Am I missing something, or was the entire topic of this article (snapshotting) not once explained?I get that Ferals use it, but...what is it?
Snapshotting = when you apply a DoT, all the temporary buffs and damage modifiers are applied to the DoT for its FULL duration, even if the buff/modifier itself only lasts a few seconds.When done correctly, you can stack modifiers to make a very powerful bleed for the whole duration.When done badly, you accidentally overwrite a really good DoT with a really bad one (yes that is possible).Now, I have played Druid for 20 years and consider myself a good player and knowledgeable about the class. I usually main Guardian and Resto, but I have done Balane and Feral a bit too.With that said, good riddance to snapshotting; it is a terrible mechanic that’s incredibly difficult to monitor and play with on the base ui, without importing a load of custom addons to do the thinking for you.Feral has more than enough to manage already with energy/combo points/DoT durations/procs/off spec abilities.There is a reason Feral is one of the least represented specs. Without snapshotting hopefully this will improve, and the spec will be more playable without needing to be a master. Hopefully Blizzard continue down this road, and you can look at Assassination for a melee DoT spec that works much better.
This article feels really lacking.No mention of the hero talent changes at all? Exacerbating wounds isna huge cause for concern and much of druid of the claw's tree was reworked and not even a mention?
Icon differences: https://imgur.com/a/qzA2pwYCD Manager: https://imgur.com/a/PZPJPdxThese "icon" differences are "noticable" but not as noticable as they would be if the icon had some kind of "border" to it.Having to try to see through the "swipe" overlay and count down is a bit silly....
One of the core problems feral had since - over a decade - is the effort vs reward disparity compared to other specs.The amount of effort required to play on a similar level to most other specs is simply too high for most players which leaves the small minority which still put up with it because they like the complexity or just have - through lots of playing - adapted to it.Simply put: A large chunk of players arguably struggle to play feral as the dungeon/raid mechanics right now are hard enough to deal with and worrying about a complex rotation (For the same, or probably less DPS) is just more <unnecessary> cognitive burden.
I think the changes are a mixed bag. I won't miss Brutal Slash, Adaptive Swarm, or Sudden Ambush. I will miss and do miss Blood Talons when it was procced from regrowth/HT. Additionally, I'm not a fan of Chomp, I like pooling playstyles a lot, like feral in the past, while Chomp kinda goes against that and will push the spec to continue to be spammy. Everything else I'll be excited to try out.
Snap shotting was considered cringe gameplay bybthe devs back in MoP and removed from every1, except feral, it is crazy as hell that it is still around in any form. Every1 else has dots that just auto updates for any buffs u get
A note to the author:
Some day we'll have the technology to have all of the reviews in one location
I don't really like feral, but I do have a feral alt and the idea of Chomp sounds great for someone like me who can't feral their way outta paper bag. I always have energy issues and I'm used to bears, always having rage... (silly name tho...)
I've been playing feral since shortly after release. The thing that bothers me about these abilities that attack a random target is that I like to choose my targets, not let the game choose them for me.
Blizzard you see whats going on here? Just remove snapshot to, nobody cares. Removing Bloodtalons and Adaptive Swarm was a pretty good choice. Brutal slash idk i liked it but its fine.
I loved snapshotting back in WOD i had full mastery gear with pre pot always top dps <3
