Feral/Balance

[Tretard 0]

So, I've been searching all over the internet (Here, wow forums, MMO) to know more about life as a Druid at 100, as I know now isn't a scale to go by since it's pre-expansion patch. 

 

My question is, how does Feral do at 100, and possibly how does it do now on live? As I can't seem to find much threads about feral most of them are Balance related.

 

What would be the better option for higher damage output/dps now and at lvl100 Feral or DPS? I know that it's all related to style of play and how you want to approach DPS as a melee or caster, but I'm just looking for info.

 

Thanks,

Tretard :)

[Tarazet 144]

Current sims have Feral as one of the top-10 damage specs at level 100 in raid gear. Balance is near the bottom and lagging some 20% behind Feral. However, I would consider it unlikely that they leave the specs that far apart by the time the raids are actually released.

 

You also have to consider raid composition. Utility has historically been a strong reason to bring a Balance Druid. In 6.0, the proposition is weaker due to the loss of Innervate and Tranquility, but Balance is still much better represented in raid groups. Time will tell if WoD raids favor compositions like the present day 10-man group, which is mostly ranged with 1-2 melee spots held by Warriors or Rogues due to problems with mechanics if you have more than that. Maybe WoD will be more melee-friendly. As it stands, even with the disparity in theoretical DPS output, I would say that Balance is going to be a safe bet unless you really love the playstyle of Feral. Personally, I would still play Feral even if it was the worst spec in the game. Some people feel the same way about Moonkin.

[Paloro 39]

Personally, I would still play Feral even if it was the worst spec in the game.

 

+100

 

As Tarazet said, Feral is simming higher then Balance at the moment.  From what I've seen in Beta, the fights are a bit more anti-ranged (not that they are melee friendly) since a lot of the movement buffs/cooldowns have been taken away.

[Tretard 0]

Well, I love feral myself, I've only played Balance a bit at the start of Wotlk then as always back to the kitty. I was just worried about coming back from a long hibernation seeing that all forum posts on every website is about Balance, so I got an instant feeling that Feral might be facing a low pool expansion in WoD in PvE

[Kazistrasz 216]

Feral has remained largely unchanged - they made it more simplified, but it's still feral by my understanding. Ferals have a more tight-knit community through The Fluid Druid. Boomkins have been completely reworked. There aren't a lot of good ones out there, compared to people playing other specs. They also don't have any major place of theorycrafting. As a result, the people looking for information on it are searching high and low for it.

 

Are these current sims you're looking at reflective of the recent super-buff? As long as it takes them to push out full analyses, I'm willing to bet not when this was pushed mid-week. Also, remember that the sims they run are single-target. Not only did boomkins just get a major buff to single-target spells, but Blizzard just gave Starfall a ridiculous 75% buff. I'm not saying anything y'all have said is wrong, but I'd be foolish to not take a critical stance where quoting sim numbers and rankings are concerned.

[Tretard 0]

Well  l love that they left us the ability to snapshot our dots, which opens a lot of thinking in our rotation instead of pres x,y,x,x,x,z,y.. kind of rotation. But I could be wrong about balance, which I haven't touched for so long so I thought it could have the the upper hand of being the higher dps spec of a druid this xpac.

[Kazistrasz 216]

Our DoTs as Boomkin don't snapshot at all. The spec that does the most DPS is the spec you're most comfortable with.