feral spec druid: advice needed

John Salerno wrote:
[snip]
> Oh yeah, and question about professions: I'm doing skinning, and I think
> I might compliment it with leatherworking, but also I might do mining
> for a while instead, to earn money. But I read that leatheworking is
> useful at the lower levels since I can wear leather armor. So is it
> worth taking it early and skip mining? Will leatherworking be useful or
> profitable at later levels?

I have come to learn that if you take skinning and mining and sell the
stuff you gather, you will have more than enough money to buy something
off the AH for your druid.

Basically while leveling leatherworking you throw (or disenchant) a lot
of the stuff you make away because they are unsellable.

Plus some of the green drops people put on the AH are better than you
can make with leatherworking.

Plus you don't have to buy and grind for recipes.

Plus people will enchant and tailor stuff for you below the market value
of the ingredients just so they can level.

Thomas
--
"I'll teach you if it is the last thing you will learn"
Hanin Elias - In Flames
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OLWo8azGjo
 >> Stay informed about: feral spec druid: advice needed 

"John Salerno" <johnjsal.TakeThisOut@NOSPAMgmail.com> wrote:

>> Weapons are nothing but a stat carrier for druids.
>
> Hmmm, I can see this after level 10 because I imagine I'll only fight in
> animal form from then on, but what do I use to fight during 1-10? Just
> whatever is equipable for me?

Good question. You'll definitely want a good (in terms of DPS) weapon
before level 10. Because up to that level you only have 3 ways of doing
damage:
- Moonfire (instant damage + dot)
- Wrath (like a firebolt)
- Melee
Just take the best staff you can find. Later on you can learn 1h/2h
maces, daggers and fist weapons.

From level 10 on you get a couple of abilities for bear form (probably
about 10 total plus 2 more talented ones) and from level 20 on you
get the cat form abilities, which make fighting more interesting (due
to stealth attacks and combopoints). From level 20 on druids start to
be really fun nowadays, and level 10-20 aren't too bad (especially
when there's still a novelty in being almost unkillable), but the
first 10 levels are painful when you ever played a DPS class.

Chris

--
[WoW] Wildcard - Treehugging Tauren (60) on EN Sunstrider [PvP]
Gwaith - Short beastmaster (60) on EN Scarshield L. [RPPvP]
Sian - Best friend (60) on EN Scarshield L. [RPPvP]
Yagon - Pointy eared beast (25) on EN Scarshield L. [RPPvP]

Get the alt.games.warcraft FAQ at http://www.wildcard7.com/agw_faq.txt
 >> Stay informed about: feral spec druid: advice needed 

John Salerno wrote:
[snip]
> Is first aid necessary since I can heal myself? I only just did FA with
> my mage around level 40, and now that it's maxed (which was pretty easy
> to do) I see how great it is. But I figure with my druid I can sell the
> cloth early on for money, then level FA later if necessary. But I'm not
> sure if I really even need it since I will have healing spells. I'm sure
> FA can heal more, though.

Bandages are more mana efficient.

Thomas
--
"I'll teach you if it is the last thing you will learn"
Hanin Elias - In Flames
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OLWo8azGjo
 >> Stay informed about: feral spec druid: advice needed 

"John Salerno" <johnjsal.DeleteThis@NOSPAMgmail.com> wrote:

> Is first aid necessary since I can heal myself? I only just did FA with
> my mage around level 40, and now that it's maxed (which was pretty easy
> to do) I see how great it is. But I figure with my druid I can sell the
> cloth early on for money, then level FA later if necessary. But I'm not
> sure if I really even need it since I will have healing spells. I'm sure
> FA can heal more, though.

I for myself levelled FA within 2 hours from 0 to 300 about 4 months
after I dinged 60 Purely to get that little edge for raiding,
when you want to conserve mana but still keep people up.

For soloing it's pretty useless as a druid. You can't bandage when
someone hits you, and the only ability to keep things off you
(roots) isn't very reliable. I would rather sell the cloth and
probably buy a few healing potions every now and then.

YMMV.

If you want to make your own experiences, you could just as well
pick up FW and level it, and stop investing cloth if you figure
out you never use the bandages (or continue if you do).

