Sunday, December 26, 2010
who knows @_@
deciding to just wait until i have more time to actually update shit since i just dont really have a lot of time so there ya go XD.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
BOOMKINS BACK
well...not exactly, I ended up taking an absence from WoW, and when I came back I sort of just played casually as a holy pally in a 10 man guild...after several events which led me to be gkicked, and the (semi)GM have a breakdown and delete wow I ended up joining another 25 man raiding guild on boulderfist called severance, unfortunately at this time my skills as a lazur turkey are not required, so at the moment I am a resto druid for the guild. I love healing, I mean I have 4 lvl 80 toons all of which are currently main specced healing so clearly I enjoy it, but I never pass up a chance to go balance and pewpewigotu! I still want to make this a balance druid blog however, and am dedicated to keeping it updated now. SO MAKE ROOM FOR MY FLUFFY MOONFIRETAUNTING BOOOTAY Dillybear is back!
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Druid Preview
After several days of waiting I'm sure everyone was exited to find out what the druid class had in it's future. Overall I'm very satisfied with how it turned out, but there are still so many issues and details left unsaid I'm aching for more. I suppose I'll get right to it in order of changes, I'll be doing balance changes first then after that I'll comment on the other specs changes in a later post as well since I enjoy every aspect of the druid class.
Wild Mushroom (Level 85): Grows a magical mushroom at the target location. After 4 seconds the mushroom becomes invisible. Enemies who cross the mushroom detonate it, causing it to deal area-of-effect damage, though its damage component will remain very effective against single targets. The druid can also choose to detonate the mushroom ahead of time. This is primarily a tool for the Balance druid, and there will be talents that play off of it. No cooldown. 40-yard range. Instant cast.
Ok, did anyone else read this ability and just sit there with a blank face thinking...wtf? WHO THOUGHT THAT AN INVISIBLE EXPLODING MUSHROOM WAS JUST WHAT THE DRUID CLASS NEEDED?! well the problem with this preview is until we know the damage is deals its pretty much pointless to even theorize it's use. I mean obviously it has pvp implications, but the way they refere to it like "though its damage component will remain very effective against single targets" seems to imply pve at least that's how I interpreted it. Also, the way we detonate it early is also unknown, I'm really hoping is a dual spell like demo portal for warlocks: one to place it another to detonate it. That way it would be a lot more useful then waiting for it get a proximity target. Also though since I'm assuming that you place it like FoN that casting it while moving ( the only real reason i can think to cast it in pve) will prove annoying. And assuming it works like the dual spell ability then it could be rediculous for pvp since it has no cd and probly decent damage at leats on players. Lastly I wonder how its natural exlposion happens can you put it on a target and it will explode imediately or does the target have to walk over it or eve off it first or what. Of coarse that will all be explained eventually, BUT DADDY I WANT IT NOW!!! either wayi Ilol'd when I saw it so it might be a really cool ability especially since they said they have talants that play into it.
Most hots and dots, including druid ones, will benefit from haste and crit. The exceptions are things like Deep Wounds and Ignite, which are already tied to crit.
This was a given, a great change and I cant wait to see how this changes the way we use dots.
Mastery
* Spell Damage
* Spell Haste
* Eclipse
Eclipse: We are moving Eclipse from a talent into a core mechanic of the class and making it less random. Balance druids will have a new UI element that shows a sun and a moon. Whenever they cast an Arcane spell, it will move the UI closer to the sun, and buff their Nature damage. Whenever they cast a Nature spell, it will move the UI closer to the moon, and buff their Arcane damage. The gameplay intention is to alternate Arcane and Nature spells (largely Starfire and Wrath) to maintain the balance.
This was a very interesting way of keeping eclipse a a core part of our rotation while also reducing its RNG and movement unfriendlyness. that also leaves too much room for speculation for me to start throwing out ideas, and most other druids have come to a consensus it will be a stacking damage buff for each side probobly affect all our damaging spells. Honestly all I can say is im really exited about it and cant wait to try it out. On a lesser note im really glad they gave us haste for our passive mastery I've always loved the way haste works im im glad to see it being considered a core stat, though i do wonder how exactly mastery will enhance us because if you get a piece with mastery and haste wont that sorta be a stacknig thing? and will mastery be a percentage or what? And does it affect eclipse? All this im sure will come in time, but so far mastery seems far more muddled and confusing then arpen imo.
