Feral Druid Guide to Hit and Expertise in Cataclysm

Hit Rating and Expertise are important stats for Feral Druids to keep tabs on.  Unfortunately, they can also be rather confusing.  To help take some of the mystery out of these stats, I have put together a brief guide laying out everything you need to know about these stats and your performance as a Feral DPS or Feral tank.  Read on after the bump to find the answers you have been looking for.

Reforging for Feral Tanks in Cataclysm

Cataclysm introduced a new form of item customization called Reforging.  Through Reforging, a player can take a certain percentage of an items secondary stats, such as Mastery, Haste, or Crit, and trade them for another.  The system is still new, however, so many players are left confused as to which stats should be Reforged out of and into.  For Feral Tanks, read on after the bump to find out how you should Reforge your gear to get the most our of every piece of equipment.

Best Feral DPS Spec in 4.0.1 and Cataclysm

In light of all the positive response to our post on the Best Feral Tanking Spec for 4.0.1, I decided to give our friends on the Feral DPS side of the coin the same treatment.  As with Feral tanking, there is currently one clearly superior spec for cats in Cataclysm.  There is, however, a little wiggle room especially in terms of which talents to pick up before reaching 85.  Find out why I choose these talents and which you should pickup today after the bump:

Feral Tanking Guide for 4.0.1

After a brief sabbatical, I have returned to Druid Digest just in time to help you sort through the confusion that is Patch 4.0.1 for World of Warcraft.  As anyone who has logged onto the realms recently can tell you, World of Warcraft's mechanics have drastically changed.  This is particularly true for everyone's favorite fur balls: Bear Tanks.

Don't panic though.  Many have speculated that these changes may lead to the extinction of Feral Tanks, but I am here to help put those rumors to rest.  Feral Tanks are every bit as viable as they were before the pre-Cataclysm patch.  Are things more difficult?  Absolutely, but using the tips I have outlined below, you will be back out there as a clawed threat machine before you know it.  Read on after the bump.

Cataclysm Druid Armor Set Bonuses

I am a big fan of armor set bonuses.  They present Blizzard with the opportunity to gift new and interesting class mechanics upon dedicated raiders.  When we review the List of Druid Set Bonuses, we see that the developers have frequently taken advantage of the chance to flex their creative muscles.  The transformation of Enrage into a defensive cooldown in tier ten, the instant cast Starfires in tier eight, and critical Rejuvenation ticks in tier nine; each succeeded in changing the way a particular spec played.

The problem with tier bonuses, however, is that each new one must be bigger and better than the last.  An inferior set bonus can easily turn a new raid set into a total dud.  With Cataclysm on the horizon, Blizzard once again has the challenge of crafting a new set of mechanical goodies to accompany the expansion's first raid set.

Unfortunately, no word has yet been released on what Cataclysm's tier set bonuses will be.  Nevertheless, what's to stop us from coming up with our own tier bonus ideas.  Seeing as this is Druid Digest, I thought it might be fun to come up with some hypothetical Druid set bonuses for as of yet unreleased tier eleven.  Check out my ideas after the bump and feel free to leave yours in the comments.

Druid Changes in the Current Cataclysm Beta Build

A new build has just been launched for the Cataclysm Beta and with it a number of significant Druid changes have been unveiled. First and foremost, Druids now join Hunters and Rogues in being able to remove Enrage effects using a revamped version of Sooth Animal called simply Sooth. More raid utility is always a good thing.

Most of the other significant changes are for Ferals.  Looking at Feral tanks, two major cooldowns have seen a big shuffle. Frenzied Regeneration has now absorbed the effects of Survival Instincts and will not only convert rage into healing, but will also increase a bear's maximum health by up to 30%. As a result, Survival Instincts has been retooled to simply reduce all incoming damage by 60% for 12 seconds. This makes Survival Instincts an even more valuable ability for bears, so Blizzard has extended its cooldown from 3 minutes up to 5. Lastly, Enrage has been altered to increase damage received by a flat 10% rather than decreasing armor.

Moving next to Feral dps, Savage Roar has been changed to increase auto-attack damage by 50% rather than increasing all damage by 30%. The net result is that allowing this buff to fall off is slightly less detrimental to a cat. The bonuses for Master Shapeshifter have also been increased to 4% and Furor now allows for up to 100 Energy to be preserved and raises the chance of shifting into Bear Form granting rage to 100%.

The bear form changes are certainly worth getting excited about. Assuming that the Glyph of Frenzied Regeneration survives in Cataclysm, Feral tanks will be in possession of one of the most potent tanking cooldowns in all of Azeroth. The Survival Instincts change will also be a benefit, though I personally will miss seeing my health top out at over 100k when I pop it.

