Blizzard Can't Decide How To Balance This WoW Wrath Classic Class

Feral Druid players in World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Classic have had a whirlwind adventure the last few days, as Blizzard made major changes to the specialization, quickly sought to nerf aspects of the class, and then walked some of the changes back.

Last week, Blizzard looked to put a dent in a popular Feral Druid playstyle known as "bearweaving" by making specific changes to the class specialization. Blizzard said in a forum post on the subject that bearweaving increased the "mechanical complexity of the class to a degree far above what was intended in original Wrath of the Lich King," and so the team wanted to essentially eliminate the meta playstyle. To replace it, Blizzard sought to make Feral more powerful in PvE without the need to bearweave, while not wanting to affect the specialization's performance in PvP.

That was all easier said than done. Though the various class changes did have the desired effect of smoothing out the specialization's rotation and improving DPS for average players without need to shift in and out of bear form, Blizzard in a new forum post writes that it quickly became apparent it "underestimated" how strong of a buff the changes would be for top-level Feral players in PvE. To counteract the stronger-than-expected buff to Feral, Blizzard sought to change the damage increase bonus from the class's Naturalist talent from 10% to 5%.

The change had the desired effect in PvE, but negatively affected Feral performance in PvP. After fan outcry, Blizzard has reverted the Naturalist talent change, essentially leaving the stronger-than-expected Feral buffs in place. It now says it is longer planning additional adjustments to Feral Druids.

Ever since WoW Classic launched in 2019, Blizzard has largely been hesitant to make major changes to the old-school version of the MMO, especially when it comes to class balancing. In recent months, however, Blizzard seems to have become more comfortable with the idea, introducing a whole new dungeon difficulty into Wrath of the Lich King Classic and implementing changes first to Retribution Paladins and now Feral Druids. In this case of Feral Druids, Blizzard admits implementing the rapid series of changes without fully taking into account all the ways they would impact the game was a mistake.

"Ultimately our team are all humans, and we make mistakes, or may fail to consider all angles," Blizzard writes. "It's frustrating when these mistakes cause confusion or uncertainty, and frankly just isn't very 'Classic.' We can do better."

Going forward, Blizzard will look to make sure it tests major WoW Classic changes on the game's public test realm, which will allow the developer to "measure twice and cut once." Blizzard also states that it will seek to better communicate intent with players for changes, including adjustments that may come in the wake of a major change.

"This was a good reminder of the right and wrong way to go about doing these things, and we are going to do our very best to do better going forward."