I have no PvP gear whatsoever. But, I really like Battlegrounds - more than questing and dungeons, in fact.

So, I'm working on accumulating enough points and marks to get some good gear.

Any suggestions on which ones to obtain first?

(Feral - BTW)

Wait for November 20th before making any purchases; Season 3 starts.

As far as gear, hm.

First, I have to comment on your spec. If you want to PvP as a feral, you really need 14 in Resto: Furor, Naturalist, Omen of Clarity, and Natural Shapeshifter. Feral aggression and imp Mark of the Wild aren't worth it, and the other talents will improve your PvP much more. Shredding attacks is great as well. I'd lose Survival of the Fittest for it, and take some out of Feral Instinct. If it's an exclusive PvP build, that is.

Aaanyway, gear. Well. You really need more health and intellect. So, I'd go for (honor) boots and belt, first. Actually, strike that. If you don't have the PvP trinket, get that, then the boots/belt, then the bracers.

It really comes down to what you think is the biggest upgrade in terms of Survivability, Healing Capacity, and Damage output.

Are you logged in your PvP set?

I pvp without natural shapeshifter talent and have never found it to be a problem. Veriden is right about the stamina, but Resilience is also quite crucial to your survivability (pvp is more fun if you never die, even if you're doing 10% less damage than normal)

On the 20th of this month, arena season 3 begins, and you will be able to buy the season 1 arena gear for honor points.

I would save up lots of honour and try to get 4 pieces of season 1 arena gear, if I were you. The 4pc bonus is extremely useful - especially in pvp.

The pvp trinket is also very good. The upgraded version of this has 20 resilience on it as well, which is nice, but it's an expensive item so perhaps worth getting some other pieces first.


-Annikk

I actually forgot about the S1 gear being buyable. So, yeah, go for those pieces, first. The bonuses are good, too. One thing I'd suggest is, assuming what you're logged in is your PvP gear, getting items that have other stats than just stam. Strength has a big benefit due to Nuturing Instinct, but Agility will be better for your DPS, with Resilience, Stamina, and Intellect being king for survival.

I pvp without natural shapeshifter talent and have never found it to be a problem.

You may not find it a problem, but if you get it, you'll never look back. I've always tried to max it, and I had 2/3 for awhile, with my MT build. But when I swapped Primal Tenacity for Nuturing Instinct and 3/3 Natural Shapeshifter... That 10% bonus was huge. Going from 0 to 30% would be even larger. Trust me, I love that talent in PvP, soso much. That, with 7k mana, and 300-400 +healing, is a beautiful thing, as a feral.

A bit of track here ... Does Nurturing Instinct helps Improved Leader of the Pack?

A bit of track here ... Does Nurturing Instinct helps Improved Leader of the Pack?
no

First, I have to comment on your spec. If you want to PvP as a feral, you really need 14 in Resto: Furor, Naturalist, Omen of Clarity, and Natural Shapeshifter. Feral aggression and imp Mark of the Wild aren't worth it, and the other talents will improve your PvP much more. Shredding attacks is great as well. I'd lose Survival of the Fittest for it, and take some out of Feral Instinct. If it's an exclusive PvP build, that is.

Thank you for the talent advice. I've never re-specced before. While leveling, I honestly just threw everything into Feral until I had leftover points which I threw into Resto. I never really considered doing any PvP until just recently. So, that's the spec that I do everything in, quite honestly.

I will take your advise and switch my talent points over. But, no, I will not be strictly PvP. While, not quite ready to MT for Kara or anything, I still tank (some Instances better than others) quite often. So, the set you see me in is primarily my tanking set (gems still undecided :().

I think I have some decent DpS gear that will give me the Agility + Intellect you recommend.

Never purchased Arena Gear before....where do I find it?

Noob, I know. :redface:

Area 52, Netherstorm.

Go for the gear/armor pieces that give you the most upgrade. Compare your current gear and the gear you could get and see which one is the most bang for the buck. It's what I always do =)

Veridan, I have had the natural shapeshifter talent before but at nearly 8k mana in pvp gear I don't really find it necessary anymore. It's definitely handy, but I prefer to put some extra points in feral to obtain the talents necessary for even more effective stunlocking. Also I'm stuck in my ways :p Grumpy old druid now, hehe..
I agree with the gist of what you are saying, though; natural shapeshifter is indeed very nice for pvp and arena.


-Annikk

One other tiny little thing you need to know about arena gear- the set bonuses apply over different sets, so if you had two pieces of S1, a piece of S2 and a piece of S3, you would get the four piece set bonus. So go for whatever you can afford with a combination of honor and arena points.

Avearis are u sure about this??

Avearis is correct; from 2.3, arena set bonus will work cross-season.

So for example if I have the season 1 hat, and the season 2 shoulders, this would give me the 2 piece bonus which is 35 resilience.



-Annikk

this is damn nice i think...
but a bit strange cause they are different sets ... hmmm....
well dont think about it! just enjoy it^^

It is a bit of a departure from the usual rules regarding set bonuses, but its easy enough to understand the reasoning behind it.

Blizzard evidently want to avoid forcing people to choose between, say, 3 pieces of uber season 3 gear, or 4 pieces of quite-but-not-to-the-same-extent-uber season 2 gear; ie being forced to choose between updated stats and the sweet set bonus.


