Another patch has hit the PTRs, and it looks like Wrath has been tweaked based on our feedback.  I think they’re much closer to the right track now for Wrath, and Hurricane definitely looks neat.

What are your thoughts?

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At first, after reading the 4.3 patch notes, I was a bit disappointed there was nothing for balance druids. Reports are coming from the 4.3 PTR however that Wrath, along with other spells, now have a new animation. There are also reports of Starfall being changed.

The change looks much more Solar like then nature. Also, it appears the travel time has been increased.

Skip to 2:20 on this video for the Wrath animation.

Here’s another video I found on YouTube.  Not sure who to credit it to, nor who’s doing the narration.

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At first, after reading the 4.3 patch notes, I was a bit disappointed there was nothing for balance druids. Reports are coming from the 4.3 PTR however that Wrath, along with other spells, now have a new animation. There are also reports of Starfall being changed.

The change looks much more Solar like then nature. Also, it appears the travel time has been increased.

Skip to 2:20 on this video for the Wrath animation.

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It’s been a long time since I’ve written a lengthy editorial post, so I figured it’s about time.

I’m rather disappointed with the Balance Druid Preview.  A lot of people think it gave us a lot of “fixes” for the class, but I don’t think it did.  Without going into further detail of their options, it looks like they’re going to create more problems.

Eclipse.  I’m rather worried about Eclipse boosting Arcane damage and not Starfire crit rating.  Sure, this is going to be nice for things like Starfall and Hurricane (because Eclipse is going to buff a pool and not just an ability), however having to cast Starfire without chain Nature’s Grace is going to be REALLY slow.  (And not to mention our mana regeneration abilities will be severely nerfed).  The only (small) benefit to this is the removal of our crit cap, but that’s not going to counter the problem.

Nature’s Grace.  We’ve always known this spell needs to be revamped because it’s what really gives Wrath such an absurdly low haste cap.  But again, the problem with removing this spell is it’s going to really hamper Starfire.  I will have to do some theorycrafting, but I think the amount of haste you’ll want to make Starfire worthwhile without an absurd critical strike rating and Nature’s Grace is probably going to put you over the haste cap on Wrath, even without Nature’s Grace.

Starlight Wrath. When the cast time reductions for Starfire and Wrath were combined in WotLK, it seemed like they were doing us a favor, but the cast time for Wrath really needs to be brought into it’s own talent and give a boon for lowering it’s cast time, like less damage.  This would allow the base damage of Wrath to be raised, and PvE balance druids to not spec into cast time reduction, possibly alleviating the haste cap issue.

TL;DR. We really need to see how they plan on fixing the haste cap issue for Wrath to see how that’s going to shake out our caps and should give us a better idea with how this new Eclipse will play out.  It’s going to be very hard to strike up a balance between all the problems, and so far Blizzard has given us nothing but a few gimmicks.

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Ghostcrawler commented about a suggestion for a Wrath glyph to raise both it’s cast time and damage co-efficient in an effort to fix our hastecap.  He wasn’t a fan.  Apparently because some bad balance druids could be confused by the intent, we shouldn’t implement it, instead of making them actually LEARN THE CLASS.  I’m not a fan of having to wait to Cataclysm, either.

“I understand the intent and it’s clever in a way, but we would be hesitant to introduce a glyph that would actually be a bad glyph for players who weren’t capable of benefiting from a bunch of haste. There are some glyphs with a kiss / curse vibe, but usually not this severe, and with a curse that really isn’t a curse when you consider that it lets you benefit more from haste in the long run.

It might make more sense if you tucked it away where only endgame focused players could reach it (like an idol that dropped off an ICC boss), but even then it would almost need a warning label explaining what it was trying to do. “

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