Balance druids will have a new talent ability called Nature’s Torrent, which strikes for either Nature or Arcane damage depending on which will do the most damage (or possibly both), and moves the Eclipse meter more (details below). The improved version of Nature’s Torrent also reduces the target's movement speed. 10-second cooldown.
I'm really glad we get a new ability even on a cd and probly not used for its damage its still nice to have a little bit of diversity as far as spells go balance druids always felt so limited as far as damaging spells go. Of coarse the main point of this spell seems to be altering our eclipse meter oh well as i've said before only time will tell
Wild Mushroom (Level 85): Grows a magical mushroom at the target location. After 4 seconds the mushroom becomes invisible. Enemies who cross the mushroom detonate it, causing it to deal area-of-effect damage, though its damage component will remain very effective against single targets. The druid can also choose to detonate the mushroom ahead of time. This is primarily a tool for the Balance druid, and there will be talents that play off of it. No cooldown. 40-yard range. Instant cast.
Ok, did anyone else read this ability and just sit there with a blank face thinking...wtf? WHO THOUGHT THAT AN INVISIBLE EXPLODING MUSHROOM WAS JUST WHAT THE DRUID CLASS NEEDED?! well the problem with this preview is until we know the damage is deals its pretty much pointless to even theorize it's use. I mean obviously it has pvp implications, but the way they refere to it like "though its damage component will remain very effective against single targets" seems to imply pve at least that's how I interpreted it. Also, the way we detonate it early is also unknown, I'm really hoping is a dual spell like demo portal for warlocks: one to place it another to detonate it. That way it would be a lot more useful then waiting for it get a proximity target. Also though since I'm assuming that you place it like FoN that casting it while moving ( the only real reason i can think to cast it in pve) will prove annoying. And assuming it works like the dual spell ability then it could be rediculous for pvp since it has no cd and probly decent damage at leats on players. Lastly I wonder how its natural exlposion happens can you put it on a target and it will explode imediately or does the target have to walk over it or eve off it first or what. Of coarse that will all be explained eventually, BUT DADDY I WANT IT NOW!!! either wayi Ilol'd when I saw it so it might be a really cool ability especially since they said they have talants that play into it.
Most hots and dots, including druid ones, will benefit from haste and crit. The exceptions are things like Deep Wounds and Ignite, which are already tied to crit.
This was a given, a great change and I cant wait to see how this changes the way we use dots.
Mastery
* Spell Damage
* Spell Haste
* Eclipse
Eclipse: We are moving Eclipse from a talent into a core mechanic of the class and making it less random. Balance druids will have a new UI element that shows a sun and a moon. Whenever they cast an Arcane spell, it will move the UI closer to the sun, and buff their Nature damage. Whenever they cast a Nature spell, it will move the UI closer to the moon, and buff their Arcane damage. The gameplay intention is to alternate Arcane and Nature spells (largely Starfire and Wrath) to maintain the balance.
This was a very interesting way of keeping eclipse a a core part of our rotation while also reducing its RNG and movement unfriendlyness. that also leaves too much room for speculation for me to start throwing out ideas, and most other druids have come to a consensus it will be a stacking damage buff for each side probobly affect all our damaging spells. Honestly all I can say is im really exited about it and cant wait to try it out. On a lesser note im really glad they gave us haste for our passive mastery I've always loved the way haste works im im glad to see it being considered a core stat, though i do wonder how exactly mastery will enhance us because if you get a piece with mastery and haste wont that sorta be a stacknig thing? and will mastery be a percentage or what? And does it affect eclipse? All this im sure will come in time, but so far mastery seems far more muddled and confusing then arpen imo.
Balance druids will have a new talent ability called Nature’s Torrent, which strikes for either Nature or Arcane damage depending on which will do the most damage (or possibly both), and moves the Eclipse meter more (details below). The improved version of Nature’s Torrent also reduces the target's movement speed. 10-second cooldown.
I'm really glad we get a new ability even on a cd and probly not used for its damage its still nice to have a little bit of diversity as far as spells go balance druids always felt so limited as far as damaging spells go. Of coarse the main point of this spell seems to be altering our eclipse meter oh well as i've said before only time will tell
Monday, April 5, 2010
limited by options
One thing that has been a major issue in quite a few guilds I have been in is cloth on a balance druid and it usually comes down to the same argument every time: druids can wear cloth AND leather, but clothies only cloth so they should get dibsies right? Well its not that simple and anyone that thinks that it is that black and white is very narrow minded.
