Question of the Week: Cataclysm
by Sunfyre on Feb.28, 2010, under General
What one thing would you like to see changed for balance druids in Cataclysm? Being that it’s a cataclysm, I’d like to see the balance tree completely overhauled. Specifically, the cap issue needs to be addressed, both with haste and crit.
6 Comments for this entry
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Latest on Thu, 09:38 pm: They just updated the 4pc T13 again. 10% Bonus damage and 5 seconds reduced CD.
: Btw, it's not worth it to acctually refresh your dot when it proc...just play as if it's a normal weap... The 2,5 sec you loose refreshing your dot could have been used to get more eclipse utpime and thus benefiting from Nature's grace, which is more important.
: It pretty much averages out to 300 haste all the time, which isnt bad, but you're right it's hard to predict when it'll proc and casting dots accordingly. I feel the extra haste to the raid is worth it though.
: our 4 set bonus has been changed to 10% increased starsurge dmg
: Buffing T13 4 piece set bonus! Yay we can finally use our new tier set.
February 28th, 2010 on 11:51 pm
With the coming back of Malfurion id like to see some sweet lore going on with all three specs, going deeper in each of the druidic ways.
In the balance case, it would be nice to see more Equilibrium stuff between arcane and nature,
March 1st, 2010 on 12:16 pm
There is no ability more fundamental and core to the druid class than to shapeshift and switch roles mid-combat. Other classes such as paladins can spec for multiple roles, but in my opinion every druid should be able to swap between a primary role and a secondary role at any time during a fight.
The logical second role for a cat form druid is to off tank. The logical second role for a resto druid is ranged dps, etc. The logical second role for a balance druid is to heal. Therefore, each talent tree should include a deep talent to assist performing the second role for a limited amount of time.
For balance druids, I would like to see a 1 point cooldown somewhere after you get moonkin form that both reduces mana cost of our healing spells drastically for some short period of time (say, 45 seconds) AND improves their effectiveness.
Then, I would like to see fights that require different make-ups during different phases. For example, you could have phase 1 of a boss require tons of dps to burn down, but then once phase 2 hits and add comes out and starts owning your off tank, you need a huge amount of heals. In a 10 man group, you’d need 3 healers for phase 2, but 7 dps during phase 1. At least one person (maybe 2) FORCED to perform two roles during the fight. So, phase 1 would need 1 tank, 2 heals, and 7 dps. Phase 2 would need 2 tanks, 3, heals, and 5 dps. Your group could have a DK or cat druid swap between tanking and healing, and a moonkin swap between dpsing and heals.
March 1st, 2010 on 12:21 pm
The problem with that is.. I have no desire whatsoever to heal. If I wanted to, I’d be a tree. I would have no incentive to pick up such a talent. This concept of “you’re a hybrid, you can do more then one thing” is what’s penalizing us, because in any one battle, we are NOT a hybrid. I’m just as much of a pure DPSer as a mage is as long as I’m balance spec’d. To give us actual real healing abilities would cause them to penalize our DPS even further.
March 1st, 2010 on 12:52 pm
Well, to be fair, I would hate for our DPS to be severely curtailed at the expense of being able to heal as well. But I would also hate for the only difference between me and a mage to be what texture we’re given.
If you have no desire to do anything other than DPS, then what is it that makes a balance druid more desirable than a mage? Our actual rotation and mechanics change significantly every expansion, so there’s no guarantee that our play “style” will be more enticing after the next expansion. It could be that people who prefer nuking as a moonkin now would prefer nuking as a frost mage a year from now. With a mage, you’re guaranteed to get to choose from at least 2 viable raiding specs. So you’re much more likely to find a play style you enjoy with a mage.
That being said, of course I would want my DPS potential while nuking to be equal to any other “pure” classes DPS potential. In no way is a druid who is an effective healer 20% of the time overpowered if he dishes out as much hurt as a mage when he IS nuking. In fact, I’d say Blizzard is more likely to make our DPS comparable if they’re expecting many of us to not be nuking 100% of the fight.
So, I do believe that Blizzard should force raid groups to bring 1-2 characters who are able to do more than one thing during combat. If you just want to DPS, then the raid should find another paladin/DK/druid/Shaman than can do more than one thing during a fight. You should get what you want. To me, I’m just not a druid unless I shapeshift.
I just think that we’re shortsighted by always expecting Blizzard to make our DPS match a mage’s DPS without offering to play the class that Blizzard intended to play. It’s ultimately going to hurt us if we force Blizzard to turn us into mages.
(It’s possible they could also give balance druids a cooldown that enables off tanking of level 87 adds for a brief period, too.)
March 4th, 2010 on 5:57 am
The best argument pure classes would bring to this hybrid thing is
“Why would i wanna roll a pure class, when i can roll a druid that can do my job as well AND then shapeshift out of nuke form and heal”
March 4th, 2010 on 2:21 pm
@Balourd
I think the problem here is that dpsers are evaluated on their ability to sit there and nuke. If all 3 mage trees are distinct and have separate mechanics, then for a pure dpser, the mage will be the more fun class because they’d be good at managing adds, nuking the boss, or kiting, or any number of roles that the different specs could be suited for.
Mages should have more variety in HOW they do damage.