Which changes have you the most excited? Are you worried about the new Savage Roar mechanic? Let me know in the comments.

Best Balance Spec in Cataclysm

UPDATE:  A new Guide to Balance Druids for 4.0.1 has been posted

Over the past two days, I have laid out the ideal raid specs for Feral DPS and Bear Tanks in Catalysm.  Today, I turn my attention to our feathery Moonkin friends.  The Cataclysm Balance tree contains tons of interesting and entertaining talents, but in terms of maximizing your general raid performance there seems to be only one way to go.  Check it out after the bump.

Best Feral DPS Spec in Cataclysm

THIS POST IS BASED ON EARLIER BETA BUILDS
CHECK OUT THE NEW BEST FERAL SPEC FOR 4.0.1 AND CATACLYSM

Continuing my rundown of the ideal Feral Druid specs for Cataclysm, today I will be laying out what I believe to be the best Cat Form spec.  As I mentioned in my post on the problems with the Feral Tree in Cataclysm, there are not very many talent options for Feral dps in the current 31 point talent setup.  As a result, I believe that this spec is not only the best Cataclysm Feral DPS spec, but it may in fact be the only one that makes any sense at all.  Check it out after the bump.

Best Feral Tanking Spec in Cataclysm

UPDATE: There is a new Feral Tanking Spec Guide for 4.0.1
UPDATE: Be sure to check out our new Feral Tanking Guide for 4.0.1

THIS POST IS BASED ON EARLIER VERSIONS OF THE BETA, CHECK OUT THE NEW BEST FERAL SPEC GUIDE FOR 4.0.1 FOR THE LATEST TALENT INFORMATION

Yesterday, I made a post about the problems with the Feral talent tree in Cataclysm.  Today, I will be addressing the less problematic of the two Feral specs by laying out the optimal Feral Druid tanking talent spec for Cataclysm.  Check it out after the bump.

The Problem with Cataclysm's Feral Tree

Several weeks ago, Blizzard announced they would be reducing the size of talent trees in Cataclysm.  Rather than capping at 51 points, the depth of the trees would be reduced to 31 points.  Since at least a 31 point investment investment in a single tree will become mandatory, players have a maximum of 10 points to distribute outside of their primary tree.

These changes were made with the intent of increasing player choice.  Basically, by simplifying the trees and cutting out both fluff and mandatory talents, players should be more free to spread points amongst the remaining talents as they choose.  This attempt at enhanced flexibility has been mixed in its effectiveness across different classes and specs.  Unfortunately, it has failed miserably with respect to one particular talent tree: the Feral Druid tree.  Find out why after the jump.

Cataclysm Interface Changes

After hours of downloading and installing I was finally able to make my way into the Cataclysm Beta. The first thing I did was hop on my Druid to check out some of the changes to the interface. You may be surprised to hear that my Druid was right where I left him, sitting by the bank in Dalaran. I suppose that only those who log out in old world Azeroth will see themselves relocated by the Cataclysm.

Aside from a strikingly empty Dalaran, the first thing I took a look at was the character panel. As you can see from the screenshot below, it has been updated and improved in a number of ways. First, the detailed information has been moved from two windows below the character portrait to a vertical frame on the portrait's right. Each individual subsection can be minimized so you only need to see what you want to see. Second, a shadowy race specific mural now sits behind the character portrait. It is a nice touch in my opinion.

Next, I took a look at the Cataclysm Spellbook. Blizzard has made a number of great changes here. First, as you'll notice below, you can now see not only your trained spells, but also your trainable spells. The spells surrounded by gold are those currently available at your trainer while the greyed out spells are only available at higher levels. This is a handy feature in that you no longer need to consult a trainer or internet guide to know when the spells you crave will become available. Second, there are no more spell ranks; your spells now simply improve on their own as you level.

If you were wondering about the little Professions tab at the bottom of the Spellbook, it leads you to the new Professions Window pictured below. I wouldn't say a new Professions Window is really something World of Warcraft fans have been clamoring for in Cataclysm, but it is still a welcome addition.

I then made my way over to the talent window to go about reallocating my talent points. When you first enter the talent screen you choose your spec using the screen shown below. As explained in a number of Blizzard posts, you are then held to that specs tree until you have invested 31 points. I think the initial spec choice screen is a nice touch that will really help out newer players. I then went about building an ideal tank spec which I will walk you all through in a later post only to discover that my Bear Form had been untrained so, off to Thunder Bluff I went!

