By now, you’ve almost certainly heard about the change to itemization whereby the +Healing and +Spell Damage stats are being retired for the less specialized Spell Power stat. What, exactly does this mean, though, and what can you expect at the release of Patch 3.0?
So it appears that kitties will be getting an AoE ability:
Yeah, if I can offer a suggestion, please don’t disregard a player’s argument just because their class is good in aspects of the game you care about that the OP may not.
We think we are going to remove the cooldown of Fan of Knives altogether. There are just too many PvE situations where rogues feel at a disadvantage without a reliable ranged attack. The example that came up recently is Meathook in CoT:Stratholme and having the spawning zombies causing pushback on your healers. Rogues can FoK once and then have to run over to help the healer.
And in case it gets asked, Feral druids we haven’t forgotten about your AE either.
We’ll try and announce something soon.
Or is that really what that comment means? Not forgetting about it doesn’t actually mean they’re going to give it to us, just that they’re thinking about it.
What do you think about that? How would that work? Would we Purr the enemy to death, rattling the integrity of their skeletal structure into nothing but a fine powder? Maybe the Angry-Kitty Death Shriek where we make that creepy baby sound cats make when they’re hurt, tearing the tympanum from the eardrums of our foes with an awful wail? Or could it be the Spastic LoLCat Scritch-Scratch, blinking from alien girl to alien girl like James T. Kirk on Red Bull?
Who knows?
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I’m confused. Don’t you already have Swipe as an AOE ability for Feral Druids?
Veneretios last blog post..Killing Kritters 2.0 - WotLK Edition
The kitty would shake their booty, spreading vile ticks and fleas all over the enemies! The feral insect swarm!
I’m like meh on the subject. I think rogues are just sad that they aren’t the best at dps in AoE situations. Which makes sense to me. But I can see where the bring the player not the class aspect where a group of friends might not have the main AoE spec’s available. But giving rogues AoE seems to be a bit extreme.
Phils last blog post..5 Tricks For Dominating Gears of War 2 Multiplayer
Veneretios, while that is certainly a form of AoE damage, the problem comes with the increased threat of the form. Bare iz 4 tank.
I think it would go something like this:
Name: Bath Time
Effect: You (as a kitty) instantly go into a killing frenzy, clawing at all enemies in 10 yards. Bath Time lasts for 10 seconds, and you cannot be interrupted. After the Bath Time effect ends, you will have a debuff called ‘Clean’ for 2 minutes and you will not be able to have another Bath for the duration.
Because every kitty-cat I have had during my life has managed to perform an AoE attack on everyone present whenever we try to give it a bath!
Shasmos last blog post..Facepalm Moments
@Shasmo: ROFL … okay, that’s probably one of the best comments I’ve ever gotten!
Oh my goodness, i have to agree with Phae on that one, having a kitten myself, i know exactly how that can be. Kudos to Shasmo LOL!
I consider the Tauren cat form an AoE ability. It’s that ugly!
heh..
despite I’m rather feral tank now, I would love to see some AoE on kitten.
this could be nice to mark mobs during questing..
stealth, aoe, bear form, swipe swipe swipe…
I totally love FoK because of one trick.
Stealth -> Tricks of the Trade (http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=57934) on me -> FoK…
best pulling machine ever.
all mobs on tank more time for sheeping or stuff.
They could cough up a few hairballs, or something on the more disgusting side spray.
I think this is ridiculous. Now every class needs to be the same? Everyone needs AoE? I´m a feral druid, and if I want to AoE, then i´ll shift to bear form. And we still have Hurricane too. Druids don´t need another AoE. I can´t imagine a cat doing an AoE damage. Cats are single target by nature. I really hope Blizzard doesn´t implement that.
@Currant:
I always use bear form on AOE pulls, and don’t have an aggro management issue if I wait a second or two before going nuts. And even if I did manage to pull aggro, I can take multiple hits in bear form just fine…. if it’s bothering me, that’s what cower is for.
Swipe is just fine - cats don’t need a special AOE ability. (Nor do rogues, to be quite honest - they do great damage as is)
Karthiss last blog post..The Other Half
@Arghor
If we would be so ridig, and said ‘defined by nature’ I would vote for druid flying form in combat, why not.. its instant..
all other races have to spend some times on casting so this can be interrupted, but our shifting is instant!
yay!
…. there is nothing like ‘by nature’ in WoW.
simple.. rogue and feral cats are similar, ‘by nature’ and if Blizzard spot that some skill can make one class better than other they just must change/add something.
Totally with Arghor on this. Making every class the same really kills the class-love, I think. I used to love bear tanking. Now I’ve pretty much set aside leveling focus for my TBC epicced druid and shadowpriest, and am having more fun with my just-hit-70 shaman (perhaps the least touched class in this expansion thus far? Or at least behind the scenes foolery rather than in_your_face_class_shifting_changes).
Thanks so much for posting this though! I love love love the images that go with your posts, and that get sent to my google reader with them! They make me giggle at work
Thanks for the comments, both funny and critical!
I have to admit I’m of the camp that believes AoE damage capability isn’t really something Cat form needs. That said, if it is desired that Ferals do AoE dps (rather than tanking, and no matter how sporadic the ability) the ability really should be Cat specific.
Some kind of “claw rage” ala the Zuljin fight would be a lot of fun. Blizz could make it require a catnip reagent and call it “Scratching Post” or “Not on the Drapes!”
