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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Preliminary patch notes for Patch 2.2 have been released, with no mention of the promised Voice Chat and Guild Bank features so one can assume that the patch either isn’t completed or that these two features will be coming prior to the release of 2.2. Like most major patches, extensive revisions are being made to most classes. Here are the changes included which effect the Druid class:

• Cat Form (Night Elf) melee attack range was too short compared to Tauren Cat Form and other attack ranges. It has been increased.
• Cyclone: It is no longer possible to Cyclone two targets at the same time in the outdoor world.
• Cyclone: Paladin Auras, Trueshot Aura, and Aspect of the Pack will now be automatically reactivated when Cyclone wears off of a victim who had one of the abilities active.
• Enrage: If this buff is clicked off early, the armor penalty it causes will now be removed as well.
• Enrage and Furor should no longer initiate combat, though it will prevent rage decay for the duration.
• Entangling Roots: It is no longer possible to have Entangling Roots on two targets at the same time in the outdoor world.
• Entangling Roots: It is no longer possible to have more than one rank of this spell active on a player.
• Force of Nature: Using this spell in a neutral town will no longer cause its victim to be attacked by town guards. It also will no longer cause nearby party members to lose stealth.
• Hibernate and Entangling Roots duration against PvP targets has been reduced to 10 seconds.
• Hurricane: This spell is now affected by area damage caps. Its bonus damage coefficients have also been increased.
• Hurricane: A tooltip error in rank 3 has been corrected.
• Lacerate: The damage from this ability will now stack properly when two different characters are applying Lacerate to a target.
• Mangle: The duration remaining graphic will now display properly for Mangle after it has been refreshed on a target. It will also no longer sometimes apply the Mangle debuff to nearby targets when the Mangle victim is killed by Mangle.
• Nature’s Grasp: This ability can now trigger while the Druid is sitting.
• Tree of Life: The party aura from this shapeshift now extends the full 40-yard radius as stated in the tooltip.

Additional changes which will affect Druids listed separately from Druid-specific changes are:

• Mass Dispel will no longer remove Catform Stealth.
• Shiny Red Apple: Druids in animal forms can no longer eat this food item.
• Spyglass of the Hidden Fleet: This item is now useable by shapeshifted Druids.
• Anzu can no longer be kited far from his spawn point and will properly leash.
• Merciless Gladiator’s Legguards: This item now appears as a kilt. (Yes!)
• Blessing of Freedom cooldown increased to 25 seconds. (Listed because it serves as a counter for and gives subsequent, temporary immunity to Entangling Roots.)
• Formula: Enchant Cloak – Subtlety: This enchanting recipe is now available from the Thrallmar Quartermaster and Honor Hold Quartermaster. The reagents required have been adjusted to match the level 70 content.
• Formula: Enchant Cloak – Dodge: This enchanting recipe is now available from the Lower City Quartermaster. The reagents required have been adjusted to match the level 70 content.
• Formula: Enchant Cloak – Stealth: This enchanting recipe is now available from the Cenarion Expedition Quartermaster. The reagents required have been adjusted to match the level 70 content.

It’s odd that the range on Night Elf cats is being increased but not that of Taurens when it’s all cats who complain of their range being bugged. Does anyone know what the previous maximum duration of Entangling Roots was in PvP?

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The release of patch 2.1.3 included several minor bugs related to the druid class:

• The Healing Aura from Tree of Life is not being applied party members at full range.
• Druid talent Mangle’s duration icon isn’t being refreshed properly on reapplication.
• The Druid talent Force of Nature causes stealthed party members to lose their stealth.
• Druids are able to learn Dire Bear Form before learning Bear Form.

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• PTR Patch 2.2
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Patch notes for PTR Patch 2.1.2 were released by Blizzard this morning. Among the most notable changes is an upcoming buff to the PvP trinket:

PvP Trinkets: Insignia of the Alliance, Insignia of the Horde, Medallion of the Alliance, and Medallion of the Horde have all been redesigned. The trinkets for all classes now have the same effect: Dispels all movement impairing effects and all effects which cause loss of control of your character.

Of course, a buff of this nature is a nerf to users of crowd control. Particularly hard hit will be druid Cyclone which presently suffers extremely diminishing returns and a short duration (6 seconds, 3 seconds, 1.5 seconds – less time than it takes to cast the spell). This change could well make this ability near worthless which is really a shame given the poor showing that druids are making in all three Arena brackets.

More druid-specific changes are also included with this patch:

• Druids in Swift Flight form can no longer loot herb nodes.
• Force of Nature: This spell will no longer causes players it is cast on to enter combat with nearby creatures. All of the treants summoned will now attack a neutral creature they are summoned on.
• Tree of Life: The bonus healing aura from this talent will reactivate when a Banish effect wears off a Druid in Tree Form.

Anzu, the final encounter in the druid epic form quest chain, has also been retuned:

• Anzu, the Raven God may no longer be pulled far away from the location where he is summoned.
• Anzu’s Spell Bomb is now a curse and he will no longer charge.
• The quantity and health of Minions of Anzu that spawn have been reduced.
• The frequency and duration of many of [Anzu's] abilities have been retuned to make the fight more forgiving.

There have been a lot of complaints related to this fight on the druid forums, so I’m glad to see it’s being retuned before it applies to me.

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• PTR Patch 2.2
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So just recently, I finished my rep grind and nailed my Earthwarden. Then I blew some cash to feed my impatience and enchanted it for +35 Agility. I was a VERY happy camper. This was Monday night.

Tuesday, 2.1 went live and my uber tanking weapon of doom… isn’t. What the hell happened?

Well, I’m not sure. I may just be imagining things, but there is some support for what I’m seeing. First, though: background.

During the last big patch, 2.0.12 or whatever it was, Bear Mangle was gutted. In addition, Savage Fury, a talent that for 2/2 boosted several moves by 20%, including Mangle, was changed so that it no longer affected Mangle (Bear), and only Mangle (Cat). So the damage nerf to Mangle was incredible, no matter how you look at it. Druids could once do some soloing and handle multi-mob pulls with bear, but the nerf to Mangle’s damage in that form took it out of any serious consideration. Maul was, and is, competitive.

They also removed the threat multiplier from Mangle in that patch.

To make tanking remain viable, Blizzard hotfixed the threat multiplier and put in a lesser one than existed before. By the time most of us had logged on, our threat was fine, but the damage…there was none to be had.

So along comes 2.1. By this time, Warriors and Rogues have geared up with 75+ dps one-handers and their damage has skyrocketed, especially in arenas. Blizzard says to themselves, “Okay, we can give some back to the fuzz-butts.”

So they give Mangle back 15% of it’s damage, but still don’t change Savage Fury. Okay, it’s not much, but it’s something. Cool. They also change the threat multiplier so our threat will remain relatively static. This is reasonable, but given the prior over-reaction, it can hardly be considered a real buff.

But…and there’s always a but, isn’t there…something’s wrong.

My Mangle damage in Bear has gone down. It is virtually indistinguishable from my Maul damage, and both crit for the same in the 800 range. I haven’t really paid enough attention to know if there is a real problem, but the boards are starting to talk about Feral AP not being applied correctly. I should be seeing benefits from 200-ish AP and +15% damage here, but my numbers are smaller.

I’m not the smart type that can do the tests that are done regularly, so I’m going to be watching the boards, and I won’t rule out that it’s my imagination, but people are pulling aggro off me now that were utterly incapable of it before. If my damage has gone down AND my threat has gone down, that’s an easy explanation. I do know I didn’t suddenly start to suck at tanking and those people didn’t suddenly get four free epics.

I guess we’ll see how this one shakes out.

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