[Balance] Druid Guide- Warlords of Draenor Edition

[Juvencus]

Since Wrath casts moves the CA cooldown faster than Starfire casts per execution time, should this affect at what point we switch between Starfire and Wrath in our regular rotation, and are there be situations where casting more Wraths and less Starfires than is the steady-state optimum will be beneficial in order to get CA off cooldown in time for specific phases in the encounter?

You can certainly play with Wrath in order to push CA for a boss phase.

I do it occasionally when I had to move extensively, but not at the expense of Lunar. I just start Wrath-ing when I know the first one will land at 0 or very early Solar and I might even use 2x SS in Solar along the processes to reduce CA.

Now if it's worth it, I have no clue. It's mostly to align CA with Inc back together after moving a lot or to push CA for runes/hands.

[lappee]

Since Wrath casts moves the CA cooldown faster than Starfire casts per execution time, should this affect at what point we switch between Starfire and Wrath in our regular rotation, and are there be situations where casting more Wraths and less Starfires than is the steady-state optimum will be beneficial in order to get CA off cooldown in time for specific phases in the encounter?

Single target dps wise its totally up to kill times, in theory you could get CA cd down to 1minute mark but any movement screws that up.

When it comes down to encounter specific things we'd have to think about each of them separately since theres no way to give you a general "this results in highest dps". More so you should think about the success of your raid rather than your own personal dps

[Griffeth]

Worgen vs NElf. Does it matter that much or is Nelf that much better?

[Deleted]

Hey there,

I just got my 3 mythic trinkets with darmac's being mythic warforged.

Now, is it worth to use Micro Crucible with Goren Soul on heavy aoe fights like kromog/beastlord etc?
Or should I just stick with my Darmac's/Goren Soul combo on all encounters?

Tnx in advance

[Jellog]

Did anyone else notice Starfall not breaking CC'd mobs during (Mythic) Blast Furnace? During some of our wipes last night I was standing right next to CC'd mobs with Starfall up and it wasn't breaking them. I do have Untamed Stars glyphed.

[Griffeth]

Hey there,

I just got my 3 mythic trinkets with darmac's being mythic warforged.

Now, is it worth to use Micro Crucible with Goren Soul on heavy aoe fights like kromog/beastlord etc?
Or should I just stick with my Darmac's/Goren Soul combo on all encounters?

Tnx in advance

I believe AoE or heavy starfall fights favor the MS, while the other single target fights or light cleave favors the haste/crit. There were some sims for the BiS mythic profile done ine another thread that compared the trinkets.

Here is the post: http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...1#post32157463

[Juvencus]

Did anyone else notice Starfall not breaking CC'd mobs during (Mythic) Blast Furnace? During some of our wipes last night I was standing right next to CC'd mobs with Starfall up and it wasn't breaking them. I do have Untamed Stars glyphed.

Most aoe doesn't hit cc. The fact that Starfall has been hitting them on and off since it's introduction in the game is another story :P

[lappee]

Most aoe doesn't hit cc. The fact that Starfall has been hitting them on and off since it's introduction in the game is another story :P

If the mob is cc'd before starfall is cast, then it wont hit it. If starfall has hit the target, then its gg trying to re-cc it (as starfalls stars have delay meaning they basically hit the same time the next star checks for CC's etc)

[Hildrande]

In search of the cut-off point for what duration left on Sunfire that makes it not worth refreshing, I have discovered that removing the refresh at peak condition in the simcrafting script sims into a significant DPS increase up towards one percent, depending on fight type and length. The precise change:

Default:
actions.single_target+=/sunfire,if=remains<7|(buff.solar_peak.up)

Better deeps:
actions.single_target+=/sunfire,if=remains<8.5

8.5 seconds on Sunfire seems to be the top point, although values as far away as 7 and 10 are not much lower and still represent an increase over the default command. All the simming is done with my current 686 gear, that has well balanced stats, crit/haste trinkets and tier bonuses. (I Might switch to Haste later today for H&F.)

I've tried with different threshholds for going into or out of Solar eclipse, and various ways of conditioning the refresh on the presence of the peak buff, but I haven't been able to script something that beats the simple 8.5 rule.

