The Queue: It’s a roundtable kind of day
@faience
This week, I have discovered the power of outsourcing. There were a few questions I didn’t have an answer to, but fortunately I have a team of minions experts to lean on for advice. And, while Mitch sends his shadowy regards, he is out today, so you’ll simply have to make do with the rest of us.
Q4tQ: Are rings and neck pieces from WoD (Tanaanish ilvl) with their primary stat better than the those you get when you first start leveling in Legion? If so at what level do Legion rings and neck pieces start being better?
Secondary Q4tQ: Do none of the Legion rings and neck pieces have primary stats?
Liz: Nope, no primary stat necks or rings in Legion. And whether Legion versions will be better than high level Warlords version is probably going to depend on your stat priorities. And at higher levels, I’m going to guess that the ilevel boost is going to provide more than the primary stats you get from those old items.
QftQ: Druid was my old main, but I haven’t played him in a while. Leveled him up off the invasions, and I’ve started trying to level him in Legion. Got my Fangs and I’m ready to rock as feral. But… my damage is awful. I feel like I’m a tiny baby slapping my enemies to death. I have *some* invasion gear, but my ilevel is around 685. I’m only level 100, but it feels very slow and discouraging. Is this how feral feels later on? Is it just my gear right now?
For reference, I’m generally starting combat in stealth, opening with rake, then shredding to 5 CP. Last time I really played this guy (Mists) I’d then use ferocious bite to kill or pretty much kill my target. But ferocious bite is only hitting for twice as much as a shred when I pool energy. So I’ve been using rip instead, but it just takes so long to do serious damage. How does the artifact ability factor into this? It seems to be as effective as giving my enemies eskimo kisses.
I’m only asking because my hunter, demon hunter, and mage didn’t seem to have any trouble (and with the exception of the DH the others had similar ilvls to the drood). I’m sure the answer is to just be patient and get some better gear, but in the off chance that it isn’t I’d rather turn tail and do something else.
Liz: I asked Dan, our resident Druid to answer this question (and then everyone else had to chime in).
Dan: At level 100 your ilvl 685 gear shouldn’t be the problem. Starting in stealth then opening with Rake is good, but you should be using your Artifact base ability Ashamane’s Frenzy if it’s up for massive damage before Shredding to 5 CP. Ferocious Bite should be finishing off your target assuming it’s not an elite. You might also want to look into the Savage Roar talent to increase you damage output though it’s usually reserved for longer fights. Feral druids are quite competitive in recent raid DPS charts so I can confidently say they are doing well overall. Keep at it. You’ll gear up very quickly early on and don’t forget to use your artifact base ability every time it’s up. When comparing the class to other DPS classes, remember it may not be apples to apples at level 100.
Anna: Fwiw, Hunters and Demon Hunters are beastly, so it may just be that your expectation is skewed.
Dan: It evens out in the long run.
Matticus: Matt’s solution: Just reroll Priest.
Q4tQ: so is Zarya out now in HotS? How’s things with her?
Liz: Zarya came out yesterday alongside the new Warhead Junction map.
Anna: From what I’ve seen she’s pretty underwhelming. Her damage seems to be scaled really low, even with full energy. There are definitely places where she could excel given the chance, but she really needs some buffs before she can do so. Her design seems cool but she needs some tuning, basically.
Liz: Both of Zarya’s heroics sound great for chokepoints, but without enough DPS… bleh.
Anna: Yeah, it’s tough to gain that energy, it decays quickly, and it doesn’t do enough to boost her DPS.
I have to go into normal emerald nightmare for quests but have no time commitment for guilds – is group finder decent? (this is from someone who hasn’t done a normal at-level raid since wrath and has no idea where to start)
Liz: It’s definitely worth noting that normal isn’t as tough as it used to be, or at least it doesn’t feel that way. With four difficulty tiers, I’d say heroics are more like what normals used to be.
Anna: IME group finder can be OK, but expect to get turned down a lot if you’re DPS. Maybe watch a raid stream or two to get your strats down.
Liz: For what it’s worth, I’m not seeing any Emerald Nightmare groups in the group finder right now.
Anna: To be frank, I find slogging through group finder situations far more time consuming and burdensome than just throwing in your lot with a random mass invite guild. That’s literally what I did this xpack. Somebody ginvited me and I rolled with it. Instead of, oh crap, I need to hunt down and learn several strats for each fight on my own, it’s okay kids, let’s all watch this one youtube video, and then we’ll discuss strats at length…
Rachelle: Group finder can be iffy. DPS are a dime a dozen, so they get turned down a lot because groups basically have their pick of whatever they want and just go with higher ilvls. Healers and tanks will obviously have better chances. Although you kind of have to deal with stigmas too, like for some reason the WoW community think BRM Monks and Disc Priests are bad so they won’t take them.
Dan: I predict a #FriendshipMoose situation arising.
Liz: Yeah, I’d watch the forums, social, etc, to see who’s doing somewhat more organized groups.
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