Patch 2.3: A buff for feral druids
by David Bowers 
Oct 8th 2007 at 2:00PM
It may be a nerf for those druids who have stacked as much strength as possible to the exclusion of other stats, but especially considering that they plan to raise the attack power on items that buff druids' attack power while shapeshifted, having this talent to make them even more powerful seems pretty nice to me. It also makes agility scale even better for cat druids than it did before, and in many cases it enables us to get more bonuses from many buffs and items (such as Blessing of Might, and... rogue gear!).
For the mathematically inclined amongst you, here is the formula for calculating your new buffed-up attack power from the original poster Vorox (who translated from German): (Current AP - (Strength in cat form - Strength in caster form)*2)*1.1
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Juneau Oct 8th 2007 2:09PM
Woo!
Mainstay Oct 8th 2007 2:51PM
This wouldn't be a buff if the best cat gear wasn't rogue gear already. This is going to be a fairly big nerf to our already existing tiered Feral sets though, which have no attack power and consist mostly of stats.
In general though, it is a boon for cat dps at end game.
Urthona Oct 8th 2007 2:59PM
/agree with Mainstay
Does this mean Ogre Slayer's Ring is getting +attack power? Chestguard of the Talon? Clefthoof Hide Leggings? Are these now suddenly worthless items?
While opening more itemization is cool, I kind of liked knowing what was Feral gear just by looking at the STR/AGI/STA stats. Made things cleaner.
Physical Original Oct 8th 2007 3:12PM
@2
No kidding.
Ow. Just.... Ow.
-Z- Oct 8th 2007 3:13PM
Without calling me a noob, can someone point me in the direction of a guide that takes the new information into account? Its confusing enough as it is.
Kaljin Oct 8th 2007 3:12PM
Still nothing important for hunters. The only cool thing is the dispel on Arcane Shot, and thats not enough.
Physical Original Oct 8th 2007 3:32PM
Hmmm actually, reading the thread, it doesnt look that bad.
1 str = 2.2 AP
1 agi = 1.1 AP
1 AP = 1.1 AP
It'll take some tweaking, but... Im gonna have to crunch some numbers before I comment further.
GamerJunkie Oct 8th 2007 3:44PM
Nerf Cyclone!
aden_nak Oct 8th 2007 4:01PM
STR still gives the same bonus, in theory. The kick in the pants here is that a lot of Druids statted and geared themselves around STR having a higher value than AP. I've chased down a Kitty set that is now inferior to crap I've DE'ed or passed on because STR was so much more valuable than straight AP. Ironically, this patch hurts Druids that knew their class, and helps Druid that thought they were wanna-be Rogues.
Bristor Oct 8th 2007 4:19PM
Um . . . maybe I don't understand the math, but won't we still get AP from strength, and that will be buffed. So if the old system is 1 STR = 2.2 AP, under the new system, won't that mean it 1 str = 2 AP, buffed by 10% = 2.2, where as single point of +AP, gets you 1.2 AP?
So you won't be hurt if you have strength, and items like earthwarden that give a huge AP bonus become even better? Please tell me where my math or lack of knowledge about itemization is wrong.
Mystic Druid Oct 8th 2007 4:41PM
I say they should keep the talent the same but add a +5% AP bonus while in cat form and a 5% damage reduction in bear form. It would be better that way.
Dyermaker Oct 8th 2007 4:52PM
I can only hope that this change is based on Blessing of Kings becoming a base-line ability for all Paladins.
ranova Oct 8th 2007 5:08PM
wow, after blizzard finished jerking off to warlocks, now they are wanking it one more time for druids. Wtf is the paladin role? its not hybrid at all, its just healing.
Druid tank endgame? sure
Druid dps endgame? yes!
druid healing endgame? hell yea!
Paladin tank endgame? fuck no
Paladin dps endgame? ROFL
paladin healing endgame? duh, thats why you rolled a paladin
Fuck you blizzard.
Minxette, Firetree Oct 8th 2007 6:04PM
@ranova - You forgot about the flightform mount at 68 and ability not to get dazed and fall to your death for druids :)
Oh and stealth.
Pity druids dont have bubbles. They could then fly up into space.
Icepuck Oct 8th 2007 8:06PM
The best part... Feral Weapons are pure AP in form.
Earthwarden will be +55AP (3.9 DPS) increase from the +556 AP in Form :P
Snuzzle Oct 8th 2007 8:38PM
Bwa? Instead of adding more feral sweetness, Blizz takes the easy way out and makes feral gear = rogue gear more and more.
Sad kitty.
Phei Oct 8th 2007 10:24PM
@ranova "Paladin tank endgame? fuck no"
Only Mike still seems to think this. It's just not true anymore. You've lost your oppression card unless you're part of a hardcore guild that's forcing you to be absolutely optimal; most casual or semi-casual raiders I'm aware of have a pally tank and love it. They're the best for heroics.
RE: this change, it's fair enough IMO that feral druid gear is now more like rogue gear. It prevents a lot of sharding since druids aren't a terribly common class and having a lot of gear specifically designed for them must be something Blizzard is worried about.
Lev Oct 9th 2007 12:35AM
To clear things up currently HotW gives you 2.4 AP per strength, which is replaced by 2.2 AP /1 str, 1.1 / 1 Agi, and AP. But it also buffs all your non gear AP as well apparently like predatory strikes. Anyway running the numbers on my 61 druid (solo build fairly even mix of AGI and Str) gave me an increase of 1.5 AP.
I can only think that they have done the numbers and seen that its mostly going to be a positive to catform dps, but allow better access to rogue gear. +str gave you additive flat dps, +agi gave you some additive dps plus multiplicative burst dps via +crit and generally gave you more average dps after a point anyway. This point will kick in slightly earlier now.
rcwills Oct 9th 2007 1:24AM
old way:
1 str = 2.4 ap
2 ap = 2 ap
1 agi = 1 ap (plus crit)
1 feral ap = 1 ap
new way:
1 str = 2.2 ap
2 ap = 2.2 ap
1 ap = 1.1 ap (plus crit)
1 agi = 1.1 ap
1 feral ap =1.1 ap
strength is slightly worse than it was before, but it is still always better than attack power because of blessing of kings.
The strength vs agility curve will get a big adjustment in the direction favoring agility.
This is a buff, not a nerf. I view this as a band-aid attempt to fix feral druid itemization by not penalizing druids for wearing end game rogue equipment. Its not perfect, but this helps. Feral weapons will never scale like warrior/rogue weapons, but at least we have more proper selections for armor.
Shadowisp Oct 9th 2007 7:07AM
Did some quick maths, based on my druid.
No critics on my moderate AP, dropped it a bit for hight crit and hit.
Most of its heroics/kara/quest loots... itemisation priority is tanking :P
Maths
-----------
Current in Cat Form = 2604 AP (275.9 DPS)
Str 20% (Caster/Cat) = 74 Str Diff (369 / 443)
Loss of 20% Str Bonus = 2456 AP (-148 AP)
Patch (10% AP Bonus) = 2701 AP (+245AP)
Difference = +97 AP (6.9 DPS)