Unbearably HoT

Penwiper, from Twisting Nether, recently sent me this e-mail:

Dear Runy,

I’d like to start out by saying I really enjoy reading your blog and the great articles that I can get here from time to time. I found out about your website from Phae’s site and the recent blogcast.

I wanted to get your opinion on the current state of Feral tanking and its uniqueness: a fairly coherent and clear post was written on the Beta forums (http://blue.mmo-champion.com/2/9956326946-snarfsnarf-speaks-help-save-feral-tanking.html) and the author made a list of points that the feral druid is not unique anymore and furthermore, brings less to the table than a warrior.

Being more of a pessimist and also having seen the ongoing continuous lessening of our talents and abilities during the last couple of weeks, I wholeheartedly agree with this studied criticism of Blizzard’s seeming determination to bring feral tank players to their metaphorical knees.

Do you think that there will be a further development of our abilities, which Ghostcrawler had mentioned that have not yet fully been looked at or should we grit our teeth and start looking at primarily the restoration or balance trees?

Sincerely,

Penwiper

Firstly, thanks for the compliment and I’m wholeheartedly glad that you enjoy reading my site (and occasionally get something out of it). Secondly, I apologize for how long it’s taken me to get back to you, but I just realized that my site’s e-mail account wasn’t properly forwarding (and thus I’m now backlogged in spam and various other commentary). 

Obviously, the tank homogenization controversy is something I’ve followed very closely and have detailed in the past. I find Snarfsnarf’s miniature dissertation a little grating and difficult to read, but it is essentially correct—while simultaneously disregarding the fact that playing a Protection Warrior in BC was a chore, and that Protection Paladins have been scrambling for appropriate gear and dying for main tankadin viability. 

I believe that Blizzard has made a series of misassumptions:

1. That Druids wanted to competitively DPS or MT.
2. That Druids were not capable of MTing nearly all content. 
3. That by making tanks the same they would encourage raid groups to take them based on ability rather than class.

Players pick their class (and race, in many cases) for specific reasons: appearance, racials, talents, spells, potential raidspot—whatever. I, for example, chose a Druid partially because I thought it was cool to change into things, but also because I knew that it meant I could perform a variety of roles. Ghostcrawler’s “master of none” statement is wildly incorrect—we are the masters of versatility, able to occupy multiple roles in one raid group. I absolutely loved the fact that I could off tank, main tank, and offer reasonable melee DPS when necessary. If I had wanted to be The Best at melee DPS, I would have rolled a Rogue or a DPS Warrior (and indeed, I have). 

Blizzard also seems to think that Druids were incapable of tanking certain content based on class restrictions. Is this true? Sort of. Certain encounters do tend to rely on abilities that Paladins and Warriors have (i.e. Shield Block, Shield Bash, some sort of Fear Break, etc.), but using a Druid to tank them doesn’t make them impossible—just more challenging. I’m reasonably certain that Druids have MT’d every boss in the game, including Illidan (by utilizing a Warrior Intervene rotation). Blizzard wants to eliminate those “challenges” in WotLK, and seeks to level the metaphorical playing field. This isn’t bad, just disappointing.

Finally, I still think that class will make raid groups pick up one tank over another—and perhaps not for the best reasons. With the new “dual spec” functionality, wouldn’t it be great to take a tank with you who could turn around and double as either: a healer, melee DPS, caster DPS? Paladins are the only other tanks who have a similar hybrid functionality that will be available in a few keystrokes. In my mind, this still relegates Paladins and Druids (and Death Knights) to OT positions. 

So yes, by improving Warriors in such a way that Protection is an incredibly desirable and potentiallymore fun talent spec (without a caster/healer offspec), I do believe that good Warriors will still be in incredibly high demand. That being said, remember that the recent Druid nerfs came as a result of Level 80 Druids being ridiculously kickass tanks—so much so that no one else could compare. Sounds pretty good to me. The changes, thus, have just been to normalize our abilities and put us more in line with the rest of the tanks—although whether this means we’re now below the line remains to be seen.

