Tier-10 Set Bonuses: Druid

(I tried something for this article. I linked all abilities mention to WoWHead so you can see them if you aren't familiar with them. If this is a distraction, or if you would like to see it more often, leave a note in the comments)

Today marks the first in what I hope will be several posts discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the upcoming Tier-10 set bonuses. If you have not yet seen them, you can view them HERE. In this post I will be looking at the Druid set bonuses, starting with what I know best: Feral.

• 2 Pieces (Feral): Your Swipe (Bear) and Lacerate abilities deal 20% additional damage and the cost of your Rip ability is reduced by 10 energy.
• 4 Pieces (Feral): Your Enrage ability no longer decreases your armor and instead decreases all damage taken by 12%, and the periodic damage done by your Rake ability can now be a critical strike.

One thing to note about feral set pieces is that one set must cover two different specs and raid roles of the same tree, Tank and Melee DPS, which is why the Feral bonuses seem to carry a lot with them. The Tank half of the two piece bonus doesn't provide any added functionality to any abilities (which seems to be the case with a lot of the T10 bonuses), but it increases the damage of our spam threat abilities. Swipe and Lacerate are used in between auto-attack Mauls and Mangle cooldowns, and contribute a fair bit (in Lacerate's case) to a substantial part (in Swipe's case) of a Bear's threat. In AoE situations, this should be a near 20% damage/threat increase. On the DPS side of the set bonus, we see a cost reduction in the second most important ability a Kitty relies on (the first being Savage Roar), Rip. A typical Feral Druid DPS attack priority involves keeping Savage Roar up, followed by keeping Mangle up (if there is no Arms Warrior or no Bear Tank), followed by keeping our bleeds active (Rip and Rake). After those conditions are met, Shred is used as a filler and to generate Combo Points. Reducing the cost of Rip means I will have spare energy, which can be used to either hit with more Shreds, or fire off a Ferocious Bite.

The 4pc bonus is where we see that functionality change for abilities. By default, Enrage reduces base armor by a percentage (depending on whether you are in Bear or Dire Bear, so basically are you level 40 or not) while generating rage over the duration. It is a handy ability used at the beginning of a fight to generate rage before engaging a boss, though is not practical to use while tanking as it is a substantial reduction in mitigation, and if you are tanking Trial of the Grand Crusader you just can't afford it (though you will NEVER be rage starved in that instance). A deep Feral talent gives Enrage a small damage boost when active, useful for Off-Tanks on fights where aggro switches but a mob is taunt-immune (Void Reaver in TK: The Eye, for example), but otherwise goes unused. This bonus not only removes the penalty, allowing it to be used while tanking a boss, but goes one step further to offer another mitigation cooldown. Enrage is on a one minute CD, as is our other primary mitigation cooldown, Barkskin. With this set bonus, I can now run 12 up, 48 down of 32% damage reduction, which is a lot of reduction on not a lot of cooldown, or, for longer sustained damage, 24 up, 36 down of 20% then 12% damage reduction. My guess is that the first scenario will be the more likely one, meaning that bosses in Icecrown Citadel will be hitting hard but predictably, in the vain of Three Drake Sarth's Fire Breath.

The Feral DPS 4 piece has an interesting story to it (well, interesting if you were a Feral at WotLK launch). That bonuses use to be a part of a deep Feral talent Primal Gore, which now only grants the crit change to Rip and Lacerate. Rake was removed from that talent because it was deemed "too powerful". This seems to hold true since, even without Rake dots critting, Feral DPS is still highly competitive (though falls to the wayside when your gear falls behind, as I've noticed lately...). Also, traditionally, the goal of a set bonus was to challenge a player to decide at what point raw stats outweigh the benefits provided from them, which means the bonuses had to be good. Take the WABAC machine to The Burning Crusade expansion and look at the Feral 2pc Tier 4 set. It provided melee attacks in Cat a chance to generate 20 energy. This bonus was so powerful that it took until 4pc T6 to even consider dropping it, and with the release of the "non-set set pieces" (bracers, boots, belt) in Sunwell, the new hotness became 2T4, 4T6. It was that good. The reason it was so good is because it was a near direct mirror of an existing Rogue talent in deep combat, Combat Potency. I don't expect this bonus to be quite as necessary as 2T4 was, but it WILL be a nice boost to Feral DPS.

