If two balance druids both cast “Sunfire” on the same target at about the same time, what happens?
(a) One possibility is that target takes the immediate damage from each as they hit, but only the stronger DoT (Damage over Time) persists for the next 12 seconds.
(b) A second possibility is that the target takes the immediate damage from each, and then suffers two DoTs (one from each druid) over the next 12 seconds.
Has anyone recently examined combat data recordings to see which happens?
If they came from two different players then they act as two separate dots
This has been the case with all DoTs since… well, forever. If it’s from a separate player, it’s a separate effect. Even when there was only 8 debuff slots this was the case.
The only kind-of exception has been Ignite for Fire Mages. Way, way, waaaay back, there was only one Ignite which all so-specced Mages would contribute to. This of course was great for Mage relations, since whoever first applied it would be credited with all the damage, thus all the threat - so being first meant every other Mage in your raid working in tandem to get you killed (the number of fire-immune mobs further boosting the intensity of said actions when possible).
HoTs, on the other hand, I’m not sure about. I seem to recall that somewhere along the line (again, very early) you could only have 1 of each, no matter how many sources. But that could be the late hour and sleep deprivation talking. And it’s definitely not the case now.