Balance Druid Feedback After Playin the .5

Classes Druid
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Balance Druid Feedback and Potential Tweaks

General Feedback

  • The recent iteration is an improvement, though core talent changes are still needed.
  • Elune’s Chosen in the Hero Tree is underwhelming; it performs well in Mythic+ but is not viable in Single Target / Boss Multitarget (Raid) and PvP.
  • Fury of Elune feels mandatory, limiting build diversity and constraining talent choice.

Talent-Specific Issues and Suggested Improvements

Elune’s Chosen

  • Problem: This talent setup forces a choice between Fury of Elune or New Moon / Half Moon / Full Moon due to cast times, astral power production, and rotational limitations.
    • Result: Players are locked into Fury of Elune due to its astral power generation and reliable procs, leaving New Moon talents impractical for optimal play.
  • Suggested Solution:
    • Reduce cast times across New Moon, Half Moon, and Full Moon to fit them into the rotation better:
      • Casting New Moon reduces Half Moon’s cast time by 50%, and casting Half Moon reduces Full Moon’s cast time by 75%.
    • With Radiant Moonlight, make Full Moon instant after the first cast, improving rotation compatibility without locking players into Fury of Elune.

Touch the Cosmos

  • Problem: Complexity in rotation forces an extended Eclipse to cast Starfire over New Moon abilities, further deterring from using New Moon.
  • Suggested Solution: Adjust Touch the Cosmos to allow a 20% chance for Starsurge or Starfall to be free while in Eclipse. This would make the talent more flexible, even when not taking Fury of Elune.

Core Talents Adjustments

Stellar Flare

  • Problem: Not competitive due to its location, lack of synergy, and reliance on outdated crit-based playstyles.
  • Suggested Solution:
    • Make Stellar Flare apply automatically when both Sunfire and Moonfire are active on a target, and remove when either effect falls off.
    • Move Stellar Flare to a position that synergizes with more competitive talents like Starfire/Wrath crit amp and Astral Smolder to increase its practical viability.

Power of Goldrinn

  • Problem: Limited proc rate and low damage output.
  • Suggested Improvement: Increase proc rate and potency to bolster single-target DPS.

Denizen of the Dream

  • Problem: As a final-tier talent, it currently contributes 3-5% DPS, down from its previous 10-18%.
  • Suggested Solution: Buff this talent to restore its prior effectiveness.

Convoke the Spirits

  • Problem: Casting non-spec abilities in Moonkin Form is inefficient, and Elune’s Guidance feels weak.
  • Suggested Solution: Modify Convoke to cast only spec-based spells according to the Druid’s current form:
    • Caster Form - Healing
    • Moonkin Form - Balance DPS
    • Cat Form - Feral DPS
    • Bear Form - Bear DPS/Tank
    • With Elune’s Guidance, each Convoke could provide a form-specific ability for diversity:
      • 1st Convoke: Full Moon
      • 2nd Convoke: Fury of Elune
      • 3rd Convoke: Force of Nature

Incarnation: Chosen of Elune

  • Problem: The 3-minute CD feels lackluster, with only a 5-second Eclipse extension and low impact.
  • Suggested Solution: Increase damage output during Incarnation or consider reducing its cooldown based on Starsurge/Starfall casts to make it more competitive.

Talent Bloat and Streamlining

  • Balance of All Things: Consider reducing to a 1-point node.
  • Light of the Sun: Solar Beam’s enhancements should be baseline.
  • Starlord: Streamline to a 1-point node.
  • Cosmic Rapidity: Consider making this a 1-point node.

Rotation Changes

  • Nature’s Grace: Adjust to make the next two Wrath/Starfire casts 100% faster, streamlining Eclipse hopping for smoother gameplay.

Consider adding a Grove Guardian spell for Balance Druids A Balance-specific version with Wrath/Starfire-casting Treants on a 45-second to 1-minute or the 20-second and three charges cooldown would give Druids control over their Keeper of the Grove source of damage without relying on rotational constraints and windows.

This could add a nice layer of strategic timing to maximize DPS, especially in multitarget situations, while keeping it in tune with nature-focused abilities and giving it the flare it really missed on launch.

5 Likes
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I think an unfortunate elephant in the room is that this mini-rework was overtly designed with Circle of Life and Death in mind. Multiple DoT/Shooting stars talents were added or re-introduced, and when Circle was removed again for whatever reason with no further feedback/iterations it left the mini-rework… incomplete.

I think the Moons have a bit of the same issue that Destro is experiencing right now with CB – even if the moons get to a point where they are numerically super strong (like season 3/4 in DF), the elongated cast time makes it both rotationally jarring and dangerous given balance’s poor survivability. I’d argue it’s the same reason Elune’s Chosen is problematic with Starfire – they really need to just have Lunar Calling knock off .25-.4 seconds of Starfire’s cast time (and reduce the main target damage bonus to compensate).

Another possible solution for the Moons is to bring back the old-old shooting stars mechanic, rework the base spell to a proc where DoT ticks have a chance to activate Full Moon and let it be instant cast. It has a little bit of redundancy with the shooting stars based talent, but not anything major. And balance druid definitely could use a little more dynamism.

Stellar Flare… I know is unpopular. I personally think it could exist as a capstone option and be balanced accordingly, but after its ability to proc shooting stars was removed it’s been on life support. Another potential solution is to limit its placement to 1 target only but grant astral power per tick – sort of a flipside to the starfire/wrath based talents like you said.

2 Likes
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Exactly, I was feeling the same thing, the circle of life and death seemed to be one of the core pillars in their design.

I personally am not fond of Circle of Life and Death and thankful they didn’t add it.

I love long DoT builds even though were in a meta for speedy dmg. I love putting the DoTs and getting my Waning Twilight Debuff uptime. (Its my inner Rdruid Quirk that I cannot let go).

I do feel the same regarding the Lunar Calling, perhaps they could just fit that Starfire is reduced cast time in Lunar Eclipse?

Starfire can be quite taxing of a cast and it is purely one of the factors why they cannot go Chosen of Elune in Raids and PvP.

For the New/ Half / Full Moons I was pushing more for reward for planting yourself for the cast, with the haste mechanic I mentioned above.

That way each cast would reward the player.

But I still think they should tune up the Touch of Cosmos, it not stacking twice nor just being a % chance for free proc is detrimental to rotations and build diversity.

Yes, I maybe the minority here regarding missing Stellar Flare, but I certainly miss that component to it,

Perhaps even adding AOE application similar to Moonfire / Sunfire as it is a casted DoT but simply isn’t feasible to cast it on everyone in a Mythic + scenario.

Tied in with the 100% Starfire primary dmg we get in Chosen of Elune w/ Lunar Calling. I just don’t see anyone taking Stellar Flare ever because the 10% baseline crit from Wild Surges and Astral Smolder talent.

Stellar flare is just kicked out of meta perma besides the occasional pick for Raid Single Target maybe?

I don’t know I just hope they find away to allow for build flexibility.