Sooo.. Balance Druid in 7.1.5?

[Myztikrice]

By definition, no1 is buffed before the changes go to the live game.

No that is not the definition.

[talrian]

Sure it is. Balance druids are not buffed. They are "getting buffs" but that does not make them buffed.

[huth]

No that is not the definition.

PTR is a test enviroment. Nothing there is set in stone. Buffs and nerfs only really apply once they're live.

[Teph]

lol'd at the ptr changes. Fury of Elune more dmg, still awful to use.
Stellar drift, 40% more Starfall dmg. That's a good one.

[Deleted]

lol'd at the ptr changes. Fury of Elune more dmg, still awful to use.
Stellar drift, 40% more Starfall dmg. That's a good one.

My problem is the radius. I wish they removed it from stellar drift and put the radius in the honor talent called celestial downpour. The improved radius is better in PvP than in PvE. Sure, the damage buff is nice, but I really hope they make incarnation baseline before this goes live.

[Tyze]

Starfall shouldnt be a place on ground target. You should be able to push it and every target that has a dot will get starfall damage.

However, we got some love SoTF looks interesting, 40 ap starfall.

Also like the new 4 piece better

[Irefusetodie]

SotF and Stellar Drift changes are interesting. Disappointed they didn't increase the radius and reduce the CD of FoE. Would've preferred Stellar Flare stay 15 AsP but the cast time removed. Every other change is just meh, I'll take buffs.

[preciousx]

Again, they ignored all the feedback about ramp up time
Also, wouldn't the new 4p bonus make ED even more mandatory?

[Myztikrice]

Further widening the distance between those who have the Emerald Dreamcatcher and those who don't

[wing5wong]

I figure the SotF change is intended to address our ramp up.... not sure thats the right option though, as you need to drop incarn or StFl

Nice dmaage buff for StFl too, still think the empowerment effect is a little off here on the spell. dont usually starfall 1 target, and not many instances where you starfall 1-2 prio targets and need a starfall on adds

Nice to see WoE brought up a bit as well
disappointing to see more effects that favour the helm, though

[huth]

It's certainly going to get close with SotF and SD. Base damage with SD is 633.6% SP combared to SS 450%.
Though with SS having more traits boosting it and the 19.5y radius, i'd wager SS is still going to be the better bet.

Not much of a competition at 2+ targets, though.


They still seem to think that the issue with FoE is it just doing to little damage, not the mechanics being poorly thought out and the lack of scaling... Even if it did slightly more damage theoretically, i still wouldn't want to deal with the annoyance.

[Kyanion]

They still seem to think that the issue with FoE is it just doing to little damage, not the mechanics being poorly thought out and the lack of scaling... Even if it did slightly more damage theoretically, i still wouldn't want to deal with the annoyance.

Agreed, I'd rather have the safer option even it is a slight damage decrease. Too many risks involved with FoE.

[Kharahh]

But then if you take the risk to try execute it well, then it will pay even more so than before? Perhaps they are just trying to aim this towards a high skillcap and teamplay? Do agree that the scaling is terrible though.

@Earlier whine about ED disparity of the have to have nots - Nighthold is still quite a bit away, and for people to get their 4 piece super fast would be wishful thinking. What I am meaning to say is, surely people will have ED by then?

I'll wager SD is going to get heavily nerfed - 60% sounds insane for an AoE talent, but I guess that really gives us the meaningful and clear choices of "spread aoe" (SD) vs "clumped" (FoE).

SotF also a welcome change - I wonder how that will compete with incarn now? Likely just going to be the go to choice for sustained AoE on multi-targ and long fights?

[Irefusetodie]

What I am meaning to say is, surely people will have ED by then?

What would give you the impression that, if you don't have one by now, you're likely to get ED before Nighthold? It's the same exact awful legendary system and this patch is adding more legendaries to further decrease your odds of getting the right legendary.

I'll wager SD is going to get heavily nerfed - 60% sounds insane for an AoE talent, but I guess that really gives us the meaningful and clear choices of "spread aoe" (SD) vs "clumped" (FoE).

SotF also a welcome change - I wonder how that will compete with incarn now? Likely just going to be the go to choice for sustained AoE on multi-targ and long fights?

I think the SD buff would be fine by itself but coupled with the SotF buff it might be too strong. We still have major issues with burst AoE so maybe they want us to be the kings of mass AoE, which we're already perfectly fine at. I don't know.

I think these notes mean it's likely that none of our talents are becoming baseline though, which is a disappointment to me.

[Deleted]

I'll gladly accept these AoE buffs. WoE/SotF/SS/SD mythic dungeons ahoy!

[mbjgaming]

I would like FoE to become an ability that one could keep up indefinitely as long as you play well. Let's say you reduce it's DPS and AP drain significantly, so that you could keep it up for the entirety of the fight as long as you were playing proactively to minimize your movement. This would also make Astral Communion a viable talent in its present form, as it could serve as a "counter" to when you get targeted by mechanics that requires heavy movement. This change would add a whole new layer to the spec through the introduction of micromanagement, something that I feel Balance as a whole lacks.

[PowerGamez]

I would like FoE to become an ability that one could keep up indefinitely as long as you play well. Let's say you reduce it's DPS and AP drain significantly, so that you could keep it up for the entirety of the fight as long as you were playing proactively to minimize your movement. This would also make Astral Communion a viable talent in its present form, as it could serve as a "counter" to when you get targeted by mechanics that requires heavy movement. This change would add a whole new layer to the spec through the introduction of micromanagement, something that I feel Balance as a whole lacks.

For that honestly to happen we'd have to get S2M mechanics and be able to move while casting when it's up.

[Powerlamer]

Am I supposed to drop Incarnation, our only offensive CD, to get SOTF and better AoE?

So I can get better AoE by sacrificing Single Target? The only thing we were "decent" at?

These changes makes no sense to me whatsoever. IMHO.

[Deleted]

Am I supposed to drop Incarnation, our only offensive CD, to get SOTF and better AoE?

So I can get better AoE by sacrificing Single Target? The only thing we were "decent" at?

These changes makes no sense to me whatsoever. IMHO.

Just wanted to let you know that when you spec out of incarnation you still have celestial alignment... yes now breath.

[wing5wong]

Am I supposed to drop Incarnation, our only offensive CD, to get SOTF and better AoE?

So I can get better AoE by sacrificing Single Target? The only thing we were "decent" at?

These changes makes no sense to me whatsoever. IMHO.

SotF is also a single target booster.
Maybe not to the same extent as Incarns burst, but its not purely AoE