What bliz should do with balance druids

[Zilar]

I know lots of you like what bliz is doing with eclipse, making it UI and all, but ive disliked that idea from the start.

I think the way their making eclipse now is going to nerf the class. Think about casting wrath until you get enough lunar energy for starfire to make a difference in dps. And then doing the same with starfire until you get enough solar energy for wrath to make a dps difference. I know there are other spells that govern how much energy you get and it also needs to be tested in beta still but theres the basic idea.

I think they should keep eclipse as it is now, an instant damage buff for wrath on a starfire crit. And an instant +crit chance for starfire on a wrath crit.

Now i bet your think, "well then whats going to be the last mastery bonus for the balance tree if theres now eclipse UI?". Well i think it would best to sum that up in a few answers.

First, i think they should put eclipse(as it is now, a talent) for the 40 point talent. Well what happens to moonkin foem you ask?

Monkin form fits the bill almost too well. Think about it, you get moonkin form, a core part of a balance druid, just for speccing all the down the tree. Oh, but how does moonkin form scale with the new mastery stat? Well as of right now, we have improved moonkin form as a talent right? Well how about instead of that, as you get mastery on gear, the moonkin form improves up to a scale of about 30% of your spirit. Or however.

BTW, i know this is not going to happen. I just thought i should share my brilliant idea. Also, i did this on my phone cuz im away from home, so I apologize for any and all bad grammar.

[Grimsdott]

They should nerf them

[Metallikiddd]

They should nerf them

for your pvp?....lol forget it.

let em cast on the fly for all these stupid boss fights runnin around. instant wrath/starfire

[Wyndywalker]

They should make the Moonkin specific spells only be castable in Moonkin form. Then we wouldn't have to hear all the flack about how Moonkin is an aura not a form. Currently balance can cast moonkin spells in caster form at a sizable penalty which I think is what the moonkin haters movement is trying to stand on atm.

The problem with eclipse as it now sits is the extreme range of dps you get IF it procs at the right time. If it does not like say just before you have to run from fight mechanics or at end of fight you are screwed. This appears to give you at least some measure of control rather then leave you at the mercy of the eclipse gods. Too much of our dps is dependent on getting and actually using the eclipse proc before it runs out. As it is now on omg it procced alot nights this results in Doomkin status, not proc or have to move a lot often results in doofkin status. That's what drives the current reason for the changes. It's a bad mechanic with too much rng now. It can make a difference on whether you get invited back to raids or not.

[Luko]

I see what the OP is saying but I get the feeling that it's from a min/max end game point of view. As was my moonkin experience which is probably why my biased ass agrees.

On the other hand, it's been clearly stated that this is NOT blizzard's approach to the matter. Having accepted this, I stepped back a little and realized that, yes, what they're doing is probably extremely helpful for new players. I mean be realistic... How many Balance druids do you talk to? It's AMAZING how many of them didn't even know eclipse has an internal cooldown to watch for. Downloading another addon to monitor that seems like a chore to them. Of course you're not going to see those people on the forums, why the hell would someone who's having fun doing what they're doing need to come onto the internet to learn how to change that? Right?

Haha, maybe not. But that definitely seems to be the target audience in their approach now. Besides... I'm sure they'll do a good job with balancing. I mean come on, they wont let an entire spec be underpowered and unable to compete, right?

(lol)

[Zilar]

I never had a problem with eclipse. I don't understand how you could have a problem unless you don' have enough crit or something. It's way too easy to figure out, all it is is a proc...

[Haté]

I never had a problem with eclipse. I don't understand how you could have a problem unless you don' have enough crit or something. It's way too easy to figure out, all it is is a proc...

I couldn't count the all the times I've seen terrible Boomkins not changing their rotations when Eclipse procs.

[Boloney]

eclipse was fine how it is
i dunno why we need a change

[Kalserrar]

Saw the title. Was dissapointed when the context of the thread wasn't "Give alternative form to balance spec (as optional) as well as moonkin"... I really despise those ugly-ass birds. If I could play it in caster form, or something else, it'd be my favourite spec. But because of it, I never do. At all.
And I loved tree of life. Typical.

