I think it's time we gave Stellar Flare a second chance.

[Aetherpls]

So I was talking to a friend of mine about Stellar Flare and it's lack of usefulness. So I then decided to just give it a shot on my High Council kill last week and tweeked a few things and did it again this week.

Ok so I know what you're saying, "But Aether it requires perfect play and even then it only barely beats Euphoria!" It has been a little bit of an adjustment and after 2 weeks I'm still not entirely used to it, but it's already pushing my further than I would have been with Euphoria. I had to move out for Reap but because I had Stellar Flare and dots on all three targets I wasn't impacted quite as much as I would have been if I was using Euphoria and was reliant on empowered filler spells. I'll let the logs tell the story so I don't just keep rambling.

Here is my first attempt where I used the class trinket and was bumbling through the new rotation:
https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports...pe=damage-done

Multichris is usually dead even with me and I'm not surprised that I just got more moonwings than he did. Above all, this parse showed me that if I tightened up the rotation I may have something here. Immediately following this kill, I whispered my friend and bounced the idea of dropping the class trinket for the Piston since I was wasting empowerments already and could really use the extra stats for dot damage.

Here is my kill from this week with Piston and slightly tighter play:
https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports...pe=damage-done

Admittedly, I was targeted by fel rage and our other balance druid and warlock posted out. But I dunno, I think Stellar Flare may just plain out perform Euphoria on this fight and not by a negligible amount. I'm curious for outsider's thoughts.

[Deleted]

The last time Stellar Flare was seriously discussed was on Iron Maidens, and I think the general consensus was that not only was it hard to play, it was also worse than Euphoria when it came to the hardest part of the fight where you had to focus one Maiden down fast. Council isn't so harsh in this regard and you don't need to burn Bloodboil down so fast anymore or be tight on Dia's hp when Blademaster dies. With current gear Council is pretty much an aoe fest and Stellar Flare should be higher dps.

[lappee]

I'm not sure where this "Stellar Flare is hard to play" comes from as its quite the opposite.

As for the damage its always been good on 2-4 targets, just like BoP is. The problem is that the fights where it would be useful usually require single target dps over cleave which is why no1 should ever use it on any fights for anything but dps whoring.

[huth]

I'm not sure where this "Stellar Flare is hard to play" comes from as its quite the opposite.

As for the damage its always been good on 2-4 targets, just like BoP is. The problem is that the fights where it would be useful usually require single target dps over cleave which is why no1 should ever use it on any fights for anything but dps whoring.

The other problem is that it has the same niche as BoP. Maybe they should just retool it to be better for large-scale AoE.

Oh well, we'll probably see larger changes to that tier anyway in Legion due to lack of diversity in choices.

[DonDalle]

The hard part with stellar flare is that ur other dots are harder to manage then with BoP. Stellar Flare is actually worth it on single target over Eup if u got 2000+ haste rating. It is stronger on council fights than BoP according to sims, but yea harder to play and u dont have as good single target burst then in the other specs, meaning when u really need dmg u cant do it as good as with the other talents

[lappee]

The other problem is that it has the same niche as BoP. Maybe they should just retool it to be better for large-scale AoE.

Oh well, we'll probably see larger changes to that tier anyway in Legion due to lack of diversity in choices.

Well, BoP is extremely useful in any 3-100 target situations whereas Stellar Flare is only useful up to max 5 targets so the diversity definitely is there. I'd argue its more about the eclipse speed thats rather upsetting with those two talents. Being "stuck" in one eclipse when adds come up is rather upsetting.

[Lora]

I really like stellar flare but it needs a major buff to make it worthwhile. Otherwise its going to be trumped by Euphoria/BoP every time.

[Maiestas]

I love Stellar Flare, but I find it hard to justify using it. It takes too much getting used to, and a way too different playstyle to make it anywhere near viable.

[huth]

Well, BoP is extremely useful in any 3-100 target situations whereas Stellar Flare is only useful up to max 5 targets so the diversity definitely is there. I'd argue its more about the eclipse speed thats rather upsetting with those two talents. Being "stuck" in one eclipse when adds come up is rather upsetting.

On the other hand, it renders AC useless as a tool. There's basically no gameplay based on being in the right Eclipse at the right time anymore since we swing around so fast with Euphoria.
Personally, i'd prefer if each eclipse was better at a different style of AoE, rather than one being outright better at it.

And BoP covering large scale as well as small scale is about the opposite of diversity, since that leaves StFl with no niche at all. Maybe they should have made it like Necrotic Plague, where it replaces both Moon- and Sunfire with somewhat different mechanics.

[rhoark]

Euphoria makes me feel like I have two left feet, constantly missing the optimal window for each spell.

[Aetherpls]

I'm not sure where this "Stellar Flare is hard to play" comes from as its quite the opposite.

As for the damage its always been good on 2-4 targets, just like BoP is. The problem is that the fights where it would be useful usually require single target dps over cleave which is why no1 should ever use it on any fights for anything but dps whoring.