I cannot, however, believe that Blizzard would refuse to make changes if a distinct gap exists between Druids and the rest of the tanks at level 80 once Wrath goes live. They have made a strident, documented commitment to equalizing capabilities, and going back on that now doesn’t seem a likely path. Additionally, while I am frustrated with the course that Feral Druids are being pushed along, it’s important to remember that Blizzard’s developers are not looking to bring “us to our metaphorical knees.” 

As a Feral Druid blogger, I am naturally biased to my particular class and spec—but I try to keep some measure of perspective. We are losing our traditional niche and sharing some token abilities that previously colored our advantage, but we need to take a serious look at what we’re gaining. We need to rise to the occasion and make sure that our tanking skill outclasses everyone else. We need to stop bemoaning our losses and pick up that Mantle of Versatility, acknowledging that our new “niche” may include dependable tanking and switching specs at the drop of a hat. Maybe Warriors really will be the cat’s pajamas in terms of tanking—but can they take off their shield, turn around, DPS, heal, and do all of those things well? 

I sincerely doubt it. 

Make some Bank space and prepare to whore gear. 

Copycatting is the sincerest form of flattery—or so they say. Think of it like this: did you ever copy & paste direct quotes in academic papers without providing parenthetical documentation? Probably not—many institutions will expel students who have been proven plagiarizers, and professionals have had entire bodies of work discredited. The fact of the matter is that artists, academics, and bloggers alike generally don’t appreciate when their work is copied, mirrored, or altered without notice or credit—but many are happy to lend out materials if they know they’re being cited. 

How do I tell people what they can do with my work? 

If you’ve ever decided to scroll down a bit and check out my sidebar, you might have noticed a little rectangular icon that looks like this

and states “This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.” That inconspicuous little button is a Creative Commons license that provides the legalese to describe how content may be appropriated and used—if at all. It’s one way that many bloggers choose to protect—and share—their writing the best they can. 

Because Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. “reserves all rights” to any Warcraft related indicia, all “files, codes, audio or images incorporated in or generated by the software” are not covered by the Creative Commons License. This means that, technically, while I have painstakingly created each image myself using either screenshots or the WoW Model Viewer, they are derivative works and cannot be sublicensed. Strictly, I cannot legally copyright or pursue any Blizzard licensed graphical derivatives. However, I politely request that if you’d like to use any images I have edited, please credit Unbearably HoT by providing a URL: www.unbearably.net. 

So what exactly does the Creative Commons license cover? Everything else. All writing is my own, and when copyrighted and assigned a Creative Commons License, is protected by law. Remember though, it’d be pretty lame to create and write a blog for an audience if nothing in it could ever be reproduced or repeated. To that effect, my specific Creative Commons license specifies that you:

• May copy, distribute, and display my work under the following conditions:
  • Work must be attributed appropriately in the manner the author/licensor specifies. Generally, this is easily done by providing a link back to the original article, or by linking to the site itself (www.unbearably.net). Pretty simple. 
  • Work is used noncommercially.
  • Work has not been altered or transformed in any way. 
  • If you have a specific question about how to use something from Unbearably HoT, feel free to shoot me an e-mail; I’ll probably think whatever you’re doing is cool. 

Another stellar example of a Creative Commons license at work: the theme I use for my website (Ayumi 1.1) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. This means that I can essentially do whatever I want with said theme (and I certainly have) so long as I credit the original creator, Nurudin Jauhari. You can see this information permanently in the footer of every page.

For further reading and to find out what sort of licensing may be best for you, I recommend checking out the Creative Commons website, perusing their materials, and paying a visit to the United States Copyright Office (online, of course). If you have further questions specific to my own materials or Blizzard’s legal documentation, feel free to contact me. 

In the past, there’ve been few compelling reasons for a Raider Bear to pick up the talent Feral Aggression. For one, Feral Aggression offered precious little raiding utility for Cat DPS (as Ferocious Bite never ended up being viable in Burning Crusade). But Feral Aggression also boosts the melee AP reduction of Demoralizing Roar, the dr00d answer to a Warrior’s Demoralizing Shout—which sounds good. Why isn’t it?  The base and improved version of Demoralizing Shout always outclassed Demoralizing Roar. Thus, as long as your raid group was running with a Warrior (and really, who wasn’t?), you could effectively mete out your points elsewhere.

