Balance Druid Changes for next Expansion

[Bonsaii]

What do you guys feel balance druids need for next expansion?
The most requested thing I've seen is an AoE that doesn't require setup/ruining natures grace.
Here are my ideas/thoughts:

Starsurge proc waste gets higher with more gear, not that we'll need it for a little while, but I'd like to see the ability to stack shooting stars procs up to 2 or 3. I know this messes with PvP balance, maybe make it so you can't proc a stack off a player or that they deal reduced damage to players with more stacks.

Movement sucks. A lot. Even with more gear, all we do is pray for SS procs and then spam moonfire/sunfire. It's lame. I like the skill involved with stutter-stepping when there's not much movement, but fights like thok and shamans suck. Being able to stack procs might help, because we could have 2 full GCD's to move, but it won't solve the whole issue.
I'd like to see Astral Communion useable on the move (like the PvP 4 set) so that we can at least protect our NG during heavy movement periods.

AoE is crap. Our hurricane is nice, but it costs us NG uptime, but it's lame how it is right now. Mushrooms we use on pull and when we don't have DPS uptime on a boss (Save damage for a future point), these hit for almost nothing right now.
Add a new spell that can be used for AoE, possibly retool current abilities.

Mushroom retool: Make it so we can put it on a target like the resto shroom, have it deal pulse damage or explode like a mage bomb. Still possible to put on ground, let us detonate for burst damage/slow/get rid of when it's not needed like current. I feel like this might just get layed down passively all the time, maybe make it eat mana similar to hurricane/AS unless it hits multiple targets like Chain Lightning.

Starfall: Put the splash damage back on to it so we get some AoE in lunar!

Hurricane/AS retool: I don't mind having a stronger eclipse for AoE like right now, but the fact we get so fucked by AS that it's better to just single target is boring. I'd like to see a similar mechanic to chain lightning (as mentioned above) where it eats mana to keep passively, but let us throw out hurricane/AS like Rain of Fire. Set it and forget it.
Another option is letting us cast starsurge procs during the channel. Maybe even have it apply a shortened/weakened version of moonfire/sunfire to all targets. Or have it proc starsurges with its own ticks.


Revert or lessen the Shooting Stars proc rate nerf. This just needs to be done going into the next expansion. If it's not reverted for the first few tiers, Balance druids are going to be abysmal. The high proc rate only was an issue during this tier because of higher gear levels.

[durrtygoodz]

I'd love to see SS proccing without PvPers complaining, making it unable to stack in PvP would be pretty perfect and straightforward.

SS currently makes movement easier in better gear like you say and stacking SS would go really well. I don't think we need constant on the move though. Maybe AC on the move could be okay but, eh, I like being strong on low movement fights and multi dot. Some classes with good movement dps seem to be tuned around that and do lower when there's no movement. I wouldn't like to suffer at what we're currently strong at for the sake of movement.

One thing I really want to see is a fix to both movement and FUN of the spec with low gear. I'm actually put off from playing boomkin for the first tier, just because I feel low SS procs in that gear makes the spec feel immobile, slower paced and much less fun. Other specs have this, like fire mages, but at least they can choose another spec if they don't have fun with fire.

For AoE, firing off SS procs during a hurricane would be sick. I'd also love it if the bar moved towards lunar by a certain amount per tick of the channel so we could actually keep NG uptime.

As for a mushroom rework, not really too fussed about it really, it's a spell I use to proc trinkets on a pull but other than that the spell doesn't interest me and it wouldn't interest me after a buff either.

[Bonsaii]

I'd love to see SS proccing without PvPers complaining, making it unable to stack in PvP would be pretty perfect and straightforward.

SS currently makes movement easier in better gear like you say and stacking SS would go really well. I don't think we need constant on the move though. Maybe AC on the move could be okay but, eh, I like being strong on low movement fights and multi dot. Some classes with good movement dps seem to be tuned around that and do lower when there's no movement. I wouldn't like to suffer at what we're currently strong at for the sake of movement.

One thing I really want to see is a fix to both movement and FUN of the spec with low gear. I'm actually put off from playing boomkin for the first tier, just because I feel low SS procs in that gear makes the spec feel immobile, slower paced and much less fun. Other specs have this, like fire mages, but at least they can choose another spec if they don't have fun with fire.

For AoE, firing off SS procs during a hurricane would be sick. I'd also love it if the bar moved towards lunar by a certain amount per tick of the channel so we could actually keep NG uptime.

As for a mushroom rework, not really too fussed about it really, it's a spell I use to proc trinkets on a pull but other than that the spell doesn't interest me and it wouldn't interest me after a buff either.

Yeah retooling the mushroom was just an idea for AoE. It's kinda meh right now. I feel like if they removed it, nobody would give a fuck. Make it resto only?

Agreed the early x-pac play is/will be dull without a rework. You feel slow and worthless. Just a little Owl-Turret

[dryankem]

Agreed the early x-pac play is/will be dull without a rework. You feel slow and worthless. Just a little Owl-Turret

That's the reason I struggle to enjoy my boomkin. I don't mind the mechanics but I get frustrated playing it because I can put in half the effort on my DK (or shaman or hunter or heck I can even do well as feral) and put out double the DPS. I know it gets better at higher gear levels but I just can't get to those higher gear levels before getting frustrated and just end up playing another class instead.

[Bonsaii]

That's the reason I struggle to enjoy my boomkin. I don't mind the mechanics but I get frustrated playing it because I can put in half the effort on my DK (or shaman or hunter or heck I can even do well as feral) and put out double the DPS. I know it gets better at higher gear levels but I just can't get to those higher gear levels before getting frustrated and just end up playing another class instead.

Agreed, I've been talking casually with some guildies lately about what we'll do next expansion. I'm thinking I may bench my boomkin for the first tier and play my hunter or MW monk. Maybe even respec to feral.

- - - Updated - - -

Posted to official US forums as well.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/10433153250?page=2#26

[Soultrigger]

Eclipse
I would like to see the "out of eclipse state" removed. It became quite better the way it is now. But I do believe Eclipse mechanic is more about casting the right school of magic than being penalized for being out of eclipse. What I mean is, cast arcane spells on lunar, cast nature on solar, and never leave one of those states.

AoE
I loved cataclysm mushrooms, right now they are a joke. What I would like to see here is the same dps on lunar and solar for aoe. I would also like to see a rotation where we put 3 mushroom, explode them and cast hurricane and repeat. (in a 10 second rotation, lets say mushroom is 3-4 seconds and hurricane is 6-7 seconds). Or else, just let hurricane be non channeled and I am happy. I do miss mushrooms though. Also the slow effect area from mushrooms could increase hurricane damage somehow, making it a nice chain cast.

Dots
I would prefer they kept it as was in beta, where you would have only moonfire or sunfire, and the celestial alignment let you cast both. I liked how the crits would expand the timer for a dot and if you were lucky, when you cast the new one you would have both active. (ie: if you were on solar, and had sunfire, your crits would expand its duration, and when you get to lunar, you cast moonfire, and both would roll together for a while). I think it had more depth this way, but people complained that just one dot would make our rotation too simple. I don´t think a second dot make us complex. O.o" If at least it was still insect swarm, but 2x moonfire (with another coolor) not that cool. I would like to see a bit more focus on single target and less on multi doting. Maybe we could dot only one target or make it so that each new moonfire/sunfire on another mob hits for less. What I mean is: I would like to have the option to multidot, but not be forced to multidot to do some dps. Many fights we kind of need to multi dot just to be on par with other classes.

I don´t think it would make us more boring or simple, just with a better flow and less penalties.