Maesyn
The latest project was to get Maesyn from 48 to level 50, mainly so that she could get the 41 point Feral talent Mangle. To this end she quested in Azshara, Feralas and Tanaris.
She went first to Azshara, I'm not sure why as she was level 48 but I thought the mobs were level 50+. Well either I was wrong or the levels have been altered as the mobs on the two quests when you first enter were levels 45-47 and quite grindable.
Next I decided to do some mopping up in Feralas: Ogres, Yeti and the Sprite Darter camp. On the whole the mobs were easy, levels 43-45 but the Sprite Darter camp is a bugger as there is an escort quest with a druid who has a death wish and took delight in drawing extra mobs into the fight. The mobs included healing shaman so the fights were endless if these weren't taken out and all the mobs were runners and bear mode only has Feral Charge and Bash to stop runners and then only if there is rage for it. My bear seems a bit too easy going, I don't think it has ever got more than 25% rage in it's entire life. Anyway, it was a good test of my bear mode. It took a couple of goes as the barmy druid died twice.
Maesyn hit a landmark in Feralas, with Feroscious Bite crits hitting 1000 damage but that was on these low level mobs.
Finally Tanaris and the pirates. This was fun, a farming session really. She was 49 by now so the kills were easy. She could deal with runners by saving up enough energy for a Claw/Feroscious combo killer blow when the mobs were down to 20% health, just before they ran.
Level 50 and mangle. This is an interesting attack, for cat it's as spammable as claw so I've replaced it on the action bar. Mangle deals damage and makes bleed effects like rip 30% more damaging. It was certainly more effective, she was taking out equal level mobs in under 18 seconds. What struck me most was how much better she was in fights that didn't start from stealth: opening with Feral Faerie Fire, Mangle and rip and then spamming mangle and the mob was dead in about the same time a stealth attack took. As for stealth attacks, I experimented with opening with Ravage rather than Pounce and it seemed more effective: Ravage could give 800 crits and leading with Ravage/Mangle/Rip meant she had three combo points up in no time. Her crit rate is now about 21%, boosted by a pair of Stormshroud Leggings, blues with +crit that were a snip at 12g.
I spent a while in the Blasted Lands gathering entrails and experimenting with attacks. She could kill level 51's in under 20 seconds, had no trouble with adds, not even needing bear mode and no downtime at all, no eating/drinking/pots necessary. Ruthless.
Kitty mode mangle is as big a boost as the Felguard was for Maexyn, they are both efficient grinding machines now, although kitty has the fast running between kills and the Felguard needs bandaging every few fights.
And I haven't tried the Bear version of mangle yet.
Argh
I'm writing this now because the server has developed this annoying login problem where it connects but stays with the connect message permanent for a few minutes before being kicked out. I had a look at lugulus on Aerie Peak as I'm toying with transferring him rather than level a new rogue. I can't be accused of rolling Yet Another Alt if I carry on with an existing one.
Server's connected, gotta go.
Peter's Moblog
Ya mangle is a really effective attack especially if in a group and other people have bleed effects also. I usually open an attack the way you started with ravage and mangle then feral faerie fire when i run out of energy for a second. The main purpose of bear really is tot ank instances. When you reach level 70 or a little before maybe you should start working on your off set for tanking. That way if you need an instance or if you need a raid they can use you as a tank or off tank. any questions you have my e mail. Have fun.
Gasmaskk