Feral staves no more in patch 3.0.8

So back in another life, when I was a Druid, there was always something that got me a little hot and bothered: Seeing another class with a feral weapon. Sometimes it was a Night Elf Hunter running around Hellfire peninsula with an Ursol's Claw, sometimes it was a Gnome Warrior hanging in Shattrath with a Terestian's Stranglestaff.

Whatever it was, it always bothered me a bit. I wondered if they had just taken it because there was no Druid in the group, or if there was some poor feral scrub out there wandering lost and lonely without a feral weapon because some guy who couldn't even use all that delicious feral attack power wanted it for the agility or whatever. I have to admit, though, many feral staves are some of the coolest looking items in game, so I wouldn't necessarily blame them for taking one.

After Patch 3.0.8, they'll have even more reason to take them.

MMO-Champion has a list of the new stats for many Northrend-era "feral staves" from the 3.0.8 PTR on their site. As you can see, feral attack power as a statistic is no more. Instead, each staff now has the higher base DPS you'd expect for a solid 2-handed melee weapon of their level, and any strength has been converted to straight up attack power. This is, of course, expected, since we knew Druids were getting the ability to use weapon DPS, but it's interesting that they have completely overhauled the weapons to this degree.

I have to admit, I'm sort of excited. I've always been a fan of a good solid quarterstaff when it comes to medieval and fantasy weaponry, and this change should make these staves a viable gearing choice for a Hunter -- I'd bet that was exactly why the strength on the staves was converted to attack power -- and maybe even a leveling Warrior. Too bad my Death Knight can't use them.

One thing I'll be interested to see is if, in future patches, they continue to make "feral" staves like these, or if ferals will have to use maces, which have fewer class restrictions and thus are more in line with Blizzard's new gearing and loot philosophies. I'm a big fan of staves as viable melee weapons, and even more so a fan of some of the unique, awesome looking staff designs we've seen out of feral staves in the past, so I'm hoping they don't go completely extinct in future patches and expansions even with these 3.0.8 changes.