Among my two complaints about feral right now; yes I only have two, well maybe three. Anyway the one that bugs me most is using rage, and worse, energy to fuel a timely interrupt. Here I am happily smacking away and boom I need to interrupt in the next second an a half. If I don't have the rage or energy already available it ain't happening.
While tanking something where I know I will have to interrupt I can make the additional effort to keep a little rage in reserve for a timely interrupt. It actually isn't that big of a deal, just a matter of not hitting maul that one more time. Bear rotation remains relatively constant when it comes to rage usage per unit time.
Cat form is a whole other story, energy levels are constantly doing a roller coaster from near full back to nothing and that fluctuation more often than not will never line up for a convenient interrupt. Best case scenario you have the energy and it doesn't muck up your dots/roar, worse case scenario you just threw off a ferocious bite or something. I don't really like to consciously think about the numbers, but when you get into the cat groove you get used to having a certain amount of energy to work with, setting some aside really isn't a consideration. Saving some short term for a known interrupt is probably the best of both worlds, but that isn't always possible. Oh that reminds me, there are four things I don't like about feral.
Taking a look at other classes we have interrupts again on cooldowns, but using a more static resources like mana, focus or runic power. Even rogues don't seem to use their energy in quite the same way as cats do, so the occasional kick isn't as much an inconvenience; could just be that it is cheaper too. Many of these interrupts aren't even on the global cooldown. This is how I like my interrupts, yes I hit the button quickly, give me a cookie. Ideally an interrupt should have no impact on other abilities and having it on it's own cooldown is sufficient in my book.
To be honest it just adds a little to the Jon Maden of kitty dps that we have recently lost.
ReplyDeleteIf you know you need to interrupt then you save a little energy. You shouldn't be using FB until the boss is below 25% as its a waste of energy according to the latest patch theory crafting.
I do agree that it can gimp our dps a little if we have to interrupt but if it means a boss dies im up for that.
One more thing, as kitties (Bleeds dont need hit one there) and bears (Ahh vengence!) aren't favoring hit or expertise we don't suit being the main interrupters anyway unless there is no other option.
I take theorycraft with a grain of salt and tend to focus more on empirical data as it relates to my personal playstyle. The majority of my playtime is still 5-man dungeons where flexibility, utility and self reliance seem to give a better return on investment than specialization. I'm often crowd controlling, interrupting, and even throwing offspec heals (those are never good days). In my little corner of Azeroth we don't often have the luxury of a main/dedicated anything.
ReplyDeleteSorry, i didn't mean to demean your post in any way..
ReplyDeleteAs a kitty ive had to chuck out plenty of heals due to lack of CC or a poorly geared tank/heals so i hear where your coming from.
I just think that us even having an interrupt is way better than the position we were in before cata, and if that means saving that little bit of energy or rage to do so then that just adds a little complexity to the game that hopefully can make it fun for us 8)
Oh yeah, back in the good old days when interrupting meant flipping to bear and charging.
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