[Balance] Pre-Beta / Beta Discussion

[Juvencus]

We didn't see any spec/class changes yet but we had some info over Tweeter that could keep us going until the patch notes are released.

Edit: Green text (aka PTR notes) are for official changes that are expected to most likely change. Blue text (aka Official notes) are taken directly from news releases from Blizzard and will be assumed as true until stated otherwise by Blizzard. Non formatted text are educated guesses based on responses to similar questions or extrapolated from the general news.

Talent Calculator: All currently available talents are from the Blizzcon gameplay preview and as Celestalon has described them "in pre-alpha state". Expect lots of changes in the new and existing talents alike

http://www.wowdb.com/talent-calculator-wod#s

New Talents:

Touch of Elune
Sunfall
Passive
Entering Solar Eclipse will transform your Starfall spell into Sunfall and reset its cooldown.

Will of Malfurion
Zenith
Channeled
Targets all enemies within 60 yards and accelerates the caster's Moonfire and Sunfire effects, causing them to deal damage at 400% of the normal rate for 4 sec.

Might of Malorne
Equinox
Passive
Lunar and Solar Eclipse now last until the other is triggered, instead of ending at 0 Balance Power.

Cooldowns:

• They said they will remove many cooldown spells from the game but since we only have 1 baseline (CA) and the rest are Talents, I would expect to either keep them or see many talent changes. (So far no specific info for us)

PvP:

• Cyclone is now dispellable by Mass Dispell and Immunities.
• All Roots share DR except Bear Form Wild Charge (the short stun becomes a root) which will be off the DR but very short.
• "Removed Silence effects from interrupts. Silence effects still exist, but are never attached to an interrupt." I don't think this will affect Solar Beam as it's a Silence spell that interrupts. I would still expect changes to it though.

Racials:

• Night Elves' Quickness also increases movement speed by 2% passively (In WoD all movement increases stack but I can't find the source). Touch of Elune, a new passive which grants 1% Haste at night, 1% Crit during the day. (Source)
• No Worgen changes so far.
• Tauren's Endurance becomes +X Stamina. Brawn is a new passive which increases Crit Damage/Healing by 2%. (Source)
• Troll racial Berserking is reduced to 15% Haste (down from 20%). (Source)

Mechanics:

• General dot snapshotting is gone in WoD. Special mechanics like Eclipse, Tiger's Fury etc will still snapshot. Haste breakpoints are gone in the sense that all points of haste will count for DoTs with the introduction of partial ticks.
• Multistrikes count as hitting the same target twice with one cast, not multiple casts. (i.e. Mind Blast won’t generate 2 shadow orbs)Source.

Tweet (Celestalon) on Eclipse: - Could mean anything, could mean nothing-
Q:What, for you, has been the most challenging talent or ability to implement to your satisfaction thus far in your WoW career?
A:Top contenders: Stagger, Storm/Earth/Fire, Eclipse, Divine Star, Alter Time, Chi Wave, Green Fire. Still not happy with some. Source.

Other changes:

• "Can you still NS healing abilities? or is NS just going completely? You can NS all other spells. (Source)"

Not sure what this means for NS. Just from the looks of it it means they are removing all CC spells from it, leaving only healing spells (and Rebirth) to be turned into instants.

• The current official state is that Moonkin Form will not receive an updated model for WoD.

Sources:
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/131...-war-2-27-2014
https://twitter.com/Celestalon

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Tauren get a cool racial that seems like it will be useful either we like crit or not (weaker Burning meta gem effect). They are also restoring it to Stamina but this time a fixed amount but it means it can benefit from Stamina multipliers. I'm not sure what this means for Trolls and their nerf though.

[Deleted]

You should probably also list that DoT-snapshoting in general is gone, but balance druids will still snapshot natures grace (at least that's what i heard last).

I'll try to find some sources for this.

[Batix]

Race change to night elf is looking more and more attractive everyday.

Can't wait to see the models, that'll be my deciding factor.


I will try to locate source for the above as well, I do remember seeing this about NG and snapshotting.

[Juvencus]

You should probably also list that DoT-snapshoting in general is gone, but balance druids will still snapshot natures grace (at least that's what i heard last).

I'll try to find some sources for this.

I don't know about NG. I did hear about Eclipse snapshotting though like all classes will still snapshot with their core mechanics. Are we even sure NG is still there?

- - - Updated - - -

Will crit be 150% all the time or just in PvP?
Just in PvP. Likewise Multistrike will only get 1 extra roll against players (instead of 2 against monsters). (holinka)

Seems like 200% crits still remain for PvE.

[Broodling67]

For completeness of a pre-WoD Balance Druid discussion put in the level 100 talents that were unveiled back at Blizzcon. They may have changed or been removed since then but it's still some info that we have.

Touch of Elune: Sunfall
Passive
Entering Solar Eclipse will transform your Starfall spell into Sunfall and reset its cooldown.

Will of Malfurion: Zenith
Channeled
Targets all enemies within 60 yards and accelerates the caster's Moonfire and Sunfire effects, causing them to deal damage at 400% of the normal rate for 4 sec.

Might of Malorne: Equinox
Passive
Lunar and Solar Eclipse now last until the other is triggered, instead of ending at 0 Balance Power.

Multistrikes will most likely not generate/consume extra Eclipse energy based on what Celestalon said. Source.

This could mean nothing, but Eclipse was talked about as one of many spells/abilities that is not implemented to the Dev's liking. We may be looking at a change to how Eclipse works (maybe our mastery too?)*. Source.

*Pure speculation on my part.

I know you probably started this thread based purely on spec changes and numbers, but maybe I won't see this pop up so much if you also mentioned Moonkin form is not getting an update for WoD at this time. Source.

[Juvencus]

Thanks for reminding me Broodling67. Talents and tweets added in OP.

- - - Updated - - -

Blizzard note format is such a pain to use >.<

[Juvencus]

Pandemic for everyone!

Are you still planning to give everyone a Pandemic mechanic?
Yes, but 130% duration max, not 150%. (Celestalon)

So if you recast way before the first partial tick, will you end up with "queued" partials?
No, partial ticks are only when the dot falls off before its' next scheduled tick. (Celestalon)