Once in Thunder Bluff I was disappointed to find that the Druid Trainers were broken so I would have to be without my precious Bear Form for a while. Nevertheless, I did manage to see my first "Holy Cow," Tauren Priest Trainer, Tahu Sagewind. I also flew around Thunder Bluff for a little bit, for those who are curious, no special training or anything was required. Perhaps later some gateway to flying in old Azeroth will be added, but for now you can fly free as a bird (pun intended).

With my lack of Bear Form cutting my Druid antics short for the moment, I turned my attention to the Horde's newest, shortest members: the Goblins. If you want to hear about how that went, check out my next post.

Also, if you would like any questions answered about the Beta or if there is anything you really want to see, let me know. Either leave a comment or send me an email to DruidPathis@gmail.com and I'll be happy to share the information you desire a future post.

Cataclysm Feral Tank Spec

This post is based on the old talent lay out, hop over to my updated Best Feral Tank Spec in Cataclysm for a current one!


Some people might call me crazy, but in my opinion it is never to early to start planning out your Cataclysm specs. Towards that end, I have decided to start laying out what I believe will be the "cookie-cutter" Druid specs when Cataclysm comes out. To start things out, here is my ideal Feral Tanking Spec for Cataclysm. (00/55/21)

In my design of the spec, I was looking both to maximize bear form survivability and threat generation. First, let's look at the Feral tree. In tier one Ferocity, goes a long way towards reducing rage consumption allowing a bear tank to utilize more abilities without running low on delicious rage juice. Well worth the full five points. Sharpened Claws is also a great pickup as it increases the damage done by two primary bear abilities, Maul and Mangle, by an astounding 20% for just two points. We can pass on Feral Aggression as your rotation will likely be busy enough that you don't need extra Faerie Fires available, though the talent could have a niche use on fights where a bear needs to rapidly pick up solo adds.

Moving to tier two, I would suggest taking everything. Thick Hide is a potent mitigation talent that no bear should miss. Feral Instincts is also a solid recommendation because although AoE tanking will be limited in Cataclysm, whenever it does come up you will be loving the 30% extra Swipe damage. Additionally, it is possible (though unlikely) that Swipe will still have a place in the bear form rotation as a rage dump in Cataclysm. Lastly in tier two, Shredding Attacks will reduce your Lacerate rage cost which should be handy considering you will need to constantly rebuild stacks after Pulverize.

Tier three is a solid place to plant five points. First, two points in Feral Swiftness nets you a solid 4% dodge. Next, you will want to pick up Feral Charge to stay mobile. Lastly, Improved Feral Charge gives you a whopping 30% melee haste for eight seconds every single time you charge. Talk about a threat lead gold mine! Stay away from Predatory Instincts as, despite what the initial tool-tip says, it currently only applies to Cat Form.

Tier four should also eat five of your talent points. Fury Swipes is an interesting new talent that seems to function like Warriors' Sword Specialization. Free auto-attacks can do nothing but help your threat. Primal Fury is also a strong selection as it turns your critical strikes into delicious rage. Avoid Nurturing Instinct as you shouldn't be in Cat Form or healing while tanking.

In tier five, we pick up our first talented ability: Survival Instincts. It is a great panic button that any good bear uses liberally. You will also want to place five points in Heart of the Wild both to open Leader of the Pack and to net a respectable 10% stamina boost. Brutal Impact has some PvE utility, but is primarily a PvP talent and can be glossed over. Should you find yourself using Bash liberally, feel free to swap some points to it. Predatory Strikes is exclusively for Cats and should be skipped.

Tier six let's us boost our dodge by another 6% and even grants us rage on every dodge. Not a bad use of three talent points. Survival of the Fittest is also a mandatory tanking talent. Without Survival of the Fittest, bear tanks can fall victim to critical hits. That can't happen. The extra armor is just icing on the cake that is this truly necessary talent. Endless Carnage is a take it or leave it talent. I personally would leave it alone, but it might be worth subbing the two points I placed in Improved Mangle here or to Brutal Impact depending on your preference and play-style.

For tier seven, I recommend picking up Leader of the Pack and Improved Leader of the Pack. Tanks are designed to be in groups so passing up on such a solid group buff is almost criminal. Considering how huge a Bear Form Druid's health can get, the 8% heal every six seconds from Improved Leader of the Pack is also well worth the investment. Primal Tenacity is a Feral PvP talent; skip it. You can skip King of the Jungle too as you really should not be using Enrage while in combat once you lose your tier ten bonus because of the armor penalty.

Fill out tier eight. Primal Tenacity is a direct boost to both your threat and mitigation while Infected Wounds helps significantly reduce incoming damage and keeps mobs more easily under your control. Take them both.

