So MMO-Champion posted the T7 raid gears.

7.1 - http://static.mmo-champion.com/mmoc/images/news/2008/september/nax10_druid_feral.jpg

7.25 - http://static.mmo-champion.com/mmoc/images/news/2008/september/set213_druid_melee.jpg

Full Post including information on Bind on Account items here: http://www.mmo-champion.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=d67933977ef4d309a29fbb76e06bfb 81&topic=15674.0

Personally I'm not really impressed by the feral raid set. =/ It seems sort of skewed in my opinion. Also I'm going to miss having int. I feel like we're being sort of herded into set, pure rolls and moved more and more away from what I always felt being a druid was about.

Also if they want us to pick a specialization of tank or feral dps, then maybe they should also give us a gear choice of tank or feral dps.

Other thoughts? It does look pretty amazing for kitties, from my n00b kitty DPS viewpoint.

Our tanking is going to rely heavily on the AGI from a rogue set. So this I'm guessing is more in line with the itemization that we should see for feral druids. For tanking I think our primary mitigation is going to be dodge. With every dodge we do generating rage that seems to point to us being like a 50-75% dodge rate in some cases which would make us need a lot less HP and a lot less armor. We should be able to keep pace I think.. only time will tell.

The only problem with dodge mitagation, as we're seeing now though is a lack of rage. I mean having high mitagation is great, but I prefer to keep my dodge around 40% with armor cap because without rage there's no way we can hold aggro. =/

But yeah, I guess we'll have to wait and see. =)

Also I'm going to miss having int. I feel like we're being sort of herded into set, pure rolls and moved more and more away from what I always felt being a druid was about.If you want int, gem/enchant for it. Or wear a non-set piece or two with some int on it. As a pure feral PvE druid, I'm not so sure what you need int for....

Because I shift a lot. Also if I'm grinding with my mage friend or leveling, I tend to be throwing out heals too. I like the versatality of a druid. There have been plenty of times where I've shifted three or more times in a fight to toss out a heal, bash, go back to DPSing in kitty.

I don't like to sit still in forms.

Even tanking (granted it's much less) I'll pull with spells or toss up some hots for some extra threat. Or there are bosses where you lose the aggro table/untauntable (like Priestess fight in MgT or the Ogre boss in Shattered Halls) where I will help heal whoever got screwed with aggro. Or in MgT I toss cyclones, tranq, I pull out all the stops on that boss fight.

The occasional heal or cyclone isn't going to drain your mana if you are lacking int. Don't forget there has been a major increase in mana regen while in feral forms. Previously, mana regenerated at a significantly slower rate while in a feral form than when you are in caster form. Now the rate is identical.

The int'less gear provides more flexibility. For many, the +int on their pieces is a waste of item points, but they don't get a choice. With the new gear you get to choose. Honestly, it is a win-win. Gem/enchant for int if you want or not. You decide.

Please reference the talent Mother Bear or whatever the hell it was renamed to.... this talent when fully talented will generate rage every time you dodge. So I'm anticipating that we'll need some tuning, but our niche seems to be not being hit anymore.

So um, does anyone else find it odd that Bears (big, fat, hairy, heavy unmovable things) main mitigation is dodge? I mean, I know WoW isn't too realistic, but thats just counter-intuitive.

Bears are surprisingly fast animals. Have you seen the videos of a Grizz chasing down a elk/deer? That bear is movin'!

Fast yes, when chasing down something. Hence feral charge :P. But dodging incoming attcks? I'd like to see a vid of that IRL ^^

Yeah and explain to me why Enhancement shaman want lots of Agility over Strength??? Its not necessarily meant to make sense in all cases... its just a game.

I've always questioned the mitagation being dodge =x But really it's a game where I'm a cow that turns into a druid.

I did notice the mother bear talent, I'm hoping that does solve things, I guess that just slipped my mind though when I was talking about rage-starved mitigation woes. I felt sad when I actually ran out of rage last night against Prince in phase two. -_-;

tlbj: To be honest, I'm not talking about the occasional swapping out of tasks or a single heal. I'm talking about our ability to step in and fill a spot should something happen. I've managed to keep our group alive after the healer was killed as a feral druid. And yes I could gem for int, but it looks like I might be gemming for defense rating instead. Though I guess, I'll hold any further comment until we get to see how end game tanking is handled in WotLK =)

but it looks like I might be gemming for defense rating instead. You don't need to do this as the new SotF makes us uncritable. Yeah!!

Defense should be stupidly easy for us to meet now. We need exactly 1% to cover. They doubled the defense % in our talent... so instead of having to make up 4% (down from 7%) we have just a mere 1% to make up to reach uncritable. So one neck piece or ring and we should be golden there.

...okay I'm drooling now. Screw it bring on all the sexy DPS gear.

Those stats are absolutely ideal for a bear tank. :> The addition of what appears to be widespread, easily attainable expertise rating is a real bonus. Apart from that we have a lot of stamina and agility right there - ideal stats for a bear.


-Annikk

The other thing to bear in mind is that for bear druids stacking haste rating might be a really good thing too. Reducing a 3 second attack down to a 2 second attack could really stack a ton of TPS as well as damage. I'm anticipating that haste for tanks with slower attack speeds could become a big thing in the expansion... but as always its just one more stat to balance out.

The other thing to bear in mind is that for bear druids stacking haste rating might be a really good thing too. Reducing a 3 second attack down to a 2 second attack could really stack a ton of TPS as well as damage. I'm anticipating that haste for tanks with slower attack speeds could become a big thing in the expansion... but as always its just one more stat to balance out.

I have always been a big fan of haste, especially when generating threat, i am itching to get my hands on some of the higher haste gear from the expansion :)