>at that time, the dodge ability of offense majors was(from
>most to least dodging)
>Jaguar
>Panther
>Tiger
>lion
>ram
>alligator

Before it was changed, panther dodged better than any offense form except possibly tiger. Except it also hit harder and more often than the tiger. What was changed is the dodging ability, which is now somewhere between lion and tiger (just my estimate).

Pre-change defense: tiger/panther, jaguar, lion, ram. Alligator is hard to place since it dodges poorly but (I think) has dam reduction.

Pre-change offense: ram, lion, panther/jaguar, tiger. Alligator is again hard to place since it gets one big attack instead of many smaller attacks. Maybe put it between panther and jaguar.

With the panther changes everything stays the same offensively, except now the panther dodges less like a tiger and more like a lion.

Here's my problem with the changes. Panther may still be the best "all around" offense form if you consider tank-ability together with offense, but the special skills are lacking compared to the others.

The things I want from an offense form are:

1) Massive damage output, and/or

2) ability to keep people in combat.

For #1 you have lion/ram (and maybe alligator).

For #2 you have tiger (pounce) and lion/ram (rake/butt).

Tanking is nice, but given wands it's not that big a deal unless you're fighting big groups (which I typically avoid) or gathering preps that require you to solo-kill semi-tough mobs.