At tier nine we finally pick up Mangle and have the option of reducing its cooldown with Improved Mangle. Obviously, you need to take Mangle, but whether or not your take Improved Mangle is really a matter of personal preference, though I would only spend two points here simply because the third point can be better spent elsewhere. See how your rotation works with and without it and don't be afraid to move those two points around. Primal Madness isn't a bad talent, but it isn't worth the five points in King of the Jungle to get to it.

In tier ten, Nom Nom Nom is an awesome talent, but only for Feral dps, so skip it. Do, however, pick up Rend and Tear as it will substantially increase your threat generation. Also, be sure to get the new ability Pulverize which will dramatically change how bears tank and will forever alter how you look at Lacerate stacks.

Lastly, top off the Feral tree by picking up Berserk. Not only is it a great snap threat generation cool-down (especially when holding three targets), but it is also our only reasonable way of breaking nasty fears. Take it and use it often.

Having buried a whopping fifty five points in the Feral Tree, we have another twenty one to carry elsewhere. Since Balance has absolutely nothing to offer a Feral tank, to the Restoration Tree we go!

First, plop five points in Furor. Do you really need five points there? No, but you need to get to the lower tiers and there is really nowhere else productive to spend your initial five. Then it is time to scoop up five points of Perseverance. Bear tanks have always had a bit of a weakness to magical damage. This new talent says no more! Also, place three points in Natural Shapeshifter if just to open up Master Shapeshifter below it.

Moving to tier three of the Restoration Tree, spend all of your remaining talent points here. Naturalist will increase your Bear Form Damage by 10% while Master Shapeshifter adds another 4%. Lastly, Omen of Clarity will land you some delightfully rage free attacks.

In summary, I believe this spec will get you the most bang for your buck in terms of feral tanking. If you want points to play with, the two in Improved Mangle are ripe for the picking. You could also can Omen of Clarity is you so desire, though I personally enjoy the talent. Obviously, the Cataclysm talents are still subject to change, but at the time being I think this is the best any feral tank can hope to do.

Would you do things differently? Let me know in the comments.

This post is based on the old talent lay out, hop over to my updated Best Feral Tank Spec in Cataclysm for a current one!

Battle of the AoE Tanking Abilities

Though AoE tanking is apparently at least somewhat on its way out in Cataclysm, for the remainder of Wrath of the Lich King it is alive and well. For today's post I decided to take a quick look at the different staple AoE tanking tools available to the various classes. Which are strong? Which are weak? Which will cause a killing streak? Find out my thoughts below and feel free to share yours in the comments!

Druids

Swipe: It is always easy to identify Feral Tanks in real life because they are the ones with the rippling muscles on their left index finger. Why are their digits so pumped up? Why from mindlessly hammering the Swipe key thousands upon thousands of times of course.

Swipe is really a Bear's only true AoE damage dealer and, as a result, it is only ability we absolutely need to hit when holding a pack of mobs. It is a great spell because it costs little rage (which we have a near endless supply of anyway), does solid damage to large packs, and has no cooldown. It is simultaneously terrible because it needs to be pushed ad nausea to be effective and provides no benefit other than a small burst of damage.

Where Druids Shine: The real strength of Swipe is that it can theoretically be used infinitely with little to no restrictions. A Bear Druid loaded with mobs will have near endless rage and can therefor pound Swipe as fast as a finger allows. For fights where wave after wave of mobs are rolling into your raid, a Druid will always be ready to Swipe and has no reason to worry about much of anything else. Additionally, Swipe is a physical attack, leaving the Druid free from the fear of an ill timed silence.

Paladins

Consecration: The ability that single-handedly defined Paladins as "the AoE" tank is still alive and well. Consecration is great because it is the ultimate set it and forget it spell. You lay it on the ground and, until it expires, mobs are stuck to you like glue.

Back in the day, Consecration occasionally caused mana issues for the overzealous tank, but no more. Now, so long as the modest cool-down has run its course, keeping consecrate up on a pack of mobs shouldn't come close to depleting a Paladin tank's mana pool.

Where Paladins Shine: Where a tank needs to hold both a single high priority target and several smaller adds, the Paladin is feeling good. A Consecration every eight second will get the AoE job done and you are free to focus on your priority target. Sustained AoE aggro with little effort or attention is the Paladin's true strength. Also, if the mobs happen to be undead, other tanks can forget about it as the addition of Holy Nova to the mix makes Paladins all-stars. If a silence enters the mix, however, you may very well end up with some dead healers.

Warriors

Thunder Clap: Just as Consecration defined Paladins as the AoE tanks, the existence of Thunder Clap and ONLY Thunder Clap has long relegated Warriors to the AoE tanking bargain bin.

