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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: The feral bond
by PJ Smart 
Jul 21st 2010 at 8:00AM
There's obviously a certain understanding based on shared experience among the various WoW races, classes and specs, no matter what your faction. When you meet, even if you can't understand each other in chat, you might tip your hat, wave or do some other emote that signifies your recognition of a fellow traveler who is just like you were, are or will be. True, sometimes it's more of a rivalry, with the occasional threat, challenge or insult. But just as often (if not more so), there is flirting, cheers and exchanging of baby spice and hugs.
I think this is even more true for druids and particularly feral druids. My main is an Alliance bear/cat, and often when I bump into another druid while going about my business, we start dancing or roaring at each other, or some other emote/interaction occurs that doesn't normally happen with every passing stranger (if it did, we'd never get anything done, I guess). The resulting hijinks are often quite comical, but even more so if we are both in an animal form.
This seems to happen just as much when I meet Hordies as anyone else. Maybe not in a battleground (probably a good thing), but when I see another feral in passing, it seems like we become alert to each other's presence and make a quick little event out of it, then go on our way. The other races and classes are there, sure, and they certainly command my awareness and interaction as the case may be. But first and foremost, I'm checking out the other ferals. It seems there's something about ferals that makes us want to interact, be it a playful romp, chase or even the occasional threatening/rude gesture to show who's boss or who doesn't want to be messed with. It makes me wonder if this is how a dog feels in the park.
Not that we're so special, and all kinds of players having random interactions is what helps make this game so much fun. Of course there are the usual "what's their gear like?" and other typical WoW player snoops going on. It could be that I just have a typical player's respect and curiosity for anyone I see who's in the same boat -- er, fur. But I think there's more to it than that ... and it makes my bear/kitty/(dog?) sense tingle. I suspect that playing as a furry animal has awakened our ancestral feral instinct from its evolutionary slumber, and it's feeling kind of frisky.
What perks up your whiskers? Do you share any special bonds of brother/sister/otherhood with your fellow players?
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Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
Rockstaert Jul 21st 2010 8:41AM
Whenever i see a disc priest I will put a Shield and a Power Infusion on them. I always love to see other discipline priests, except when we are in the same 10man raid...
Katharine Jul 21st 2010 8:44AM
Dancing druid parties for the win.
Namy Jul 21st 2010 8:48AM
I find that when I'm playing my arcane mage and encounter another we usually nod our heads and throw Focus Magic on each other. That's the only mage solidarity I can think of! Encounters with another disco priests tend to end up in Penance wars. I can make a big bubble too!! ; )
I like to /pat horde when I see them, it's so condesending. Works very well on male orcs! It usually ends up with a rude gesture being made in return :P I also try to help lowbie horde when I see they might be struggling. Maybe allow them to get a few smacks on an elite and then finish it off for them. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!
Kylenne Jul 21st 2010 8:52AM
There's no real mage solidarity anymore because there's too damned many of us, we've proliferated like subway rats in this expansion. Especially arcane. Sadly, the only time I ever notice a fellow mage anymore is if they're doing something unbelievably stupid in a pug, which is frequently as it turns out. Curse of being FotM for most of the expansion, I suppose.
In BC I was Frost, and it was a real treat seeing another one. Especially since we were all using the same pvp staff. XD
Namy Jul 21st 2010 8:59AM
Yes I was also Frost for BC and it's true, every mage out there who isn't levelling tends to be Arcane at the moment. You shoot yourself in the foot if not. I'm looking forward to 'hopefully' seeing a range of differnt specs out there in Cata. All I wanted was to be a fire mage and blow things up! It'll be a treat to find a fellow fire mage and do some uuuh pyrotechnics together ; )
Chetti Jul 21st 2010 8:48AM
I always seem to notice other druids, even when I'm not playing my druid. Actually, yesterday I was playing my baby hunter when I passed by some random people who were working on the same quest I was and they invited me to join their group - night elves, a hunter and a druid. At some point one of them died and I mentioned I missed being a healer, as the druid rezzed her friend. We started chatting about resto druids, my main being a balance/resto dual spec and my tauren being resto only. For the first time *I* was actually able to be helpful, passing along tips that were passed on to me by other druid players about they kind of gear to look for or favorite spells that I know she's got coming to her in future levels.
I have come across a lot of helpful players of all classes, random people mostly. I do find that when someone who has played the same class to the max finds another of the same running around, they hang around to offer advice. I've found it most with druids, because I spend most of my time playing one, even if the person talking to me isn't playing their druid at the moment. I try to pass along what I've learned, but at the same time I consider myself always still learning.
I've got to say, I've tried the feral forms, I just can't get into playing one. But I do enjoy grouping with them. Beartanks are awesome, and for further awesome, the bear boogie. My friend and I got random group through dungeon finder - 3 druids (the tank, me- the healer, and a dps that switched from caster to cat occasionally), a shaman (my friend), and.. I forget what the other person was. The instance was flawless, and when we (well they - I kept them alive, but.. really the tank/dps does the killing) took down the final boss the bear did his little dance. Of course, I had to join in.. tree twistin. After that we were all dancin while checking out what was in our random bag of (sometimes useful) goodies. That was fun!
Paws up (in my case - branches) to the druids! But really, to all the players who make the game even better by being helpful.
Kylenne Jul 21st 2010 8:49AM
Trolls. Granted, my main's a Blood Elf (and if you were to ask me what I "am" in WoW, that'd be it), but a number of my alts are female Trolls. There's a lot more than there used to be just because the Berserking racial is so OP for classes that like haste, but I admit to squeeing every time I see another one. Especially female Troll enhancement shammies, since I feel like I play the only one on my server sometimes.
feniks9174 Jul 21st 2010 11:47AM
Heck yeah, FemTroll axe swingers FTW!
