The change in Feral Instinct from +15% threat in Bear Form to +30% damage from Swipe has definitely changed Druid tanking rotations. I've been struggling to figure out how to use the two (down from three) global cooldowns between Mangles, given that Lacerate is no longer a clear winner over Swipe in a single-target situation. The strategy I've settled on is this: get five Stacks of Lacerate up, and then only use Lacerate again to keep them ticking (like Faerie Fire or Demoralizing Roar). Other than that, all GCD's should be used on Mangle and Swipe.
One big reason to bother with Lacerate at all, despite the higher damage from Swipe, is Rend and Tear. It increases the damage done by Maul on bleeding targets, and when you have a surplus of rage (as is often the case in boss fights), Maul is your go-to skill.
But to be perfectly honest, I don't think I bothered with Lacerate in a single trash pull all night. I held rock-solid threat using only Mangle, Swipe, and Maul on trash pulls.
The Hex Lord Malacrass encounter is an empty echo of what it once was. Previously, our strategy involved the MT pulling Hex Lord to the entrance of the room and tanking him there while the raid kept the adds CC'ed near their starting positions, and one by one the OT would pick them up and the raid would DPS them down. Execution was everything - if crowd control broke early, if the healers didn't spread their attention appropriately across the raid, if the RNG just kicked us in the shins, the fight could go downhill. That made it nerve-wracking and yet exhilarating, an encountered I dreaded and yet relished.
In comparison, last week, our prot paladin just ran in and tanked Hex Lord and all four of his adds while the raid AOE'd them down. I felt like playing it a little more cautiously, so I picked up Hex Lord with adds 3 and 4, and our OT picked up adds 1 and 2. We did still go with the strategy of AOE'ing down the adds, and Hex Lord only got off two or three volleys of Spirit Bolts before going down.
Zul'jin was an easy encounter for us even pre-nerf, and he went down easily. We did wipe once - our only dispeller was a priest who's somewhat new to raiding, so we had some issues with Creeping Paralysis the first time around. The second time, though, it was a smooth and quick downing. I decided to have our warrior tank him, so I could get a taste of feral DPS.
And then I realized I had forgotten to spec into Shredding Attacks.
I've been respeccing quite a bit lately, and I guess I was in a rush when I last went Feral, because I missed out on a CRUCIAL talent for Cats and a pretty important one for Bears. I'm already suffering in Cat Form because of taking Berserk over Omen of Clarity, and with Shred costing 60 Energy instead of 42 ... well, it wasn't pretty. That aside, though, Cat DPS is pretty similar to how it was before (Savage Roar at level 75 will certainly change this), with the exception of having two cooldowns to keep using.
The first is Tiger's Fury, which restores 20 Energy for each point in King of the Jungle. At 3/3, you can summon up an instant 60 Energy every minute, which is very nice.
The second is Berserk, which reduces the Energy cost of all abilities by 50% for 15 seconds. I saved this for Zul'jin's Eagle phase, and it was fantastic! I got knocked back by a tornado during that time, but thanks to Feral Charge - Cat I was right back on Zul'jin.
Overall, I would say that Feral is in a very good place right now. Our tanking is more fun, with more buttons to push, more options in case of emergency, and better threat and mitigation overall. Our DPS has become more interesting as well, and has been buffed to be more raid viable.
I'll be going to Karazhan tomorrow, most likely as Resto. I might even be single-healing for a single tank ... so we'll see how that goes!
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