I may not be an expert on being a druid, but I do know that strength is something very beneficial for us in cat and bear form.  And during this wonderful instance, I was in cat form as dps.  I was the lowest level in the instance by two levels.  The rest of the group were 49-54.

I suppose I wouldn’t have lost it had I not asked first.  I never need what I don’t need and when I do need I always ask.  I’m usually overly patient, and friendly when dealing with PUGs.  I was a little surprised by how I reacted, but I’m certainly glad I reacted the way that I did.

So the summoned boss, Atal’alarion drops Headspike.

I thought it was really nice and a way much faster weapon with more damage than what I had equipped.  Plus it still had strength and it had stamina too which is always nice.  The point is, everyone in the group selected greed.  And it wasn’t like it was a Mail item or a Sword for goodness sake.  Other than to vent my frustrations, I do believe it is important to discuss the importance of understanding the different stats and how it applies to your specific class.

Since the genius is on my server, and for the sake of respecting people’s anonymity I will make up names instead of using real ones.

***

Genius has selected Greed for: Headspike.

Shammy has selected Greed for: Headspike.

Tank has selected Greed for: Headspike.

DPS has selected Greed for: Headspike.

me:  Hey guys can I need?

Genius (level 54 who was also the healer and Dungeon Guide):  I don’t care

So I clicked on need.

me:  Thanks :)

Genius:  “WHYD YOU NEED?”

Genius:  WTF?

Genius:  omg

Genius:  WHY

Me:  it’s a polearm

Me:  and it has strength

Genius:  no

Genius: ITS NOT

Me:  ummm yes it is

Me:  can you not read?

Genius:  no its not

Genius: YES

me:  Linked Headspike

Genius:  IM A GENIOUS (who can’t even spell the word genius)

Genius:  THATS NOT A POLEARM

(at this point I wasn’t sure if he was just messing with me.  Clearly this weapon is a polearm!)

me:  yeah ok

Genius:  THATS AHEAD SPIKE

me:  you’re retarded

Genius:  NO

Shammy:  Druid’s don’t need strength

Genius:  IM A GENIOUS

me:  well genious…(clearly mocking him)

me:  it’s mine

Genius:  Druids need Agi your idiot

me:  whatever

Tank:  why kick?

Genius:  Rolled on loot that he didn’t need

You have been removed from the group.

Needless to say, Genius has been /ignored.  These are the kinds of dynamics you get into when doing random dungeons.  95% of the time, you end up grouped with some very decent players.  And the instance becomes fun, and you meet people you wish were actually on the same server as you.  The above conversation isn’t one of those times, but very comical.

So do Druids need strength or am I really an idiot?

What does strength mean for a feral druid?  What do the rest of the Attributes mean?

There are five primary attributes: strength, agility, stamina, intellect, and spirit.

These are known as simply “stats”.  (source)

Strength/Str

Increases AP (attack power) with melee weapons.  Warriors, Death Knights, Druids, and Paladins get 2 melee attack power for every point of Strength.  For example:  +15 strength, would give me the druid, 30 additional AP with my melee attacks.  This also applies to when I’m in cat form and bear form

Strength and Agility have a unique relationship to where they both affect dps-but on different levels.   Strength affects dps in a linear manner, while Agi affects dps by increasing the player’s chance to do critical damage.  The way it equates, there is a point of equilibrium where 1 point in Strength=1 point in Agility.  This point of equilibrium is when your dps equals 314.16 (This calculated equilibrium point is based on 100% increased damaged on Crit derived solely from Agi.  There are cases where you get a source of secondary crit such as feral druids or rogues that will make Agi more important than Str before the equilibrium point.  If you are more interested in PVP, Agi might also be preferred as it will give you more boost in spike damage compared to sustained damage.)  As long as your dps is below 314.16, it is more beneficial to put +1 Strength into your character, than +1 agility.  Usually you will break the point of equilibrium by the time you reach close to  L60 at which point, it will be more beneficial for you to concentrate on Agi vs. Str.   Right now, looking at recount, at level 47 my damage is at 111.1.  So Strength is more beneficial for my character than agility at this point.

Agility/Agi

Increases AP with ranged weapons (except for wands) and for melee weapons for certain classes.

For hunters, warriors and rogues, +1 agility gains them 1 ranged AP.

For druids (in cat form), hunters, shamans and rogues, +1 Agi equals +1 melee AP.