I miss Enhancement. The need for Ranged DPS in my guild left me spending most of my time on my warlock and only playing my shaman to heal daily randoms for emblems.
Nina Katarina Jul 21st 2010 8:53AM
I was early for ICC25 a few weeks back, and I sat down outside the instance to wait for the raid leader to start up invites. A human rogue was waiting, too, and she had one of those Orbs of the Sin'dorei. Her belf-form had the same hair color and style as mine, and we laughed and emoted at each other for a while. I then ate some deviate fish until I got ninja-form, and we did dorky macarenas at each other. We finished off with Gordok suits. It was fun silliness.
Didn't stop her from ganking me in Wintergrasp the next day, of course. I saw the nameplate a split second too late or I would have emoted at her.
Xunaam Jul 21st 2010 8:57AM
There is some kind of druid bond. I'm a feral druid NE and I was waiting for an icc raid to start outside the doors and there had been a pvp fight in front of the doors. I was flagged from WG and there was a feral tauren flagged also waiting. A dk whispered me and told me he was waiting for the tauren to try something since he was targeting me. I told him he wouldn't, its a druid thing. I did the usual /dance and then kitty dash and a druid chase and dance party started with about four others joining in. :)
Kurtis Jul 21st 2010 10:09PM
Nah, didn't keep a NE druid from ganking me in Wintergrasp while doing the fishing daily. Though, since I was fishing, I was in normal form so s/he may have just seen a flagged Tauren... I'd seen several Alliance players around doing the same thing I was, and left them all alone, so I guess I let my guard down a little too long because they stealthed up behind me and had me down to 50% before i even realized what was going on.
Suzanne Jul 21st 2010 8:57AM
Oh man, it's going to be awesome standing around Dalaran dancing with the other trees once Cata hits. D'oh!
Tricia Jul 21st 2010 9:01AM
Druid is one of the only classes I've played where faction doesn't even make as much difference. Random dance parties and salutes and roars pop up despite the fact it's a brown boomkin meeting a purple one... or whatnot. It's a lot of fun and like it's only small community within the larger WoW community.
Lankey Jul 21st 2010 10:22AM
Its down to what used to be known as The Druid Code.
Back in Vanilla when there were very few druids around we (like many now hybrid classes) had only one spec available to us: Restoration. This led to the main style of druid PvP evolving around healing then fleeing. And, to an extent that it kept us alive, it worked against most classes.
Now imagine two people with that same mind set and total inability to kill the other. While some may have tried for a while, most of us just didn't bother. This meant that most druids would not only emote at druids on the other faction but would often go out of their way to help that druid out if they were in a tough spot (too many mobs, etc). Giving you the Druid Code. Of course, this was probably helped by having Moonglade, at a time of the game where it was very difficult (before the timbermaw rep became easier) to get there.
Then came Burning Crusade and Season 1 Arena where it was found that druids were very powerful (lets not start an "omg OP" war, please). This discovery led lots of people to reroll one. Not necessarily a bad thing but it meant that the original peaceful druid community was blended with the pvp lovers. Combine this to a now functional Feral and Balance tree and many of these new druids ignored the common bond and just went for the classic "red is dead" and went attacking anything they could.
And so, the Druid Code was laid to rest. Occasionally remembered and honoured by some long time Druids but mostly left alive in memory.
...And thats me got all nostalgic...bleh.
Joey Jul 21st 2010 1:50PM
That was my general experience too, Lankey. I played a druid in Vanilla and BC and especially early on, when all we could do really well was heal, there was most certainly a druid code. I remember countless times when cross faction druids would help each other out in questing and such. I've even had the experience of a Horde druid interceding when I was getting ganked by a rogue. He stepped in and the rogue backed off.
Then, like you mentioned, something happened. More people started rolling druids and the friendly cross-faction banter seemed to vanish. On the rare occasion I play my druid these days, red is dead seems to be the general rule (even for ferals). I've even joined in on this after one too many occurrences of helping a cross faction druid, only to be ganked as soon as they were out of trouble.
In many ways the modern feral druid isn't much more "noble" than a rogue. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Just that it's a change of pace and play style from what I've been accustomed to. As such, even on my new main, I tend to kill druids (and rogues of course) on sight.
RavenJet Jul 21st 2010 9:07AM
Not long ago they barely existed at post-level 80. Heck when I hit 80 I had frequent complaints in my guild that "affliction can't be competitive" and "I've never seen a level 80 lock who wasn't destro before". That has changed, affliction can now once more top the DPS scores regularly (in my regular 10-man group the only one who usually beats me is the hunter) - but it is definitely the hardest of the three specs to play, it's a spec that requires continuous concentration and massive situational awareness to do well.
Needless to say - doing well has ended the complaints :P
Even now though, afflocks are still very rare, at least on my server. If I see ONE other fellpuppy in a week it's remarkably high. There's plenty out in the world because it's still one of the best levelling specs, but at level 80 or above nearly every lock is destro, most of the rest are demo. Afflocks are the rare elite.
RavenJet Jul 21st 2010 9:12AM
Whoops, accidental double-post there...
RetPallyJil Jul 21st 2010 9:26AM
Maybe it's because I'm on an original release server, but all of the longtime rets know each other. The dark times forced us to bond.
Rai Jul 21st 2010 9:32AM
With us rogues, it's the opposite.
We size each other up (figuratively, my rogue is a gnome), compare gear without a word and then contemplate the best way to gank them and steal it.
Which is impossible, but y'know. Pickpocket never dies.
Ian Jul 21st 2010 9:45AM
Warrior tanks.
Because we don't need none o' your MAGICS for tanking.