In recent times, Thunder Clap has started to hit harder and generate more delicious aggro, but it still feels lacking. Perhaps the cooldown is just too long, or maybe the supplemental slow just isn't enough to get a plate wearer out of bed in the morning. Whatever it is, Thunder Clap is far from a Warcraft media darling.

Where Warriors Shine: In terms of snap AoE aggro, it really is tough to beat a Warrior. Thunder Clap hits hard and generates tons of threat. After that, however, it's time to wait out the cool down. Grabbing AoE mobs is in a Warriors wheelhouse, holding them is often the problem.

Death Knights

Death and Decay: You mean to tell me that Death Knights can lay down a Consecration equivalent at range?!? Why yes they can.

With great power, however, comes slightly greater cost. While a Paladin using Consecration only loses a bit of constantly replenishing mana and can move on with his or her life, a Death Knight must fork over one of each and every rune in his arsenal to generate a bed of AoE hurt. Not only does the Death Knight need to consider Death and Decay's own huge cool-down, but also the fact that using the ability actually can put his other skills on cool-down as well.

Blood Boil: Though Death and Decay gets all the Death Knight AoE press, Blood Boil is the behind the scenes workhorse of the class's AoE skills.

For the cost of a single Blood Rune, a Death Knight can instantly ding all nearby targets for decent magical damage. Add diseases to the mix and that damage goes up appreciably. Limited only by the speed rune generation, the ability is available pretty often and offers decent bang for its buck.

Where Death Knights Shine: Death and Decay makes Death Knights both exceptionally flexible and inflexible AoE tanks. They can snap a group of mobs anywhere and hold them with a set and forget AoE, but only once every thirty seconds and only if they want to sack half their runic resources for a little while. With time to prepare, a Death Knight can AoE tank like nobody else, but when caught without cool-downs, Blood Boil can be a bit too little too late.

Cataclysm Restoration Druid Talent Changes

Now that the Cataclysm Friends and Family Alpha is live, Blizzard has more than a few leaks on its hands. One of those leaks disclosed an early build of the new Druid talent trees for Cataclysm. Below, I will highlight all the changes coming to the Restoration Tree. For links to information about the Cataclysm Feral and Balance Talent tree changes, check out the links at the bottom of the post.

As these talent trees will likely be updated many times prior to the release of Cataclysm, I will try my best to keep this post updated as well. Last Updated: 05/06/10

Cataclysm Restoration Talents:

New Talents

Blessing of the Grove: Two rank talent which increases Rejuvenation's healing by 2%, Moonfire's direct damage by 3%, and Claw/Mangle's damage by 2% per rank

Perseverance: Reduces all spell damage taken by 2% per rank with up to five ranks

Fury of Stormrage: Two rank talent which gives Nourish a 2% to cause Wrath to become instant cast and cost no mana, also can trigger instant Starfire casts when the Druid hits a target under 25% health with Moonfire

Efflorescence: Regrowth crits now spawn a fifteen yard bed of flowers which heals friendly targets who stand in it for a percentage of the Regrowth's heal over seven seconds

Changed Talents

Improved Rejuvenation: Now also increases Swiftmend healing by 5%

Improved Tranquility: No longer reduces Tranquility's cooldown, but now reduces damage taken while channeling the spell by 25% per rank

Nature's Bounty: Completely redone, now increases crit chance of Regrowth on targets under 25% health by 10% per rank and also decreases the cooldown of Swiftmend by .5 seconds whenever the Druid crits with Nourish or Healing Touch

Empowered Touch: Completely redone, now increases healing done by Healing Touch by 5% per rank on targets below 25% health and causes Nourish to refresh the duration of Lifebloom

Swiftmend: Mana cost slightly reduced

Natural Perfection: No longer increases spell crit chance

Empowered Rejuvenation: Now also improves Swiftmend

Revitalize: Completely redone, now grants the caster 1% base mana per rank whenever Regrowth or Lifebloom's periodic ticks crit

Tree of Life: Now lasts forty-five seconds with a five minute cooldown, increases HoT healing by 15%, increases Armor by 200%, reduces movement speed by 30% and temporatily empowers some of your spells, it no longer buffs raid members and does not restrict the Druid's spell use

Improved Tree of Life: Completely redone, three ranks, now reduces Tree of Life's cooldown thirty seconds and increases damage done while in Tree of Life by 5%

Improved Barkskin: No longer provides dispel resistance

Gift of the Earthmother: Completely redone, now increases Tranquility's healing by 4% on targets below 25% health, increases Lifebloom's bloom by 2%, and adds an immediate, upfront tick to Rejuvenation

Wild Growth: Mana cost substantially increased

Removed Talents

Improved Mark of the Wild

Intensity

Living Spirit

Gift of Nature

Moved Talents

Naturalist: Moved to tier three

Living Seed: Moved to tier six

Empowered Touch: Moved to tier seven

Natural Perfection: Moved to tier eight

It seems as if Blizzard is really trying to push players to use Regrowth, Healing Touch, and Swiftmend with greater frequency. To be honest, Efflorescence is such a cool talent, expect me to be casting Regrowth whenever reasonable. It is also becoming apparent that the days of spamming Wild Growth are rapidly coming to a close. Enjoy it while it lasts.