-Annikk

The other problem was 3 peices of season 3 and two peices of season two, each giving 35 resilience. I saw several people doing similarly to that in the previous season (head, legs, shoulders season 2, chest, gloves season one, for 70 total resilience just from set bonus). That extra 35 resilience that some players just lost will hurt.

I'd take 15% movement speed in feral forms over a measly 35 resilience anyday ;)


-Annikk

I'd take 15% movement speed in feral forms over a measly 35 resilience anyday ;)


-Annikk

QFT.

If you're getting away that much easier and consequently not being attacked, resilience shouldn't matter :wiggle:

It affects Travel Form too...



Funny story.
Prior to TBC I did a lot of pvp on my druid. I built the pvp set with the 15% move speed bonus, it needed 3 pieces. These were low grade 60 epics.
The problem came that when I was levelling up to 70, I just couldn't bring myself to break that set bonus. I wore those 3 pieces all the way to 70, and most of the way through Karazhan.

When I did finally break the bonus, I had replacement pieces for all 3 slots saved up, and the stat increase was just so significant that I couldn't possibly say no. But it was :heartbreaking:. Oh, god, it brings a tear to my eye just thinking about it. I went outside and wasn't fast anymore :< It felt like I was permanently debuffed, like some rogue had an IV of crippling poison in me.

Then I got the 4pc gladiator bonus ! A W E S O M E !!! So good. Oh dear god, missed it so much. my precious :>

Fast druid ! leaping through the forests and grasslands, chasing bunnies and hordes and being faaaaasssssttttt!! ^_^


So yeah. 35 resilience is laughable really :P


-Annikk

Yeah, that bonus is glorious. I have always underestimated it and thought that the other classes get a better one. Boy, was I wrong.

Today I got myself two S3 pieces and now have the bonus. IT IS GREAT. Really. When in stealth I am now faster than normal run speed is for other classes. In Travel Form I am almost as fast as the level 40 mount.
The bonus really helps against others that try to kite you. Frost Mages? Shammies? Hunters? I can catch up to them now more easily. I love it.

The move speed bonus also stacks with dash. 70% movement speed from dash, plus 15% from the set bonus, puts you at a fearsome 85% movement speed increase. That's almost as fast as an epic mount, and easily enough to catch someone riding a level 40 mount.

15666481387373435 hunters have had their shxt ruined because of fast cat druids. =)


-Annikk

Does this 15% stack with swift flight form? The trinkets from the quest to get it? The trinket from the NW races quests? I know the two trinkets don't stack, but I use them both on my ItemRack travel tab just in case. It would be interesting if all those stacked. We would move SERIOUSLY FAST!

The bonus only applies to Cat, Bear and Travel Form.

Sadly, speed bonuses often do not stack. For example, the 30% bonus from the Feral talent does not stack with sprint, or the speed aura from Hunters.
And the ones that do stack, are usually multiplicative. An example: the 30% you lose when prowling and the 30% you gain from talents do not add up to a clean 100%. They give you 91%.

Annikk,

I leveled with that 3piece bonus too (from 60-70). Didn't really affect me much that my stats were a bit lower because speed is the name of my game =)

I'm only 1 piece away from the 4pc from Gladiator. Looking forward to having it back =)

Gogogogoo trixtadruid ! The light of the end of the tunnel is shining with a big friendly leaf-silhouette.. :>


And the ones that do stack, are usually multiplicative. An example: the 30% you lose when prowling and the 30% you gain from talents do not add up to a clean 100%. They give you 91%.

Does that mean that:

a) The innate 30% and the 15% stack multiplicatively for a total of 149.5% move speed?
(100 * 1.3 * 1.15 = 149.5)


b) Innate 30% +15% bonus + 70% dash = 254.15%?
(100 * 1.3 * 1.15 * 1.7 = 254.15)

The second one doesn't seem right to me, I've used dash to try to chase people on epic mounts before and never been able to catch them..



-Annikk

Dash does not stack with other speed bonuses at all.

Yes, theoretically that means with the set bonus you SHOULD have almost 150%. But that is very hard to verify as the difference between additive and multiplicative calculation is so small.

Just get somebody else to compare your speed with (another druid is best) and test the different possibilities. If you prowl and have the 30% bonus you are slightly slower, if you have 30% and the 15% set bonus you are slightly faster. If you Dash, you will be faster than he is on his level 40 mount, but a lot slower than the epic mount. If you and your friend Dash and only one has any sort of speed bonus, you will still run at the same speed.

Blizzard has changed almost all percentage based things to be multiplicative a few patches back (that was even before BC came out IIRC), but Dash (and bonuses from "use:"-items) do not stack at all.

Dash does not stack with other speed bonuses at all.

Really? From my own experience I am 99% certain that it stacks with the 15% set bonus.. I have caught up with dashing resto druids before because of this..


-Annikk

Really? I have not tested it with that bonus yet, but all others do not stack (stopwatch, 30% Cat Form , ...)

Yep I'm pretty sure :> Dash doesn't seem to stack with the talented speed increase, but it does stack with the set bonus increase.


I'll do a careful test tonight with some other druid, just to be certain. :>


-Annikk