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Bear >, =, < Cat... hmmFollow

#1 Apr 24 2007 at 10:49 AM Rating: Decent
Hello guys,

I dinged lv 33 last night in STV, Yay! Well I've been using bear form quite a lot.... and it's starting to grow on me. Demo shout, swipe, maul... regular crits great damage, stun move!!! for those cruddy healer mobs.

On the other hand, I really like cat form too. With Ambush and now Eviserate (you know what ones).

This job is so confusing on what to pick =D

I was dragging my feet at 19 cause I did not know what equipment to use when I got cat form. Now I'm in a constant battle of bear vs cat.

I know it's situational. Get links and want to live use bear, when 1 is dead regrowth, then cat form. On running mobs I like the cat cause I can kill them faster if I miss while they're running. I think just straight up 1 on 1 I chose cat form for the fast killing....

Anyone else like fighting as both and have a tough time what button to click every fight? This is not a "OMG what form to use post", just a discussion on why do ye like X form over other, and that's why you use it 90% of the time.

Oh, here's a quick question... when do I get animal form ferie fire? It's talent ability? I'm feral btw.
#2 Apr 24 2007 at 11:18 AM Rating: Good
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Feral Faerie Fire: Tier 5 talent. You can get it as soon as level 30 but it's not that important so you might pick it up a bit later in favor of the more damage-oriented talents.

Now, about the forms. I prefer Cat form by far when soloing. It's just infinitely faster. With high enough crit rate, thus decent equipment, and a good build, it has happened quite a few times that a chain-critted mob died before my Prowl cooldown had worn off. (Which means you can kill some mobs roughly your level in under 10 seconds if you're lucky and pull some crits) That won't really happen till level 40 though. LotP for another 5% crit weighs a ton in the balance.

I switch to Bear only for instances unless we already have a tank. Otherwise only if I pull more adds than intended or want to solo an elite or much higher level mob. Even then, I'll likely use a Cat opener. Pounce -> Shred -> Rip -> Shift to Bear. If Shred crits it's still a 3-points Rip which starts the fight well in your favor and you can execute it quickly enough to be in Bear before he recovers from the stun which means you don't sacrifice survivability. Then you tough it out and Enrage+FR when needed as well as Bash+Heal. Bear really isn't a killing form.

If you play on a PvP server, or if you do BG's, you will end up using it regularly to take on specific classes, wait for reinforcements or shift in and out to use Feral Charge, Bash, etc. even against classes you'd typically use Cat against.

Once you get Mangle+Lacerate I suppose the DPS might be better (Haven't gotten there yet even though I've had 2 Druids T_T) but Cat will always be the DPS form. Kill kill kill kill, shift out, juicy Healing Touch, shift back and let the carnage continue.

Bear form lacks complexity as for the whole "Which buttons to press" issue except when tanking. When dealing damage, just use your rage. Demo Shout whenever it fades from your targets. If against only one target, I'd even skip Demo Shout in favor or killing him faster. Against multiple mobs, there are a few ways to go: Lacerate on everyone then focus on burning one down. Or you can just give everything you have on a single target. Or you can spam Swipe in hopes that it will crit and allow you to spam it endlessly to kill all your targets pretty much at once.

Edited, Apr 24th 2007 2:20pm by Selverein
#3 Apr 24 2007 at 11:33 AM Rating: Decent
I leveled to 70 using cat, cat, and more cat. Bear was pretty much reserved as a survival tool. I love prowl...pick your battles, walk right by the trash. I love pounce...."Hello, goodbye!" I even love the sound claw makes, you can almost hear the blood splattering. I wish they'd use that sound for mangle.

It wasn't until late 60's that I learned to love the bear. Somehow I made it that far without being asked to tank instances. When I finally did tank I was like "Holy @(#$, this is pretty cool!" I still like cat better, but I've come to love and appreciate bear, too.
#4 Apr 24 2007 at 11:36 AM Rating: Good
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It should also make a difference what kind of mob you are hunting. Cat vs casters, bear vs melee, cat vs mobs that run away, etc.

I go back and forth between the two in every new area to see which is more effective against the enemies there. Sometimes you find a Murloc camp where they all die quick to cat form. Sometimes it's really fun to find lower level camps and sweep through in bear form, letting them do the work of running and getting more Murlocs for you.

I also use bear form when my mana runs low so I have more time to regen mana before I have to shift back out again.
#5 Apr 24 2007 at 12:01 PM Rating: Decent
Hmm I was kindda hoping to read a "Bear all the way!!!" post =P

Quote:
mob died before my Prowl cooldown had worn off.

