the cost for your primary attack, you just increased your DPS by a significant amount. At this level, there are no talents to use Furor with, IMotW is a waste (see Q&A), and remember, Feral is more efficient that Balance.
15-16 2/2 Brutal Impact (+1s stun for Bash and Pounce)
What? Why? Because you will now have a 3s stun instead of the normal 2s. This should be enough to allow you to get an emergency Bash-> Regrowth or Root off, or save that silly clothies life by stunning the mob for an extra second. This becomes markedly better with higher ranks of Bash.
17-19 3/5 Feral Instinct (+stealth in catform and +9% threat generation in bear form oint)
But I dont even have catform yet!?! But you will, and you will spend a lot of time in it. The first rule for rogues and kitties is not to be seen. Each level of FI adds roughly 0.6 a level of stealth. Thus, with three ranks of FI, you will stealth as if you were 2 levels higher than you are. Nelfs Shadowmeld grants them a passive bonus to stealth as if they add an additional point in FI. Bears will also enjoy the +9% threat generation bonus. \
This leaves you as 0/10/0 for the 10-19 WSG. Please see the PvP section for tactics there.
20! Yay for catform!
Your next points will immediately go into:
20-21 2/2 Feline Swiftness (+30% to run speed while outdoors or while prowling)
This is the reason you put your first ten points into Feral. Increased runspeed means decreased travel time -> higher exp gain. It also allows you to outrun those youre chasing or being chased by. As an additional bonus, only the fastest mobs you run past will be able to get more than one shot on you as you run by. (Known bug: If at anytime you go indoors you will lose the FS bonus and will not regain it when going outside. You must reshift again once outside for the bonus to return.)
22 1/1 Feral Charge (Charge an enemy 8-25 yds away, interrupting the spell they were casting and immobilizing them for 4s)
One of the best talents available to druids. This should be a keystone of any druid build as it allows many different options when paired with 5/5 Furor. You can engage an enemy from a distance, stop a runner/flag carrier, interrupt a spellcaster, or use it as an escape tool (target a mob/critter/player 8-25yds distant and charge).
As stated, Feral Charge is best when it can be used right away so . . . .
23-27 5/5 Furor (100% chance to generate 10 rage/40 energy when shifting)
The 10 rage is invaluable for bear form (see Feral Charge) and makes building combo points with cat that much easier. Instant Claw/Rake or wait a tic for a shred.
Ok, so I agree with the first part, Ferocity is definitely the best thing to start off with. But Brutal Impact next? I realize it increases your Bash stun time, but truthfully my bashes seem to get resisted quite often, and even when they don't.. an increase of 1sec is not going to make or break a fight imo. Of course, I'm playing from Iraq on a crappy connection so I lag out so often that 1s difference really makes no difference at all for me. I went with Furor over Impact because I am usually solo'ing and the free rage when shifting has greatly reduced the time it takes me to finish a fight.
They suggest taking Feral Instinct next. I can understand the threat generation being nice if you're grouping alot and end up tanking... but more often then not, won't a druid be healing or solo'ing at this level? And the stealth bonus.. puleease. I don't consider this that great at this time.. but then again I'm still low level.
Feline swiftness.. only useful outdoors. Alot of the quests I'm getting to do now take me inside, meaning this is almost useless. I just don't get how this path is the most efficient, but I admit I could be wrong. To me, the path below would work alot better, especially for solo feraling.
10-14 Ferocity
15-19 Furor (100% chance to get free rage/combo points, yes, I know combo points are bugged but eventually this should be fixed)
20-24 Feral Instinct - Gain this while its useful. At this point you should be starting to group more often, doing Deadmines, etc. Gaining a talent *before* (as suggestion above) its useful is just ridiculous.
25 Feral Charge - Definitely useful to stop those casters from healing themselves or dropping spells on you.
At this point, there are too many paths to set a definite route, its really up to the player's choice of talent build. But this path imho makes alot more sense, and allows you to solo alot easier. I currently play on a connection that can go up over 2000 - 3000ms, and I can still easily down mobs same level and even 1-2 levels higher. If I get adds, I bash 1 mob, shift, Restoration(or whichever one is the instant cast one)/HT if needed, shift back and continue.
I won't say I'm great.. I have definitely died quite abit, especially on the stupid Mushroom quest. Damn things kept running away and agro'ing their buddies.
Anyways, does this make more sense to anyone, or am I totally off my kilter?