Overall I am very happy with the DPS side of the bonuses (especially with the mediocre T9 DPS bonuses), and the tank bonuses blow me away. I will for sure be aiming for 4T10 as soon as I can get my hands on it. This post has gotten longer than I expected, so for now I leave you with the Feral bonuses. If you would like to see your class's set bonuses features, leave a note in the comments or, if you are feeling so bold, write a short overview of them and send it my way and I will list them up here for you.

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BlizzCon Reactions: New Races and Class Combinations

Worgen and Golbins... well, they're official. Also, we're getting new class/race combinations. Blizzard is definitely mixing things up a bit this time around. Some of them make sense, some.... not so much. At any rate, though, more variety is pretty nice, right? Right?

I'll start off with Worgen. We've seen them in game, primarily in Shadowfang Keep. Not much is known about them, short of they used to be human. So Worgen have a chance to really juice up the story of the cultures and civilizations of WoW, which I dig. They're also a race that we haven't seen that much of (SFK is about the extent of it). From a lore point of view, I was a little thrown off by why the Alliance would even bother with them. They're not humans anymore. The Alliance has generally not been accepting of imperfect races (Blood Elves, Forsaken). But it's primarily the Humans that are the racist bunch in the game. If you watch the Cataclysm trailer, you'll see it's the Night Elves (referred to as "Old Friends" iirc) that make the first move, possibly hinting that the Night Elves tried to assist the people of Gilneas when the affliction struck that area.

From a gameplay perspective, I'm pretty excited about Worgen. There are a lot of unique things about them. What first got me excited, though, was Karazhan, or more specifically, Torment of the Worgen. That item game me a chance to play as a Worgen for a brief few seconds, and I liked it. The animations were very animalistic, and I'd imagine they have been improved for Catacylsm. I can't wait to see their druid forms, either. Gilneas, too, is shaping up nicely. You can get a great view in the trailer. The town really gives off that "Don't go out past midnight" vibe. It's very stale and foggy. It doesn't posses the lavish color and flamboyance of Silvermoon City, or the modern (for the time) developments of Stormwind. It looks like it truly has spent the better part of a decade behind a massive wall, locked off from the rest of the world. All said, the Worgen should add a unique perspective to the Alliance, and I can't wait to give 'em a go.

Now, Goblins. Where do I begin with how much I don't want this to happen...

Goblins have been around for a long time, since back in the Warcraft II days (and possibly Warcraft, though I don't recall seeing them). They have always been traders, leading the different trade cartels around the world. They have also been a neutral faction the whole time (though in the past have shown preference for the Horde). From a lore view, it's a bit odd that the Horde would accept them into their ranks, but I'm told the starter quests (which are supposed to be as if not more epic than the Death Knight zone) explain the peril of this particular trade cartel and their need to join the horde for survival, so I won't complain too much until I get a chance to run through it. If nothing else, some little cannon fodder packing high explosives will help clear the way for the REAL Horde.

I don't see myself actually playing a Goblin for too long. Oh sure, I'll play one. I may even play two. But the chances I'll have one at max level are kind of slim. Who knows, though. This may be the first character animation that actually makes me WANT to level a mage (because for the life of me I just can't do it). It will be a tad odd seeing a Goblin main-tank a boss. The Alliance have had a similar view watching Gnome tanks in action, which really just seems bizarre to me. At any rate, the jury's still out on this one. At first I was terribly against it, though every time I get more on the story behind their perils, I get a little more intrigued. Time will tell.

Finally, I'd like to briefly discuss the new class/race combinations. If you want a list of them, they're floating around all over the place. Go look. Okay, first off, Tauren Priests and Paladins. Wow, I was against this when I heard it. I was legitimately MAD that this was happening. That is, until I reminded myself of a new quest and a conversation that takes place in Thunderbluff. In it, a wounded soldier and a Shaman or Druid, for the life of me I can't remember, nor can I be bothered to go look, are discussing the ways of Tauren Druidism, and how they may be leaving out half of the story by worshiping only An'she (the moon), and not including Mu'sha (sun). The sun is light, and Paladins/Priests are followers of the light, so this is a step forward in Tauren religion which, again, I like.