Lets look at it from both sides point of view. clothie: can only choose from cloth items even though cloth is the most plentiful and usually best itemized as far as non-tier items go so they don't lose anything, but don't gain anything either. Leather/mail users: have the ability to wear both their armour type and cloth(or leather for mail users), but both are usually itemized more heavily with spirit or mp5 which is even worse. Not to mention the amount of those is a lot less, but still they do have additional options and when they do have more options i believe they should pass to clothies
Now where it starts to get very muddled and more subjective is when your talking about BIS items that are cloth. Say I'm a balance druid wearing a 264 piece of cloth or leather in a random slot, then a 277 cloth piece drops, its bis for every single caster in the raid, and this is where you need to re-evaluate the options idea, if the only upgrade you can get is cloth then how does a druid have any more options then a clothie? But a lot of clothies just assume that since leather can be put on your character sheet that that means you magically have "different" BIS items. There is only one BIS item, if there is a leather equivalent or something reasonably close then still its just common courtousy to pass, but i feel druids are punished because people misunderstand what the term option actually means and the idea of telling the druid to not upgrade an item is more then unfair.
so to put it simply so that most ppl can understand it. what makes a clothie a clothie is the fact that the only upgrade he can get is cloth, so if your a balance druid and you only feasible upgrade is a piece of cloth you are literally on the same level and the clothie should be awarded no dibs at all, especially since blizz designed the game so that moonkins could wear cloth and come on clothies would just bitch if they ever made leather that was itemized better then cloth, so just be happy you always have access to BIS caster loot, but of coarse it seems with the idea of mastery and spirit/hit conversion this argument is going to be mostly if not entirely invalid come cata.
Lets look at it from both sides point of view. clothie: can only choose from cloth items even though cloth is the most plentiful and usually best itemized as far as non-tier items go so they don't lose anything, but don't gain anything either. Leather/mail users: have the ability to wear both their armour type and cloth(or leather for mail users), but both are usually itemized more heavily with spirit or mp5 which is even worse. Not to mention the amount of those is a lot less, but still they do have additional options and when they do have more options i believe they should pass to clothies
Now where it starts to get very muddled and more subjective is when your talking about BIS items that are cloth. Say I'm a balance druid wearing a 264 piece of cloth or leather in a random slot, then a 277 cloth piece drops, its bis for every single caster in the raid, and this is where you need to re-evaluate the options idea, if the only upgrade you can get is cloth then how does a druid have any more options then a clothie? But a lot of clothies just assume that since leather can be put on your character sheet that that means you magically have "different" BIS items. There is only one BIS item, if there is a leather equivalent or something reasonably close then still its just common courtousy to pass, but i feel druids are punished because people misunderstand what the term option actually means and the idea of telling the druid to not upgrade an item is more then unfair.
so to put it simply so that most ppl can understand it. what makes a clothie a clothie is the fact that the only upgrade he can get is cloth, so if your a balance druid and you only feasible upgrade is a piece of cloth you are literally on the same level and the clothie should be awarded no dibs at all, especially since blizz designed the game so that moonkins could wear cloth and come on clothies would just bitch if they ever made leather that was itemized better then cloth, so just be happy you always have access to BIS caster loot, but of coarse it seems with the idea of mastery and spirit/hit conversion this argument is going to be mostly if not entirely invalid come cata.
Monday, March 29, 2010
barkskin: your prickly lil' savior
I'm sure any druid can tell you barkskin is no ice block, divine protection or dispersion as far as defensive CD's work go, but by no means does that make it underpowered or useless. It may only be a 20% reduction, but it takes no gcd which makes it the only defensive cd to not cause a dps loss if you time it right. It also has a shorter cd then all the previously mentioned so that makes it very versatile for fights where there are a few bursts of damage. The one problem with it is since its only 20% it cant always save you from death so knowing when to use it can be difficult, but overall I've come to enjoy using it quite liberally to save me or even to reduce the risk of death, dead dps is no dps and it is way better to know that you wasted that 1 min cd just in case instead of face first on the floor smashing your head on your keyboard saying WHY DIDN'T I JUST HIT IT. The best way to learn when to use it is to KNOW TH FIGHT MECHANICS, that is actually the best way to survive in general on any boss of any expansion. So here is a rough outline of ICC bosses and Good times to use barkskin.
