What can I do to improve as a moonkin?

[Zareth]

Ohay! Wondering if any of you fellow nubkins out there could give me some advice on what to look for on gearpieces, if I should consider a little change of spec and so on... (I know I could swap two points from Gale Winds and put them in Typhoon and Owlkin Frenzy, but I honestly can't see the DPS increase or use for it. Unless I'm gonna carry lots of glyphs with me wherever I go, I'll only get to use Typhoon on Saurfang, Dreamwalker and perhaps a few other fights.

Lately, I've also been wondering how the spirit vs. haste goes atm..

http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sh...thor&cn=Zareth <---- Armory link

Currently, I'm in a casual 10-man raiding guild 7/12 atm, and I've also raided a bit with another guild, where I've done 7/12 as well. Can't get a hand on those tokens, so I'm stuck with T10. Is the Dislodged Foreign Object (rot 25) trinket worth stealing from a mage, shaman or W/E? Obviously, I won't be getting the Sindy one in a while, and I cba to join anymore fail-PuGs to ToC25 just to see *my* trinket not drop again.

Any other advice or constructive critism given will be highly appreciated.

- Z

EDIT: Changed the title >,>

[lockitupyo]

spirit vs haste?

did i miss something...

[Zareth]

Seeing that spirit grants spellpower and haste really doesn't affect wrath (with my current haste), Starfail, MF or IS, i can't really see the use for it, except for Hurricane and Starfire, ofc

[Rightclick]

that's not at all how you should view this: itemization points are spent the same on crit haste and spirit. So if you have to choose between 60 haste and 60 spirit, go for haste.

for more in depth info check the recently updated guide: http://www.mmo-champion.com/class-druid/pve-moonkin-guide-(updated-for-3-3-3)/

DFO is very good for moonkins, so you're not stealing it from anyone.
Also get smth else than Nevermelting crystal....get Eye of the Broodmother from Ulduar 10 if anything else is hard to reach.

Overall the gear is good, but i can't wrap my head around the fact that you got the crit+spirit legs crafted, instead of the crit+haste ones.

Spec is good aswell, but you might wanna take 1 point from gale winds into typhoon for the utility of the spell (this is a very optional thing though).

Glyphs are good.

Second spec...pvp right?

[Kallume]

DFO(277), and PotNL(277) are BiS Trinkets for Moonkin.
End of Story.
I believe H-RotD came in a close 3rd. (ToGC25).

Spirit Vs Haste? Haste.
After both soft caps have been reached, Stats are
Spell power is ~2.0 DPS per point
Haste is ~1.4 DPS per point
Crit is ~1.2 DPS per point
Spirit is ~2.0*.3 (30% of spirit = spell power)
(Someone will correct me on the numbers but you get the idea)

So if you have a piece of gear with 60 Spirit on it (60 * ~2.0; ~120 *.3 = ~36 DPS (or ~18SP) , and another piece with 60 Haste (~1.4 * 60 = 84 DPS), Haste will win.
[Qieth's Moonkin Guide] - For more info.

@Spec: When you dip into H-ICC10, it would be extremely beneficial to get Typhoon for one of those Gale Winds points. 2/2 Gale Winds... benefits you... none on boss fights. You are never going to Hurricane boss fights (except for perhaps loot ship marines/sergeants / Rot Worms on VD), so the 2/2 is to see pretty trash numbers. If you drop one of those points, and put it into Typhoon, you, yourself, even said that it was useful on X and Y encounters. (Moreover, for LK, it can knockback and slow Vile Spirits, which is sexy).

@Gear: You need another hit piece. 20 hit gems are... ew. Alternatively, you could swap some 2 Potent Ametrines, and drop the Rigid King's Amber, and get 4x Veiled Ametrine. That would be a gain of 24 SP vs a loss of 20 Crit - which would prove to be optimal.
I used Nevermelting Ice Crystal for a while, myself, based on lack of drops. I rarely used the 'use', I switched to Purified Lunar Dust for the static SP increase, until you can get a better trinket.

@Gems: Reckless Ametrines in your rings would give you ever-so-slightly more DPS.

[Zareth]

Thanks for the awesome feedback, I'll get to it straight away.

And my 2nd spec - yes it's PvP. I thought I'd try out some arena, so why not.. I have more than enough alts for other roles, such as melee DPS, tanking and healing, though I do have gear for all three roles hidden in my all-too-stuffed bank

[Deleted]

I don't *really* want to promote my own stuff - but the moonkin guide has a lot of information on all of this. From what I read here, there are several pointers you could benefit from considering:

Crit versus haste: It is important that you realize what happens with your crit and haste once they reach their soft caps. Additional haste will largely only benefit starfire, and additional crit will largely only benefit wrath. But haste does still benefit wrath after the soft haste cap, as your Nature's Grace does not have a 100% uptime. At the same time, haste helps you proc eclipse faster. Likewise, crit does benefit your starfire outside of lunar eclipse, and also helps you proc eclipse faster. For the most part, the rule of thumb is that haste is equal to crit after both soft caps, but there is a slight favor towards haste. You would want to increase both stats as you go along.

