Feedback: Druids

#1 - July 14, 2022, 6:37 p.m.

Please use this thread to post feedback on the Druid class, once you’ve tested it in the Dragonflight Alpha.

Thank you!

#18 - Sept. 2, 2022, 7:14 p.m.

Greetings, Feral Druids! We’re excited to share that there is a new version of the Feral tree in the next Beta update. These are some meaty changes you can really sink your claws into, with new talents, lots of revisions, and changes to the tree layout. Here’s some of what we’re intending with these changes.

Identity

At its core, Feral’s gameplay is about applying and maintaining powerful bleeds on enemies, then spending additional combo points on Ferocious Bites for more damage. In 9.2.5, Ferocious Bite is extremely powerful (and extends Rips with Sabertooth), which can lead to it taking over your rotation. Our goal for this tree is to get back to bleeds, especially Rip, being the center of your damage and gameplay again, with Ferocious Bite adding additional damage when you have the combo points for it. We’ve changed or removed any effects that dynamically extend bleed duration, so maintaining bleeds will always be a part of your rotation.

We’ve added several options to make Bleeds more interesting or useful in different situations. Primal Wrath has been moved near the top of the tree to give Feral an AOE combo point spender early. There are also new talents to do things like briefly increase all Rip damage, consume part of Rip’s duration to deal some of its damage instantly, or make Ferocious Bite hit nearby bleeding targets. These new tools should also enable you to get full value out of every combo point in AOE combat.

We’ve also returned a lot of Berserk’s current power to the first point you spend in it, while keeping some additional talents to make it stronger (and adding some new ones).

Complexity

We pay a lot of attention to gameplay complexity. Feral has some talents that increase the complexity of its rotation in exchange for power. The challenge with these types of abilities, especially in Dragonflight’s talent trees, is that if they’re strong, they can feel required. In the case of Bloodtalons and Brutal Slash, we added alternatives for players who want most of the power without the complexity. In the case of Savage Roar, we removed it. We prefer Feral’s combo point spenders to focus on maintaining bleeds and weaving in Ferocious Bites when possible.

Choice

Many of the new talents are about giving Feral players tools to customize their gameplay in the direction they prefer. There are, of course, talents that strengthen AOE or single target damage (though you should always feel capable in both scenarios). But other options allow you to customize how much energy regeneration you have, how powerful your combo point builders are, how often you need to refresh your bleeds, or how powerful your Berserk & Tiger’s Fury cooldowns are.

We’re excited to hear your feedback on these changes and for you to have an opportunity to play them. Here’s what’s coming:

Protective Growth. New talent, row 2. Your Regrowth protects you, reducing all damage you take by 3% while it is on you.

Improved Bleeds. Changed to 1 rank (from 2).

Pouncing Strikes. New talent, row 3. Grants extra damage & combo points to Shred & Rake when striking from stealth.

Tireless Energy. Renamed from Max Energy, changed to 2 ranks (from 3) and grants 2% haste per rank.

Sabertooth. Now increases Ferocious Bite damage by 20% and increases damage dealt by Rip by 4% for each combo point spent for 4 seconds.

Piercing Claws (2 ranks). New talent, row 4. Critical Strike chance increased by 2%.

Double-Clawed Rake. New talent, row 4. Rake also applies Rake to 1 additional nearby target.

Sudden Ambush. Changed to 2 ranks (from 3) and grants 5% chance to strike as if from stealth per rank (up from 1%).

Dreadful Bleeding. New talent, row 5. Rip damage increased by 15%.

Berserk. Replaces Berserk: Relentlessness. Berserk now grants combo point refund on finishing moves and causes Rake & Shred to deal damage as if stealthed.

Tear Open Wounds. New talent, row 5. Primal Wrath consumes up to 4 sec of Rip damage on targets it hits and deals 75% of it instantly.

Taste for Blood. Changed to 2 ranks (from 3).

Ferocious Frenzy. New talent, row 6. Ferocious Bite also hits nearby enemies within 8 yds afflicted by Rip for 25% damage. Deals reduced damage over 8 targets.

