[Balance] 5.4 Changes and Thoughts

[Varna]

I'm surprised this threads still going, people crying like the worlds going to end. I'm looking forward to 5.4, huge secondary stats incoming, gonna be amazing.

[huth]

Sad thing is this would probably do nothing. The best bet for them 'fixing' something that they nerfed is mass flood to the forums. You could have the like best ideas with nothing that could be considered OP or bad and it still wouldnt be used by blizz

That legitimate concerns are often accompanied by incessant bawling doesn't mean the bawling is responsible for the changes.

[Slapsgiving]

I'm surprised this threads still going, people crying like the worlds going to end. I'm looking forward to 5.4, huge secondary stats incoming, gonna be amazing.

The thread is about "changes and thoughts", it is very legitimate to present those -which is not necessarily crying, is it?

What exactly is stat inflation going to make amazing that right now is "meh" or plain sucky? The other classes will have that too, and you will notice how the differential with them escalates to absurd limits, both in PvE and PvP.

[Fountaiin]

We're probably going to get something back after losing 15%. Incarnation/CA/HOTW will still be great and you can just ignore the 4p and favor offpieces (especially blood-forged if they have them, idk). We're going to have a ton of crit/haste next tier too. Honestly if the patch went live tomorrow I wouldn't be that upset. Going to go ham 45% starsurge 60% crit. #Yolo

[Aboubacar]

We're probably going to get something back after losing 15%. Incarnation/CA/HOTW will still be great and you can just ignore the 4p and favor offpieces (especially blood-forged if they have them, idk). We're going to have a ton of crit/haste next tier too. Honestly if the patch went live tomorrow I wouldn't be that upset. Going to go ham 45% starsurge 60% crit. #Yolo

Maybe you're okay with it because you never healed people, but getting "targeted" with multiple utility nerfs at the same time feels wrong to me. Doesn't make sense because balance wasn't a spec that was "out of control" like let's see... warlocks and elemental shaemens and rogues... That coupled with a 4set that makes me think no developer has played the spec ever. Also there is no intention to buff any moonkin livability atm in the form of a new active cooldown or buffing current defensive cooldowns.

If you guys think bumkins need better survivability after the 15% passive DR removal you should tweet the ghostcrab and make massive threads on bnet forums.

[Deleted]

The more i think about it, the more i feel like balance druids have been shit on through the whole expansion. If the current 4 set goes live i think im done, i think i might actually switch main during an expansion...

[Cybb]

The more i think about it, the more i feel like balance druids have been shit on through the whole expansion. If the current 4 set goes live i think im done, i think i might actually switch main during an expansion...

Because we are just such a shitty class right now.... Totally... 100%...

[Deleted]

Because we are just such a shitty class right now.... Totally... 100%...

Becuase that is totally what i said...

I just dislike the lack of attention that balance druids are getting.

[Sunfyre]

Please stay on topic and constructive.

[Drayarr]

Hopefully, as its PTR, and its TESTING that the current state of moonkin on the TEST realm is just a TEST and that it will be dramatically altered before it hits live, otherwise there will me some massively pissed off owls.

[Droodpile]

WTB a list of items from the new tier, my favorite part is planning out which pieces are going to be the best. And yes the damage reduction nerf does hurt, it's not huge but we are going to need a better damage reduction cd than Barkskin... We have symbiosis but we won't always have a warlock available to us.

[Deleted]

I feel the nature's swiftness "nerf" is gonna hurt the most. When a tank dies or something, I now have an instant br bringing him back at full health, most of the time we do not lose a single person in that time. However now with a cast time, we might lose a person while the tank is getting br-sed. Also when the tank is dropping really low like on mageara hc, I have an instant healing touch for him (around 230k or so) to save his life for a bit. Or when the add or twisted fate comes out on hc council I have an instant root. This nerf is going to hurt really really bad for the importance of our utility.

The damage reduction that we lose sucks, but is not the end of the world in my opinion. If something damaging is happening and we pop barkskin (20% on only 1min cd) and rejuv on yourself you are gonna be fine for almost every encounter. We still survive more then most classes.