I would be curious to hear what everyone has to say about the Tree of Life changes. Please post your thoughts in the comments.

Cataclysm Balance Druid Talent Changes
Cataclysm Feral Druid Talent Changes

Cataclysm Feral Druid Talent Changes

Now that leaks from the Cataclysm Friends and Family Alpha are just pouring out into the internet, I have been able to get my hands on a copy of the test build's talent trees. Below, I will break down all the talent changes coming to Feral Druids in Cataclysm. For links to reviews of Balance and Restoration changes, check out the links at the bottom of the post.

I will keep these lists updated as new changes become available. Last Updated: 05/06/10

Cataclysm Feral Talents:

New Talents

None

Changed Talents

Primal Precision: No longer refunds energy when finishers fail to hit

Brutal Impact: Now only reduces the cooldown of Bash by five seconds per rank

Survival of the Fittest: No longer increases attributes

King of the Jungle: No longer reduces the mana cost of feral forms

Removed Talents

None

Moved Talents

None

Unlike the Balance Druid tree, the Feral Tree has not gotten much loving thus far in the Cataclysm Alpha. Do not worry though, I would imagine Blizzard just hasn't gotten around to working the Feral changes into the Alpha yet. I am certain there are plenty of changes to come, so stay tuned for updates.

Cataclysm Balance Druid Talent Changes
Cataclysm Restoration Druid Talent Changes

Druid Cataclysm Balance Talent Changes

UPDATE: A new Guide to Balance Druids in 4.0.1 has been posted!

MMO Champion has just dumped a ton of Cataclysm Alpha information onto their website including screen shots, profession updates, and talent calculators. Obviously, all the information remains subject to change, but that doesn't make it any less exciting to peruse.

As this is Druid Digest, I have decided to take a closer look at the changes made thus far to the Druid Talent trees. First, I will break down the Balance tree. Check it out below and feel free to post your thoughts and concerns in the comments.

For my previews of the other Cataclysm talent trees, check the links at the bottom of the page. Enjoy!

Cataclysm Balance Talents:

New Talents

Solar Beam: Instant cast on a one minute cooldown which calls down a solar beam on a target enemy which disorients all targets it hits for three seconds, the beam lasts ten seconds and silences anyone inside of it

Lunar Justice: Whenever the Druid kills a target that yields experience or honor, a moonbeam is generated which lasts ten seconds and restores 2% base mana to the first ally who stands beneath it

Starsurge: Two second cast with a fifteen second cooldown which blasts a target for heavy damage and knocks them down.

Fungal Growth: When a Treant dies or a Wild Mushroom is triggered, it spawns an eight yard fungal growth on the ground which slows enemies who cross it for ten seconds.

Changed Talents

Genesis: Changed to also increase Swiftmend healing

Improved Moonfire: Now only improves the direct damage portion of the spell by 5%, effect on crit removed

Nature's Grace: No longer requires Nature's Majesty as a prerequisite

Nature's Splendor: Now has three ranks

Celestial Focus: No longer grants haste

Balance of Power: Now grants 50% of the Druids Spirit as additional Hit rather than the 3% spell damage taken reduction

Lunar Guidance: No longer affects spell power, instead increases the radius of Solar Beam by two yards and causes Starsurge to generate five Lunar or Solar energy

Moonkin Form: No longer reduces damage taken when stunned, no longer regenerates mana on spell crits, no longer buffs party or raid member spell crit

Improved Moonkin Form: Grants 2% crit per rank to raid members, no more additional spell damage or haste

Owlkin Frenzy: No longer restores mana

Wrath of Cenarius: No longer affects Wrath or Starfire, the Druid now gains a 3 second buff whenever moving which increases Moonfires damage by 5% and decreases its mana cost by 10%, the buff stacks up to three times and is refreshed as long as the Druid moves

Eclipse: Old mechanic removed, now increases Solar/Lunar Energy generated by Wrath and Starfire by 12% per rank and causes the Druid to generate Energy when crit

Typhoon: Mana cost increased

Earth and Moon: Spell damage debuff cut from 4% to 2% per application per rank

Removed Talents

Insect Swarm

Improved Insect Swarm

Improved Faerie Fire

Moved Talents

Brambles: Moved to tier five

Nature's Splendor: Moved to tier four

Celestial Focus: Moved to tier three

Vengeance: Moved to tier five

Lunar Guidance: Moved to tier six

Which changes are you the most excited about and which have you concerned? I think Fungal Growth and Lunar Justice sound like pretty interesting mechanics. I also am not freaking out about Insect Swarm, because it is simply becoming trainable.