Chris

--
[WoW] Wildcard - Treehugging Tauren (60) on EN Sunstrider [PvP]
Gwaith - Short beastmaster (60) on EN Scarshield L. [RPPvP]
Sian - Best friend (60) on EN Scarshield L. [RPPvP]
Yagon - Pointy eared beast (25) on EN Scarshield L. [RPPvP]

Get the alt.games.warcraft FAQ at http://www.wildcard7.com/agw_faq.txt
 >> Stay informed about: feral spec druid: advice needed 

"Christian Stauffer" <wildcard666 RemoveThis @bluewin.ch> wrote in message
news:1ewwd1v0vb75e$.1caas4fl7eu5t.dlg@40tude.net...
> Sprite wrote:
>
>>> btw: Cat form crits for up to 2k as well with good blue gear
>>
>> But only after you've hit the mobs many times :p
>
> Or as an opener :-p
>
>> I miss my ickle mage, who could spontaneously hit for 2k, freeze a mob,
>> hit
>> again for 2k, when I'm playing my druid
>
> But then again, a druid hits 5 times until you get one spell off

Nah, can keep them at bay
>
>> I specced her feral, with 1350 attack power, and I don't enjoy it. Sigh.
>>
>> Balance tonight. I need to enjoy levelling
>
> I hope you'll enjoy
>
> One problem I have with balance is that there's nothing you can do there.
> I
> don't know how it is to play a pally, but I guess that's even more
> interesting. As a moonkin, you can
> - Nuke (starfire and wrath, both essentially are the same spells)
> - Dot (well, 1 dot, probably the weakest in the game)

2 dots

> - Root (which breaks 90% of the time within the first 5 seconds)
> - And... hummm... erm... look cool?

Well, I enjoy Balance a lot more than Feral so far. Without really trying,
I have somehow wound up with +380 spell damage which obviously helps things.
My Wrath has a 1.5 second cast time and seems to hit for about 550, my
Starfire critting for around 2.2k. I can root and sleep of course, (you
underestimate root immensely ). Insect Swarm is one of the most
mana-efficient dots in the game.

With 360% armor bonus, melee mobs have a hard time getting me down if they
do get close enough, and I have 100% resistance to interruption when casting
roots to get away again.

Add to this about 101mp5 *whilst casting* in my all-out healer garb and I
think I should be pretty happy for levelling.

The thing I don't like about feral was the insane gimpage. Balance has a
lot of talents which compliment healing/mana regeneration too, which should
be pretty nifty for healing in instances in TBC. I'm excited now

--
Sue
 >> Stay informed about: feral spec druid: advice needed 

John Salerno wrote:
> Ok, I've decided to create my first alt today. Last night I sort of felt
> a "dragging" sensation in my gameplay experience and thought perhaps I'm
> beginning to get bored (despite the fact that I got a fair bit done...I
> guess it was bound to happen eventually), so now seems like a good time
> to do something very different.
>
> So Tauren druid it is, and of course the appeal of the druid to me is
> animal forms, so I'm doing a feral spec. Now, I feel completely out of
> water with a non-mage class, so I need some help. Are there any
> essentials that should always be taken? Anything I can safely ignore?
> Should I also do Improved Mark of the Wild? Anything else in other trees?
>
> Thanks!

Ok, I'm level 6 with my new tauren druid and so far I'm loving it! Yeah,
I know, nothing really special yet, but what a different combat
experience from a mage!

Ok, time to get back to it! Hope the server isn't full!
 >> Stay informed about: feral spec druid: advice needed 

Sprite wrote:

>> btw: Cat form crits for up to 2k as well with good blue gear
>
> But only after you've hit the mobs many times :p

Or as an opener :-p

> I miss my ickle mage, who could spontaneously hit for 2k, freeze a mob, hit
> again for 2k, when I'm playing my druid

But then again, a druid hits 5 times until you get one spell off

> I specced her feral, with 1350 attack power, and I don't enjoy it. Sigh.
>
> Balance tonight. I need to enjoy levelling

I hope you'll enjoy

One problem I have with balance is that there's nothing you can do there. I
don't know how it is to play a pally, but I guess that's even more
interesting. As a moonkin, you can
- Nuke (starfire and wrath, both essentially are the same spells)
- Dot (well, 1 dot, probably the weakest in the game)
- Root (which breaks 90% of the time within the first 5 seconds)
- And... hummm... erm... look cool?