Troll druids; I wanted to hate this so much, but I couldn't help saying YES. There was that odd lore thing bugging me again. Yeah, I know that Trolls have been known to transform into animals, I ran Zul'Aman. Quite a lot, actually. But those were Amani trolls in ZA. I'm sure the Darkspear can do it to, but they've never really played up that angle. Once again, though, the trailer shines new light on this vague acquisition of power by the Trolls. In so many words, they have decided to embrace this power to help strengthen the Horde ranks with more diversity. They have willingly accepted the trials to becoming a druid. I'm okay with that, too. I'm so okay with this, actually, that I would transfer my Druid into a troll in a heartbeat if Blizzard were to give me that option (please? PLEASE?).

The rest of the new combos are less exciting/game breaking/paradigm shifting. More hunters, great. As if Forsaken didn't attract enough little kids, now they can be hunters. Gnomes get a healer. Enjoy. I may roll a Dwarf Shaman purely for the novelty (and I like shaman). More Mages get thrown around. Yawn. More options is (usually) not a bad thing, so maybe this will finally get players to roll alts who haven't already. I know I will be rolling at least 5 more toons when the expansion hits.

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Questions I am often asked

There has been a lot of WoW news hitting in the past few days, namely leaked information about the (still unconfirmed) upcoming expansion Cataclysm. I will do some write-ups about that stuff over the next few days, but rather than let the site sit idle until then, I thought I'd keep it rolling with some more (though admittedly less exciting) on my play style and my characters by answering some questions that I frequently get asked by other players. Join me, won't you?

How do you have the time to play so many alts?

The first part of this question is fairly simple. I just spent the last 4 years as a college student. As a college student, I had a lot of down time during the day, especially in between classes, which, to avoid taking a nap and sleeping through a later classes, allowed me to stay awake by knocking out a few quests. In addition, because I took the time to learn the class well and how to maximize output while minimizing downtime, I was able to avoid wasted time. That's the most important thing while leveling is to maximize XP per hour. So really, I didn't spend every waking hour of my life leveling, I just did it right, and used my time well.

Why do you play so many alts?

As a frame of reference, my Icecrown character list is full with one of every class. I have played each class to at least 40. My lowest level character is a 32 Warlock, who I rerolled when my previous lock hit 40. Why do I play every class? This goes back to wanting to learn any and all classes in the game. Fellow guild mates have always looked to me for advice on classes they don't play much or how to best utilize certain abilities/talents, so my playing alts is an extension of this. If I'm going to help someone, I need to know the class I'm helping them with. What better way to help someone with Priest mana issues than playing a priest in a Naxx raid? It also helps tremendously when leading a raid to know what you can reasonably expect from your players at their gear/skill level.

Why so many tanks?

I get this quite often (it happens when you play a Druid, Warrior, Paladin, and Death knight, all tanks, all level 80). Why so many tanks goes back to the previous question, but instead it's for my own assistance. I have always identified myself primarily as a tank (at least for raiding). I want to be the best tank that I can be, so to do that, I have to know what I can do to separate my Druid from the rest of the tanks. What do they have that I don't, and what do I have that they don't? I also feel like I have a responsibility to provide for the raid the highest threat producing, most damage mitigating, easiest to heal tank, so I keep up with the gear/skill of all my tanks, always watching for the day when it will be of best service to my guild to discontinue raiding on my Druid. Luckily, thanks to changes in feral tanking, staying on top of gearing, and the massive damage I can put out as a cat, I haven't yet had the need to retire my druid.

Which toon is your favorite/most fun?

I'll start of by talking about my tanks first. Each tank has a unique play style to it. The Paladin is very defensive, parking in one spot and keeping the mobs there. The Warrior, on the other hand, is a very offensive based tank, with a variety of melee attacks and capable of some pretty solid damage. The Death Knight fits somewhere in the middle, but is a very active tank, especially with Death Grip (you'll know a good DK tank when you see this used effectively). The Druid, however, doesn't really fit into these labels. It's a lot harder to spot a great Druid tank instead of a good one. Most people won't know the difference until they have had a truly great Druid tank in their group. The Druid doesn't really come alive until larger raid content, where the shifting aspect can really come into play. So to answer the first part of the question, my favorite tank is my Druid. It takes planning to be able to pop an Innervate or Battle Rez on someone while still main tanking a boss, or to squeeze out some extra DPS in cat form at the right moment.

