How much Do raid moonkins need to watch resource bar?

[Joycemiester]

I am planning on returning to raiding in mop and I know that the eclipse mechanic is going to still be there, so my question is:

How much are you having to watch the bar that shows the widget moving from left to right and right to left? I am not finding hunters fun now that I am having to watch the focus bar, even with an addon that makes it easier, I plain just don't like it.
Are there addons for moonkin that ping when you reach eclipse etc? (thought i'd guess you'd need to know just before it hits to prep next spell) I really will reconsider going boomkin if I am going to have to be watching the bar too much. Watching my mana bar fine, that is nothing but I find watching focus, rage or resourses annoying.

[Kjalar]

There's a huge moon or sun popping above your head when you reach the eclipse, so there's no way you can miss the switch. However, unless until MoP goes live, moonkins do need to watch the energy bar to switch while your last Wrath is in the air. That's something like warrior's stance-dancing: it's considered a "must use" mechanic, however it only gives you like 3-4% DPS increase, so, until you're in one of those cutting edge raids, you'll be fine without it.

[Deleted]

they changed it on the beta so you gain eclipse at the end of the cast instead of when your spell hits the target, you will want to queue up a MF/SnF after your last spell before hitting eclipse. This means that you do have to pay attention to your eclipse bar, unless you want to cast an extra uneclipsed wrath/starfire whenever you hit an eclipse, which is a pretty huge dps loss. However, you don't have to pay attention to your mana bar at all in Pve (just like on live).

[Joycemiester]

So just after elclipe we have time when we can forget about watching bar for a while, am I right? Can't be as annoying as on hunter when even casually I'm watching focus bar hitting 60 or so I can hit arcane shot. It's not as predicable with random focus gains.

[Samania]

I've found this addon helps me a lot. It shows you what you'll be at after you cast your current spell, so it helps a lot, and it adds a pretty obvious alert for when you switch, and you can move the bar around to be wherever it's easiest for you to look at

[Joycemiester]

I've found this addon helps me a lot. It shows you what you'll be at after you cast your current spell, so it helps a lot, and it adds a pretty obvious alert for when you switch, and you can move the bar around to be wherever it's easiest for you to look at

Great! I'll be sure you check that out for mop. It's looking like I'll continue my plan to be balance, druid all the way but I cannot stand melee raid damage dealing. Ranged FTW.

[Kjalar]

I've found this addon helps me a lot.

As far as I know it's prediction module works incorrectly because of the shooting stars proc. Tested it some time ago and it was total crap because of that bug. Did author fix it?

[Deleted]

It's been fixed for a long time and an essential tool for a raid moonkin.

[Kyulan]

Raiding balance druid here and I want to say you've made a good choice. I rerolled from enhancement (sometimes elemental) shaman in the beginning of Cataclysm and havent regretted.

When it comes to eclipse mechanic I dont use any addon for it. It's not like with some energy or focus characters you have to look at the numbers too and do a short calculation what to use. With eclipse bar you just see is it glowing yellow or blue and if not carry on casting the right spell to get to it. It's something you'll soon pay little attention to. And as people mentioned you get either a moon or sun flashing top right of your character.

[Deleted]

Raiding balance druid here and I want to say you've made a good choice. I rerolled from enhancement (sometimes elemental) shaman in the beginning of Cataclysm and havent regretted.

When it comes to eclipse mechanic I dont use any addon for it. It's not like with some energy or focus characters you have to look at the numbers too and do a short calculation what to use. With eclipse bar you just see is it glowing yellow or blue and if not carry on casting the right spell to get to it. It's something you'll soon pay little attention to. And as people mentioned you get either a moon or sun flashing top right of your character.

That's only true if you don't care about optimizing your dps, which is fine if you just play really casually, but if your goal is to raid a bit seriously, then you simply can't play like that, it's too big of a dps loss.
Not criticizing your playstyle, but when you want to be as efficient as possible as a moonkin, you have to always know exactly where you are on the eclipse bar, and where your next cast is going to put you. And also if an aoe phase or a burst phase is coming in the next minute, so you can prepare yourself for it by placing yourself correctly on the eclipse bar.

[Miraclous]

It's been fixed for a long time and an essential tool for a raid moonkin.

It can be helpfull, it's not essential. I prefer to just look at my eclipse energy and calculate everything on the go, knowing timings when wrath/starsurge hits depending on my distance from the boss etc. I have installed addons to track eclipse before but never used them in an actual fight because I wasn't used to looking at any other place in the screen for eclipse info.

However or MoP it seems noone will actually have to look at their eclipsebar at any given time, all you need to know if when you're casting the last spell before you hit eclipse and queue sunfire/moonfire after that...

[Deleted]

Just get the addon balance power tracker, it is very small, lightweight, and it even tells you when your one cast away from reaching next eclipse state. You can do it without ofcourse, and even then you wont look at your bar that much, but if you want to make sure you dont cast that one wrath too many when you could have casted a starfire then get that addon.

[asharia]

If you're waiting for the graphic to appear over your head, you're too late, you're now casting the wrong spell.

With the addons that show you predicted lunar/solar energy, you dont have to look at it that much. Less than a hunter imo. As soon as you hit an eclipse you're just watching to refresh dots, then its spam for the next several seconds and you dont have to look really. I've raided on a hunter this whole expansion, and you do have to keep an eye on your focus. But with some practice you get an idea of what your next few shots will be, and you dont have to watch too closely. Just be aware of it out of the corner of your eye, in case you get a couple of Thrill of the Hunt procs.

[Sunfyre]

If you're waiting for the graphic to appear over your head, you're too late, you're now casting the wrong spell.

With the addons that show you predicted lunar/solar energy, you dont have to look at it that much. Less than a hunter imo. As soon as you hit an eclipse you're just watching to refresh dots, then its spam for the next several seconds and you dont have to look really. I've raided on a hunter this whole expansion, and you do have to keep an eye on your focus. But with some practice you get an idea of what your next few shots will be, and you dont have to watch too closely. Just be aware of it out of the corner of your eye, in case you get a couple of Thrill of the Hunt procs.

I honestly pay more attention to the "Lunar Eclipse Incoming!" or whatever it says then the actual bar with BPT.

[asharia]

I honestly pay more attention to the "Lunar Eclipse Incoming!" or whatever it says then the actual bar with BPT.

It says something? I use BPT, i'll have to pay more attention :P

[Rodpad]

If you want to raid as a Moonkin you absolutely need to download and use BalancePowerTracker. The virtual energy prediction is extremely useful in planning for eclipses (and preventing accidentally going out of one during a pre-mushroom filler phase).

Pop it above your action bars or somewhere that's always in your field of view.

[Skyepic]

If you want to raid as a Moonkin you absolutely need to download and use BalancePowerTracker. The virtual energy prediction is extremely useful in planning for eclipses (and preventing accidentally going out of one during a pre-mushroom filler phase).

Pop it above your action bars or somewhere that's always in your field of view.

I personally hate the Virtual Energy prediction. As long as you know Wrath = 13 and Starfire = 20 I don't find it too difficult to do the math while i'm casting when I prep for something.

[Rodpad]

I find it useful with the legendary so I have a big safe zone incase I get a Tarecgosa Wrath or Starsurge proc. Each to their own though.

Nice signature by the way.