Chris

--
[WoW] Wildcard - Treehugging Tauren (60) on EN Sunstrider [PvP]
Gwaith - Short beastmaster (60) on EN Scarshield L. [RPPvP]
Sian - Best friend (60) on EN Scarshield L. [RPPvP]
Yagon - Pointy eared beast (25) on EN Scarshield L. [RPPvP]

Get the alt.games.warcraft FAQ at http://www.wildcard7.com/agw_faq.txt
 >> Stay informed about: feral spec druid: advice needed 

"Sprite" <sue.kitchen DeleteThis @ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:50npq3F1glbc6U1@mid.individual.net...
>
> "Christian Stauffer" <wildcard666 DeleteThis @bluewin.ch> wrote in message
> news:1ewwd1v0vb75e$.1caas4fl7eu5t.dlg@40tude.net...
>> Sprite wrote:
>>
>>>> btw: Cat form crits for up to 2k as well with good blue gear
>>>
>>> But only after you've hit the mobs many times :p
>>
>> Or as an opener :-p
>>
>>> I miss my ickle mage, who could spontaneously hit for 2k, freeze a mob,
>>> hit
>>> again for 2k, when I'm playing my druid
>>
>> But then again, a druid hits 5 times until you get one spell off
>
> Nah, can keep them at bay
>>
>>> I specced her feral, with 1350 attack power, and I don't enjoy it.
>>> Sigh.
>>>
>>> Balance tonight. I need to enjoy levelling
>>
>> I hope you'll enjoy
>>
>> One problem I have with balance is that there's nothing you can do there.
>> I
>> don't know how it is to play a pally, but I guess that's even more
>> interesting. As a moonkin, you can
>> - Nuke (starfire and wrath, both essentially are the same spells)
>> - Dot (well, 1 dot, probably the weakest in the game)
>
> 2 dots
>
>> - Root (which breaks 90% of the time within the first 5 seconds)
>> - And... hummm... erm... look cool?
>
> Well, I enjoy Balance a lot more than Feral so far. Without really
> trying, I have somehow wound up with +380 spell damage which obviously
> helps things. My Wrath has a 1.5 second cast time and seems to hit for
> about 550, my Starfire critting for around 2.2k. I can root and sleep of
> course, (you underestimate root immensely ). Insect Swarm is one of the
> most mana-efficient dots in the game.
>
> With 360% armor bonus, melee mobs have a hard time getting me down if they
> do get close enough, and I have 100% resistance to interruption when
> casting roots to get away again.
>
> Add to this about 101mp5 *whilst casting* in my all-out healer garb and I
> think I should be pretty happy for levelling.
>
> The thing I don't like about feral was the insane gimpage. Balance has a
> lot of talents which compliment healing/mana regeneration too, which
> should be pretty nifty for healing in instances in TBC. I'm excited now
>

Right. Just finished a run in DM North, managing to top the damage meters
with a Tier 2/3 rogue in the group. He was probably half asleep, but hey!
And then onto UBRS where I came 2nd dmg to the feral druid tank and also did
a fair share of healing without feeling like I wanted to smash my keys
faster to make it happen quicker.

I love this balance thing.

--
Sue
 >> Stay informed about: feral spec druid: advice needed 

John Salerno wrote:
> John Salerno wrote:
>> Ok, I've decided to create my first alt today. Last night I sort of felt
>> a "dragging" sensation in my gameplay experience and thought perhaps I'm
>> beginning to get bored (despite the fact that I got a fair bit done...I
>> guess it was bound to happen eventually), so now seems like a good time
>> to do something very different.
>>
>> So Tauren druid it is, and of course the appeal of the druid to me is
>> animal forms, so I'm doing a feral spec. Now, I feel completely out of
>> water with a non-mage class, so I need some help. Are there any
>> essentials that should always be taken? Anything I can safely ignore?
>> Should I also do Improved Mark of the Wild? Anything else in other trees?
>>
>> Thanks!
>
> Ok, I'm level 6 with my new tauren druid and so far I'm loving it! Yeah,
> I know, nothing really special yet, but what a different combat
> experience from a mage!
>
> Ok, time to get back to it! Hope the server isn't full!

