I play a Feral Druid. More accurately, I play a Feral/Feral Druid. I got my dual-spec at the ripe age of level 50, funded almost entirely by Auction House racketeering, and decided just recently that any hope of playing a caster on spec #2 was a lost hope. My caster gear was an unmitigated mess and I existed in a perpetual state of OOM. I’m just too used to casting with my Shaman. Water Shield > You. Now flirting into the lower 60′s of the leveling game (no I haven’t an 80 yet, thus I realize my worth as a human being is nill), money is becoming available, and so I wiped my slate of cat-bear-feral-hybrid-mess / “I’m not spamming moonfare and I’m still OOM”-Boomkin and went double Feral Cat-focus/Bear-focus.
I’d always ignored Bear. He’s a nice guy, but he was really just a means to level 20 where Critty Kitty took over, and only ever came out in groups when we bit off more than we could chew and situation demanded I take over aggro for a while. Bear moved like a snail, did little to no damage, and wasn’t near durable enough to make up for points A and B. Now that Bear is no longer sharing talents with Kitty, he’s a burly force to be feared. The heavens split in fear of Bear. What was a slow trod is a confident, loping gait. What was lackluster damage is now wide, crushing blows that would cleft mountains. Sub-par damage mitigation has become the dense, iron-sided fury of an infantry crushing M1 Abrams battle tank! Bear is an Olympian demigod striding patiently across the plains of the Outlands, backhanding the insignificant mortals who dare cross his wide path.
I really like Bear.
Critty Kitty, who probably saw the better side of the talent tree beforehand, has only seen a mild improvement. She traveled deeper into the Resto tree to get Master Shapeshifter with her Omen of Clarity. The +4% crit seemed worth while, and with the frequent instant-cast heals she gets from Predatory Strikes, the prerequisite, Natural Shapeshifter, actually sees use too when I quickly pop in and out of form to heal. I’ve also been introduced to Shredding Attacks, which I’d ignored before in favor of pointless damage mitigation. Now Shred is actually useful and fun. I’m really looking forward to King of the Jungle, as I’m expecting that +60 energy burst to be pure devastation. Once I’m far enough along to round off the game with the various bleed and Shred enhancing talents, I may consider tweaking her towards PvP. I always played her like a Combat Rogue, and I think it’d be fun to get some back gank action going.
Still, I long for the idea of a Bear/Cat hybrid. I pop between specs now depending on the encounters I expect, but I’d ultimately like to be able to find a build in which I can swap between Bear and Kitty as the situation demands. Cat seems to manage with damage without a lot of focus, while Bear requires some investment for his durability to meet my expectations, so I expect it’ll be a Bear-heavy build with some Cat concessions that meet my style. I really don’t know yet.
Current Builds as of 64:
Critty Kitty: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#0ZxGMsfr0bxR0uZ0Eczb:yVZ0
Bear: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#0ZxGGscrdcIRcZbA0z:zMZM
There are already things I’d like to change, but I’ll feel that out as I go.
