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Furor buffed for 3.0.2
Do you guys remember yesterday, when I wrote about how the Druid talent Furor was altered to prevent powershifting? Well, if not, that's OK. Furor has just been rewritten again, and this time it has all I asked for and then some. The new Furor reads as follows (with 5/5 talent points in it): Gives you 100% chance to gain 10 Rage when you shapeshift into Bear and Dire Bear Form, and you keep up to 100 of your Energy when you shapeshift into Cat Form, and increases your total Intellect while in Moonkin form by 10%. Holy sweet monkeys, Druid fans. Not only is there now no penalty whatsoever for switching in and out of cat form, we get some added Moonkin utility for this already excellent talent. This is one of those days where I just want to hug the devs, all of them. In case anyone is unclear about how this latest iteration of Furor works, here's a quick rundown (as I understand it). The game will now track your energy regeneration even when not in cat form, like it tracks your mana regen in feral forms now. When you shift back into cat, you'll have whatever amount of energy you would have had if you had just stayed in cat in the first place. Shift out to heal at 80 energy? You'll have 100 when you pop back in, 2 seconds later. Arrive at your destination and switch from flight into cat form? 100 energy to go mangle some faces. Powershifting is still out, but this is way better for the soloing Druid, not to mention the Moonkin perks. There is some concern that this may be overpowered in PvP: what's to stop you from DPSing in cat till you're at 0 energy, then shifting to bear for 10 seconds to DPS that way, then back to cat? Well, nothing, as far as I know. However, keep in mind that this is still beta, and if ferals end up hideously overpowered in arenas, I'm sure they'll make changes as necessary.
Shifting Perspectives: PvP as a moving target
Every week, John Patricelli of Big Bear Butt presents a well-researched, educational, and entertaining look at the state of the Druid class in WoW today. This week we said, "Screw that," and got someone off the street. Veronica: Look at you, all helpful.Logan: Your peskiness being unleashed on Connor brings me joy. Annoy, tiny blonde one! Annoy like the wind!-- Veronica Mars, "An Echolls Family Christmas" With apologies to Diane Ruggiero, the writer of the episode quoted above, but I find Logan's snarky comment (did he even have another kind?) to be a perfect, albeit general, means of describing successful Druid PvP.Let us be frank; I am not, nor am ever likely to be, a hardcore PvPer, and to a great extent this post is directed mostly at people like myself. If you're one of those Druids carrying a 2K+ rating in full Vengeful, then I invite (nay, implore) you to leave comments and corrections based on your own experience, but the article's mostly for regular folks like me, who may not even particularly like PvP but recognize that it is desirable or perhaps necessary, given our ingame goals. As such, most of this applies to battlegrounds, and on a later date we're going to get into arena. Today, we are simply going to talk about how to avoid letting your PvP experience turn you into a miserably unhappy player who would rather undergo an appendectomy via Roto-Rooter than set foot in another EOTS.
