There are a couple of excellent kitty guides out there already and I'm not going to duplicate the efforts of better kitties, I'm going to refer you to them and then give you a comparison of a couple move suggesters I have used and some Power Auras exports/macros (I posted both previously but without explanation, so I'm going to give a little more detail on them today).
DPS Guides
Alaron at The Fluid Druid (my favorite kitty blog - if you want to feral and you aren't following him, you should really fix that) has posted an excellent guide to feral dps that will tell you pretty much everything you need to know - talents, glyphs, etc.
Mihir's guide is also excellent and worth taking a look at. While they both cover mostly the same information, the format is slightly different so you may find one more useful to you than the other.
Gear
Again, Alaron has us covered with his Cataclysm Gear Wishlist - if you're still leveling or starting to run heroics, this is a great reference. I had it open in my second monitor at all times while I was leveling/gearing Gali so I knew exactly which reps/instances/quests to focus on. He's also posted a Cataclysm faction analysis detailing which factions to focus on for kitty gear/enchants.
Addons
Of course, this is going to be my main focus; as you may have noticed, I am somewhat obsessed with addons and I've tried more than a few to help me with kitty dps (I honestly do NOT recommend trying to do it without addons - the rotation is really that complex and relies so much on keeping up a lot of debuffs/buffs that without at least some timer addons you're going to really struggle with it I think. But maybe you're more awesome than I am and don't need addons in which case I don't know why you're here reading my blog :P)
Timers:
- NeedToKnow is very awesome in that it's extremely simple - you create your own timers for the things you specifically want to track and that is it.
- DoTimer is a fairly popular timer addon, and I used it to good effect on my warlock at the beginning of Wrath but eventually stopped using it in favor of Power Auras/Raven.
- Raven is a fairly complex timer mod that tracks buffs, debuffs, cooldowns, etc, with lots of options for what and how to display things. One of the features it has that I ADORE is the notifications - individual modules that you can plugin for each class to help keep track of your spell priorities/rotation, so you can actually use it as a kind of move suggester. I'm using Ovale for that on my druid but I'm using Raven for my warlock because I think Raven works better for cooldown based rotations. The plugins are mostly here, though you can also set up your own notifications (and modify these if they don't quite work for you - I had to adjust my warlock ones slightly to account for my own latency/reaction time).
- Power Auras - my love of this addon is well documented. It works great for custom timers in addition to everything else it does. I will go into more detail on my kitty exports later on in this post.
Move suggesters:
I have used several different ones over the last couple of years and they've all been very helpful, though you cannot be successful if you slavishly follow them - they are suggesters, emphasis on suggest.
- Ovale is what I'm currently using. It uses a scripting system to inform it - you do not want to use the prepackaged script however. You can try writing your own if you're so inclined, but I'm using Leafkiller's script. Murloc Parliament (another awesome blog for general WoW stuff and addons) has an excellent guide to setting up Ovale.
- Feral By Night was what I used for a long time. I can't currently recommend it, however, as it hasn't been updated for Cataclysm. I hear that there are plans to get it up to date so maybe it'll be worth checking out when it is updated. My main issue with it was that it included a lot of extras (proc monitor, energy monitor, etc) that I didn't need, so my first step in setting it up was to turn all that stuff off. The configuration options are also fairly complex and a little clunky, though if you really don't like scripting, it might be better for you than Ovale. The other thing that makes it less useful to me than Ovale is that it doesn't link to my action bars - Ovale is set to show my binding text and range indicators (so the numbers turn red when I'm out of range) which means that I don't need to look at my action bars for that info.
- FBNLite started out as a pared down clone of Feral By Night, it's a much more basic move suggester. I don't know how up to date it is in terms of priorities (which have definitely changed since Wrath with the heavier emphasis on bleeds now) however.
Power Auras:
I have Power Auras set up to track several things for me.
Mangle (Icon with timer to the right)
Version:4.4; target:true; icon:Ability_Druid_Mangle2; buffname:Mangle; x:-400; bufftype:2; owntex:true; mine:true; PowerType:0; size:0.21; y:205; timer.enabled:true; timer.cents:false; timer.Relative:RIGHT
Rake (Icon with timer to the right)
Version:4.4; target:true; icon:Ability_Druid_Disembowel; buffname:Rake; x:-315; bufftype:2; owntex:true; mine:true; PowerType:0; size:0.21; y:205; timer.enabled:true; timer.cents:false; timer.Relative:RIGHT
Rake (Icon with timer to the right)
Version:4.4; target:true; icon:Ability_GhoulFrenzy; buffname:Rip; x:-232; bufftype:2; owntex:true; mine:true; PowerType:0; size:0.21; y:205; timer.enabled:true; timer.cents:false; timer.Relative:RIGHT
