A question:

If you're using a 2-hand weapon (Mace, Staff) as Druid in non-shifted form, your "To Hit" chance depends largely on your skill level (x of 300) in the respective weapon type, which must be learned and developed further after each level-up. The skill bar can be viewed in the character screen. However, since Druids don't benefit from weapon damage in shifted form (Bear, Cat) but only the stats on the weapon (i.e. +Strength, +Agility, +Stamina, +Intellect etc), I assume that your skill level of the weapon you're using doesn't count either in shifted from. So, how is the "To Hit" chance leveled up in shifted form? Is there some hidden "x of 300" skill bar in shifted form which goes up after each level-up?

I had thought that while shapeshifted, you used the Unarmed skill category. I imagine the way to test would be to watch your chat log for mesaages like "Your XYZ skill has increased to 292" and see what XYZ is.

You will not skill up any weapon skill, including unarmed, while you are shifted. Only your defense can go up while shifted into a feral form.

You use the Feral skill, which is always at maximum for your level, not Unarmed. It's a fair compromise so that Druids don't have to spend time in forms just to level their "weapon" skill. In Beta it was not automatically maxed, and was something of a pain to keep at a decent level.

Thanks. I was wondering because after a level-up, I had the feeling that my hits in Bear/Cat form hit less than later on.

Does this mean Druids in forms cannot be disarmed?

Disarm works to an extent against those in Feral forms. You will not have the weapon "equipped", which means you miss out on any stat bonuses it may have given. Other than that, there's no change.

So if you have +str on your weapon, your damage will go down due to the loss of strength. But it's not as if you're suddenly declawed.

The rogue Riposte skill will also cause damage, regardless of it the enemy has a weapon equipped or not and regardless of feral form or not. And it's a fair bit of damage too since it's not a straight number and is based off of the rogue's weapon.