Shifting Perspectives: The forgotten feral form
by Ryan Carter 
Dec 4th 2007 at 5:30PM
Shifting Perspectives is the Druid column normally written by someone else other than Ryan Carter, but he is currently cutting his level 68 teeth on everything that moves, so he is filling in for your regularly scheduled Druids, who are on vacation in Nagrand and points beyond.Moonkins, mongeese, and bears oh my! Is there a reason that everyone hates cats, or is it that no one likes them? As a Druid, I hear about Dire Bear tanks, I hear about those party-animals, the Moonkins dps-ing their way into the lime light, and of course those restro Druids, who hang out with healers. What about the feral kitty? Why does no one play them but me? Is it harder to be a cat, or is it just a misunderstood sub-class? Personally, I love playing the cat, since there are many advantages to this spec. Sure, bears, owlbeasts and trees are great, but since I am biased, let me explain what I consider to be the distinct advantages of playing a kitty.
First off, Prowl (stealth) is an extremely powerful tool in groups, solo, or in an instance. Rogues have this ability too, but putting 3 early talent points into Feral Instinct makes it even harder to detect you when roaming around (like a talent rogues have). Stealth is useful for recon, figuring out the best way to pull a difficult group in an instance or for doing things other classes can't even dream of doing, like soloing LBRS to get your own Smolderweb Hatchling or Worg Pup. I was a level too low to be running LBRS in daylight, yet was inside stealthing through LBRS to get my pets, all alone. Wanna be the talk of the town or do the impossible before it should be possible, roll a druid.
Now, I know that any Druid has stealth, and that this has nothing to do with cat form being awesome, but the point is, once you get there using stealth, the real fun begins. You can use stealth to get close, then using abilities like Pounce, Ferocious Bite, Mangle, and Maim, the fight is over fast. Having the right gear helps for sure, but the cat is a formidable ally or opponent.
Now that I am getting ready to get geared, keyed and run end-game content, I love my kitty even more. I am finding all sorts of new uses for abilities I've had since I was a kitten in Stormwind, just roaming around looking for ankles and gnomes to bite. Maim and Mangle, both higher level abilities cause all kinds of problems for anyone they come up against. Not only is a cat good at higher levels, it is one of the easiest specs for soloing, from level 20 on. With the right gear and talents, I almost feel sorry for the unsuspecting mobs I took out at lower levels, no, not really.
What reasons would you have for not rolling a feral cat Druid? What is it about the cat, or about the other type of druid you like that makes you want to play a different type of Druid? Is that the cat is too complicated, or just not widely-played, and little known?
Many resources online exist for other types of druids, but sadly not many at all for Feral Cats...perhaps us cats should remain a musical? Is it okay with you Druids that this great spec lurks in the shadows and no one cares? What do you think? Let me hear you growl!
Filed under: Night Elves, Tauren, Druid, Talents, (Druid) Shifting Perspectives
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Yogsothoth Feb 10th 2008 9:21PM
I've been playing WoW for a little over 2 months now and my main is a lvl 62 feral drood (frostwisper, EU). TBH the whole tank thing i find extremely annoying. I was given a solid DPS talent build by a friend who's been playing for a long time and told that, in kitty form, i would destroy. This build, along with some good gear choices, has so far failed to dissapoint. The other day we were in ramps and, as per usual, I was required to tank (the other druid who i play with often and who is also feral, had to heal). One of the other players remarked about my not having feral charge. I explained that my build was for dps, not tank, so I didn't need it, but then 5 minutes later the same guy was sayin "lol, I can't believe you haven't got feral charge, noob". The kitty seems to be an ignored option by everyone except those feral droods who embrace the feline way. No other class is able to engage in melee combat and then, on request, disengage from the mob and either off tank, heal or innervate the main healer. Plus we can do imba damage and then just cower away from the mob we're attacking. I'm staying kitteh 4 life.
Balasan Dec 4th 2007 5:40PM
If you're playing a feral druid and you don't kitty while solo...
You're doing it wrong.
My kitty is my farming toon and I've even geared her up with rogue gear so that she's got the DPS gear (as opposed to tanking gear). I'd love to instance as a kitty drood but down in doomhammer we're always short of tanks or healers so I either bring my bear to tank or pally to heal.
As I said if you're feral specced and you don't use kitty you're doing it wrong.
ilmish Dec 4th 2007 5:46PM
Agreed. My druid is feral and geared to tank, but I also carry a second set of DPS gear. The beauty of the tank spec is that it's also a great kitty spec, so switching to melee DPS is merely a gear change. Hard to pull off in the middle of combat, but still--with feral, you get the best of both worlds.
vlad Dec 4th 2007 5:44PM
ive gone from 20-58 as a cat and plan to go 58-70 the same way.
my most recent 70 was a rogue so i may just be in the stealthy mode. dunno.
Brian Arnold Dec 4th 2007 5:45PM
As someone who has been leveling up a druid and just hit 20, I'm absolutely loving the cat.
I had a priest up to 60, pre-BC. Then my wife started playing, and she wanted to be a priest, so I eventually rolled a warrior up to 70. I like that I can tank, but as I'm all prot, I can't really solo quickly and that kills me.
The more I'm playing this druid, the more I'm wondering why I didn't just go with this class in the first place. I've been looking for kitty resources and just failing. If you could give some advice/spec tips to a newbie feral druid who wants to pimp cat mode, I'd be greatly appreciative. :D
WeirdoKitty Dec 4th 2007 5:49PM
Being able to play as a cat is what got me into the game.