Infected Wounds. Now also increases Rake damage by 20%.

Row 7 choice node:

• Raging Fury. New talent. Finishing moves extend the duration of Tiger’s Fury by 0.2 sec per combo point spent.
• Frantic Momentum. New talent. Finishing moves have a 3% chance per combo point spent to grant 10% Haste for 6 seconds.

Berserk: Heart of the Lion. New talent, row 7. Each combo point spent reduces the cooldown of Berserk by 0.5 seconds.

Berserk: Frenzy. No longer causes combo point generating abilities to reduce the cooldown of Berserk.

Wild Slashes. New talent, row 7, choice node with Brutal Slash. Swipe and Thrash deal 20% more damage.

Bite Force. New talent, row 9, choice node with Bloodtalons. Ferocious Bite and Rip deal +10% damage.

Row 9 choice node:

• Veinripper. New talent. Rip & Rake & Thrash last +25% longer
• Rip & Tear. New talent. Applying Rip to a target also applies a Tear that deals X Bleed damage per combo point spent over 6 sec.

Feral Frenzy and Apex Predator are now standalone talents.

Ashamane’s Guidance. Was Modal Cooldown Bonus. Gives auto attacks a chance to trigger Incarnation for 6 sec, or reduces Convoke the Spirits’ duration by 25% and gives it an increased chance to trigger a powerful ability.

Removed Talents

• Improved Tiger’s Fury. Tiger’s Fury now always grants 50 Energy.
• Improved Shred.
• Improved Prowl.
• Berserk: Jungle Stalker.
• Savage Roar.
• Draught of Deep Focus.

Thank you for your patience and your feedback!

#19 - Sept. 2, 2022, 7:17 p.m.

And hello, Restoration Druids! A new Restoration tree will be sprouting into the next Beta build with spell changes, layout adjustments, multi-point node reduction, and new abilities! Players can also expect many previously Not Yet Implemented (NYI) talents to be ready for testing. We would like to give our thoughts on some of these upcoming adjustments.

Build Diversity and Support

A good amount of feedback for the Restoration Druid tree has been it felt very similar to the current Shadowlands build and there weren’t many variations to playstyle throughout the tree. To open build diversity we’ve focused on adding new tools to existing builds to change their gameplay and creating spells to support new playstyles. Lifebloom, for example, is seeing more talents throughout this tree now.

Mastery Mattering

Restoration Druid’s Mastery is a very compelling stat, but generally does not have a lot of areas of the game where it gets to shine. We are looking at old bonuses and new effects to incorporate Mastery further into the spec and give players more reason to think about their Heal over Time placement as they parse their group’s damage intake.

Layout Changes

The layout of the Restoration Druid tree has changed significantly from its previous iteration. The new layout is intended to provide more options and improved pathing. Here’s what players can expect to see:

New Talent Additions

Nature’s Splendor. New Talent, row 3. The healing bonus to Regrowth from Nature’s Swiftness is increased by 50%.

Flash of Clarity. New Talent, row 3. Clearcast Regrowths heal for an additional 30%.

Waking Dream. New Talent, row 4. Ysera’s Gift now heals every 4 seconds and heals for an additional 5% for each of your active Rejuvenations.

Nurturing Dormancy. New Talent, row 6. When your Rejuvenation heals a full health target, its duration is increased by 3 seconds, up to a maximum total increase of 9 seconds per cast.

Dreamstate. New Talent, row 6. While channeling Tranquility, your other Druid spell cooldowns are reduced by up to 10 seconds.

Verdancy. New Talent, row 7. When Lifebloom blooms, up to 3 targets within your Efflorescence are healed for X.

Budding Leaves. New Talent, row 9. Lifebloom’s Healing is increased by 6% each time it heals, up to 90%. Also increases Lifebloom’s final bloom amount by 15%.

Embrace of the Dream. New Talent, row 9. Wild Growth has a 100% chance to momentarily shift your mind into the Emerald Dream, instantly healing all allies affected by your Rejuvenation for X.

Regenerative Heartwood. New Talent, row 9. Allies protected by your Ironbark also receive 75% of the healing from each of your active Rejuvenations.

