I don’t want to play warlock or hunter but am looking for a fun dps class to play in TBC. Can anyone give me a good run down of my life if I were to main Balance in TBC?
Looking to raid, dungeon, and some bgs for fun.
LOT better TBC Balance talent design than what Vanilla/Classic calls a talent tree.
LOT better TBC gear itemization (particularly leather in the case of Druids).
Druid flight form is GODLY compared to clunky normal flying mounts.
BOOMKIN form still makes you look like a lame, fat clown.
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As far as raids go, damage is solid in t4 and bad later on. Its a support DPS class, so you should only roll one if you enjoy that sort of thing, think like a bard or the like.
The rotation is spam starfire and adjust dot/debuff management depending on trinket procs, on use, movement, mana concerns, etc. -so there is more depth to the gameplay than an sl/sl warlock. You may be required to keep insect swarm up, or innervate the arcane mage, which makes the job harder.
If TBC classic follows the p server meta, moonkin is a core member in a standard 25man raid. The upshot is you’ll likely have an easier time than most finding a core raid spot, since there are so few moonkins, but keep in mind its a 1 per raid sort of deal. Again, your purpose isn’t to do big damage, its to buff the warlocks and melee/hunters (or threat/mit in the case of tanks) and insect swarm can be used rather than the hunter shot for the 2% reduced hit chance.
They’re not the best in dungeons but they’re passable -certainly worse than warlocks, mages, etc.
The other thing to keep in mind as a hybrid player is the advantage is that you can also heal, which adds tons of depth to gameplay, including in PvP, but also in pve where you occasionally can flex heal. If you don’t enjoy healing as a mechanic and prefer to play a straightforward style of dps, its usually best to stick with a pure dps class.
Can’t speak to bgs. If its anything like classic, you’re likely an aggressive healer with tons of movement and a lot of get of jail free cards, so IMO its super fun. Arena, restokins exist, but a restokin is an aggressive healer, so its not like you’re a dps in that case.
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You can tank one of the ogre bosses in gruuls lair. I played balance for a while in tbc. It was fun.
1 Like
I’d say moonkin is one of the weakest support dps classes in TBC. They are better than vanilla, but pale in comparison to elemental shaman and shadow priests. If your raid is really caster heavy, a moonkin makes sense. But most raids won’t be able to fit in a moonkin as easily.
I would say you have more mana longevity in TBC, and a new hard CC with cyclone.
But honestly, it plays almost exactly the same as Classic. But now other classes have more tools to annihilate you, such as warlocks and shadow step rogues, and even shamans now accessible on alliance to nuke you, either as Ele or suped up Enh.
I would consider it fun if you genuinely enjoy being a laser chicken with high mobility.
Great responses, thanks for the input!
You can still cast Moonfire and Wrath without going Moonkin…
Is this coming from the Vulpera?
I mean personally I hate tree form. I put a lot of effort in creating my characters.
Balance is legit in TBC.
They start off doing pretty good DPS, don’t scale great but are still an asset to your raid if you have enough Locks (and sPriests/Mages i guess).
Mana still a pain though.
Balance isn’t worth playing until they get a rune or whatever that deletes the appearance of moonkin form. I dont remember which expac that comes in.
Moonkin is too ugly to play otherwise sadly.
Depending on the patch, rogues can be very strong, or mages. Play what you want, not what the flavor of the month is.