Introducing the topic 2.0 – Cat is 4 fite!
Cat is 4 fite!
These famous words by the player Alamo, were part of a spoof post to the World of Warcraft Forums (and a follow up to a previous version, a copy of which can be found here) are words all Feral Druid players in the know live by.
This saying is probably a reference to the fact that early in the game’s history, Druids were primarily Restoration specialisation (healing), and later, less commonly, bear specialisation (which is for tanking). Playing a Druid in cat form was a foreign concept to many players for a long time, emphasised by the example Alamo gives “peeps can always ask if cat druid can B GOOD FOR FITE…” In fact, when I started playing the game around the middle of Wrath of the Lich King, my sister who was helping me learn the game refused to help me get gear if I remained Feral Specialisation and didn’t change to Moonkin (Balance), as people thought they just were not very good.
However, by the end tier of Wrath of the Lich King, Feral single target DPS rewarded high damage output for a highly complex rotation and performed competitively in DPS, through the stacking of a secondary stat called Armour Penetration.
The specialisation has developed through the expansions, and feral continues to excel as a single target DPS, while providing valuable benefits to raid teams, with cooldowns such as Stampeding Roar and Rebirth and off-healing capabilities.The complexity of the spec has been simplified, making the specialisation more accessible to new and inexperienced players. While the skill cap on the spec has inevitably dropped, there has been very little that has changed to the playstyle.
Honestly wish I had something to talk about. There is almost nothing different.
— Tinderhoof (@Tinderhoof) November 12, 2015
Currently, Feral maintains a position of one of the highest single target specialisations in Heroic Gear in Hellfire Citadel behind mages, but do not suffer from the same movement limitations as the ranged class. However, there are only a handful of real single target encounters in the current raid tier, and classes that have strong AOE or cleave options will generally have a competitive advantage. With the sun setting on the current expansion, and a new expansion soon to be available on the horizon, I know I am looking forward to new content and the challenges from new encounters, and how the Feral toolkit will adapt.
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