Last, the set bonusses are really dumb. It feels like we are forced to become these robots that have to go from 1 eclipse to another. We are heavily penalized for staying into 1 eclipse for AoE purposes with the higher mana costs that are incoming, plus with the proc change there is nothing but going to the next. I understand that bliz doesnt want us to stay in one eclipse all the time, but this last set bonus was better designed. It was an incentive to go to the next eclipse as soon as possible.

Overall I'm not too worried, a good moonkin is one that brings all the utility to the raid while doing decent dps. I feel that this is still possible, however I feel that bliz hasnt thought about the effect of the nature's grace nerf for utility and the bad effect of the 4set on gameplay of moonkins.

[Zareth]

WTB a list of items from the new tier, my favorite part is planning out which pieces are going to be the best. And yes the damage reduction nerf does hurt, it's not huge but we are going to need a better damage reduction cd than Barkskin... We have symbiosis but we won't always have a warlock available to us.

Most items aren't on the PTR yet, so you're gonna have to wait a bit. We're still early in the PTR cycle. So far, the only items that are up are the tier pieces (you can find them on Wowhead, and even those have placeholder names/models).

[Tyriama]

Initial thoughts:

Loosing NS: Doesn't REALLY bother me all that much. We have DK's to instaress (Our MT is incredibly swift at this as he's often hovering at 50 RP) and the cast isn't really that long anyhow for BR. Will take up Renewal instead, as that is what I usually use NS for, a quick selfheal after AOE phases.

15% dmg reduction nerf: We're getting armor buff instead. Yes, it's sad to see the passive go, but we have Barkskin, we have HOTS, and with the added armor for melee adds, we will probably not see much of the difference. (15% on top of the Barkskin was fairly insane.)

Mana change: Meh. Seldom AOE for longer than 2 hurricanes at most in current encounters, doubt it will be longer in 5.4.

Tier sets: PTR testing shows 2pc being quite strong, iirc. I personally enjoy these passive, but active tier bonuses (Not just 5% damage, but an active effect proccing.)
4pc is apparently neither good or bad. Just meh.

[Deleted]

Not sure if this has been suggested, but they could easily just rework Owlkin Frenzy. Make it work similar to Focused Will, so it's a proc based damage reduction. Remove the damage bonus from Owlkin Frenzy and buff us a tad to compensate. Standing in fire for a DPS buff is a horrible, horrible idea in the first place, but we will have damage reduction and the pushback immunity for situations where damage can not be avoided.

[Fountaiin]

Item - Druid T16 Balance 4P Bonus Every time you enter Solar or Lunar Eclipse, the cooldown of Celestial Alignment is reduced by 3 sec. 5 sec.

Looks like they didn't listen at all. LOL

[Sainiunit]

I really hope baseline NS isn't our compensation for the 15% damage reduction nerf. I don't want more heals, I want damage mitigation. Healing is good, but in scenarios of super ultra high burst I prefer damage reduction.

Even in raids I would prefer having a damage reduction that would lessen an onslaught of high incoming damage rather than a heal in which could be unhelpful due to an one-shot ability.

NS provides instant CC, fine, but in MOP I don't feel "faster" or more CC is really needed. It's unnecessary.

Anyways, this is what I feel balance druids need vs what they're receiving.

[artem123]

Item - Druid T16 Balance 4P Bonus Every time you enter Solar or Lunar Eclipse, the cooldown of Celestial Alignment is reduced by 3 sec. 5 sec.

Looks like they didn't listen at all. LOL

Yup, they listened to one part of overall boomies. That counts... right? for NS atleast
I dont think they fully realize the more time they add onto that bonus, the less youll want to either
A) Take it
Or B) Take incarnation, or possibly NV for line ups

[Treehogger]

End tier set bonusses are supposed to be good i heard. Still not seeing a good 4set bonus here.

[Droodpile]

Looks like 2set and off pieces for us next tier.

Really hope those trinkets are just placeholders, because they kind of blow.

Edit: Nevermind, just saw the Amplification and the massive crit proc one those will most likely be the ones we go for.