Cataclysm Feral Druid Talent Changes
Cataclysm Restoration Druid Talent Changes

Restoration Druid Keybinds

Below are the keybinds I use when healing as a Restoration Druid. For general information on how to set up your keybinds see How to Set Up Keybinds in Warcraft's Default UI. Also, check out the bottom of the post to review keybinds for other Druid specs.

Keep in mind when reviewing these binds that I have them set up both on my Tree of Life action bar and my caster form action bar when I am in Restoration spec. This is so that if I need to drop into caster form for some reason, I can continue to spam heals until the opportunity presents itself to become a Tree again.

F = Nourish: Nourish is your go to top off spell and also your bread and butter when tank healing. Depending on your role, spec, and style, however, you may want to consider swapping it for Rejuvenation (for dedicated raid healing) or Healing Touch (if you are spec'd for it and spamming it such as for Dreamwalker). Long story short, assign whatever spell you cast the most to the F key.

C = Rejuvenation: You will be tossing around this lovable HoT quite a bit, so it is important to keep it in a comfortable spot on your keyboard. C is a nice fit for me.

X = Lifebloom: Odds are you will not be using Lifebloom all that much unless you are tank healing, so the slightly out of the way X key is a fine place for it. I also like the consistency of always having my "stacking spells" (Lifebloom and Lacerate) associated with the same key.

G = Regrowth: To keep a healthy supply of mana, you want to avoid casting this spell too often. The G key is just far enough out of the way to keep you from spamming it out of panic, but close enough that you can still cast it when needed.

E = Wild Growth: For most Restoration Druids, Wild Growth is a go to spell every single time its brief cooldown is up. Hence the accessible E key is dedicated to this beast of a healing spell.

Q = Swiftmend: Swiftmend is a solid emergency heal, so having it easily accessible, but set off slightly from your other spells makes perfect sense. Q fits that bill perfectly.

Here are the specific keybinds I recommend for other Druid specs:

Feral Tanking Keybinds
Feral DPS Keybinds (coming soon)
Balance Druid Keybinds (coming soon)

Feral Tanking Keybinds

Below are the keybinds I use when tanking in Bear form. For general information on how to set up your keybinds see How to Set Up Keybinds in Warcraft's Default UI. Also, check out the bottom of the post to review keybinds for other Druid specs.

When reviewing these keybinds, keep in mind that I have a macro which adds Maul to every single one of my other abilities so I have no need to cast it separately. I also choose to click cast my defensive cooldowns, Berserk, and Enrage. If you want to add additional abilities to my set, you can use the Z, V, and R keys though you will need to assign other keys to auto-reply and sheath weapon. You can also use 1, 2, 3, and 4 if you don't mind moving up from AWSD. If you are going to add additional abilities I would recommend Barkskin be the first.

F = Swipe: Generally speaking, you should put whatever ability you use the most often in the F slot. It is simply the easiest key to reach when your hand is resting at AWSD. For Bear Tanks, that ability will be Swipe.

G = Demoralizing Roar: G is actually one of the more difficult keys to reach within my keybinds, so I assign a less crucial, infrequent use ability to its slot. You may want to replace this ability with Barkskin should you find yourself rarely using Demoralizing Roar.

E = Feral Faerie Fire: Just behind F and tied with C, E is an easy key to tap, so a high volume attack like Feral FF fits well here. I also like having a ranged attack on a key above the middle of the keyboard just from a conceptual standpoint.

Q = Feral Charge: Relatively easy to reach, but set off from your other keybinds, Q is the perfect choice for Feral Charge placement. This ability is situational and serves a unique purpose, so setting it off a bit makes Q a nice fit.

C = Mangle: The same logic for Feral Faerie Fire at E applies to Mangle at C. It is a high volume ability and therefore deserves a prime spot on your keyboard.

X = Lacerate: This ability is not spammed except to build up stacks and therefore makes a perfect fit for the comfortable, but not too comfortable X key. Putting it next to Mangle also keeps your single target melee abilities together for conceptual consistency.