The complete list of changes will be released with the next beta build. Thanks so much for your continued feedback!

#53 - Sept. 16, 2022, 6:58 p.m.

Hello again, Feral Druids.

We have some upcoming changes to the talent tree to share with you. Thank you very much for all your feedback on the current version of the talent tree. There have been lots of thoughtful, informative posts in places like this thread and the Druid forums that really helped us understand your experiences with the tree and what you’re hoping to do with it. It’s very much appreciated.

Left Side and Right Side of the Talent Tree

We heard your feedback that the left and right sides of the tree feel too heavily weighted toward single target and AOE respectively. We like the two sides of the tree having a clear identity, but we want players to have paths to get talents they want from either side in either situation, so we’ve moved talents around to facilitate taking some talents from both sides in both ST and AOE.

Energy and Combo Points

Opening up both sides of the tree to both ST and AOE builds also let us give the two sides of the tree different flavors of resource generation. If you want to empower Tiger’s Fury and generate more combo points, those talents are on the left. If you want more Energy, there’s more of those talents on the right.

We want investing in Energy or combo points to be intentional choices players make, rather than something they pick up automatically on the way to other talents. With that in mind we moved Tiger’s Tenacity (formerly Eye of Fearful Symmetry) and provided alternative pathing options to reach Feral Frenzy and Apex Predator’s Craving.

Berserk

We want Berserk to be a powerful, broadly valuable, rotation-impacting cooldown. It currently suffers in AOE because none of Feral’s AOE builders benefit from Berserk, so we updated it to make Swipe generate a bonus combo point the same way Shred does. Changes to Tiger’s Tenacity (formerly Eye of Fearful Symmetry) and the new Relentless Predator also give consistent options to players who are looking for more resources during Berserk.

Tuning

We’ve made tuning changes to some talents in this revision, and while there will be more tuning to come, we want to speak to some of what we’re trying to accomplish. In general, we don’t want any talent to be so powerful or impactful that all players feel obligated to pick it. That dampens choice and build diversity. This brings us to Convoke the Spirits and Soul of the Forest.

Convoke is an extremely powerful single button to press in Shadowlands, and it remains so in Dragonflight. Its current version with Celestial Spirits is too strong for 2 talent points. Our first attempt at tuning this was to not include the cooldown reduction from Celestial Spirits, but we hear you that a 1 minute Convoke is appealing and fits well in rotations, and that the Convoke bonus in Ashamane’s Guidance is underwhelming, so we re-added it. To bring down the power of the current version, we’ve removed the ability for Convoke to cast Tiger’s Fury. There are several talents that benefit Tiger’s Fury, and removing it from Convoke allows us to keep those strong because Convoke isn’t increasing its uptime dramatically.

Soul of the Forest is a power outlier because of the massive Energy generation it provides, pushing it into “obligatory” range. We’d like investing in Energy to be something players can choose to do at multiple points throughout the tree, so we’re toning down Soul of the Forest.

Miscellaneous

Double-Clawed Rake has been moved to make it easier to pick up. Lunar Inspiration has been moved to a more natural place for a DoT cleave build. Scent of Blood’s benefit was very niche, so we replaced it with Relentless Predator, which reduces the energy cost of Ferocious Bite, to provide an energy generation option with more general value. Infected Wounds has been moved under Sudden Ambush.

New Tree Layout

Here’s the new tree layout and a list of changes in the next build:

Row 2:

• Primal Claws (formerly Piercing Claws) moved to Row 2.

• Primal Claws no longer grants crit. Each point now grants a 10% chance for combo point generators to generate an extra combo point.

Row 3:

• Merciless Strikes (formerly Improved Bleeds) now increases Swipe damage against bleeding targets by 10%, down from 20%. There are other talents to boost Swipe elsewhere in the tree, and we don’t want this to be an autopick in AOE.

• Predator moved to row 3.

• Double-Clawed Rake moved to row 3.

Row 4:

• Protective Growth moved to row 4. Damage reduction increased from 3% to 5%.

