Many Ferals despaired at Bornakk’s recent statement that Ferals won’t see many spec improvements in Patch 2.3:

[...]I wanted to chime in and say that we don’t have any changes planned for Feral Druids. Druids are a very strong class right now with a lot of options and we want to see how all the other changes play out before making further changes to this area of them. We are keeping an eye out on things though and will make changes in the future as appropriate.

Good news for our furry (and feathered) brethren, however, as some Feral-related changes were announced by Bornakk today.

• We are currently planning to make a Feral-focused set available in season 3.
• The idea is to make this set have no plus to healing on it and be focused on Feral statistics. Things could still change though.
• We are still finalizing details on PvP and PvE items, so a lot of things can still change and I don’t know about new Druid specific tanking gear yet. On a related note, for items that grant attack power in Cat, Bear, Dire Bear, and Moonkin forms, in general we are planning to increase the amount of attack power they give.

While perhaps not as exciting a boon as the improvements to Intensity or the reduction of the cooldown of Rebirth, this could still be an outstanding boon to Ferals and should hopefully help reduce the sting that Bornakk’s original comment left.

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The cooldown on our combat resurrection spell Rebirth will be reduced from 30 minutes to 20 minutes in an upcoming patch:

We want to whack the cooldown from 30 minutes down to 20 minutes.

And just to say it, we have no current plans to lower it further and make it usable in arenas. A full druid team with a bunch of Rebirths sounds a little wonky.

While I am appreciative of any attention given to the lack of viability of Druids as 5-man healers (except when “backed up” by another healer), a reduced cooldown on Rebirth doesn’t address the essential problem of not having a standard resurrection spell: you can’t ressurect more than one group member unless one of those that died is herself another Druid or a “real” rezzer. If anything, this change is discouraging because it’s likely the only improvement they’ve decided to make.

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• Rebirth Bugged (or Nerfed)
• Downranking Rebirth to Save Money
• Out of Combat Resurrection

It was recently announced that the mana regeneration while casting talents of both the Mage and Priest would be improved from their current 5/10/15% bonus to a 10/20/30% bonus in an upcoming patch. Apparently Intensity will be improved in the same way.

Ariendel of Steamwheedle Cartel writes:

Looking at the way Priests and Mages [will have] their mana regen changed, I predict that Intensity talent will now regen mana at 10%/20%/30% rate.

… to which Blizzard Poster Bornakk replies:

Hmmm… we will make it so.

This is amazing news for most casting Druids (13 points in Restoration to pick up these talents make it a viable option for even our Balance-specced brethren) and will go a long way toward improving the desirability of Spirit vs. MP5.

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• Revaluing Spirit
• Guest Post: Moonkin Mana Regeneration
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Synneth of Executus made a lengthy set of posts on the European Druid Forum entitled “The Druid: Our Problems which details the issues widely perceived by the Druid community for each of our specs. I won’t quote everything she wrote, but here’s a sample of what she had to say regarding our class buff, Mark of the Wild:

Any Druid putting points in restoration must choose between Improved Mark of the Wild or Furor. A restoration Druid speccing for healing will most likely go Improved Mark of the Wild however the buff itself is very weak when compared to other class buffs, and the 5 points to improve it add such an insignificant difference that many raiding guilds do not care whether their Druids have improved Mark or not.

What is interesting about this thread is that not only one but two Community Managers, Salthem and Tharfor, have replied to it multiple times, openly discoursing with the European Druid community. The number of responses are too great to repost here (and the majority revolve around Feral concerns with which I am unfamiliar), so I recommend reading the thread for yourself so you don’t miss anything. However, I would like to draw attention to this statement by Salthem, made in response to the assertion that Mark is a weak buff:

I disagree with the point that Motw is such a weak buff, yes in untalented form it only buffs a relatively small amount, but a buff to every stat and resistance and armour is quite important as it gives a benefit to every class where they need it most. I personally feel the difference when grouping or raiding without it, and would expect the raid buffer to talent to improve it.

A small percentage improvement to a small number will still result in a small number. Even a medium percentage improvement to a small number will generally result in a small number. By admitting that the base amount improved by our Mark of the Wild is “relatively small”, Salthem should logically conclude that the 35% (solidly within the “medium” category) improvement acquired through a 5 point talent investment is insubstantial and hardly justifies the expense. Synneth responded to Salthem with the following:

The problem with MotW is that as a buff, it is OK, but that most classes only benefit from around half of it’s “stat budget” and the armour and resistances are negligible or over-written.

The resistance stats are flat out useless in nearly all situations. In PvE a resistance fight will make use of Paladin auras, Hunter auras, Shaman totems – all of which over-write the resistance portion of MotW. In PvP every serious player has 30 spell penetration from the cloak enchant and rings which almost completely negates the resistances from MotW.

The armour bonus is tiny, having almost no effect in PvE (% increase for tanks is marginal, non-tanks shouldn’t get hit by melee attacks) and limited effect in PvP.

To which Salthem responds, “I still like it as a buff though “

/sigh

Edit: A further post from CM Tharfor is much more promising:

I forgot to mention that the issue with Mark of the Wild not scaling has already been passed on. Since it has been a recurring issue for a while now it was easy to isolate and send it on. We still haven’t had any feedback about it though.

Related Posts

• Eyonix: MotW Possibly Updated for WotLK
• Forum Watch: Talent Survey
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Druids who shapechange are likely familiar with a host of problems which often plague us when attempting to do so. I know that I have often mashed my “turn into a bear and equip my armor staff” macro fruitlessly while being pummelled by a Rogue or Warrior. Good news is coming in Patch 2.3, however, as the “/cancelform” command will be changed to be as responsive as “/dismount.”

I didn’t read through the entire thread so this has probably been suggested, but any chance on getting /cancelform to be recognized instantly like /dismount is currently?

Yes, this is coming in 2.3

This means that one fewer button press will be required for any macro that shifts you out of form since the response should be instantaneous. Some of the more practical implications for this change include:

• Potion from Bear Form with a single click of the mouse.
• Shift instantly from Travel Form to Bear Form and vice versa.
• Nature’s Swiftness + max rank Healing Touch from Tree of Life.

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• Useful User-Submitted Macros
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