Caps: (short version)

- Hit cap, 237 for alliance, 263 for horde.
- Soft haste cap (401 haste rating)
- Soft crit cap (42% in-fight crit rating on your character sheet)
- After soft caps, Haste = Crit, but a slight favor to haste
- Spirit
- Intellect, stamina.

There might be other things you may want to brush up on. If you feel like you need help, that would be a good place to start. We can't really tell you that your rotation is wrong, if we don't know it - but you can

[Zareth]

I was too lazy to really read over the different topics, but I did check after posting, so sorry about the extra topic. And yes, I agree with you on that, after reading through yor guide here on the site, I found answers to most of my questions, if not all of them.

For my rotation, I usually start off with FF, IS and MF (on certain fights, I also use treeants and Starfail at start, but it depends on boss mechanics and when we'll use hero), and then carry on a few Wraths until I get a lunar Eclipse (and change to SF, ofc). Then, I keep that up, and after the eclipse ends, I refresh IS, and continue casting SF to get my solar eclipse up, start casting wraths and when it's down, MF and Wrath until lunar eclipse. I try my best to refresh the DoT that's relevant in between the Wrath/SF that hits after the eclipse and a new one, to check for an early eclipse.. (Messy writing, I know, I know)
And of course, Starfail whenever off CD unless I'm gonna use it on adds, for example

I probably could increase my DPS a little here and there by paying a little more attention to procs and so on, but I am satisfied with my current DPS. I don't know how to determine my 'normal DPS', because I don't know if I should consider raidbuffs, the ICC % buff and other things. I don't have any data to back this up, but unless I remember incorrectly, I did do 11k on Festergut, and 10k on Saurfang. I know those aren't records, and even though I'm a DPS-whore of sorts, I know my personal restrictions and when to focus on other things, rather than pure DPS

OT: I have to say - I love your work, Qieth, you're a real inspiration : )

[Deleted]

There's little reason to throw up both dots in the beginning of the fight. Sure, you stack up your idol a little bit faster, but those first few seconds are such a small part of the full fight. One might argue that the IS buffs the initial few wraths, but its not enough to really justify casting it either.

Why would you not use starfall in the beginning of the fight? There are very few fights where that would prove any benefit.

Also - on a personal note - stuff like "nubkin", "starfail" and such really bugs me. Its like you are either not taking it serious, or you feel that there is some reason to beat down on moonkins.

[Zareth]

In my head, damage meters such as Recount doesn't start counting before I actually do damage, instead of entering combat, so by starting with abilities like FF and IS, that would increase my DPS for that fight by 10-20, maybe.. Then again, that Recount starts counting for when I first deal damage is probably incorrect, and I'll try to change my opening rotation : )

I do use Starfall at the start of the fight, after my DoTs, partly because I want to give tanks an extra 2-3 seconds, and because of my Spyglass trinket. One could say that aggro shouldn't be a problem these days, and that would probably be correct, but I still feel that I do have to stop casting in order not to overaggro on certain bossfights if we're having our druid tank as MT.
If this is not the case, though, I probably should use Starfall at start so that I can get to use it as many times as possible. It's just that I got hung up in some of the different bosses. For instance, on Lord M, I'd wait until the first spike, on Lady D, I would've waited until the first adds had come and were under control (and on 25 - as long as there are no MCed players), and on Saurfang, I'd wait for the first Blood Beasts.

For the "nubkin" and "starfail" part - I use it simply because of the irony. Like I mentioned in my first post, I'm a casual raider and still a youngling, and though I do take things seriously to a degree, I don't think we should be so strict that we cannot find and/or use any side-names. Though I'm not sure if there's an english saying equal to this, but a loved child has many names, and I think that moonkin is one of those. Boomkin, Doomkin, (Shroomkin soon, perhaps?), Oomkin etc. I'm sorry if my use of these kinds of sidenames bugged you, I'll try to prevent using them as long as I'm posting on the druid forum or on your website
Anyways - thanks again for the feedback, hope to see my DPS increase a little after regemming and sorting out my opening rotation.

[sephiroth999]

Also - on a personal note - stuff like "nubkin", "starfail" and such really bugs me. Its like you are either not taking it serious, or you feel that there is some reason to beat down on moonkins.

People beat down moonkins because they are finnally viable in PvE and finnally compete for top DPS in raids, we appeared out of no where and we faithfuls who trusting in the chicken were finnally awarded for the pain and suffering we have had to endure for 3 years.

[Kallume]

People beat down moonkins because they are finnally viable in PvE and finnally compete for top DPS in raids, we appeared out of no where and we faithfuls who trusting in the chicken were finnally awarded for the pain and suffering we have had to endure for 3 years.

You better be knocking rigerously on some wood there, pal! (No offense to Resto Druids)