Patch NotesFollow

These are the latest patch notes. Very little changed from what was up on the PTR patch notes. Only like 8 things. Very minor.

Patch Notes

It still says PTR patch notes, but those are the ones that are going forward and are easy to access from that link.

Indeed, I'm a little anxious to return home tonight to test out these changes (and download some 1-2GB crap, effectively busting my download limit). Many changes, when looked at in the right angle, didn't feel so bad. But seeing a whole list of them, yikes...

I think we'll be viable. I just hope we'll still be able to kick ***, that's the part I'm worried about.

Gonna have to test SD and its mechanics, see if Primal Gore is worth it for a tank build, and see if the shield does go away on any hit.

Some numbers were posted on mmo-champs, comparing Druids with other tanks from the point of view of Nihilum's Feral Tank. It didn't look good. I predict DK's will remain f'ing OP'd tanks, and I hate them with a fierce passion.

Now I'm gonna go weep in a corner in anticipation...

Edited, Apr 14th 2009 12:31pm by Selverein

Well the patch is upon us.

Ulduar is going to be fun. We are going to try as soon as we are all patched up and what not.

I got booted from the server last night right before Loken in HoL so I will most likely download and then do Hodir dailies first. I need the gold for gems and what not.

Plus the dailies will let me see how much damage FFF actually does now. Also will let me play around in cat form. The polishing the helm quest has a decent mob density, I will see how weak I am without SD. I want to know. Might have to shuffle my bars as if FFF does as much threat/damage as I have heard it will be in the main rotation.

Then it will be off to the bank and AH. Shuffling gear around, buying gems and maybe a new glyph. I know the nerfs will drop my HP but I want it to be higher than what it is now. I hear they hit hard in Ulduar.

I want to play with Primal Gore so I will be using it at first. Bear .

From here I don't know depends how Ulduar goes and Primal Gore.

We shall see.

yeah im also sorta worried about druid tanks so i lvled up/started to gear up my prot pally the two tanks i loved lvling. i'm gonna try out feral first hopeing my guild does just try to jump into uld i think they are though 25 man sadly.

I like Starfall and I think the shortened cooldown is just what it needed. However, Typhoon is still brokenly retarded. I hear the daze effect wears off just after the target lands so it's pretty much useless.

Nature's Grace change is cool for PvE DPS, too. Overall, things are looking okay for Moonkins. I'm a little disappointed with our T8 4-set bonus. I hear it has a long internal cooldown.

Here is my Moonkin Raid Spec and here is my Feral Tanking Spec. I'll be raiding as a Moonkin and tanking as Feral on the side for fun. Can't wait!

NG proc change is absolutely amazing. I don't know if it will show an increase in dps for our eclipse rotations, but in theory I can see how it would. In the off chance you don't crit with starfire you're still gonna have the buff for the next cast which could crit.

I just like the idea of 3, 1 second wrath casts in a row. Can you say inc lazerz?

The way I see it, feral tanking is only weaker than other tanks if they're as competent as you. Thankfully my tank guildmates are either morons, facerolling DKs, or both, so I don't think I'll be replaced anytime soon.

Whoa hold on there, it's not that bad. Don't blow it out of proportions either.

Sure, 2.5s attack speed, but also every GCD you're using something. Sure the shield won't be up for every attack you take, but then again if it was meant to be they would've given us a perma-shield.

I don't see what 360 Swipe has to be with CC. If anything we'll have to be more careful when there's CC around since we can't control the cone anymore, but it's not like we'll take more damage because of Swipe, unless you purposely leave mobs to hit you from behind.

I'm eager to get a few runs going, even just a few heroics to get a feeling of how things are. The only situation where I think a Bear tank will suck is a raid boss with a couple of small adds and either no off-tank or where some adds usually stick around the boss (slimes on Grobbulus, fire elementals on Sarth). In such cases I can see the small adds waste shield procs while the boss hits you for bigger numbers. That'd suck. But otherwise it shouldn't be so bad.

I'm still waiting on concrete stuff.

Again, sorry to say, but you're blowing it out of proportions. The nerf wasn't nearly bad enough to make us not viable for heroics. Heroics are said to be designed so that they could be tanked by a non-specced tank (Arms Warrior for example).


That's something people brought back often, and it's inaccurate. It's the feeling you get because of the numbers you see. You see SotF going from 66% armor bonus to 33% armor bonus, but it's not like it's our only source of armor. You still get the inherent armor bonus from Bear and Thick Hide if you spec into it so, yes, you lose armor, but it's not like it's cut in half. Same with HotW, you still get the Bear natural bonus and you regain 2 of those 10% back through Imp MotW, so you don't lose that much.

I still got more health than the Prot Warrior in my guild, and I'm not fully Naxx25-geared like he is and I'm gemmed fully for Agility. I haven't checked, but I'm sure I have more armor too. The problem does not lie with the other old school tanks becoming far superior to us, it's that DK's were supposed to be nerfed to balance them but they are still grossly OP'd (Same health as a Druid, more armor, great avoidance).

...and my guild will take awhile to get through Ulduar too.

Surprisingly, the feedback from our healers is that I'm no harder to heal, and on some fights I'm easier. Looking at recount and wowebstats, I'm surprised how much pure mitigation I'm getting from my bear shield. I still have the highest health of all our tanks too.

On mobs, healers say I hardly need to be healed (well short of Ulduar at least). I think it's because they're so soft hitting the shield is absorbing 100% of some of their blows. On hard hitting bosses, I was probably better off with the higher armor and health though I'm not sure about that.