Level 10! I'll do the bear quest tomorrow! Woo hoo!
 >> Stay informed about: feral spec druid: advice needed 

"John Salerno" <johnjsal RemoveThis @NOSPAMgmail.com> wrote:

> Christian Stauffer wrote:
>
>> Agi: 1 AP in cat form, 0 AP in bear form, some dodge/crit and armor
>> (but armor from agi isn't affected by bear form)
>> Str: 2 AP in cat form, 1 AP in bear form. Str is amplified by 20%
>> in cat form once you have the heart of the wild talent maxed.
>
> Just to be sure, what is "AP"? When I read the description of these
> stats, they often use "with melee weapons" or "with ranged weapons".
> Does this still apply to attacking in animal form, i.e. without weapons?

AP = Attack Power, 14 AP = 1 DPS. You get AP from str, agi, or as a
raw stat. Yep, AP does increase your feral DPS - actually it's the
only way to increase it. Some of the current highend weapons, and
many of the new TBC weapons even have a "special stat" like
"increases attack power by 200 in bear, cat and moonkin form only".
Ranged AP is of no use for you, it only applies to ranged (bow,
gun, crossbow) AP.

Chris

--
[WoW] Wildcard - Treehugging Tauren (60) on EN Sunstrider [PvP]
Gwaith - Short beastmaster (60) on EN Scarshield L. [RPPvP]
Sian - Best friend (60) on EN Scarshield L. [RPPvP]
Yagon - Pointy eared beast (25) on EN Scarshield L. [RPPvP]

Get the alt.games.warcraft FAQ at http://www.wildcard7.com/agw_faq.txt
 >> Stay informed about: feral spec druid: advice needed 

Christian Stauffer wrote:
> "John Salerno" <johnjsal RemoveThis @NOSPAMgmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Christian Stauffer wrote:
>>
>>> Agi: 1 AP in cat form, 0 AP in bear form, some dodge/crit and armor
>>> (but armor from agi isn't affected by bear form)
>>> Str: 2 AP in cat form, 1 AP in bear form. Str is amplified by 20%
>>> in cat form once you have the heart of the wild talent maxed.
>>
>> Just to be sure, what is "AP"? When I read the description of these
>> stats, they often use "with melee weapons" or "with ranged weapons".
>> Does this still apply to attacking in animal form, i.e. without weapons?
>
> AP = Attack Power, 14 AP = 1 DPS. You get AP from str, agi, or as a
> raw stat. Yep, AP does increase your feral DPS - actually it's the
> only way to increase it. Some of the current highend weapons, and
> many of the new TBC weapons even have a "special stat" like
> "increases attack power by 200 in bear, cat and moonkin form only".
> Ranged AP is of no use for you, it only applies to ranged (bow,
> gun, crossbow) AP.
>
> Chris
>

How about anything that says "with melee weapons"? Is that just for the
weapon itself, or does it work with claws? I'm guessing only the former.
 >> Stay informed about: feral spec druid: advice needed 

Christian Stauffer wrote:
> "John Salerno" <johnjsal.RemoveThis@NOSPAMgmail.com> wrote:
>
>> How about anything that says "with melee weapons"? Is that just for
>> the weapon itself, or does it work with claws? I'm guessing only the
>> former.
>
> As a rule of thumb: If the +AP stat on the weapon (or any other item)
> doesn't state "ranged", you'll get it.
>
> Chris
>

Oh good!
 >> Stay informed about: feral spec druid: advice needed 

John Salerno wrote:
> Level 10! I'll do the bear quest tomorrow! Woo hoo!

Be prepared to run a lot, and put your inn recall point
in Thunderbluff. If you do it right you can recall twice
to save a lot of time (on the other hand, taking the
ten minute free flight is an interesting view if you've
never seen some of the areas).

The last part involves a tough fight (but not elite).
Make sure you're buffed and have a healing potion
on a hot key. Or maybe a healing friend (not sure
if this messes up the quest to have friends). It also
took me awhile to actually find where this fight was
supposed to be, and I was getting kind of nervous
seeing these level 18 hostiles in the vicinity.

--
Darin Johnson
 >> Stay informed about: feral spec druid: advice needed