Savage Roar (Icon with timer to the right)
Version:4.4; icon:Ability_Druid_SkinTeeth; buffname:Savage Roar; x:-803; owntex:true; mine:true; PowerType:0; spec2:false; groupOrSelf:true; size:0.21; y:250; timer.enabled:true; timer.cents:false; timer.Relative:RIGHT
Berserk (Icon with timer to the right - I may need to update this one when 4.0.6 goes live)
Version:4.4; icon:Ability_Druid_Berserk; buffname:Berserk; x:-715; owntex:true; isResting:0; mine:true; tooltipCheck:Immune to Fear effects; PowerType:0; spec2:false; groupOrSelf:true; size:0.21; y:250; timer.enabled:true; timer.cents:false; timer.Relative:RIGHT
Tiger's Fury (Icon with timer to the right)
Version:4.4; icon:Ability_Mount_JungleTiger; buffname:Tiger's Fury; x:-620; owntex:true; mine:true; PowerType:0; spec2:false; groupOrSelf:true; size:0.21; y:250; timer.enabled:true; timer.cents:false; timer.Relative:RIGHT
Nature's Swiftness (Icon with timer to the right)
Version:4.4; icon:Ability_Hunter_Pet_Cat; buffname:Predator's Swiftness; x:-533; owntex:true; mine:true; PowerType:0; spec2:false; groupOrSelf:true; size:0.21; y:250; timer.enabled:true; timer.cents:false; timer.Relative:RIGHT
Omen of Clarity (currently turned off because Blizzard has one for it now, though I might switch if I can figure out how to turn the Blizz one off without turning off all of them)
Version:4.4; anim1:2; icon:Spell_Shadow_ManaBurn; buffname:Clearcasting; begin:1; x:-58; owntex:true; isResting:0; mine:true; PowerType:0; groupOrSelf:true; size:0.25; y:-200
Om Nom Nom (I mean Blood in the Water - tells me when the target is below 25% health and I can refresh Rip with Ferocious Bite)
Version:4.4; b:0.0235; anim1:3; g:0; target:true; icon:Spell_fire_meteorstorm; r:0.9569; begin:1; bufftype:8; texture:33; threshold:25; spec2:false; size:0.91; anim2:2
The Set:
Set=Kitty@
Aura[1]=Version:4.4; icon:Ability_Druid_SkinTeeth; buffname:Savage Roar; x:-803; owntex:true; mine:true; PowerType:0; spec2:false; groupOrSelf:true; size:0.21; y:250; timer.enabled:true; timer.cents:false; timer.Relative:RIGHT@
Aura[2]=Version:4.4; icon:Ability_Druid_Berserk; buffname:Berserk; x:-715; owntex:true; isResting:0; mine:true; tooltipCheck:Immune to Fear effects; PowerType:0; spec2:false; groupOrSelf:true; size:0.21; y:250; timer.enabled:true; timer.cents:false; timer.Relative:RIGHT@
Aura[3]=Version:4.4; target:true; icon:Ability_Druid_Mangle2; buffname:Mangle; x:-400; bufftype:2; owntex:true; mine:true; PowerType:0; size:0.21; y:205; timer.enabled:true; timer.cents:false; timer.Relative:RIGHT@
Aura[4]=Version:4.4; target:true; icon:Ability_GhoulFrenzy; buffname:Rip; x:-232; bufftype:2; owntex:true; mine:true; PowerType:0; size:0.21; y:205; timer.enabled:true; timer.cents:false; timer.Relative:RIGHT@
Aura[5]=Version:4.4; target:true; icon:Ability_Druid_Disembowel; buffname:Rake; x:-315; bufftype:2; owntex:true; mine:true; PowerType:0; size:0.21; y:205; timer.enabled:true; timer.cents:false; timer.Relative:RIGHT@
Aura[6]=Version:4.4; anim1:2; icon:Spell_Shadow_ManaBurn; buffname:Clearcasting; begin:1; x:-58; owntex:true; isResting:0; mine:true; off:true; PowerType:0; groupOrSelf:true; size:0.25; y:-200@
Aura[7]=Version:4.4; icon:Ability_Hunter_Pet_Cat; buffname:Predator's Swiftness; x:-533; owntex:true; mine:true; PowerType:0; spec2:false; groupOrSelf:true; size:0.21; y:250; timer.enabled:true; timer.cents:false; timer.Relative:RIGHT@
Aura[8]=Version:4.4; icon:Ability_Mount_JungleTiger; buffname:Tiger's Fury; x:-620; owntex:true; mine:true; PowerType:0; spec2:false; groupOrSelf:true; size:0.21; y:250; timer.enabled:true; timer.cents:false; timer.Relative:RIGHT@
Aura[9]=Version:4.4; b:0.0235; anim1:3; g:0; target:true; icon:Spell_fire_meteorstorm; r:0.9569; begin:1; bufftype:8; texture:33; threshold:25; spec2:false; size:0.91; anim2:2@
Macros:
Most of my macros put my bear and cat abilities on the same button - it simplifies things for me.
Mangle:
As a troll it also pops the Berserking racial whenever it's available
#showtooltip [stance:1] Mangle(bear form); [stance:3] Mangle(cat form)
/startattack
/cast Berserking
/cast [stance:1] Mangle(bear form); [stance:3] Mangle(cat form)
Shred/Lacerate:
I've put Demoralizing Roar in this macro but I'm not actually happy with it there but I haven't decided what I want to do about it. I'll update when I've fixed this one
#showtooltip [stance:1] Lacerate; [stance:3] Shred
/startattack
/cast [stance:1] Lacerate; [stance:3] Shred
/cast [stance:1] Demoralizing Roar
Skull Bash:
Works for both cat and bear, shows whichever version is active and a "?" when not in either form.
#showtooltip
/cast [stance:1] Skull Bash(Bear Form); [stance:3] Skull Bash(Cat Form)
Spec swap macro:
This swaps my spec and gear depending on which spec I'm in. Modify for your own set names, obviously.
#showtooltip [spec:1] Bear form; [spec:2] Cat Form
/equipset [spec:1] Bear form; [spec:2] Cat form
/usetalents [spec:1] 2; [spec:2]1
Stampede:
A castsequence macro which gives me one button to mash to feral charge and then ravage the target. You may have to have Ravage visible separately on your bars to make this work however.
#showtooltip
/castsequence reset=10 Feral Charge(Cat Form), Ravage
zomg wall of text!!! Really, that's it for now, please let me know if you have any questions, tips, etc.
