Powershifting mostly killed in Wrath
Anyone who's done much research on Feral druiding, especially cat form, has probably run across the concept of powershifting. Basically, powershifting plays off Furor (a talent that pretty much every Feral druid has) by shifting out of cat form and straight back into it to reset your energy to 40. If you do this at 80 energy, of course, you've just lost 40 energy, some mana, and a global cooldown, and there's no point to that. But if you do it at 0 energy, you've just traded a GCD and some mana for 40 energy, which is often worth it. Powershifting was made even easier in a recent patch with the door opened to macros like "/cast !Cat Form", which shifts you in and out with one button press instantaneously.
This no longer works in the current LK beta build. Now, as explicated at length by blue poster Jimmythenumbers (who we here at WI have never heard of), Furor works by setting your energy to the amount you would have if your energy regen had been working while shifted out, up to a maximum of 40 energy [reworded for clarity]. For instance:
- You're at 100 energy. You powershift. Your energy is now 40.
- You're at 0 energy. You shift out, spend 3 seconds healing yourself, and shift back in. You are now at 30 energy, since energy regens at a rate of 10 per second.
- You're at 0 energy. You powershift. You are now still at 0 energy, since you don't regen any energy in the zero amount of time you are shifted out.
- You're at 50 energy. You shift out for 5 seconds. You shift back in. You should be at 100 energy, since you gained 50 in that 5 seconds shifted out, but Furor caps your energy at 40, so that's what you're at now.
In each of these cases on the live realms, you would end up at 40 energy.
The explanation for the change is that like downranking, powershifting was never an intended mechanic, and they don't want to have to balance around it. Honestly, I think Furor should be reworked for cats and energy regen should just work while shifted out, like how mana regen works in all forms. If I've been in some other form for a little while and shift into cat form, I should have 100 energy; it's obnoxious to have to wait for it to come back. In fact, it's currently working that way on the beta realms, but Jimmy says it's a bug related to the powershifting removal.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
8-28-2008 @ 5:14PM
Ekimus said...
Doesn't bother me too much, as it seems that they are making a shift towards increasing DPS via talents...not some odd "exploit".
Not to mention we can pot in forms now....
Reply
8-29-2008 @ 2:17PM
Sorcefire said...
I've never found powershifting to be overly helpful given that latency really mitigates the benefit. It's often less time-consuming to just stay in form and gain the energy than shifting back and forth. Maybe very low latency this is helpful, but I've not experienced it.
8-28-2008 @ 5:17PM
Roxton said...
Partly related: Does anyone know whether or not the effects of barkskin, the bear form damage reduction and the damage-damage-reduction-while-stunned talents are muiltiplicative or additive? Because if the latter, then feral droods become immune to all damage while stunned in bear form.
Reply
8-28-2008 @ 5:19PM
MisterMoose said...
"Furor works by setting your energy to the minimum of 40"
I think you mean "setting your energy to a maximum of 40", since if your regen would result in less than 40, you have less than 40.
Reply
8-28-2008 @ 5:43PM
Improbable said...
No, they mean minimum. The goal of this is to eliminate powershifting. If you shift out and back in when your energy is low, you will gain nothing. If you shift out and back in when your energy is high, you will lose a little and be knocked down to 40.
8-28-2008 @ 5:56PM
C said...
I had to read it twice too, but I believe he didn't make a typo.
He's saying that the game looks at the amount you would have regenerated, and the number 40, and takes the lesser (minimum) of those two numbers. It's just a little confusing the first time you read it.
8-28-2008 @ 5:58PM
Dan said...
no, i'm pretty sure he means the minimum of the two values 40 and X (where X = energy if regen continued out of cat form).
Read it as:
"Furor works by setting your energy to the minimum of (either) 40 (or) the amount you would have if your energy regen had been working while shifted out."
8-28-2008 @ 5:19PM
Manatank said...
They have explained that they are removing power shifting so that they can balance feral DPS without assuming all ferals are doing power shifting. If they didn't nerf it then they have to balance DPS assuming it will be used.
This is a non-issue as they are just taking away the need to do this.
Reply
8-28-2008 @ 7:39PM
Faar said...
Yeah. Basically this is an overall win for ferals, as it means those who currently do not powershift will be able to reap some of the benefits that befell those who did, now that this unintended effect of game mechanics has been made obsolete.
8-28-2008 @ 5:19PM
Bryter said...
"Furor works by setting your energy to the minimum of 40 and the amount you would have if your energy regen had been working while shifted out. For instance:"
Either I'm stupid (which, admittedly, is a likely option) or your examples don't exactly match with what you're claiming here. Shouldn't it be that your energy is set to whatever it would be assuming your regen were still working, with the maximum starting energy upon entering cat form being set to 40?
Reply
8-28-2008 @ 5:52PM
a_li_ba_ba said...
Exactly what the author meant ...
option_1=40;
option_2=energy+regen;
new_energy= min(option_1, option_2)
So basically ... the minimum value of these two options (or energy+regen capped at 40 max).
8-28-2008 @ 5:55PM
Gunder said...
It's exactly what is happening, but the minimum is the way it is coded so from a math point of view, the "min" description is more accurate
8-28-2008 @ 5:29PM
Apolloloco said...
"as explicated at length"
What does it mean?
Reply
8-28-2008 @ 5:35PM
Anaughtybear said...
The authors on this site rarely know exactly what they are talking about. They are more like news boys who get a story and run with it as fast as they can. A lot of the time they get stuff mostly right, sometimes tardedly wrong. It's still worth checking out the headlines to see new features easily.
As for power shifting, I don't care too much either. There are always ways around disadvantages, like wearing a Wolfshead Helm instead of your uber gear.
Shouldn't it be wolf's head helm or wolves head helm?
Reply
8-28-2008 @ 5:50PM
pudds said...
Maybe its Wolf-shead. Anyone know what a shead is?
8-28-2008 @ 5:50PM
Smurk said...
"I think Furor should be reworked for cats and energy regen should just work while shifted out, like how mana regen works in all forms."
Energy is part of being in cat form, though. You can't hit something with your staff to generate rage before you change into a bear. Mana, on the other hand, is something druids always draw on, even if you can't cast your spells in most forms.
Reply
8-28-2008 @ 6:12PM
DirtyPriest said...
He's talking about energy.
8-28-2008 @ 9:29PM
Smurk said...
Uh yeah, so am I.
8-28-2008 @ 6:11PM
Knucker said...
I never really power shifted anyway, and I always hated that I'd have to wait for my energy to generate after mounting and then dismounting.
Blizzard did something nice for me for once. :P
Reply
8-28-2008 @ 6:19PM
Manatank said...
You will still have to wait... Possibly more than before.