If its marrowgar(assuming HM since NM is retarded easy) when would you cast it? Well if you were not paying attention or just got cornered by being in the wrong place at the wrong time you need barkskin to live through a tick or 2 of Bone Storm, but hopefully you just learn to be not bad. for LDW you would use it most likely if you get a DND cast right on top of you or maybe if you randomly were an idiot an got hit by a ghost(though out of shame you should just kill yourself anyway). With DBS you wouldn't have as much of a chance to use it unless you had the mark and got below 50% health, but if that happens that can really make the difference between a wipe and a kill.
FesterGut is a great example of where you can actually gain dps time by using Barkskin, for this fight you only need to waste your time getting two debuffs and you can neglect the third and just use barkskin on the inhale since there is no other time you could even use it really( especially since you can't cast it while disoriented with the puke). RotFace is great to us when you get the slime on you an need to run out its a little random as to how much that can help you but it really gives a bit of reaction time to the healers. Professor Putricide doesn't really have a super good time to use this besides green ooze explode or maybe on p3 if you absolutely need to run through slime to get back with the raid.
Blood Princes is another fight that really doesn't have much damage that will affect you that you cant avoid or it wont kill you(unless your randomly a tank for the ranged dude). During Blood Queen's air phase it is awsome to use this once again more of a healer helper, but if your missing health then its a must have for each air phase, you can even use it if your about to b bitten and your not at full health.
Dreamwalker really doesn't have much of a use for it at all except if your stupid enough to kill an exploding zombie right on top of you. Sindragosa really only has one use as well, for if you get ice blocked and your asphyxiating or if your about to get blocked and you aren't at full health, but you cant use it with unchained magic as it adds an extra stack thus making it counter productive XD.
Unfortunately since i just stopped raiding for a while due to a schedule change at work, I have not had the pleasure of killing arthas and therefore would not be able to tell you from experience when a good time to use Barkskin is lol, but don't worry I'll still be posting even during this break and I make sure to keep as up to date as can be as far as the moonkin business is O_O. And on a side note remember to use barkskin for predictable incoming damage, but its usually better to use a health stone for when you get taken very low since once your at low health chances are barkskin wont really save you anyway.
TL;DR
1.prof has a huge epeen
If its marrowgar(assuming HM since NM is retarded easy) when would you cast it? Well if you were not paying attention or just got cornered by being in the wrong place at the wrong time you need barkskin to live through a tick or 2 of Bone Storm, but hopefully you just learn to be not bad. for LDW you would use it most likely if you get a DND cast right on top of you or maybe if you randomly were an idiot an got hit by a ghost(though out of shame you should just kill yourself anyway). With DBS you wouldn't have as much of a chance to use it unless you had the mark and got below 50% health, but if that happens that can really make the difference between a wipe and a kill.
FesterGut is a great example of where you can actually gain dps time by using Barkskin, for this fight you only need to waste your time getting two debuffs and you can neglect the third and just use barkskin on the inhale since there is no other time you could even use it really( especially since you can't cast it while disoriented with the puke). RotFace is great to us when you get the slime on you an need to run out its a little random as to how much that can help you but it really gives a bit of reaction time to the healers. Professor Putricide doesn't really have a super good time to use this besides green ooze explode or maybe on p3 if you absolutely need to run through slime to get back with the raid.
Blood Princes is another fight that really doesn't have much damage that will affect you that you cant avoid or it wont kill you(unless your randomly a tank for the ranged dude). During Blood Queen's air phase it is awsome to use this once again more of a healer helper, but if your missing health then its a must have for each air phase, you can even use it if your about to b bitten and your not at full health.
Dreamwalker really doesn't have much of a use for it at all except if your stupid enough to kill an exploding zombie right on top of you. Sindragosa really only has one use as well, for if you get ice blocked and your asphyxiating or if your about to get blocked and you aren't at full health, but you cant use it with unchained magic as it adds an extra stack thus making it counter productive XD.
Unfortunately since i just stopped raiding for a while due to a schedule change at work, I have not had the pleasure of killing arthas and therefore would not be able to tell you from experience when a good time to use Barkskin is lol, but don't worry I'll still be posting even during this break and I make sure to keep as up to date as can be as far as the moonkin business is O_O. And on a side note remember to use barkskin for predictable incoming damage, but its usually better to use a health stone for when you get taken very low since once your at low health chances are barkskin wont really save you anyway.
TL;DR
1.prof has a huge epeen
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