I did that quite a few times last night, when I crit coming out of stealth it's on like donkey kong. So I'm forced to stand there until the timer is up lol.

Cat I think is my fav. too. However, if I don't feel like being sneaky and pulling single mobs out of a pack at the right time... I will change to old Yogi and steal some mobs pic-a-nic baskets.
#6 Apr 24 2007 at 10:03 PM Rating: Decent
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To be a good Druid, you really need to make use of all of your forms regardless of spec. Even as a Balance Druid, I still shift into Cat Form to Prowl around or get the jump on clothies that don't know I'm around.

This is even more true for Feral Druids since, with minimal to no extra point investment, you can augment both Bear and Cat Forms. Fine-tuning your roll will come more in the form of gear selection, but even then, for the most part the two forms' stats overlap sufficiently enough.

At the end of the day WoW is still a game. You should play what you enjoy most and damn what anyone else says. If Bear appeals to you, then gear and talent up for Bear and be the best damn Feral tank you can be. As long as it works and you're having fun, defer to your preference in grinding and PvP as often as you like.

Just don't neglect all the other wonderful things you can do.

And one last piece of advice: get Furor ASAP.
#7 Apr 25 2007 at 12:16 AM Rating: Decent
i say cat. mainly for grinding. love bear when in instance, but if they have a tank, i'll use cat, i can out DPS a mage or rogue that way, just stand behind and rake shred shred....FB. i like cat in contested (i'm in pvp server) areas coz i can track humanoids, i'm a skinner btw, so i grind on beasts. this way, i can see anyone approaching me.

hmm...for BGs or PvP, i recommend constantly switching forms. i like starting with cat, huge damage wih the pounce combo thing, half health shift back, heal/pot then go bear to finish him off. this is mainly for 1 on 1. BGs i stay in cat 75% of the time coz as a druid, they don't think i'm much of a threat tho i'm usually top 3 in score charts, they don't hit me but foucs on locks, warrs, rogues and hunters. i'm kinda like a "meh, we can take his hits" kinda thing, the thing is i'm pulling off 500+ crits with my shreds at 38. so cats in PvP, shred shred shred all the way till 5 CB then FB.

bear...never use im much, unless i'm taking on 2-5 on 1 (anymore and i'll run)or when i'm in a party. bears are AWESOME i must say, but i don't think i'll use em much till i get dire bear. bears are wanted for instances tho but u cant be the off-healer coz of the agro generated. don't use bear much for grinding coz if u compare my DPS meter(seriously, not DPS, DPS meter)i do like ~175 in cat through a fight versus the ~75 in bear, i kinda think that'll you'll know why i choose cat over bear to grind.

i sometimes use bear to grind too tho, when i feel like getting like 3 gorillas agroing me and killing em all at once, that's kinda good XP, but it requires more down time and it'll ake about 1.5x as long as killing 3 in cat. but idk, it's fun.

in the end, the decision is up to you, bear or cat, doesnt really matter, what matters is that you have fun, and TONS of it. no point paying so much money per month just to throw it away on playing how people play, develop your own style, just try not to be a noob and all =).

final statement, sums it up.
bear=tank, instances, agroing 3 at once and all,
cat= DPS, grinding, quick kill PvP.

once again, have fun, remember, don't ninja, peace out =)
#8 Apr 25 2007 at 5:30 AM Rating: Decent
Quote:
And one last piece of advice: get Furor ASAP.


Gives you 100% chance to gain 10 Rage when you shapeshift into Bear and Dire Bear Form or 40 Energy when you shapeshift into Cat Form.

Yup, that was one of the 1st things I got. I got 3/3 on the armor one, 3/3 on stealth one, 5/5 on Furor. I love it! We ran Gnomeregan last night in a PUG, and changing from bear form to heal myself, then having the 10 rage for a demo shout on the next group every time I went back was nice.

I'm not going to run any more instances I think until I get Dire form. I did really well tanking, kept aggro nice with swipe spams and demo shouts, the other warrior would tank 1/2 I'd get the other 1/2. I just can't wait to see what Dire has in store for me =D
#9 Apr 25 2007 at 5:48 AM Rating: Decent
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As far as speccing is concerned I would concentrate on Feral all the way to Mangle, because you will want it asap (unless you are rdy to pay to respec at that point, which I wasn't). I would also get Faerie Fire (Feral) asap because it's simply one of the most useful abilities druids get in forms.