In the Simcraft log, there's a miniscule drop in Sunfire uptime and several fewer Sunfire casts. While trying to play according to that rule on a targed dummy I frequently find myself refreshing Sunfire at start of Solar.

Is Simulationcraft a valid way to test rotations? Is this finding an artifact? Or is really minimizing the number of GCDs spent on refreshing DoTs worth losing a few seconds uptime on, and the peak bonus actually not worth going for?

[Deleted]

How does our DPS vary with our weapons? I currently have a 670 Heroic staff from Imp Mor'gok and I was wondering how much of a difference could be expected if I were to change to a 685 staff like Gruul/BH's or even MH/OH.

[Deleted]

Easy to sim:

	             Mar'gok 670 Gruul 685
Patchwerk 1 Boss	36016	37619
Light Movement 2	41861	43624
Heavy Movement 3	46904	48875
HecticAddCleave 1	48016	50218

That's for T17 heroic sample profile. So about +1.89k or +4.36% dps

[Deleted]

Easy to sim:

	             Mar'gok 670 Gruul 685
Patchwerk 1 Boss	36016	37619
Light Movement 2	41861	43624
Heavy Movement 3	46904	48875
HecticAddCleave 1	48016	50218

That's for T17 heroic sample profile. So about +1.89k or +4.36% dps

Yeah, I forgot I could sim this easily. Thanks.

[nerdzrool]

I've been leveling a boomkin (97 currently), I was looking at the 100 talents and according to most guides it seems Stellar Flare is never recommended. Is there ever a situation where it's worth using (mostly PvE), I've mained a lock for years so dot management isn't really an issue for me.

[Hildrande]

Is there ever a situation where it's worth using

For Mythic there's a few, six to be precise, logs listed with Stellar Flare on Iron Maidens. And that's pretty much it.

[Juvencus]

I've been leveling a boomkin (97 currently), I was looking at the 100 talents and according to most guides it seems Stellar Flare is never recommended. Is there ever a situation where it's worth using (mostly PvE), I've mained a lock for years so dot management isn't really an issue for me.

At low gear levels it's not an option, at high gear levels it's an inconvenience and with 4p it's a hindrance. Pretty much a little better than the MoP version of DoC.

(my opinions, may or may not be facts)

[Deleted]

When should we be using CA with T4 outside of BL and such? Should we wait for trinket procs them pop it or?

[Juvencus]

When should we be using CA with T4 outside of BL and such? Should we wait for trinket procs them pop it or?

Only if the resulting delay on the next CA doesn't cause you to use less Incarnations (or even CAs) in the fight.

For example: If a fight is 6:40min long you normally use Inc+CA at 0min, CA at 1:30min, Inc+CA at 3min, CA at 4:30min and Inc+CA at 6min. You only have 10sec of wiggle room to wait for procs (assuming perfect alignment of CA timings) if you don't want to lose the last use of Incarnation.

[wyrdone64]

I've been leveling a boomkin (97 currently), I was looking at the 100 talents and according to most guides it seems Stellar Flare is never recommended. Is there ever a situation where it's worth using (mostly PvE), I've mained a lock for years so dot management isn't really an issue for me.

You have to use it pretty much perfectly to get anything worthwhile out of it in even the most ideal of circumstances. Its just not worth it most of the time. If it was a significant boost for perfect, and a decent boost for almost perfect, ie, what most good players can actually manage, that would be a different story. Unfortunately, its balanced in such a way that perfect use on fights where it gets the most mileage, ie iron maidens, give you a tiny dps boost over other options, and 99.9% of players can't use it at that level. Unfortunate, since in beta it was a strong choice even with less than perfect play.

[Conzi]

I can't seem to find info on some of this stuff, so would appreciate if someone could answer this questions.

1. What are our BIS boots, offpiece (not counting socket/wf)? I don't get why are people saying crit/haste boots are better than mastery/multistrike. I thought we should just run whatever has mastery (assuming same ilvl, no socket).
2. What are exact weights of our secondaries compared to int? Would help a lot to calculate if a WF piece is better than a socket piece.

[Griffeth]

BoE trash boots are best, offpiece is gloves or shoulders