+1 Agi increases armor by 2.

It also increases the chance to score a critical hit with a weapon.

Depending on class and level, Agi can increase the chance to dodge attacks.

Stamina/Sta

Is wonderful for everyone.  Basically it increases your health, and if you have pets, it increases their health as well.  Certain classes get bonuses for stamina if they choose certain specs.  Druids for example get 2% Stamina bonus in bear form with Heart of the Wild.  Read the article about Stamina.  It is very easy to understand, and I couldn’t word it any better.

Intellect

Intellect has to do  with mana.  How much mana you have.  Which is extremely important for a lot of classes, especial those who heal..And yes, it is important if you are a druid and you’re a tree.  Intellect has the ability to help you with mana regeneration but is subject to diminishing returns, unlike the mana regen you get from spirit.  Read all about it here.  With Patch 3.0, Shammys also get +1 attack power for every point in Intellect.

Spirit

Spirit increases health and mana regeneration.  You can’t gain health while in combat, except if you’re a troll.  Trolls have a racial ability to gain 10% of their total health even during combat.

Your mana regenerates while in combat except for the first immediate five seconds after casting a spell.  This is known as The Five Second Rule, or FSR.

I hope that this article will be beneficial to some people and perhaps it will reduce the chance of people ever saying “Druids don’t need strength..”

I remember being at L79.  And how long it took.  I was so wrapped up on reaching L80, nothing else mattered.  My Dk has like zero fishing skills.  Which is a shame since fishing can be really fun and rewarding.  I’m having a lot of fun catching fish on my druid.  I even looted the “finding fish” ability!  Anyway.  I was under the impression that once I turned L80, life on WoW would be completely different.  That I wouldn’t feel so puny anymore and everything would be sunny.

In a way, I was right.  There are so many benefits to reaching the level cap.  I was able to do For The Alliance! and get my black war bear mount.  I even got fireworks and some other goodies in the mail which was nice.  But instead of feeling like being on top of the world, I pretty much felt like the new guy again.  A fresh 80 gear and experience wise-compared to a seasoned L80 in 219 gear or whatever the highest epic is, is such a significant difference.  The fresh 80 might as well not be an 80.

I might be starting to sound a little whiny.  These are just facts.  I’m saying it how it is.  And there is nothing wrong with being a fresh 80.  It’s just that people forget that once upon a time, they were a fresh 80 too.  If you are a fresh 80 don’t give up.  Don’t forget to have fun, otherwise what is the point of playing the game?  If you are not having fun, and you’re running around feeling stressed out-realize that you are paying $15 a month to not have fun.  That makes absolutely no sense.

Thorim looks extremely bored..

Run instances and familiarize yourself with them for heroics.  Do dailies for Wyrmrest and get to friendly with the Sons of Hodir.  You will be able to make some gold while working on gear.  Keep having fun!  There are so many things that a new 80 can do.  Just because you can’t get into ICC yet, it doesn’t mean your worthless.  Pick some achievements to work on, or maybe go for that rare pet companion.  Make some friends too.  If you really want to start doing “end game” content, maybe think about joining a raiding guild, if you are not already in one.  That’s probably the fastest and most fun way to get some epics.  If you are more of a solo player, take advantage of your professions in the AH.  Take your time and have fun :)

For example, the Argent Tournament can be really fun :)  I was reminded strongly of the opening Harry Potter scene on the Goblet of Fire when they were at the tournament and cheerful music was playing and people were inside fun little tents the first time I entered the Argent Tournament area.  It’s definitely my favorite Daily!  Learning the fight for Among the Champions Daily is beneficial since The Trial of the Champion’s first fight is identical.  ToC is a great instance to do over and over again until you get fully geared up for ToC heroics and other heroics.  It is a regular instance that drop epic items.  It is a little bit more challenging from other regular instances, which should be obvious judging by the loot rewards.  You have to learn the bosses and how to fight them, otherwise you will find yourself wiping over and over again.

The other day I decided to acquire the Azure Whelping just for fun.  It took me a little longer than the average 5 hours of acquiring it-I think it ended up taking close to 7 hours, but once I saw it under my loot, I felt extremely giddy!  There are four whelpings you can collect and farm, and the azure whelping is probably the easiest since the respawn rate and the circular route around Lake Mennar makes it easy to farm.  It is also labeled as uncommon instead of rare.  It drops 1 out of 1,000.  If you don’t care about keeping the pet, you can easily make 500g with it from the AH.