• Tireless Energy moved to row 4. No longer grants haste. Points now increase maximum Energy by 30/60 and passive Energy regeneration by 10%/20%.

• Pouncing Strikes moved to row 4.

• Lunar Inspiration moved to row 4.

Row 5:

• Rampant Ferocity (formerly Ferocious Frenzy) moved to row 5.

• Berserk now causes Swipe to generate an additional combo point during Berserk.

Row 6:

• Infected Wounds moved to row 6.

• Dreadful Bleeding moved to row 6.

• Relentless Predator is a new talent in row 6. Relentless Predator reduces Energy costs of Ferocious Bite by 20%. This includes both the base cost and the additional Energy that can be spent for bonus damage.

Row 7:

• Tiger’s Tenacity (was Eye of Fearful Symmetry) changed to a 1 point talent and moved to be part of a choice node with Raging Fury (look at that choice icon!). Now causes Tiger’s Fury to grant 1 combo point after your next 3 finishers (up from 1 for your next 2 for each point).

Row 8:

• Frantic Momentum changed to a 2 point talent and moved to row 8. Now grants a 3%/6% chance per combo point spent to increase your Haste by 10% for 6 sec.

• Cat’s Curiosity now recovers 25% of energy cost for abilities it affects for each point, up from 15%.

Row 9:

• Convoke the Spirits can no longer cast Tiger’s Fury.

• Soul of the Forest now grants 3 Energy per combo point spent, down from 5.

• Rip and Tear: Applying Rip to a target applies a Tear that deals 6% of the new Rip’s damage over 6 seconds. (Was a flat amount.)

Row 10:

• Moved Feral Frenzy & Apex Predator’s Craving to row 10 and added some routing options.

• Unbridled Swarm is now a single point talent and grants a 60% chance for swarms to split.

• Ashamane’s Guidance now also reduces Convoke the Spirit’s cooldown by 50%.

Renamed Talents

• Improved Bleeds is now Merciless Strikes

• Ferocious Frenzy is now Rampant Ferocity

• Eye of Fearful Symmetry is now Tiger’s Tenacity

• Bite Force is now Lion’s Strength

Removed Talents

• Scent of Blood

Thanks again for all of your testing and feedback. It’s especially valuable to read about the builds you create, the thoughts that go into your decisions, and what you experience when trying to build for a certain strategy.

#56 - Sept. 16, 2022, 8:10 p.m.

Hello Restoration Druids!

We’ve made a few adjustments to the updated Restoration Druid tree based on recent feedback, and we’d like to discuss the upcoming changes you can expect to see.

Node Positioning:

We’ve changed the positioning of a few key nodes to better reflect their power level. For example, Nurturing Dormancy will be moving below Gate 2 and Rampant Growth will be moving above Gate 2. These shifts are also intended to open a few improved pathing options for builds that may have seen some pathways particularly limiting.

Final Gate:

The positioning of nodes in the final gate has changed quite a bit. Much of the same structure is in place, but there are more connections between nodes. We felt it was better to have nodes always leading you further down in this case. Unbridled Swarm has also been reduced to a 1-point node with its full effect.

Cenarius’ Guidance:

The last Not Yet Implented (NYI) spell on the Restoration Druid tree will be ready for testing in the next build. Like the Feral Druid tree, this restores the full functionality of the Celestial Spirits legendary as well as offering a bonus to Incarnation: Tree of Life depending on your choice in the preceding node.

Here’s a look at the new layout:

• Cenarius’ Guidance. New Talent, row 9. During Incarnation: Tree of Life, you gain Clearcasting every 6 sec. The cooldown of Incarnation: Tree of Life is reduced by 1.5 seconds when Lifebloom blooms or 1.0 seconds when Regrowth’s initial heal critically strikes. Convoke the Spirits’ cooldown is reduced by 50% and its duration and number of spells cast is reduced by 25%. Convoke the Spirits has an increased chance to use an exceptional spell or ability.

We really appreciate the feedback you’ve provided. Thanks again!

#168 - Oct. 6, 2022, 12:12 a.m.

