Feralbynight

I have been playing a Resto Druid for a few months now and ever since there was the smallest mention of dual specs I have been collecting Kitty gear with the idea of using that as my second spec.  Actually when Ulduar was released and we needed our highest level gear for Flame Leviathan I was embarrassed to find out just how many pieces were better than my “main gear” hahaha. I did all my homework, read too many forums and blogs and when the time came I paid my gold and tah-dah I was a resto/kitty druid in one easy hit.  I then went out and changed my whole UI to make it easier to fight up close and in your face (actually, in your face isn’t too accurate because we fight from behind and the view is even worse).  And then the big day came ……………….

 

I pressed the buttons and changed my spec, I pressed another button and my gear changed to suit my spec, I pressed another button and flew to Storm Peaks where I could practice on some unsuspecting mobs.  Geez, I sure pushed a lot of buttons.  I picked my target, I pounced with a mighty roar and then pressed a button to get the message “you must be behind your target”, “you must be behind your target”, “you must be behind your target”, over and over and over and then I realised I had been playing resto so long I had absolutely no idea how to play Kitty.  But not to worry, I had hours before my DPS was needed for the hard modes of Heroic Ulduar (my Guild has asked for some healers to change to dps for some hard modes, specific bosses etc).

 

So there was my dilemma.  I had the gear, I had the spec but I had to get up to speed to be able to provide adequate DPS in a semi serious raid guild within hours. I was especially worried after reading so many posts about how hard it was to play Kitty, and how there are no set rotations etc.  When I discussed this with Razor and after he had finished laughing at me for an hour or so, he suggested I look at the  Feralbynight addon which is designed to suggest your next move/attack as a Kitty.  He suggested another addon too but I really wasn’t paying attention as he can be pretty annoying most of the time.  Mmm actually, that is all the time but that is whole different story.

 

I downloaded the Mod, and went straight to the training dummies in Ironforge and commenced to play “whack-a-mole” for kitties.  It really was that simple – in the middle of the addon it shows which talent you should use next, and to the right it shows the talent that is coming up after that one.  I personally play using the keypad for offensive spells/talents on all classes so it was simply a matter of changing the buttons to match the talents that Feralbynight was suggesting.  I think healing is really whack-a-mole on a grid raid screen, so using Feralbynight really was the same sort of thing for me.  I found within minutes that I was cranking out VERY reasonable DPS and even without raid buffs was already above some of our DPS’ers that I checked out on WWS reports.

 

And so the big night came and the request was made for me to stop healing for the next fight, change specs and show my DPS talents.  O! M! F! G! it was soooooooooooooooo hard.  I now look at kitty druids in a whole new light and truly hold them in reverence.  Doing DPS on a training dummy is absolutely nothing compared to the real thing with everything moving, you, the boss, the tank, adds, flamestrikes, spell effects, aggro to worry about, living to worry about, changing targets to worry about.  Did I Say OMFG?  I need a bigger font!  Holy Geez it was hard.

 

Since that raid I have spent more and more time in Kitty form so that I can learn to play it properly.  I still use Feralbynight but I don’t rely on it any more and am genuinely learning the talents and what I should be watching for.  I firmly believe that the addon is an absolutely fantastic tool to begin to learn how to play kitty.  However, I do think it would take the fun out of playing the class before very long and even more importantly I would think that a pro player HAS TO be better than an automated mod at the end of the day.

 

Either way .. Kitty is fun!   Roooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaar  (or “meow” as the case may be)

 

And now for a picture because Razor said the new forums need pictures in posts.  I was going to post some screenies but I am at work so I have stolen this one off the net …