I'm interested in making an Alliance Druid alt, but tanking and healing with this class doesn't interest me. I've always wanted to try Feral, but due to it being a joke in Retail I never came around to it. It's decent spot in WotLK, right? But difficult to master?
Feral is pretty great, especially if you have 25man raids in mind. High dps, provides utility for raid, pretty much guaranteed slot, especially if there is no guardian druid.
As to how "hard" it is, nothing complicated, you just need to set up stuff to track things and play a bit to understand. Pretty much as any other class.
Well, I wouldn't say that we have a "guaranteed spot" in raids (even in 25-man ones). If someone is in need of a druid, oftentimes they want a boomie and/or a resto. If one of the tank spots is taken by a prot paladin, then the RL might try to recruit a bear, but at the same time they can settle down with any other tanking spec. Personally I rarely see someone, who is specifically looking for a kitty dps for their raids. That's not to say that people don't want ferals - cats are valuable and pretty strong, but in comparison to boomies we don't offer that much utility. Let me show you what I mean. Feral cats bring the following to the table:
- Mangle - a debuff that increases bleed damage by 30%
- Leader of the Pack - 5% crit for melees and hunters
We can also Innervate and Bress other players and cast normal Faerie Fire on mobs, but it's not like the other druid specs can't provide any of those things. Boomies, on the other hand, offer the following:
- Imp. Faerie Fire - 3% spell hit
- Moonkin Aura - 5% spell crit
- Imp. Moonkin Form - 3% haste
- Earth & Moon - 13% spell damage
- Insect Swarm - a dot that decreases the hit chance of targeted mobs by 3%
As you can see, the latter list is, admittedly, a lot more attractive. Moreover, in ICC boomies are exceptionally valuable for their Typhoon spell (e.g. on DBS, LK), so it's no wonder why people want them so badly. In fights with a lot of AoE, boomies have it easier (cats can Swipe very hard especially if they use Berserk, but the effect lasts 15 secs and afterwards you will struggle with energy deprivation).
Still, the answer to your question whether it is worth it to play as a feral cat is Yes. It's definitely worth playing this spec, since it can inflict an impressive amount of damage on bosses and has an interesting playstyle. As for yout last question "But difficult to master?" - like angrylol said, this applies to any other class out there. With good addons, knowledge of the different encounters, constant awareness, quick decision making and some practice on the dummies you will master the spec.
Yup, lots of leaders will go for 30% bleed, so if they don't get guardian they will want feral
Its worth playing cat first of all because of the fun factor. You can do stealth, u can leap/charge, shapeshift. go tanky if needed as bear, be fast as a cheetah.
You have crazy high burst in pve and pvp. As a night elf you can just swoop in as flight form, go stealth cat do the kill, smeld and fly away..so fun :D
Playing as a cat on a warmein is a pointless undertaking. The Ferals here are nerfed and broken. For example, one of the most significant for pvp - during the action of the berserk, you are easily thrown into fear. This alone kills the Firal's specialization at least in pvp. In PVE, you have understated pillbox damage and a ferocious bite broken. In my opinion, playing a feral on this server is like being a masochist.