New to the class, yes I read the stickyFollow

Hello everyone, this'll be my first post on the Druid forums so I may be a bit stupid in my choice of topic.

Anyway, I just started a druid, I've just wrangled together the sea-lion pendants and I'm currently loving the feral capabilities of the class. We're just so versatile and I don't even know what "down-time" is for my class! But anyway, my main is a rogue and though I'm aware that feral druids should stack +hit I'm still not certain as to how the hit mechanics work for druids.

I mean, for a rogue, you'd want to stack well over 200 hit just to get most of your attacks in (since dual-wielding brings out normal hit % to about 75% I believe) but does kitty or bear form suffer from a similarly reduced hit%? I was just curious about it, I know I won't be acting as Melee DPS too much in groups past 60 (or even earlier) but I'd still like to find out.

And another question, for kitty form, does agility play a heavy role as it does for rogues, or does Cat form rely on Strength for attack power and agility for Crit (rather than strength + agility for AP, and just agility for crit)?

Any and all comments or information is greatly appreciated and i thank you all in advance.

Here's the description of Cat form as seen in the tooltip:



What it means, I think, is that 1 agility equals 1 attack power when in Cat form. Also, having a high agility gives you a lot of crit. I believe the crit awarded by each point of agility is much higher for Druids than for Rogues or Hunters.

1 Strength = 2 AP (it used to be 2.2 with HOTW but that changed with the 2.3 patch)
1 Agility = 1 AP in cat form, no impact on AP in bear


Agility of course is also important for crit and dodge, and if you intend to tank you'll want to think about your dodge rating since you can't block or parry. Or so they tell me, I don't actually tank, but that doesn't stop me from giving advice as if I know stuff.

So both are important. You can either do math to figure out what balance is optimal for you, or go the slacker route I always choose, which is play with your eq and see which outfit kills stuff faster.

Yeah, what everybody else said. Rate up for your sig :D

Urh? That's not the way I understand it. I thought it was this:

HotW used to boost strength in cat form by 20%, with 2.3 it now boosts attack power in cat form by 10%.

Before:
1 strength x 1.2 from HotW x 2 AP = 2.4 AP
1 agility = 1 AP
1 AP = 1 AP

Now:
1 strength = 2 AP x 1.1 from HotW = 2.2 AP
1 agility = 1 AP x 1.1 from HotW = 1.1 AP
1 AP x 1.1 from HotW = 1.1 AP

Nah, your comment "So both (str and agi) are important." is the single best way of summing it all up. It's a friggin game, all the math and theorycrafting about 2.2 vs 2.4 vs whatever is just a way to avoid work by ******** around on the forum.

In fact, technically when you said "1 Strength = 2 AP (it used to be 2.2 with HOTW but that changed with the 2.3 patch) 1 Agility = 1 AP in cat form" is accurate if not complete, becuase you didn't say anything about what happens to total attack power when you factor in Heart of the Wild.


Edit: Got rid of all the damn smiley faces. You know it's bad when you annoy YOURSELF with them.

Edited, Jan 2nd 2008 3:33pm by JeeBar

Since there are no talents for hit % for druids, it takes 142 hit rating to be hit-capped on raid bosses. As far as the Str/Agi debate, it depends who you ask as to what you should stack, Str, Agi, or a balance of the two. Personally, I listen to anyone that's actually done the math.

http://druid.wikispaces.com/ToskksDPSGearMethod

Here's a chart that shows the balance line where +1 Str will provide an equivalent increase in DPS to +1 Agi (at level 70). Given the high amounts of AP on all the outlands feral weapons, for any given amount of AP and crit %, +1 Agi will always be better than +1 Str.

As for comparing Str to AP, Str benefits from Survival of the Fittest (3% increase) and Blessing of Kings (10%); AP doesn't. So 1 Str is worth 2.26 AP.

Edit: Since this is a thread about leveling and not level-cap, Agi will help with your Dodge, too.

Edited, Jan 2nd 2008 9:10pm by AstarintheDruid

9% for raid boss PvE, but close enough.

Pre 2.3, HOTW yielded 2.4 AP/Strength; now it yields 2.2/Strength and 1.1/Agility.



Isn't it 8.6% just like defense, assuming your average Lv73 target?

Edited, Jan 3rd 2008 3:39pm by Norellicus