Outland Reputation Set - Druid (Balance): Wyrmhide Battlegear
This is the introductory PvP set for BalanceDruid. The Battlegear sets are of a superior quality and are equal to the Level 70 High Warlord gear that can be purchased with honor points. The pieces can be purchased by becoming honored with Cenarion Expedition, Honor Hold/Thrallmar, Keepers of Time, Lower City, and the Sha'tar. Complete sets require honored with all five factions as listed below: Wyrmhide Battlegear Slot Rep Wyrmhide Gloves Hands Thrallmar/Honor Hold Wyrmhide Helm Head Keepers of Time Wyrmhide Legguards Legs Lower City Wyrmhide Robe Chest The Sha'tar Wyrmhide Spaulders Shoulders Cenarion Expedition Wyrmhide Battlegear Armor Sta Int Resil Wyrmhide Gloves 213 22 13 13 Wyrmhide Helm 267 21 17 17 Wyrmhide Legguards 306 33 20 20 Wyrmhide Robe 322 33 18 18 Wyrmhide Spaulders 249 33 17 17 Total 1357 88 85 85 Wyrmhide Battlegear Dur Mp5 Spell Gems Wyrmhide Gloves 35 5 32 Wyrmhide Helm 60 5 34 M, Y Wyrmhide Legguards 75 8 39 Wyrmhide Robe 100 5 22 R, R, Y Wyrmhide Spaulders 60 2 14 R, Y Total 330 25 141 Set Bonus 2: 35 Resilience Set Bonus 4: Your Wrath casts have a chance to reduce the cast time of your next Starfire by 1 second. Return to the complete Outland Battlegear list
Blogger makes the wrong call on Druids
I guess I spoke too soon when I said that Druids were being mature about the Cyclone nerf. Balancedruid of Tichondrius demanded on the public forums that Blizzard reconsider the reduction of Cyclone from thirty to twenty yards. He states that although Resto Druids are very powerful in arenas, this form of crowd control is the most appealing aspect of a Balance Druid for most 5v5 arena teams. This change was notably absent form previous patch 2.4 Public Test Realm Build notes. Several threads have been started on this topic. At least one was mysteriously deleted within five hours of its creation. Snuffymcmoo of Terokkar has begun a petition to rescind the change. Druids are flocking in protest to the change. I can honestly say that I'm not surprised at expressions of outrage. I was just expecting a little more- They're Druids, not Warlocks after all. I apologize for my earlier statements about Druids rolling with the nerf-hammer.
Shifting Perspectives: Awesome Moonkin gear - The Finale
Every Tuesday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting druids and those who group with them, brought to you by David Bowers and Dan O'Halloran. NOTE: Mages, Warlocks and Shadow Priests may be interested in these lists as well.This last set of equipment slots are better tailored to Moonkin than the visible slots covered earlier. Because the neck/ finger/weapon/trinket slots have to cater to all dps casters, we see more pure +spell damage items and less equipment watered down with +healing. Also, the relic slot has items specifically tailored to Moonkin.Since there are so many choices for these slots, the format of this guide is going to be more of level based list, than the conversational approach of Part I and Part 2. Each section will have a few recommendations followed by a complete list of non-raid Outland alternatives. The best part is that because there are so many choices, you're pretty much guaranteed solid upgrades no matter your style of play (i.e. solo, group, PvP, etc.) Finally, at the end of the guide is a link to two excellent Moonkin guides for gems and enchantments found on the Balance of Power blog.Enough build up! On to the pre-Karazhan equipment extravaganza after the jump.
Shifting Perspectives: Awesome Moonkin gear part 2
Every Tuesday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting druids and those who group with them, brought to you by David Bowers and Dan O'Halloran.Last week, I covered easy to get Moonkin gear for chest, legs, head, shoulders, wrist and hands slot. Today, I will finish by examining non-raid TBC options for waist, feet and back. In two weeks, when I return to the column, I will finish with neck, fingers, trinkets, weapons and relic slots plus enchants for all slots. In the weeks following, I'll start covering gear options for Restoration druids.I want to define "easy to get". I mean non-raid. Either outdoor questing, 5 man grouping or crafting. Every item listed that drops from a quest will have an Alliance and/or Horde quest link. If you don't see an A or H after the stats, then your faction can't get the item.Listing starts after the jump!
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Shifting Perspectives: Awesome Moonkin gear and how to get it easily
Every Tuesday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting druids and those who group with them, brought to you by David Bowers and Dan O'Halloran.My druid column co-writer, David Bowers, posted a list of easily obtainable feral tanking gear. He did such a great job, I'm stealing his idea. Except I'm going to focus on easily obtainable gear for Moonkin druids. So that makes it not stealing, right?I want to define "easy to get". I mean non-raid. Either outdoor questing, 5 man grouping or crafting. Also, this listing is extensive, so I'm only covering half the available equipment slots today and will finish up the remaining slots in two weeks. And after that, I'll cover restoration gear.On to the good stuff!