I would have to agree that a AOE ability is not rly needed for Cats as they are a single target design of DPS just like rogues. If I want to aoe I hop out and cast hurricane or go bear on them. The fact that majority of rogues feel they “HAVE TO” be on top of some stupid damage meter all the time just is agitating. I rather get the job done right then worry about some damage meter determining if I’m the best any day.
I primarily play a paladin these says. My tree will my next to level, but that won’t be for a while.
Playing a paladin I’ve been very impressed by the two spell-power conversion talents. One gives protection paladins spell power based on their stamina(http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=53592), and the other gives retribution paladins spell power based on their attack power(http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=53503). These talents make both classes able to use their spell-power-based skills, which ends up mostly being heals, without having to wear SP gear. This way they can still toss out a few heals when needed instead of effectively taking them off their bars.
I think ferals could use something similar. If Nurturing Instinct were changed to increase your spell power based on attack power then hurricane would become a reasonable form of AE for ferals. You wouldn’t have the best AE by far, but if you wanted that you could have specced balance.
If AoE DPS is something that they feel Rogues and Ferals should have, I agree that it’d be better to have it as a Cat Form ability (instead of Bear Swipe). Maybe it’s not a problem these days with how strong a Tank’s threat generation is, but the idea of a Bear in DPS gear, Swiping away at everything, seems pretty risky. It would be like a Ret Paladin turning on Righteous Fury to cast Consecration.
@Shasmo: I love the “Bath Time” idea
… and if they ever decided to also give Cats a Vanish, they could call it “Knock at the Door!” 
@Talonscorch
well.. I can say ‘ferals dont need AoE’.
The question is not if they do, but
Don’t we buff rogues by giving them AoE?
If you are in small guild, on calm and friendly server where you can raid only with friends, you have a chance to raid anytime you want, you dont have to fight for quest mobs.. thats ok.
but there is many, many places, where feral druids must compete with rogues for the one and only (or maybe two) raid slot.
and if rogues will beat ferals in DPS more and more, ferals will start to lose this fight.
Once again.
I’m not telling that feral AoE is against or not ‘feral nature’, I’m talking about balance.
Lets give priests more HoTs, more Instant Healing, increase mana regen by 100% and hmmm.. well..thats enough.
Some druids will said ‘well.. I just like to be a druid so Ill keep playin’
but after two weeks of ‘-sorry mon, but we already have three priests on healing, maybe next month’ they will start to whine.
The problem for Rogues is that they lack the tangible sorts of utility we expect from other classes. They bring no buffs, their debuffs do not boost group/raid damage (or if they do, they can’t be used due to issues for the tank if its a Warrior), no heals, and can only tank in the most liberal sense of the term, regardless of spec they choose.
So, yes, Rogues are obsessed with damage. Its the only *tangible* thing they bring to a group/raid. No one brings a Rogue for anything else, unless there is a specific scenario that needs a door unlocked or something (a la Shattered Halls). In a single target DPS race, particularly 1 that is not designed to be favorable to casters, Rogues usually DO rule the roost, all things being equal, but the margin isn’t so wide as to be obscene. On the other hand, in an AoE scenario, Rogues fall far behind. If other clases do 90% of the damage a Rogue does in single target scenarios, and do twice the damage Rogues do in AoE scenarios, why bring a Rogue? If other classes have more reliable CC, that can be reapplied in combat, can bring buffs, and will take less damage in the course of doing their job by virtue of just being further away from the enemy, why bring a Rogue?
Now, of course, I’ll say that I LOVE having a *good* Rogue in my group. They are bar none awesome when it comes to handling “oh crap” situations. I can’t count the number of times a tank goes down at the with a boss at <10% hp, and a Rogue popped Evasion and tanked it out, or the number of times a tank’s screw up didn’t mean a dead healer, because a Rogue was there to pick up the slack. Even then, you have to wonder if Rogues will be supplanted in this role by Death Knights, whose damage output is on par (or better), *and* they have some powerful AoE abilities, *and* they can tank, *and* they bring powerful buffs/debuffs that boost raid/group wide DPS, and even a unique talented effect that reduces incoming damage.
I don’t play a Rogue, but Rogues definitely need a buff to their AoE. If DPS kitties are meant to be taken seriously as anything other than poorly specced offtanks, and that is supposedly the case, and probably need an AoE ability that is relevant to their gear and talents. Hurricane is “better than nothing” but in Feral/Rogue gear and without talents, not by a lot.
Am I blind, as I can’t see any specific reference to it being cat form that they are thinking about giving the AOE to, could it not be bear form? I thought I recalled something about bear tanks getting aoe to compare with paladins?
Or is it just the conversation was in reference to rogues, so when they talk about feral they mean our rogue form being cat?
Wise Foxs last blog post..Vices
ok.
I have to admit that I was wrong.
new AOE must be feral bear talent.
I spent some time yesterday in heroic Oculus.
Before WotLK small dragons like whelps were rather easy and painless.
Here if you have a healer without instant heals one whelp can destroy everything, and because I have only growl and challenging roar I was unable to taunt lose whelps.
It was just Demo Roar, swipe loop for a minute.
A aoe, A aoe, My kingdom for AOE!
just read on mmo champion that the new aoe for cats will be swipe for kitties