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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-22-2011 @ 5:07AM
Cantor said...
Allison, while I usually fully agree with and support every statement you make, I don't think anyone will begrudge me from asking...since when has Al'Akir been a Feral-friendly fight? An inability to Shred automatically makes us worse than we should be; Chimaeron would be a better example (as you can Shred for the entirety of the fight).
However, I agree - Cats are routinely placing low on the damage-meters if you look at stateofdps or worldoflogs. I've suggested multiple things on the EU forums to sort this, but really it's just our scaling that needs to be buffed up (4.2 is a good start). Shred also needs to lose the asinine, frustrating, outdated positional requirement that no other common raiding spec has to deal with on their main attack (although Rogues feel our pain too - Sub spams Backstab, Assassination swaps to Backstab below 35% and Combat can't use Killing Spree on fights like Sinestra, Ragnaros and Al'Akir - hey look, 3 end bosses!)
Reply
6-22-2011 @ 5:13AM
Allison Robert said...
Oh, I didn't mean that Al'Akir was a kitty-friendly fight, although I can definitely see how the sentence reads that way -- just that it's one of the relatively few tier 11 fights where melee DPS routinely outperforms ranged. Granted, the cat still hasn't been a competitive spec on the few occasions where that happens.
We're slightly better off than we were at the start of Cataclysm, but we'll see if the 4.2 changes help cats close the gap. Enhance shammies are in desperate need of some love too.
The one thing that worries me about changing Shred's positional requirement is that Blizzard is all but guaranteed to nerf it (or cat damage in some other fashion) if it's removed.
6-22-2011 @ 10:49AM
Cantor said...
I'd say the only way to allow Backstab and Shred to be usable from all positions would be to a) nerf Mangle damage (and possible Haemorage, although I can in all honesty say I've no idea what kind of damage that does in comparison to Mangle/Shred/Backstab) and/or b) only allow use of Shred and Backstab when Savage Road or Slice n Dice are running; this makes it almost a certainty that you can use the abilities in PvE, and requires you to take something of an energy loss in PvP (as the majority of Ferals certainly don't bother wasting those precious CPs on the predictable damage of SR compared to Maim, Rip and even Bite when the enemy target's at low health).
I mean I really can't see the downside here; the Mangle damage buff was put in place for when we couldn't get behind something, but the damage is still in no way comparable to that of Shred, with the latter being supported as it is by the Mangle debuff, the Shred glyph and Rend n Tear; it only makes sense to remove that damage buff if you're going to allow us to use our main attack from all angles (this has minor repercussions to 4t11, but as we'll be gearing out of that in 4.2 I fail to see any concern there - it was a silly bonus anyway that was a very minor DPS gain in return for potentially causing some serious rotational difficulties).
Enhance Shaman need help, I'll agree, but a lot of that is due to lack of weapon access. Realistically there shouldn't be anymore Agility swords in the game, as only Combat wants those, whereas Axes could be used by Enhance and Combat together.
6-22-2011 @ 2:47PM
thebitterfig said...
The thought of allowing the positional requirements on Shred/Backstab to be ignored while under SR/SnD is a pretty nifty one, provided the attacks can still be used from behind if not under either buff...