Shifting the Power

Powershifting is gone.

They have changed Furor and the energy regeneration mechanics for ferals in the latest beta build. Now, if you shift out of form and back again, you do no longer simply have 40 energy flat. Instead you will be given the amount of energy you would have had without shifting, up to a maximum of 40.

Some examples:

You have 100 energy, shift out and back again; now you have 40 energy.
You have 0 energy, shift out, cast a Rejuvenation on yourself and shift back again; now you have 15 energy.
You have 0 energy, shift out, cast a few heals, chug a potion and shift back again; now you have 40 energy.


Basically, this is a nerf for raiding ferals, as we no longer can pump up our energy in exchange for mana. In PvP the effect should not be noticable, and in all other aspects of feral play there should be no disadvantage at all.

As they explain it, this is to counter a tactic they never intended to be part of feral gameplay and they do not want to have to balance around it. Which is understandable. If you think about it, King of the Jungle gives you 60 energy, and is much further down the talent tree (and on a 30 sec CD) - giving out 40 for just 5 talent points, some mana and a GCD seems kind of unfair.


What I am wondering is this: Why not go all the way? Have energy regeneration continue regardless of form. If I am in another form for 10 seconds or more, give me my full 100 energy (as long as I have put my 5 points in Furor)! The new system proves that it can be done using the current game mechanics (actually, due to a bug in the changes done, right now that is the way it works on beta realms).

That would counter the nuisance of waiting for 60 energy every time we shift to cat form.
On the other hand, with King of the Jungle we have a free method that doesn't use up a GCD. And powershifting much more frequently than every 30 seconds is not feasible anyways, so really we do not lose much.

All in all, I do not mind the change. I personally found powershifting to be a crutch anyways.