Well, no... actually it does not. I would have written up a post yesterday, but from the moment I got in to work I actually had work to do. My job would be great if I did not have any requirements...

So, there were a few small patches to the beta since my last post. The few changes that were made include reducing the cost of Ravage! from 50 energy to 45 energy (which is hilarious given that I had post test results showing that it was not a dps gain to take Incarnation because of the energy cost; it still does not look amazing, but it is at least an ability that provides a dps boost now), Dream of Cenarius increasing the next two melee abilities by 30% instead of just one, and Soul of the Forest being increased from two energy per combo point used to three.

The Soul of the Forest change is interesting in that it shows that Blizzard is paying attention. At two energy per combo point, the maximum returned energy would be 10 which, when combined with the energy returned from a zero-haste GCD, would mean at least 20 energy returned after using a 5cp finishing move. My biggest gripe about this was that 20 energy returned for a minimum of 25 energy spent is still lost energy (albeit a small amount as compared to the 15 energy lost without this talent), and that is our cheapest finishing move in Savage Roar, on which no one really ever spends five combo points. A better example would be using Rip, which costs 30 energy and would mean 10 energy spent with Soul of the Forest instead of 20. That's not terrible, but it still had room for improvement. I had been petitioning for 4 energy per combo point consumed, but them bumping it to 3 is a decent test. That means that Rip is going to cost 5 energy instead of 20, which is definitely worth-while. I still do not see this talent getting picked up over Tree Posse, but anything can happen between now and September.

The Incarnation-Ravage change is really boring; the talent is still pretty lackluster at that tier as it is less damage provided for a 3min cooldown than Soul of the Forest will provide over a 3m span, and certainly less damage than 2 uses of Tree Posse. Really, the only interesting change from the last few builds is the Dream of Cenarius bump. Dream of Cenarius no longer requires a non-instant cast of Healing Touch to give the bonus 30% damage, and what is better is that it provides that bonus to the next two melee abilities and lasts 30 seconds. Admittedly, in the 2v2 context, I did not use Healing Touch very often (instant or otherwise) simply because it cost so much mana and did not heal very much when compared to other hybrid healers (SPriests, Enh, Ret), but I can see a few things changing here that are really rather interesting when taken in full.

By changing Dream of Cenarius to allow instant-casts of Healing Touch, that really opens the talent up for Feral just by allowing it to be used in PvP. By changing it to the next two attacks instead of just one, that makes it a real boon for Feral because it will allow for some silly combos like "bank of 5cps, pool to 100 energy, NS+HT Guntir, Tree Posse (5s stun + damage), FB (30% bonus), 4-piece Ravage (30% damage)..." I tried to come up with a use that revolved around Predator's Swiftness, but it is essentially impossible to do so since it takes melee abilities to build combo points for FB.

What will be really interesting to test (if they ever enact premade level 90s... I want the first time I grind MoP to be an experience for real - not just a beta test that I will have to do once again when MoP is released) is to see if that 30% bonus applies to all our melee abilities. I am, of course, referring to Rake's DoT component and wondering whether that 30% bonus will continue for the duration of the bleed. If it acts anything like Savage Roar, which increases our physical damage done by 30% as well, then it will indeed increase the bleed damage from Rake, which is already rather strong.

What I am most excited about from all these changes is the fact that I basically never have to leave Cat Form anymore except to break snares and roots. The devs changed Predator's Swiftness to allow the cast to happen in Cat Form as well as changing up all our talents to be able to be used in Cat Form as well (Nature's Swiftness, Cenarion Ward, etc). This means that I can use an instant-cast Healing Touch on Guntir with Predator's Swiftness after applying Rip to a target and immediately start spamming Shreds again with the first two hitting 30% harder. In fact, the rotation might be as simple "TF+Rip, insta-HT Guntir, Rake, 4p Ravage, Shreds" which would allow for some seriously interesting damage output since TF and DoC would mean 15% bonus damage and 30% bonus damage at the same time. In fact, this burst rotation is starting to shape up really rather nicely:

Pool to 5cps and 40 energy
Tree Posse Stun
TF+FB (1s - 50 energy left plus 10 energy from the gcd = 60e after FB)
insta-HT Guntir (2s - 70e)
Rake (3s - 35e + gcd = 45e)
4p Ravage (4s - 55e)
Shred (5s - 25e)

In that 5s stun, I will have landed an FB, a Rake, a Ravage, and a Shred and all but the FB and the trailing Shred are getting 49.5% bonus damage (15% bonus damage and 30% bonus damage: 1.15 * 1.3 = 1.495); the FB and trailing Shred got the 15% bonus damage. The cooldown on Tree Posse makes this a rotation I can pull off once every minute, but it is unclear if there is an internal cooldown on Dream of Cenarius or not. I have to suspect that there is no ICD simply because it would be a truly awkward ability to manage if it did.

This revelation about damage-dealing and the dropped caster-form requirements across the board really just solidifies my appraisal of Mighty Bash. I continue to marvel at how I wrote this talent off at the onset and have come back around to really consider it to be the likely front-runner in my build at that tier over Disorienting Roar and Ursol's Vortex. Likely, I will be using Tree Posse as my on-target stun while I use Might Bash as a CC proper. In addition, with Guntir getting Cyclone from Symbiosis, that means that my Predator's Swiftness procs are free to go to Healing Touches which will increase my burst damage potential. Basically, the idea for 2v2 is the following:

1) I set up 5 combo points on a target I am going to try and burst down and start pooling energy.
2) Guntir and I coordinate so that he is in LoS of the healer.
3) Mighty Bash on the healer.
4) Wild Charge back to the kill target; start my rotation from above (Posse, FB, TF, HT-G, Rake, Ravage, Shreds; Berserk might be in the mix)
5) Guntir lands AT LEAST a SW:P and Mindbender / Shadowfiend (likely it will be Mindbender).
6) Guntir hard-casts Cyclone on the healer (he's standing on top of the stunned healer after all).
7) Guntir follows his Cyclone with a Psychic Scream.
8) Guntir lands another Holy Fire and Smites.
9) Guntir follows his Psychic Scream with Dominate Mind.

Ignoring all the hilarious damage we are putting out throughout this combo, that is a TON of CC from Guntir while I am doing my thing. I think that 2v2s are going to be a little bit on the ridiculous side...