Meowing in The Moonlight: Welcome to The Jungle, part 3
WoW Blogs - Meowing in the Moonlight Druid Blog
Hello, and welcome to read the druid blog, Meowing in The Moonlight!
This is the third part of my introductory series of posts, 'Welcome to the Jungle, part 3' (they just seem to drag on). Here are the first and second parts.
Also, apologies for not posting for a couple of weeks. I had the worst flu (the word 'flu' doesn't give an awful enough image of the horrible disease I had!), which lasted for over 2 weeks and was barely tamed by antibiotics. Not the best idea to try to write a blog post when you're seeing things and coughing your lungs out, eh? Well, that's why I'll make a doublepost this week.
Landing in Wrath of The Lich King was good for druids. Right before the launch, the pre-patch introduced new mechanics for the less popular specs, feral and balance, and even made balance insanely overpowered for a week or two. Resto had already been established as a viable spec throughout TBC in both PvE and PvP and was simply steamrolling in 2v2 -arenas. Feral had been represented, but not much. Balance was the odd child that hadn't gotten any love for years. The introduction of Eclipse -mechanics made our cuddly, feathery doom owls a true force of nature, giving them the ability to compete with other caster dps'ers. Kitties on other hand got more mobility, a complex yet rewarding dps rotation (or rather a dps flow, as I like to call it) and Savage Roar to match rogue's Slice'N'Dice. Bears got the short end of the stick, which was one more reason for me to steer clear of tanking.
Neither balance or kitty was without some hiccups. Other dps classes were doing around 2k right out of the box, feral needed all the best-in-slots to do similar dps. Hunters were doing up to 6k in Naxxramas just a few weeks after it's (re)introduction; they were clearly overpowered. Being a cat dps back then meant one had to fall into mediocrity. Competition was between cats, not with other dps. But the damage was average, not appalling like in TBC. There were reasons to bring at least 1 cat per raid, not just 1 feral. And anyone capable of doing average dps as cat had to be a skilled player, since the role wasn't forgiving of mistakes.
So, while early WOTLK cat dps was a viable choice, it certainly wasn't on the top. At first Savage Roar was an AP-scaling buff, 30% increased attack power. It caused every cat and their uncle to gem strength and roll on rings, trinkets, necks, cloaks and whatnot with strength in them - since with talents raid buffs, 1 strenght was fairly over 2 AP.
This was seen by Blizzard as a bad sign and thus Savage Roar was changed to simply "30% increased damage". Consequently, they decided to buff the value of armor penetration and provided a hefty amount of it on items from the newly launched Ulduar -raid. This caused all cats to go all in for armor penetration and the dps-values of kitties skyrocketed. How did that change the one-minded habit of going for only 1 type of gem? Well, it didn't, so the ferals just shrugged and took advantage of the situation. In Ulduar, cats with proper ArP gear were absolutely top notch. Mind you, any mistakes in the dps flow became even more obvious and being the situational backshredding bleedmachines they are, cats could only compete in some of the encounters. But feral dps had certainly become THE most interesting and one of the most challenging specs available.
Meanwhile, moonkins weren't doing that good. They had gotten new mechanics, but their actual output was neglected. To put it simply: their mechanics didn't work at all! Patch by patch they received some love, and by the time Ulduar was launched, moonkins were already decent. They still couldn't compete with ferals, not to mention other casters - destruction warlock for one was really kicking ass back then - but they actually had a proper dps-rotation at last. Meaning that the importance of skill started to show. It was only a matter of time and a couple buffs - Starfall in particular - that moonkins would start to shine.
In ICC, while still somewhat inferior to some of the top dps, moonkins realized their full potential. The idea of Eclipse, a constantly tipping scale, is nice, but in practice it has been too conservative. One of the biggest complaints is how it hugely hinders mobility, as Starfire and Wrath can't be casted. But the buffs provided by moonkins are appreciated, their overall damage isn't too far below, and their survivability is superior to many other classes.
Mind you, I haven't written much about restoration druids. One reason is my experience with them is a bit limited after Vanilla. Another reason is they have always been just fine. I didn't touch them, not even with a long stick, during my time in TBC, but I have dabbled a bit into it in WOTLK. In TBC I found the lifebloom spam to be absolutely ridicilous. I do not know if they had other kind of potential, I didn't care to find out, but most restos I encountered seemed to embrace the idea of just keeping as many triplestacks of lifeblooms rolling as they could. Heck, it seemed to be the true measurement of their e-penis! In WOTLK some of the same tradition seems to have continued, but with Nourish and Wild Growth introduced, and the old spells' values changed, resto druids seemed to have gained some choices and situational tools for healing. Being a feral I quickly took interest in Nourish, as with a Rejuv rolling it's still a relatively cheap and solid heal even without any resto gear. In resto gear, with glyphs and a couple HoT's rolling, it's a real lifesaver (pun intended). Wild Growth was harder to like - the amounts it healed seemed so small - but with gear came regeneration, and with regeneration came Wild Growth spam and increased amounts of healing, and suddenly the spell actually felt like a viable aoe-heal. Finally!
On the PvP-front of WOTLK, things haven't been all too different. Restos have been a very solid spec. I didn't try it much myself, because to be honest, I absolutely loathe the playstyle of a PvP-resto: cowardice just doesn't suit a kitty! Ferals were good early on, as was the case in TBC, and got nerfed for it fast, just as they did in TBC. Now ferals are just falling behind because they are so easy to control and lack the capabilities to truly pressure anyone.Moonkins were more of late bloomers (or boomers?), and gained their true viability only after the Starfall buff. And I have to add, that really made the spell a killer. As it stands now, all 3 druid specs actually have a place in PvP, very much unlike ever before, and that's one of the reasons I have liked WOTLK.
You see, many people have criticized this expansion for the 'casual changes' it has made, and while I agree with some of those claims, I still think WOTLK has been an overall improvement for the game, because it's now more playable and balanced than ever. The overall difficulty of just about everything has been lowered, and that's not always a good thing, but the increased accessibility and attention towards unpopular talent specializations is good. As long as Blizzard doesn't screw up the good things introduced in WOTLK, and concentrates on fixing the mistakes in WOTLK and the obsolete content and mechanics from previous expansions, there are a lot of reasons to expect Cataclysm to be the best expansion so far.
My next post will be about the niche of cat dps: my guide to you how to properly shred the crap out of them! And yes, I know they are plentiful, but I'll try to give a unique insight into it while making it simple enough for a beginner.
Last Updated on Wednesday, 15 September 2010 21:23 Written by Vepres Wednesday, 15 September 2010 17:10