[GennGreymane]

yeaaa no

boomkins compared to the other classes and specs have waaaay to much rng invovled in damage dealing. boomkins are not a slot machine! rng shouldnt 100% determine how good ur dps is gunna be

the change is fine and requires u to pay attention

[GennGreymane]

Here's the situation with Balance Druids:

Player X rolls a Druid and thinks that being a tank or healer would be awesome. They come to find out they are terrible at both and don't want to put in the work to become better at their class. They go Balance, feel like they are accomplishing something when they get automatic invites to raiding guilds (that they otherwise wouldn't be able to get into if they played a Mage or Warlock). They enter battlegrounds and melt faces with Starfall (1 button, fire and forget, no cast time, not channeled, hits everything in a huge radius with splash damage). In other words: Bad players flock to playing a Boomkin and make it look easy.

However, I actually think they have a high skill cap because of the nature of their abilities and "rotation," and the change to Eclipse is going to augment that even more. The same could be said about Arcane Mage - easy to play, but when you're focused on Damage Per Minute (DPM) instead of DPS, it opens up a very different perspective from, say, a Fury Warrior that has nearly 100% uptime on abilities and doesn't have to try to "balance" anything.

I look forward to playing a Boomkin in Cata, including the Eclipse change. It will be a unique challenge.

its hard to be a good boomkin. if u pvp in form ur a noob especially if u dont have an actual healer near u. i see plenty of ppl do this. also star fall is the only op power druids actually have for pvp. its only 10 yards and can be avoided in many ways example being 11 yards away! or stunning the druid which makes them waste the starfall since it no work while stunned

[huth]

Moonkin won't be the 31 pointer anyway.

And besides, the biggest qualm i have with eclipse right now is that it is to goddamn unpredictable.
It is theoretically possible for lunar to never proc during an entire fight right now and there is nothing we can do about it.

With the new model, procs are guaranteed, though we cannot always precisely say when they are going to happen.
This is much better.
The new eclipse also increases Nature/Arcane damage, not Wrath/Starfire.

The whole movement discussion is more of a balance issue... the current live model is way to strong for it's own good and we have come to be overly reliant on it to do even remotely decend damage.

Starfall has 36 yard range with Nature's reach, though. But it can be surpressed by incapacitating the caster.

[Zilar]

OK. I lols at those of you who say "eclipse proc is too random". It is only as random as your crit chance. For me, it procs so many times I almost never do not have it. Also its only as random as you want it to be. You cast wrath for the +crit chance for starfire. You cast starfire for + damage for wrath. Its that easy. Also, for those of you who dont know, there IS an internal cooldown for eclipse. (thanks for the post above, forgot to mention that)

[huth]

It's obvious that you did not understand one word i said. Or what random actually means.

Internal cooldown for both eclipses is 30s, not shared. You can also not proc Solar while Lunar is up or the other way around.

[Boloney]

OK. I lols at those of you who say "eclipse proc is too random". It is only as random as your crit chance. For me, it procs so many times I almost never do not have it. Also its only as random as you want it to be. You cast wrath for the +crit chance for starfire. You cast starfire for + damage for wrath. Its that easy. Also, for those of you who dont know, there IS an internal cooldown for eclipse. (thanks for the post above, forgot to mention that)

yeah its extremely predictable for me too

[Freytor]

There is no 41 point talent. The old way made RNG the deciding factor on your DPS. This way, it's less RNG-tastic. It makes SENSE.

[Zilar]

I said lols at random not lols at unpresictable. Although i still dont understand the unpredictability. I pretty much stack crit and i win because i it procs sooo much. I understand i guess if you stack haste instead of crit or something.

[Willeonge]

imo, this is what should be done with balance druids:

[SobeBauxite]

OP, you're about the only balance druid I've ever seen who has complained about the changes they're making to eclipse. The problem with eclipse is that it's an RNG within an RNG within an RNG. The chance in any given fight that you'll proc it AND have the time to stand and use it all isn't incredibly high, so any fight where you may have to move drives your dps to nothing. You have to proc the eclipse, which isn't a 100% chance on your crits for lunar eclipse, and then you have to proc it while you have a chance to not move. As it stands right now, either you're blowing shit up like nothing else, or doing next to no damage because you just aren't proccing when you can use it.

RNG makes for interesting gameplay. RNG within RNG within RNG makes for frustratingly silly gameplay. It's not hard, just annoying, and for a lot of people the "challenge" of RNGing right isn't worth it, and they'll either go feral or roll another class.

[huth]

I said lols at random not lols at unpresictable. Although i still dont understand the unpredictability. I pretty much stack crit and i win because i it procs sooo much. I understand i guess if you stack haste instead of crit or something.

You're not even making sense now.