I also decided to finish working on my Classic Dungeonmaster Achievement which included getting King of Dire Maul. That was fun.  I did a “tribute run” (minus all the silly quests and stuff) which was easy enough to do since I could just sneak past most of the NPCs.

/hug King Gordok

Another thing that may be interesting to do is to start an alt.  Blizzard gives L80s more than a few incentives for starting an alt.  You can get Heirloom items to help your alt level faster.   Explore the Classes and Races that have always intrigued you.  Having an alt in a different race/class will also help you play better as you will have a better understanding of their different roles and abilities.

she's reaping all the benefits...

Being a L80 is tons of fun, whether you’re a fresh 80 or not.

/Silly

Human Male:

So, I have this idea for a great movie. It’s about two gnomes who find a bracelet of power, and they have to take it to the Burning Steppes and cast it into the Cauldron. They form the Brotherhood of the Bracelet. Along the way they’re trailed by a murloc named Gottum, who’s obsessed with the bracelet, and nine bracelet bogeymen.

It could be a three-parter, called ‘Ruler of the Bracelet’. The first part would be called ‘The Brotherhood of the Bracelet’, followed by ‘A Couple of Towers’, with a climactic ending called ‘Hey, the King’s Back!’

If you’ve no idea what Cataclysm is, don’t be ashamed.  Just google search it and hit on the first link.  Ooooh aaahh a new expansion!  I remember a few months ago, seeing some advertisement promoting Cataclysm and feeling a strong sense of nostalgia.  If you have ever played World of Warcraft, and for one reason or another decided to stop, you will know what I am talking about.  Curiosity got the best of me and I watched the trailer.  Two new races, and an entirely changed Azeroth.  Definitely sounds like something that will provide hours and hours of entertainment.  I was so excited about this new expansion, I began searching for where to purchase it.  Newsflash:  It’s not out yet.  Of course, I can’t expect anything less from Blizzard.  They get you all excited and make you wait.

Nevertheless, I find myself reactivating my old account and upon seeing my old characters, feeling lost.  After almost an entire year of being inactive, a lot of things definitely look and sound foreign.  I’m looking at my action bar and I have no idea what anything is.  The good news is I can read.  Another thing is, sometimes knowing how to read is just not enough.  Trade chat will show you this.

Trade chat is a love and hate for most players.  If you are completely new with the game, most of the things on trade chat will be completely foreign.  LF tank for ICC must have gs of 5kill.  What??  Don’t get too frustrated.  These things will reveal themselves to you.  But really what I mean is that you do some background reading.  Look through some of the forums to get an idea of what people are talking about.  Most abbreviations are for instances, ie, ICC stands for Ice Crown Citadel.  It’s very popular right now.  That’s where people can go kick The Lich King’s behind.

Trade chat can infuriate even players that think they are immuned to other people’s stupidity.  I thought I would be able to ignore the idiot on trade chat demeaning women and making sexist remarks.  It’s pointless really to give them the time of day.  They get on there and are bored  and are looking for some sort of reaction.  And they get a reaction.  Almost every time.  I found myself fighting the urge to give him a piece of my mind.

The best thing about trade chat is when it gets funny.  One night while mailing things to my mail character, I noticed people were being weird about Murlocs.  Harry Potter and the Half Blood Murloc, or Revenge of the Murlocs.  It went on and on.  From books, to movies to tv shows, or anything mainstream.  I’m not about to explain this.  It would just ruin it.

It’s great to be back.  The game feels a lot a lot easier to play.  Blizzard has done an incredible job making leveling a character from scratch for Rookies, or starting an alt a lot more fun.  All the achievements along the way are a great boost and now obtaining a mount is way less expensive and sooner.  Before you had to wait until level 30 to obtain a mount and pay 30 gold just for training.  Now, at level 20, you can get your first mount for only 4 gold for training and less than 1 gold to purchase a mount.  I would say that the best addition for Rookies and lower levels is the new Dungeon system.  It is so awesome!  Being able to queue in for a dungeon and getting rewarded for it is so beneficial in learning how to play instances and leveling.

I am definitely very excited for the new expansion and I’m very happy to be back!  Thanks for reading and spending time with me, your new Rookie.  More adventures to be written about soon!

Good Day To Ya!