State of Beastlords nowadays?.....

[Maylian]

hello all,

So I've been out of the game for over a year now and wondering if its worth coming back or not. Last time I played was at the beginning to the underfoot and hated what SoE had done to our class and the lack of attention we were getting. I was wondering how the class is doing now and whether the class is either needed / useful in raids and how we do in groups.

I know that it is dependent upon gear etc and before I left I was top 5 on the server so could put out solid numbers for dps and obviously that isn't the case now. What do you guys think of the class as it stands and does the new expansion look to make any improvements or is it going to be some stagnation or decline in our class?

[Khauruk]

The HoT expansion was very good to the class.  Very very good, and the top dps guilds were suddenly looking for more beastlords.  As for the new expansion, the NDA should be released in a week or so, and I'm sure Hzath is on the ball for giving the posters here a summary of goings on (hint hint Hzath ).

[Hzath]

I suppose I should get going on my post for when the NDA lifts huh? 

Khauruk doesn't lie, HoT is probably the best expansion for beastlords since Shadows of Luclin.  In general I would put our dps as very good, a solid #2 in sustained dps behind only necromancers.  I would classify our burst dps as lower second tier, but it's close enough that we can beat any class that isn't going all out or lacks an ideal group.  That said, we frequently get the best groups because of a new discipline (Nature's Fury) which is shaman epic on steroids and raid guilds typically want as many beastlords as melee dps groups these days.

The landscape will all change with a new expansion in two weeks.  I'll post my thoughts and the new stuff we're getting when the NDA is lifted any day now.

[Jili]

Hey May! Beastlords indeed had a good expansion with HoT. But I fear we will suffer for it 11 years till our next performance peak.

[Maylian]

Hey May! Beastlords indeed had a good expansion with HoT. But I fear we will suffer for it 11 years till our next performance peak.

Yeah thought that might be the case, thinking about downloading it and having a little look

[AbyssalMage]

The landscape will all change with a new expansion in two weeks.  I'll post my thoughts and the new stuff we're getting when the NDA is lifted any day now.

This sounds ominous, like storm clouds rolling in on a coastal city. Then again, the balance of power always shifts when an expansion comes out. Its the nature of the "beast" 

/Begins waiting on the NDA to be lifted 

[nicknacks]

The HoT expansion was very good to the class.  Very very good,

Sorry to bump this after so long but I've recently returned and only have access up to HoT so am wondering what about the expansion was so good for us?  I love the new Feralgia and Neivr's Aggression for us+pet dps boost and the new 89 pet seems to be a good dps increase over the last one but am I missing something - are there killer AA or did we get a good cap increase on dbl/triple attacks or somthing?

[Khauruk]

Huge pet dps and defensive boost.  Pet damage disc AA.  Disc timer reductions, and new discs.  The 86 disc in particular is great for sustained dps and should be up constantly.  Nukes were increased substantially and Kron's is wonderfully mana efficient.  The endurance regen disc combined w/ para makes it easy to be rezzed in on a raid and put out decent dps numbers right away.  Nature's Fury is awesome, and gives us a strong adps role, particularly combined w/ the hugely-upgraded Ferocity.  I know there's a few things I'm missing still, but yeah....bst gained many expansion's worth of ground in HoT.

[nicknacks]

Wowzers.  Thanks for the update, I did notice a large increase in dps but wasn't sure quite where it came from and to my embarrasement I haven't been keeping bestial vivisection up all the time so I'll certainly start doing so from now on!

[nedoirah]

I use it as a part of an attack hotkey. This way I always start the fight while casting BV or its upgrade.

/attack
/pause 10
/pet attack
/pause 10
/disc bestial vivisection rk II

Why the pause? It's to make sure the commands aren't skipped. They can get skipped sometimes if there isn't a pause command between them. It's only a 1 second pause so no worries.

[Lortheus]

State of Beastlords nowadays = Awesome!