For the full rundown, you can read my previous explanation, but here are the base numbers:

Untalented
Rank 6 Demoralizing Roar: -240 AP
Rank 7 Demoralizing Shout: -300 AP

Talented
Rank 6 Demoralizing Roar: -336 AP
Rank 7 Demoralizing Shout: -420 AP

Wrath provides more incentives to drop 5 points into Feral Aggression. Take a look:

Untalented
Level 77 Rank 8 Demoralizing Roar: -408 AP
Level 79 Rank 8 Demoralizing Shout: -410 AP

Talented
Level 77 Rank 8 Demoralizing Roar: -571.2 AP
Level 79 Rank 8 Demoralizing Shout: -574 AP

As you’d expect from Blizzard’s effort to streamline tanking, each class needs to be interchangeable, and I’d argue that the differences between Demoralizing Shout and Demoralizing Roar will be negligible. So do you need to place points in Feral Aggression for Wrath of the Lich King? If you do have a Warrior, whether DPS or Protection, it’s best to coordinate with him or her and ascertain who would be best served by picking up the Improved version of either ability—because it’s probably worth min/maxing.  

Who’s hurt more by dropping talent points into the improved versions? A Protection Warrior potentially loses out on 5% Parry or sacrifices situationally useful Protection talents. 

0/10/61 With Improved Demo Shout; missing Parry.

5/10/56 With Improved Demo Shout; with Parry. but missing useful Protection talents.

7/3/61 Ideal.

One might argue that Druids at least get the additional buff to Ferocious Bite. Although overall Cat DPS will be punished by spending points on what are generally considered “Bear Only” talents, there may still be circumstances under which you’ll have to do some abysmal damage—and Ferocious Bite is now a viable portion of our ever-complicated Cat DPS rotation. Personally, I don’t think it’s worth taking at the risk of sacrificing TPS improvements, but here goes:

0/60/11 With Feral Aggression. Missing Shredding Attacks, Improved Leader of the Pack, and Brutal Impact. 

0/61/10 With Feral Aggression. Missing Omen of Clarity, Brutal Impact, and King of the Jungle. 

0/60/11 Ideal. No Feral Aggression.

Although some of the above talents are arguably unnecessary or situational, they still compose a laundry list of tanking tools (however minor) that get left by the wayside just because we need to sink five points into FA. If I end up having to talent my shout, I anticipate mirroring the 0/61/10 build. 

Did 30% AOE damage reduction sound too good to be true to you too? The developers thought so, and even though the tooltip still reads Cat Form, Bear Form, or Dire Bear Form, the talent “Predatory Instincts” will now only affect Druids in Cat Form. This accompanies the Dire Bear form armor nerf, down to 370% from 400%. Now, supposedly, this will end up balancing Bear Druids and “bring us in line” with the rest of the tanking classes, but there’s been murmuring that we’re back to being “mana sponges.”  On October 3rd, Ghostcrawler stated:

I hate to burst anyone’s bubble, but…. 

Predatory Instincts is a huge nerf. You just haven’t seen it yet. It only works in cat form. 

I hinted that this might happen before, but as it was, a druid was going to be the only tank people took for dragons like Malygos. That would have been particularly true for any encounter that was supposed to be a resist fight, because the druid could skip a lot of the resist gear. Your health pool should still make sure you handle those fights sufficiently. 

Sorry. I know the nerfs aren’t fun after having gotten a few buffs, but despite some early concerns, we ended up with bears far and away as the best tanks at handling damage. I’m sure you would want us to do the same thing if death knights were that far above the other tanks.

For now, I’m trying to remain optimistic (especially since we’ve somehow picked up a Paladin-esque 20 yard Growl) and came up with a new tanking build last night. This build (0/60/11) assumes a Protection Warrior in the raid group. More commentary to follow.