As for most fun tank, I'm gonna have to go with my Warrior. Warriors are great fun to play. I actually enjoy running heroics as a Warrior tank. Warriors don't fall into the rotation tanking of the other three tank classes. They play more like a DPS class. You have a priority system, but you also watch for Revenge or Sword and Board procs. A warrior tank is like a Swiss Army knife where one of the attachments is another Swiss Army knife. There are so many abilities to utilize and they all have a purpose (and you will, more than likely, use ALL of them on a given pull). Warrior tanking really is a challenge, and a rewarding one at that.

Now, if I extend this to all of my toons, I have been having a lot of fun lately playing my Shaman. Enhance shaman are incredibly fun. Finally, with WotLK, WoW has a "Battle Mage". If you haven't seen them in action, a high end raiding enhance shaman will deal a large portion of their damage through spell attacks. It's really quite fun. Toss on the massive burst damage potential and you can really impress some people on a boss fight.

So that about wraps up this little Q/A session. If anyone has any questions about tank classes, tanking in general, or raiding, toss them in the comments and I'll be sure to answer them.

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Meet My Toons: Khanus (Feral Druid)

Here is part one of the series Meet My Toons. First up in the series, you get to meet my main character, the one who bears my namesake (or rather, whose name I choose to go by). Khanus is currently a level 80 Elite Tauren Chie...., errr, level 80 Tauren Feral Druid. Khanus is the first toon I created on live realms. I went with a druid because my brief exposure to WoW during the beta saw me playing as a druid (also named Khanus, but at that time as a Night Elf). I was instantly drawn to the druid class because I hadn't seen anything like it in any of the other games I have played, and I was sold on the idea when I first saw a level 10 Druid on the beta realms. If you haven't played a druid, or aren't familiar with the class (you're missing out), level 10 is the level when a young druid first begins his/her path of the claw by capturing within them the essence of the wild bear (layman's terms: i m a bear, lololz). I just thought "Wow, that's too cool for words. I want to be a bear!" I had no idea what a druid was capable of (hint: not much, at least at that time), just that I wanted to be a bear...

That is, until I got cat form...

Cat Form opened up a second whole new world for me as a leveling druid. I could now actually put out some damage, and without having played the other classes, or for that matter grouping with them much, the paltry DPS I was putting out seemed like a lot. Leveling was a breeze with the increased run speed, and Leader of the Pack heals removed all down time. It was around the middle of my leveling that I learned the fate of all druids: Healing. I was sorely disappointed, but, knowing that I wanted to raid, I gave it a go, and at level 46 I respecced to Restoration, and healed my first instance.

And I didn't hate it. I actually enjoyed it. Sure I wasn't shredding faces, but I had a much larger impact on the group's success. A lot more responsibility lay on me now. Furthermore, I was damn good at healing. I didn't manage to raid much when I did end up hitting 60, though, as The Burning Crusade expansion was just a few weeks away. When it hit, I kept my resto spec. In fact, I enjoyed it more now that I had some actual spellpower gear. But at the same time, I couldn't help but collect some feral gear. I always tried to grab feral gear when I could, and collected myself a nice set. Then one day, while questing through Zangarmarsh, at level 64, something clicked and I got really REALLY tired of the painfully slow leveling speed of restoration.

Sure, it was nice to heal an instance every now and then, but what good was that if I wouldn't hit max level... ever? So I put my feral gear to good use, respecced, gave the new talents a whirl, and LOVED it. WOW! This was a new type of feral. I had some solid damage, and what's more, I could TANK stuff now. I tanked my first instance ever that day (Underbog), and I found out that not only did I think I was a capable tank, so did the rest of the group. I had fun tanking, but having people thank me for it? That was icing. Delicious icing. And what's more, I had control over the group. I was the leader. The other players followed ME. I was their guardian. I had found my place in the World of Warcraft. I would be a tank, but not just any tank, I would be a feral druid, and I would put every aspect of my character, and later characters, to work in a fight. I learned to maximize my survivability, to balance my gear for threat generation when needed, and optimize my DPS gear for those fights that I wasn't needed to tank. I would be an asset, not a liability. But most importantly, I would forever be a tank.

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