Here are the specific keybinds I recommend for other Druid specs:

Feral DPS Keybinds (coming soon)
Restoration Druid Keybinds
Balance Druid Keybinds (coming soon)

How to Set Up Keybinds in Warcraft's Default UI

Most World of Warcraft players will tell you that click casting is an inefficient method of accessing your characters spells and abilities. The preferred method of moving away from the old mouse are keybinds. Below I will briefly explain how to set up some basic keybinds in the default World of Warcraft UI. For all those Druids out there, check out the links at the bottom to see my preferred keybinds for the various Druid specs using the setup described below.

There are several third party programs out there for assigning and managing keybinds, but the default World of Warcraft UI does a fine job of handling them on its own. To set up your keybinds, go to the World of Warcraft Options Menu and go to Keybindings. A long scroll menu will then open up listing all the functions which can be keybound alongside their currently assigned key or keys.

To start adding bindings, scroll down to the part of the menu which governs your Action Bar buttons. You will see that they all have their numerical keys listed in Key One column of the menu. You will want to click the Key Two column where it should say "Not Bound" and assign the following keys to whichever action bar buttons you like: Q, E, F, G, X, and C. Now those keys will activate the abilities you place in the corresponding action bar slots. Now it is just a matter of putting the abilities you want in the rights slots and presto, you are using keybinds!

This method of setting up your binds is great because you can convert it use by multiple characters and specs simply by shifting around the buttons on your action bar to put your high use abilities into your bound slots.

Here are the specific keybinds I recommend for Druids:

Feral Tanking Keybinds
Feral DPS Keybinds (coming soon)
Restoration Druid Keybinds
Balance Druid Keybinds (coming soon)

Expertise for Feral Tanks

Recently, I have begun to wonder if Blizzard forgot entirely about Bear Tank itemization when crafting the gear made available in Patch 3.3. Sure, there is tons of Stamina and Agility to be had, but the striking absence of two pivotal Druid tanking stats on a vast majority of our class specific gear is incredibly disheartening. Those stats are Hit and Expertise. To answer your Feral Hit Rating Questions, check out our Guide to Feral Hit Rating Gear and our Bear Form and Hit Rating guide. Below I will explore the Expertise side of the Bear threat equation and explain why Blizzard has created a problem for Bear tanks tackling ICC.

What is the Bear Form Expertise Cap?

The soft cap for Bear Form Expertise is 26 Expertise or 132 Expertise Rating (the stat which appears on your gear). This level of Expertise will completely eliminate dodges from your enemies' defense tables. To eliminate parry from your enemies table you would need 443 Expertise, but I don't need to tell you how impractical and unnecessary that would be. Just shoot for 132 Expertise Rating and consider anything over that a less significant bonus.

Why is Expertise Important for Bears?

There is a common misconception amongst all tanks that Hit and Expertise are exclusively dps stats. The truth is, they are also vital threat stats because an attack which misses or is avoided generates zero threat. A lack of Hit or Expertise leaves your dps one unlucky string of failed attacks away from getting splattered by the target you were supposed to hold and all the Stamina and Avoidance in the world won't save you from their anger at the coming wipe.

Aside from the short term consequences of occasionally generating zero aggro, a lack of expertise severely harms your threat generated per second. Point for point, until you reach 132 Expertise Rating, Expertise gives you more threat per point than any other stat. You heard right, ANY OTHER STAT. That includes our precious Agility, Crit, Attack Power, Haste, and even Hit. Until you reach the hard cap of 132, Expertise nets nearly double the threat, point for point, of any other ability. If I have not convinced you by now that the stat is important, I do not think I will be able to.

Where Can Bears Find Expertise?

There are currently only three gear slots where Bears can find endgame leather with Expertise on it. Those slots are chest, feet, and legs. To reach your 132 target, you will need to equip an Expertise item in at least two out of the three. Unfortunately, you only have one random drop possibility (and it is BoE), so to get the Expertise you need you will need to part with either a significant number of badges or a significant amount of gold. Here are your options:

Chest:
Ikfirus's Sack of Wonder (BoE drop off Gunship in ICC 25)
Shadow Seeker's Tunic (95 Emblems of Frost)

Legs:
Lasherweave Legguards (95 Emblems of Frost)

Feet:
Footpads of Impending Death (Crafted BoE)

There are also a handful of rings and necks which provide Expertise, but they do not pair that Expertise with any other tanking oriented stats. Lastly, if you are lucky enough to get your hands on a Battered Hilt, the Lightborn Spire could help solve your Expertise woes.

Good luck in your hunt for this ever elusive stat. Hopefully, Blizzard will make things easier for us in the future.