Soon everything will be on farm and I highly doubt anyone is using Stellar Flare for fights they are progressing on. So isn't it the time for dps whoring to shine? I hope Blizzard does something with next expansion's boss design, or at least gives us more than one tool to deal with a single priority target if they continue on with the trend.

[lappee]

On the other hand, it renders AC useless as a tool. There's basically no gameplay based on being in the right Eclipse at the right time anymore since we swing around so fast with Euphoria.
Personally, i'd prefer if each eclipse was better at a different style of AoE, rather than one being outright better at it.

And BoP covering large scale as well as small scale is about the opposite of diversity, since that leaves StFl with no niche at all. Maybe they should have made it like Necrotic Plague, where it replaces both Moon- and Sunfire with somewhat different mechanics.

Solar is better at clumped AoE while Lunar is better at spread out AoE. Most bosses just have adds that DK's just grip to melee so getting that Sunfire there is better than being in Lunar for better Starfall

BoP doesnt "cover" small scale in the sense that Stellar Flare does. Stellar Flare just isnt as good in large scale AoE as BoP is in small scale.

- - - Updated - - -

Soon everything will be on farm and I highly doubt anyone is using Stellar Flare for fights they are progressing on. So isn't it the time for dps whoring to shine? I hope Blizzard does something with next expansion's boss design, or at least gives us more than one tool to deal with a single priority target if they continue on with the trend.

It certanily is, its also the time where mobs die so fast that you barely have time to DoT the up greatly diminishing the value of Stellar Flare. On bosses like council if you want to parse high you'll need to get fixated by gurtogg and Euphoria is better at that.

[Gapezilla]

I'm not sure where this "Stellar Flare is hard to play" comes from as its quite the opposite.

As for the damage its always been good on 2-4 targets, just like BoP is. The problem is that the fights where it would be useful usually require single target dps over cleave which is why no1 should ever use it on any fights for anything but dps whoring.

Stellar flare is never going to be good on council. Not only for the obvious reason of Euphoria having great synergy with the class trinket, but also because the highest logs on that fight are always gonna be extremely comp and strat dependent. I've never gotten fel rage but never had a problem maintaining rank 1 on that fight because we used to ignore Mirror Images and burn Dia for the full duration, so I got stupid amounts of pad with no other classes killing images in my raid. Now that our raid dps is significantly higher from gear/ring upgrades we can no longer burn Dia during images because she'll quite easily push below 30% during that time, so we've switched to killing every image instead. Which means soon enough I'll lose my ranking on that fight and never be able to get it back (already bumped down to 2 as of right now).

Tl;dr parsing/good dmg on council will always come down to how much image damage you get to do, which is largely based on raid comp/strat. Even for "dmg whoring" StFl will never be good because it does piss poor image dmg

[Eskian]

I've been interested in SF for end tier raiding for some time but have been overly disappointed in the output. Granted like it has been mentioned it can bring you up the meters if executed well (assistance from an add on for optimal time to cast) but being top of the meters don't mean the kill be because SF lacks the burst output that BoP or Eu can offer.
But of all the times I have tested SF on HFC only on council have I seen any reason to use it as they are 3 boss's that are statically up and don't require massive amounts of movement of executed well.

That all said I lvl'd with SF because I enjoyed the multi dotting and the ability to take multiple mobs at once, but as an end tier talent it hasn't brought much to the game that doesn't require a lot of focus to use. If in the future it is like suggested a compete replacement for MF/SF then I can see it being a great benefit of it can spread but weakens on spreading (for balance purposes) then it could be an interesting tool to rotate in and out on depending on the encounter.

[lappee]

Tl;dr parsing/good dmg on council will always come down to how much image damage you get to do, which is largely based on raid comp/strat. Even for "dmg whoring" StFl will never be good because it does piss poor image dmg

Stellar Flare would be just as good as any other talent for images if you get to whore and just passively starfall them alone. In that case Stellar Flare would be the best for dpsing the bosses unless you get lucky with Fel rage (that I've never gotten on my druid, qq)

[Cyous]

Stellar Flare needs to snapshot Eclipse

[xtramuscle]

Stellar Flare needs to snapshot Eclipse

and have no cast time.

[lappee]

Stellar Flare needs to snapshot Eclipse

and have no cast time.

Both of which have close to no effect on its DPS

[huth]

Both of which have close to no effect on its DPS

Depends on how much mastery you have. Though i don't think it's a good idea to snapshot.

Instant would just let us cast it on the move.

Neither would really solve the conceptual issues, though.

[xtramuscle]

I feel making it instant would make it play more comfortably on multi target. The concept of trying to cast it near neutral eclipse, but having a cast time means on mutli target, even just 2 its awkward at best. Do you aim for one either side of neutral, and get both as low as possible. Or do you get 1 spot on and settle for one in low numbers? Or maybe make flare alter the eclipse so instead of pausing at peaks it pauses in the middle to allow time for more than1 flare cast at optimal time.