Increasing Feral Druid's Energy Regen Using Weak Troll's Blood Potion in Burning Crusade Classic

TBC Posted 2021/05/25 at 4:57 PM by NerdEgghead

druid class DiscordThe Feral Druid community's top scientists have come together to find a solution! Weak Troll's Blood Potion
Image from Classicwow RedditHow Energy Regeneration Changed in Patch 2.2How did Energy regen work in vanilla WoW?

All player resources (Mana, Energy, Health, and Rage) regenerate discretely on a fixed 2 second "tick".

On every tick, each resource is increased by the current regeneration rate times 2 seconds. So for example, Energy regenerates at a baseline rate of 10 Energy per second, so 20 Energy (10 x 2) is awarded on each Energy tick. Likewise, Mana is returned by taking the player's current total mp5, including both Spirit-based regen and raw mp5, and multiplying it by 0.4 (2 divided by 5) in order to determine how much Mana to refund on each tick.

The timing of these regeneration ticks is fixed, and never changes, even when moving in and out of combat, or when casting abilities like Innervate.

Since the current regen rate is used when calculating how much Mana or Energy to refund on each tick, the timing of abilities like Innervate, Evocation, and Adrenaline Rush relative to the tick timer impacts how these abilities work! For example, if a rogue times an Adrenaline Rush cast to happen just before the next Energy tick, they will immediately get a large burst of Energy as if the buff was up for the entire tick.

For druids, this system causes Mana and Energy regeneration to proceed exactly the same regardless of what form the Druid is in or on when they shapeshifted. When shifting into Cat Form, for example, the druid's Energy is zeroed out but then 20 Energy is restored whenever the next Energy tick occurs after the shift. So similar to rogues, druids could time their shapeshifts before an Energy tick to sync with the fixed timer of when Energy batches will arrive.

andBlack Templeall of the TBC content through Tier 6 was already out under the vanilla systemWhy was the regeneration system changed to begin with?drink walkingInnervateAdrenaline RushInnervateEvocationsame spell batchHow did Energy regen work after the change?continuouslyclientaroundand

Each player maintains a personal tick timer for their resources that can be reset, rather than the fixed server tick timer used in vanilla.

Any change to the rate of Mana/Energy/Health regeneration triggers a full reset of the tick timer, as well as an instantaneous refund of Mana/Energy equal to the previous regen rate integrated over the time since the last tick. Subsequent ticks then return energy at the new regen rate.

Adrenaline RushAdrenaline RushAdrenaline RushInnervateImportantly, for druids, shapeshifting was treated as a spell that triggered an Energy/Mana tick reset, so Energy ticks started to completely reset after shifting into Cat Form as of Patch 2.2.How the Energy Regeneration Changes Impact Feral DruidsimprovementWhat is this powershifting thing anyway?Cat FormFurorCat FormWolfshead Helm60 EnergytheFeral druid powershifting in Patches 2.0 to 2.1Shred

Time in seconds

Action/Event

Final Energy

Powershift

Energy Tick

1.5

GCD ends, cast Shred

2.5

GCD ends, wait

Energy Tick

Cast Shred

GCD ends, powershift

Time in seconds

Action/Event

Final Energy

GCD ends, wait

Energy Tick

Cast Shred

GCD ends, wait

Energy Tick

Cast Shred

GCD ends, wait

FurorWolfshead Helm80 EnergyFeral druid powershifting in Patches 2.2 to 2.4

Time in seconds

Action/Event

Final Energy

Powershift, tick reset

1.5

GCD ends, cast Shred

Energy Tick

2.5

GCD ends, wait

Energy Tick

Cast Shred

GCD ends, powershift

20% nerf to yellow damage~14% nerf to overall DPSMuch more importantly, the playstyle caused by the new Energy system is much slower and clunkier than the original rotation, as you are now waiting idly for 2.5 seconds each cycle with nothing to do.Sodapoppin showing how Weak Troll's Blood Potion impacts energy ticks.Saving the Old Rotation: Trollsblood to the Rescue

Power Regeneration: Any effect which triggers a change in your rate of power regeneration (Mana, Rage, Energy, Focus) will now cause an immediate reward of some power at the old rate of increase, and then begin new “ticks” of power at the new rate approximately 2 seconds later. This was done to improve functionality of abilities such as Evocation and Innervate so that they did not have wasted “ticks”.

otherNepetaInnervatesecondandInnervatecontrolAtiesh, Greatstaff of the GuardianThe End of DreamsInnervatehealthWeak Troll's Blood Potion

Time in seconds

Action/Event

Final Energy

Powershift and use Weak Troll's Blood Potion

0.4

Cancel Regeneration buff, triggering Energy refund and tick reset

1.5

GCD ends, cast Shred

2.4

Energy Tick

2.5

GCD ends, cast Shred

3.5

GCD ends, powershift and use Weak Troll's Blood Potion

justWeak Troll's Blood Potion45 Weak Troll's Blood Potion used every 3 minute fightstacksWeak Troll's Blood PotionGnomereganManual Crowd PummelermoreEarthrootSodapoppin showing how energy regeneration changes based on health or mana per 5.Developer Intent Versus Implementation of 2.2 Regenreallywhenever there is a change in the rate of regenerationCat Formsame rate of 10 Energy per secondintent

Simply do not treat shapeshifting as a change in any regeneration rates (because none of them actually change), and therefore don't reset any ticks. This would lead to original 2.0-2.1 powershifting.