Here are all of the tuning adjustments to Druids in today’s Beta update:

• • Class Tree
    • Furor has been removed.
    • New Talent: Protector of the Pack
      • Restoration: Store 10% of your effective healing, up to 120% spell power. Your next Moonfire consumes all stored healing to increase its damage dealt.
      • Feral/Guardian/Balance: Store 10% of your damage, up to 120% spell power. Your next Regrowth consumes all stored damage to increase its healing.
  • Balance
    • Lunar Shrapnel has been redesigned – Starfall’s stars have a chance to deal an additional 25% damage to nearby enemies when they damage an enemy afflicted by Moonfire. Deals reduced damage beyond 8 targets.
    • Umbral Intensity – Now additive and the tooltip has been changed to the following: Solar Eclipse increases the damage of Wrath by an additional 10/20%. Lunar Eclipse increases the critical strike chance of Starfire by an additional 10/20%.
    • Sundered Firmament – Astral Power generation is now correctly granting 25% of Fury of Elune’s Astral Power generation.
    • Stellar Flare – No longer generates Astral Power when granted by Stellar Inspiration.
    • The chance for Shooting Stars to occur has been reduced.
    • Wild Mushrooms no longer have nameplates.
  • Feral
    • Rip – Damage increased by 10%.
    • Ferocious Bite – Damage decreased by 10%.
    • Thrash – Damage increased by 25%.
    • Rake – Damage increased by 25%.
    • In addition to the above rebalancing, Shred, Swipe, Brutal Slash, Rake, Thrash, Ferocious Bite, Rip, Primal Wrath damage reduced by 10%.
    • Ferocious Bites during Convoke the Spirits hit as if 4 combo points were spent (was 5).
      • Developers’ note: Convoke the Spirits damage needs to be tuned down, and the vast majority of Convoke’s damage comes from the Ferocious Bites it casts. Reducing the likelihood for Convoke to cast Ferocious Bite would increase the variability in the damage a single Convoke does in a way that could increase the dissatisfaction of getting a “bad Convoke.” This change reduces Convoke’s damage by about 12% but leave its variance about the same.
    • Tireless Energy – Energy recovery bonus reduced to 8%/15% (was 10%/20%).
    • Sabertooth – Ferocious Bite damage bonus reduced to 15% (was 20%). Bleed damage buff per combo point increased to 5% (was 4%).
    • Dreadful Bleeding – Damage bonus increased to 20% (was 15%).
    • Frenzied Assault – Effect reduced to 125% (was 150%).
    • Tear Open Wounds – Effect reduced to 60% (was 75%).
    • Rip and Tear – Bleed duration changed to 8 seconds (was 6 seconds) and bleed damage no longer incorporates the effect of Sabertooth’s Rip damage bonus.
    • Rampant Ferocity – Effect reduced to 20% (was 25%).
    • Bloodtalons – Effect reduced to 25% (was 30%).
    • Fixed an issue causing damage dealt by Rampant Ferocity to be reduced by armor.
    • Fixed issues causing Double-Clawed Rake to not choose targets for second Rake intelligently.
  • Restoration
    • Nature’s Splendor – Now increases the effectiveness of Nature’s Swiftness’s healing bonus by 35% (was 50%).
    • Dreamstate – Increased cooldown reduction to 15 seconds (was 12 seconds).
    • Soul of the Forest – Healing bonus to Wild Growth decreased to 60% (was 75%).
    • Unstoppable Growth – Now decreases Wild Growth’s falloff by 15%/30% (was 20%/40%).
    • Verdancy – Healing increased by 125%.
    • Convoke the Spirits – Flourishes cast by Convoke the Spirits now last 4 seconds and extend healing over time effects by 4 seconds.
    • Embrace the Dream – Healing increased by 20%.
    • Nurturing Dormancy – Now extends Rejuvenation by 1 second (was 2 seconds), up to 3 seconds (was 6 seconds).
    • Invigorate – Lifeblooms and Rejuvenations affected by Invigorate now complete 200% faster (was 100%).
    • Power of the Archdruid – Now causes your next Rejuvenation or Regrowth to apply to 2 additional allies (was 3).