Poll: Should Balance Druid Pre-Pull Preparation be reduced or removed?

  1. #1

    Tedious Balance Druid Pre-Pull Preparation?

    I don't main a Balance Druid, but I played one at 85 in LFR Dragon Soul and I was decent at the rotations and the overall feel, etc. I loved how Balance played: everything from how Moonkin formed looked to the engaging Eclipse mechanic.

    However, reading through Balance DPS guides, it seems that being a Moonkin may be slightly annoying. I especially mean this in regards to the preparation right before a boss: it seems cruel to have to
    1. Shift Forms
    2. Symbiosis
    3. MotW
    4. Astral Communion for over 10 seconds just to get an optimal opener

    While of course I greatly value distinctness between classes, it seems to me that this type of preparation needed is quite tedious and, in my opinion, not very fun at all, especially when other classes can simply pull the boss without even close to this much set-up time, save for a pre-pot or an Army of the Dead.

    What do you guys think about this? Is it good to help keep the class unique? Does it help separate bad players from better, more DPS concerned players? Or is it simply an annoyance that should be removed?

  2. #2
    Bloodsail Admiral Slippykins's Avatar
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    We have a bit of ramp-up time before each fight yeah, but I wouldn't really count buffing everyone with paws and shifting into boomkin form as part of our preparation time. If we do include it though, total time spent preparing: 1 GCD (paws) + 1 GCD (boomkin form) + ~1.16 seconds (symbiosis with average haste) + 8 seconds (Astral Communion). If we say 1 GCD = 1 second with 10296 haste, then total time spent is 11.16 seconds. Not too bad, considering most wipes take around 2 minutes to get back on their feet. You spend around as much time getting your food buff, to put it in perspective.

    Comparing us to fire mages (since my fiancée is one) they have: 1 GCD (mirror images) + 1 GCD (mage buff) + 2.5 seconds (evocate) + ~ 4 seconds (pyroblast hard cast) = 8.5 seconds. The caveat is that 7.5 seconds of that must be chained immediately prior to the boss being pulled, so the evocate buff and mirror images have maximum uptime and pyroblast hits just as the boss is pulled.

    None of our abilities need to be used just before the boss is pulled, so it's quite lax as to when we need to do it. I think it's nice we don't need to worry about when we start to prepare for the fight, so typically for me it becomes second nature after I eat my food buff.

    All personal preference I suppose, though.

  3. #3
    I'm not sure, but isn't Astral Communion 2 full channels and then one 3/4 channel? So closer to 11 seconds?
    I agree with you that our ramp-up time isn't too bad compared to fire mages. All these things kinda suck though :P
    It is nice having the leisure of doing our preparation anytime before the actual boss fight, but at the same time it then feels less meaningful: in the fire mage's case, the Pyroblast pre-cast would be visibly adding to their initial DPS, while sitting still and channeling a spell for 11 seconds seems more like a routine. Either way, both of these seem like annoyances (not of the utmost importance) that I would like to see, if not removed, at least addressed by the Devs.

    Haha, everything is of course my own personal preference
    Last edited by Pouponu; 2013-05-14 at 04:06 AM.

  4. #4
    Bloodsail Admiral Slippykins's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pouponu View Post
    I'm not sure, but isn't Astral Communion 2 full channels and then one 3/4 channel? So closer to 11 seconds?
    I agree with you that our ramp-up time isn't too bad compared to fire mages. All these things kinda suck though :P
    It is nice having the leisure of doing our preparation anytime before the actual boss fight, but at the same time it then feels less meaningless: in the fire mage's case, the Pyroblast pre-cast would be visibly adding to their initial DPS, while sitting still and channeling a spell for 11 seconds seems more like a routine. Either way, both of these seem like annoyances (not of the utmost importance) that I would like to see, if not removed, at least addressed by the Devs.

    Haha, everything is of course my own personal preference :)
    Astral Communion time is 11 seconds if you start 1 cast from Lunar, but typically people will start at the bottom of Solar if they have RPPM trinkets or the legendary meta to align with CA. Technically, you only need to get to the beginning of Solar for that opener, so it'd only be 4 seconds of Astral Communion at a minimum.

    I agree with you for the most part. :D

  5. #5
    I don't see why it is a bad thing. 99% of the time you will have plenty of time to do it anyways as people rarely pull within 30 seconds of reaching the boss. It keeps you from alt-tabbing to some browser keeps you focused.

    The only time it's stupid when the eclipse bug occurs where you can't change it with AC. Respeccing and back just to get a good opener is quite tedious.

    Maybe my opinion is a bit biased as I've always played a balance druid in raids but I find the preparations ok.

    PS. You don't need to recast Symbiosis every time.

  6. #6
    Deleted
    My answer was - leave it as is. Motw is 1 global, you dont need to recast symbiosis every pull and Astral Communion is here to help you.

    But there is something I would really welcome - a glyph which will allow you to cast AC while moving.
    That will reduce prepull 'slacking time' and importantly - give you something to do during heavy movement.

  7. #7
    Gief some kind of ACTUAL movement dps and "inb4" "just spam eclipse dot and ss" thats not what I mean

  8. #8
    Oh boy, Balance's movement DPS is a topic for a whole new thread :P

  9. #9
    Deleted
    Just a tip here: Grab yourself the crafted dreadful gladiator 4piece. It allows you to cast Astral Communiun while moving. I usually just slap on the 4 pieces, and do that part of my prep time while running back after a wipe. Just remember to swap back to your normal gear.

    Also, for movement dps for balance: During movement, refresh your dots if you still are in eclipse (dependent on how much time you have left on your dots, it can be done outside of NG), if you are outside of eclipse. Slap down a few mushrooms so you can use them on your next solar.
    In my opinion, balance druids really get hit hard by movement IF they have bad RNG. Sometimes, you can get lucky and see SS procs while moving, so then the movement doesn't impact your dps.
    But when you see none, still have a full set of dots up and refreshing them would mean overriding a more powerful one, you basically don't have much you can do during movement.

    On a heavy movement phase in a fight (like Durumu maze phase for example) I just pop HotW, equip my feral weapon and shift to kitty form to do some mangling, simply because it is easier than having to bother with casting times and risking your life to get that last cast off before moving from that bloody beam.
    Last edited by mmocfce925a786; 2013-05-13 at 03:13 AM.

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