"Everyone wants to be a cat, because a cat's the only cat who knows where it's at."
Avery Dec 8th 2007 12:20AM
hahaha best cat song ever.
I leveled up my druid (pre-BC) for the sole reason of stealth runs. My guild's rogues were more than willing to help, since at the time we were short on druids and all of them were dieing to try a few stealth runs on places such as LBRS. I have to admit, that was some of the best times I have ever had in WoW. Kinda makes me sad that I haven't leveled my druid at all since BC came out :(
h8rain Dec 4th 2007 5:50PM
I use cat whenever i am solo and fighting one to two mobs. If I get 3+ I switch to bear and tough it out. Outside of instances I am in cat form about 90% of fights. In instances, I am the tank, unless we have a better tank (I am lvl 64), then I DPS as cat.
HamOnRye Dec 4th 2007 5:52PM
Plenty of feral druid resources out there to be had and enjoyed.
http://teethandclaws.blogspot.com/ A very good druid blog about all things feral and the topic of kitty DPS comes up frequently.
http://elitistjerks.com/ Look through the class mechanics and look at the Feral druid megathread.
Also kitty DPS is sufficient enough that end game raid guilds will let Ferals off-tank certain fights and DPS others. As for myself I am roughly around the 850dps mark so its certianly nothing to sneer at.
Zhalseran Dec 4th 2007 5:55PM
Nobody plays "cat". The spec is called feral, and the talents are the same talents a bear uses. There are very few talents that are helpful primarily or exclusively for beats or cats. The only people who play "cats" are the ones who refuse to tank
WeirdoKitty Dec 4th 2007 6:20PM
So if I am in a group with someone who wants to tank I should play as bear form because????
For the record, WeirdoKitty has tanked whenever he was asked. What gets me are the people who ask if I'm feral. Yes, yes, I'm feral spec'd.
Spenda Dec 4th 2007 6:23PM
I suppose that a "cat" could be someone who has a DPS set and hasn't collected a sufficient tanking set to do both roles well.
Of course a "cat" could also be someone who doesn't know how to play their class.
Alkahn Dec 4th 2007 6:26PM
I think this is the main objection to 'cat druids'. Feral kitties are potentially one of the most versatile DPSers around, being able to battle res and innervate in a pinch, not to mention offtank when needed.
That's the key - when needed - a cat who refuses to either collect gear for tanking or offtank when needed is just a poor excuse for a rogue.
Heck I play a shadow priest with 0 points in holy and I've main healed instances. Feral cats have far far more points in tanking than I do in healing. Not utilizing that flexiblity just gimps you as a player.
Great cat druids, however, are amazing utility DPSers with a lot to offer.
Ryan Dec 4th 2007 6:21PM
Cats suck, you shouldn't play a cat. You especially shouldn't use a cat as a farming character, they absolutely suck and you'll never make any money.
Spenda Dec 4th 2007 6:24PM
Nice troll.
KitKatDruid Dec 4th 2007 6:36PM
I was a feral kitty for forever, until I noticed I loved healing and that my guild needed healers. I personally love grouping with cats as dps, and it helps that we have a lot of tank/dps ferals in the guild, so they take turns tanking and dpsing.
Gorehorn Dec 4th 2007 6:38PM
It's not that anyone hates or dislikes catform-druids, it's just that nobody except the druid himself needs catform ;)
Like Zhalseran said, if you spec feral, almost all your talents help bear- and catform and while catform is clearly superior in terms of soloing, in group situations it's mostly bearform that's called for since most groups need a tank more than a damage dealer.
If you try to find a group to DPS in cat you should also be aware of the fact, that you may do good DPS, but you are lacking in crowd control (effectively your CC is off-tanking in bear, which is way worse than sheeping or freeze trap), coupled with the the fact that ranged DPS is more desirable in a lot of situations.
jasondrust Dec 4th 2007 10:12PM
easily the coolest shapeshift in the game
Pzychotix Dec 4th 2007 6:42PM
Wow, this is some hilarious piece of ignorant work. Keep it up.
Matthew Rossi Dec 4th 2007 6:43PM
I think part of the problem Ferals who prefer Catform have is the same problem you get with Enhancement Shamans, Fury Warriors, and other non-standard 'specs' (since kitty is not actually a spec) - people want tanks and healers more than they want DPS. You can ALWAYS find DPS, which is why some DPS classes think that tanks and healers have an attitude problem. But it's a fact - a tank can almost always find a group, as can a healer. But DPSers feel like they have to compete not only with their own class, but all the OTHER dps classes/specs out there. The fact that there are three DPS roles in a party never seems to mollify folks.
Now, if you're a feral... a spec that can either tank or do melee DPS in one, as long as it has gear for it... the three aspiring DPSers for your unformed party are going to want you to tank. And druids have it worse because, unlike a fury warrior, you CAN tank in that spec (or are considered to be able to) as well as a dedicated tank would. Gear is the only real shortcoming. So you're expected to bring a set of tank gear and are pressured into tanking over cat form.
I feel the pain, but at least smart people don't ask my enhancement shaman to heal once they know he's enhance. A feral druid who wants to DPS is always going to be asked to tank because everyone assumes it's why he went feral in the first place.