Re: forms, I think I used bear between lvl 10 and 19, and then... hmm... no sorry can't remember :P

Really in Azeroth cat form should be more or less all you need, although I agree it's good to know how to use all the forms, but it just doesn't make a lot of sense. I remembered that when I tanked ST at lvl 56 or so I had not even put Mangle in my bear action bar, so basically I have not been using bear form ONCE between lvl 51 and 56, and I probably wouldn't have used it if not for tanking an instance. And before ST I was always asked to heal because anybody can tank the lower instances. So cat form FTW. Another exception: I used bear form to solo elites before I got Mangle - after lvl 50 the quests are designed so that elites can't be soloed (either they are too high lvl like the princess, or they come in groups like the dragons in badlands).

In Outland it's a different story even though cat form still rules the day (it runs fast, has stealth, and deals an incredibly high amount of damage, so it's by far the best for leveling purposes). But I've been tanking in instances every time (nobody ever asks me to heal any more, even if they don't know I'm feral). And I start to like bear form more and more. But it's really purely for tanking, either instances or quest elites.
#10 Apr 25 2007 at 6:01 AM Rating: Good
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Honestly, bear form gets me killed more often than not. I can take more hits, but my DPS goes down the drain, and battles take forever. Once Frenzied Regeneration is on a cooldown, it's pretty much useless to me.

I've gone cat and the only time I've thought about switching my form is in BGs (because I can't kill an enemy my level even if I get a lucky chain of crits, so survival is more important... if you have a healer. Good luck with that). Cat just rips things to shreds (ha, two ability names!).

Go cat, go fast. As for equipment, focus on strength, stamina, and agility, pretty much in that order. Strength gives more AP (1:2.4 ratio, with my talents), Stamina gives health, agility gives less AP, but crit and dodge in small amounts.
#11 Apr 25 2007 at 6:18 AM Rating: Decent
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Just on the side, I tend to go for more Agi, because agi gives AP and dodge, which is always good, but more importanly Agi gives crits, and crits are good, because crits deal more damage, crits heal me and crits give me combo points.
#12 Apr 25 2007 at 6:36 AM Rating: Good
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I second that. I'm kind of a crit-***** myself. I wouldn't sacrifice huge amounts of AP for it, but I just *must* have at least 25% crit once I have Sharpened Claws and Leader of the Pack.
#13 Apr 25 2007 at 7:23 AM Rating: Decent
Yeah, I'm all about agi too. Everything I have has agi in it, with at least one other stat. My fav. is Monkey and Tiger stuff. Agi/stam and Agi/str. Int/spri not so important to me at least. Even my 2Hnd mace is Tiger str/agi O.o
#14 Apr 28 2007 at 1:51 PM Rating: Decent
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Cat for single pulls, bear for multi-pulls when solo (and yes, for evil self-healing caster interrupts)

Pounce gives me a chance to stack hits without even being touched, and with mangle means I rarely take more than 10% damage per mob. Outfitter addon means I can carry seperate kits for both forms (cba with healing kit) and it will change to the correct outfit every shift - a lifesaver! Although the downside is it can't switch during combat, so Furor causes issues because you're put 'in combat' to generate the rage.

My favourite KittyKat Kit is tiger - agility for crits/dodge, etc, and the STR = 2AP per point, can't beat it. Stamina enchants are probably the cheapest going, so I'd rather add those than have STA kit and add agility/strength.

Another beneficial addon (in fact, I doubt I'd level anywhere near as fast without it) is Trinity Bars - the form bar means that every time you shift, only the action buttons for that form are displayed, making the cat/bear issue negligable.
#15 Apr 28 2007 at 4:17 PM Rating: Good
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Cat for soloing, Bear for tanking and on tough pulls. It's all about flexibility. If you're up against one mob, Cat form is safe. If you suddenly get more adds, shifting out might be good, favoring the armor and stamina boost of the Bear over the damage of the Cat.

You need to assess the situations as they come. It's what makes playing a Druid so fun. It's not just the same five buttons you mash, sometimes you need to change your playstyle completely to survive.

In PvP you often want to alternate between the two forms constantly to get the advantages of each. Use Bear form to lower their damage and stun, then Cat form to deal some damage, then back to Bear form to get some more survivability and perhaps a heal through Frenzied Regeneration.

And so on. Adapt to the situation.
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#16 Apr 28 2007 at 4:57 PM Rating: Decent
I almost always use Cat form before i hit 20 i was using bear about half of the time, but i find cat way easier and faster to kill and if you have feral swiftness easy to run and catch runners.
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