Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Tyrk: Cat DPS


A few days ago in guild chat, Sukiko I think it was, asked a question that touched a nerve. "So, what happened to cat dps?"

What?! Well, I can't speak for all cats, but I can certainly speak for myself. My dps is just fine.

Well, you know, considering.

Hm.

I guess that qualifier, "considering", is what Suki was getting at. I mean, my brother recently ran his daily random with a cat that maintained an average 8K dps. What's usually the very top of the charts in heroic 5 mans? 5-6K? 8K is insanely good.

You know what? I'm not going to just speak for myself. I'll stand up for cats everywhere. Our dps is just fine. Considering.

But considering what? First thing I consider is that while levelling, my dps was almost always at the top of the meter. When it wasn't #1, it was at least comparable to whoever was there. In other words, when my gear was comparable to everyone else's, I could excel at my role. The next thing I consider is how many cats do you see raiding? I see lots of trees. Oom was in Onyxia 25 once with 4 other moonkin. But feral druids in a raid? All I see are bears. I think I've only ever seen a cat in a raid once. Ever.

My theory is that cat is a fun path to follow. We're fast, good looking, we do well in a fight and heal up quickly when it's done. Therefore it's a path people follow if they just want to kick back, relax and enjoy their experience in Azeroth. Serious raiders need to belong to guilds, guilds need tanks more than dps, therefore serious feral raiders end up going bear. And it's the serious raiders who get the serious gear and can do the serious dps.

But that's all just theory. Now I feel like I have to represent. You know. Get some gear and prove that cat dps can really be all that.

Fortunately, the Crimson Dragon is at the point where they sub in alts for the first wing of ICC. So Oom let me go in his place this week. What would probably provide the biggest dps jump for me, would be to upgrade the weapon I've been using since the first week I hit level 80 with either the staff Rotface drops or the polearm from the Blood Council. But those not even being in the first wing . . . well it didn't happen this week. However, I did get a new ring and the final frost emblems I need for a new cloak. We'll see where it goes from here.

1 comment:

  1. For anyone astute enough to notice, or who may care, neither of the cats in the picture is Tyrk. That's Oomshakalaka and Elauriel, the resto druid that raids with Crimson Dragon, sprinting away from Sindragosa to reset her fight after defeating the two frost wyrms before she comes down. The picture just seems to be a good fit for the topic.

    And more for anyone interested, when we raid ICC we have a bear (Jakra), a tree (Elauriel), and two Moonkin (Tarrah and Oomshakalaka). Most weeks, three of us are present. There have been a few times when all four showed up. Yup, four druids in a 10 man raid. And not one of them a cat. Not until this past week when I took Tyrk.

    For secondary specs, Jak and El have Moonkin. Tarrah actually has cat, but I've never seen her use it. And Oom only has the one spec.

    Tyrk has two feral specs, cat and PvP cat/bear hybrid. Coccinelle has two resto specs, healing and PvP healing.

    ReplyDelete