Burning Crusade Classic Feral Druid Energy Change Coming With Regional Restarts

TBC Posted 2021/06/28 at 8:17 PM by perculia

Blizzard

Feral Druids now receive 20 Energy every 2 seconds, and their Energy should never get a partial tick outside of that 2-second loop.

Developers' note: With careful timing, Cat Druids should be able to receive their full 20 Energy regeneration tick immediately after shifting.

Team ratings should now more closely follow personal rating changes on Arena teams.

TLDR: We’re bringing back WoW Classic Feral Druid powershifting by moving Druid Energy regeneration to the constant 2-second slow tick loop. Cat Druids will receive 20 Energy every 2 seconds, their Energy will never get a partial tick outside of that 2-second loop, and with careful timing, they can receive their full 20 energy regeneration tick immediately after shifting. We’ve been discussing Druid Energy regeneration a lot the last few weeks. There has been a great deal of community discussion about it on every channel and platform that we read and listen to, and that discussion started almost immediately after we implemented the Burning Crusade Classic power regeneration change first introduced in patch 2.2.0. At that point in the original Burning Crusade, the game would grant a partial tick of regeneration whenever any regeneration rates changed, and it would reset their regeneration clock, so the next tick would happen about 2 seconds later. While this improves some abilities like Evocation, it has the side effect of removing a Druid’s ability to time their shapeshift into Cat form immediately before a regeneration tick to order to quickly receive 20 Energy.That playstyle, often called “powershifting”, was greatly missed by some players.As we’ve worked on this, one of the people we spoke with was the original systems designer who requested the change to energy regeneration. Those conversations have made it clear that the patch 2.2.0 regeneration change in late 2007 was not intended as a nerf to Druids. It’s therefore a pretty solid case of change results not matching up with design intent. In a #somechanges world, we think it’s important to consider both the original intent and the original execution of changes, and this looks like an example where version 2.4.3 (the patch that Burning Crusade Classic 2.5.1 is based on) exhibits a behavior that was unintended at the time. We can see that both Druids and the energy regeneration system were changed again in patch 3.0.2.Our implementation of the authentic regeneration behavior, combined with the removal of spell batching, has caused a persistent timing issue for Druids and we’d like to try a straightforward solution. With a hotfix that we’ve now deployed to our PTR environment, we’re testing moving Druid Energy regeneration back to a 2-second cycle that is unaffected by regeneration rate changes.This should result in Cat Druids receiving Energy at a more constant rate, and additionally, Druids can once again powershift by timing their shapeshifts to optimize their Energy use. After this change, Druids should (almost) never receive less than 20 Energy in a single regen tick.Thanks for reading, and thank you for all of your feedback on this.

Comment by MomoiGreatComment by T666the damage has been done
i guess better late than never to address another final patch at launch atrocityComment by DominikRainRemovedComment by KyraellinaMy feral kitty is happy. Thank you!Comment by GainastyleEvery single feral tank cares, since they play cat on fights there is no need for two tanks.Comment by couchpotato2013Every single feral tank cares, since they play cat on fights there is no need for two tanks.Comment by ranger10700Some peoples idea of fun is different then yours, which is precisely why it’s called Massively Multiplayer not Massively Singleplayer. If Blizzard did things the way you suggest, they would end up with exactly one type of player.Comment by trinqucyLol really? Feral tanks get better and better as TBC progresses. They are the alpha tank for most bosses by late game. They are also really really good right now. If you think the community shuns feral tanks, you are clueless.Comment by IcefalconssEvery single feral tank cares, since they play cat on fights there is no need for two tanks.Comment by Sallarathe damage has been done
i guess better late than never to address another final patch at launch atrocityEvery single feral tank cares, since they play cat on fights there is no need for two tanks.Comment by BearknucklesEvery single feral tank cares, since they play cat on fights there is no need for two tanks.Comment by JennyBestPonyA min-max Guild will probably drop the warrior MT in favour of a bear T5 onwards, they just get so good as the content progresses.Comment by NulgarI see you edited the title, but could the Discord webhook include a "BCC:" or icon for non-Retail posts? Twice now I thought this was about Retail Feral changes, this time only for a second, but still.Comment by LearnToSwimEvery single feral tank cares, since they play cat on fights there is no need for two tanks.Comment by enz0Feral cat is the worst dps spec right now, this change means like a 5% dps boost but the rotation will be fun again and you are mad about it.

Loving the tears.Comment by svitaklEvery single feral tank cares, since they play cat on fights there is no need for two tanks.Comment by XiranhiThere is a general shortage on tanks. When tanks are starting to get gear maxing out what is available and they do not need badges of justice for direct use anymore, the availability and willingness to tank will fall even further.

I wanted to play feral in PvP, but the energy tick mess caused me to roll hunter. It just isn't as fun (and good) to only be able to mangle after a shift in critical moments in arena/battlegrounds instead of being able to shred if you time the shift just before tick. The whole rotation doesn't flow either.
Now, the issue should be resolved and I'm in the process of leveling my druid. Mainly for feral arena, but as the spec is 95% tank spec I will get some key tank pieces to be able to tank heroics.
Even though the spec isn't mainstream or bis, it is important that people play feral. People can say what they want, but druid is a very nice class to play and in fact the only class that can play two roles with one spec.Comment by VctrA min-max Guild will probably drop the warrior MT in favour of a bear T5 onwards, they just get so good as the content progresses.Comment by LedarenFeral cat is the worst dps spec right now, this change means like a 5% dps boost but the rotation will be fun again and you are mad about it.

Loving the tears.Comment by mangaguy2000Feral cat is the worst dps spec right now, this change means like a 5% dps boost but the rotation will be fun again and you are mad about it.

Loving the tears.