Alternatively, if the ticks need to be reset upon a shapeshift, then provide the instant Energy refund to the druid immediately after the shapeshift. Currently the "refund" that is given upon a shapeshift is 0, which is unlike how any other class gets their resources refunded. This implementation would lead to a cycle similar to the "Troll's Blood rotation" but without the need for such ridiculous consumable usage.

Will feral druids be stuck using a level 8 potion for all of Burning Crusade Classic in order to abuse a broken mechanic that was implemented for the final two raids of TBC?

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Comment by minka25Dont understand anything, but artwork of the year!Comment by swiperightSAVE US DRUID CLASSIC DISCORD, YOURE OUR ONLY HOPEComment by kaynelolI'd buy the new TBC store mount for all 3 of my accounts if Blizzard were to fix this and revert back to vanilla energy regen.Comment by AgeRevol#fixthetick
Please we just want to play the game, god damn itComment by DippyskoodlezRemovedComment by vaindilThis is an absolutely fantastic write-up, thank you so much for the in-depth article explaining everything so clearly.Comment by TraditorSo, TL;DR: kitties destroyed in the tbc prepatch, by delaying an energy tick when you go from caster to kitty. You can get around this and sort of remove this delay by changing your regeneration values. Weak Troll's Blood does just that for your hp, and as such resets when you'll get your next energy tick.

So you can use a level 8 consumable to get more energy regeneration, and sorta undo destruction that blizz did to kitties. But you have to use them constantly. So this is funny as heck, a clever use of game mechanics, and is absolutely unviable as you'd need tons of stacks of a low level potion that no one is going to be making.

Just goes to show how badly Blizz screwed up kitties.Comment by warbaloonor you could just play something that doesn't get clowned on by tier 3 dps classesComment by BenibWell written and throrough discussion of the issue at hand.

As mentioned in the post, the crux of the argument comes down to the experience and feel for the user and is it TBC like. Unfortunately, the heavy handed approach with the broad application of the 2.2 regen mechanics has led to an experience with does not emmulate that of TBC which was discussed at Blizzconline - interestingly, a unique change was made for Paladins in their seal twisting to emmulate their TBC experience with the mechanic and hardware changes in batching since classic release.

Please Blizzard, listen to the feedback and please do not kill a unique and vibrant community for the sake of hard nerfing a mid tier dps spec at best by ignoring this issue. Many, many solutions have been proposed in emails and forums posts (some more extreme and work intensive than others) such as fixing the tick itself, coding class and state exceptions, tweaking talents, introducing items such as a meta gem to restore energy.Comment by WoahAgree, fixing this is pretty important, hoping that we get a swift Blizzard answer in the next days :)Comment by glickstickor you could just play something that doesn't get clowned on by tier 3 dps classes> A 2007 blue post acknowledged that powershifting was not intended to be nerfed by the regen change, but that is what ended up happening in a dramatic way.

Except it didn't acknowledge it was not intended, that is a flat out lie.

It was acknowledging it was not documented and was going to be investigated for intent without any followup for the rest of the expansion.

Stop presenting this as fact when it's not. This topic would probably get some respect in the community if your argument wasn't constantly built on a lie.Comment by OkydThank you for this article and with it the exposure on wowhead front page.. Hopefully cats are taken seriously soon and some form of resolution to their destruction is found.Comment by Feralsoul"Cat Form, drink potion, go back into cat, take it off... WHY DID I GAIN ANY ENERGY? WHHHHY?"

If this isn't a summary of everything wrong with this change in short clip, I don't know what is. Blizzard can create ways to keep seal twisting and give cross faction seals and make sure rogues and mages get their ticks or a buff capturing device or retroactive honor changes... but can't figure out how to not mess up Cat Form more still. Priorities.

Hope this making its way to Wowhead and the mainstream actually gets something done. Feral Combat is always the last thing to get a look at.Comment by Dippyskoodlez
Show us where in the 2.2 patch notes you saw a single mention of feral druids. I'll wait. Do you really believe they gutted cat on purpose and didn't say a word about it?Comment by ScrubnoobWoWThank you for making this excellent article compiling all the information about energy ticks and powershifting. This should help clear out a lot of misconceptions about what ferals have been complaining about for the last few weeks before TBC Classic launch.

I'm hoping we can get a response quickly from Blizzard as well as a planned approach to solve the issue. At a first glance the first proposal seems like the most straightforward solution. If the back-end of the TBC continuous resource generation system is too restrictive, though, it's good to know that we only need a refund of 4 energy for the rotation to work smoothly.Comment by BlaekeIn the power shifting table, shouldn't the 44 be a 42?Comment by Superlight3200I'm very happy our issue went mainstream and I'm greatful to NerdEgghead and the Wowhead team to cover this. As the article said this has to go either A or B way, respecting the partial refunds or respecting the change in power gain, this cannot remain like this (both worst in one world). I hope Blizzard will address this soon, meanwhile spread the word!Comment by NerdEggheadYes it should, good catch!Comment by glickstick
Show us where in the 2.2 patch notes you saw a single mention of feral druids. I'll wait. Do you really believe they gutted cat on purpose and didn't say a word about it?Comment by BalisongI hope they fix this

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