Moonfire in AoE- Balance druid

Classes Druid
1

Hello, one of the least desirable aspects of balance druid in raid or mythic plus is the ramp created by both the eclipse system and mastery design. Requiring both dots on a target before you can really dps is ok as a mechanic in single target, but it is silly in multi target situations- especially if targets are wide spread beyond the Twin Moons range.

Something that could be a simple solve for this that doesn’t require overhauling mastery or eclipse could be for Starfall to apply Moonfire, say once every 30 seconds or so. This feels like a straightforward solution that could neatly fill in the weaknesses in our current toolkit. Thoughts?

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2

This is essentially where Balance shines though.

So much of your damage is in Moonfire and Sunfire as it is, that thinking the “ramp” time is simply wasted time is a noobish mistake to make.

Sunfire and Moonfire make up about 15-20% of your overall damage, a lot of time together beating out Starsurge in overall damage.

Stop thinking of “ramp” and start thinking of multi-dotting.

3

Its not wrong to see it as ramp time. Destruction warlock can multidot with 1 gcd. Aff lock can multidot with 2 gcd. Spriest can multidot with 1 gcd. They were given tools to address aoe DoTing. Yet balance, which relies even more on DoTs for its mastery, was only given aoe sunfire and then having to spam moonfire for additional targets. Making moonfire an aoe like sunfire on balance wouldn’t even be overpowered at this point. It’d just help close the gap between them and everyone else.

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4

Sunfire is a full-on, always-available GCD for full DoT spread.

Moonfire is 2 targets per cast.

To compare…

–Destro Warlock: multi dot is one global, Cataclysm, with a cooldown of 30s. Immolate has to be extended by Channel Demonfire, otherwise it will fall off between Cataclysms.

–Aff Warlock: multi dot is Seed (which only spreads Corruption) and Vile Taint, which applies Agony + a utility curse to a cap of 8 targets.

–Shadow Priest: Shadow Crash, applies Vampiric Touch (and via another talent Shadow Word: Pain) to up to 8 targets, cooldown overlaps cleanly with itself in terms of duration. Can also cast Vamp Touch to apply SW:P to same target, so two DoTs per cast of Vamp Touch.

–Balance Druid: Sunfire applies to ALL targets near primary target. Moonfire applies to two targets if both are within 15yds.

It’s worth noting that all of the above “multi dot solutions” require some degree of clumping or closely spaced enemies. Some have slightly larger areas than others, but Sunfire is the only uncapped spell in that category, and Moonfire can be applied to two targets with no cooldown.

Also worth noting that (to my recollection) Sunfire and Moonfire both generate Astral Power on cast.

For Warlock, Cataclysm is free but generates no resource by itself. (Applied Immolates do, however.) Seed of Corruption and Vile Taint both cost Soul Shards. Seed and the DoT it applies do not generate any Shards, while Vile Taint does not directly generate Shards but instead increases the chance of generating a Soul Shard per tick of Agony.

For Shadow Priest, Shadow Crash generates Insanity, but I don’t believe the DoTs it applies will generate the Insanity they normally generate on-cast.

5

Close the gap? Balance is one of the go-tos for high keys. Its clearly not an issue

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Its a go-to in high keys because the mobs have inflated enough hp that balance finally has time to multidot. I wouldn’t consider it an indication that balance is well designed. If they adjust M+ and things start having less hp, balance’s position in M+ will drop just like it does in earlier keys.

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And absolutely no one should care about a spec’s position in keys you can complete half asleep.

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8

I don’t think you understand how ramp up works.
That “time” they’re ramping up, other classes are blasting away. Yet Balance druids are keeping up and doing top damage in higher keys, and they have to spend more time re-dotting too.

Sounds to me like someone doesn’t understand how to pool resources and go into a pack blasting away.

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9

And on top of this, most specs have ways to do just fine in key levels where there’s little to no ramp time.

^^^

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Not sure that looking for some QoL on a spec that is, at best, clunky warrants a personal attack. Not to mention resource generation on balance isn’t a problem. There is also nothing wrong with looking for a spec to work just as well at all levels. Not everyone is going to play high keys. Just because they choose not to, doesn’t mean they deserve a lesser experience. Ever since the current eclipse system was adopted, balance has been one of the clunkier specs. Something needs to be done to address that.

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11

That would imply it doesn’t work at lower key levels, when the reality is everything works at lower key levels. Some specs have to adjust gameplay but that’s life for some specs.

Balance is fine in low keys, and it’s not really a lesser experience. Every spec has ways to adjust gameplay to fit quicker pulls and kills.

What about the current eclipse system is clunky? How are you implying Balance is uniquely disadvantaged compared to any other spec with a ramp?

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The only change I might make would be to have Moonfire’s duration stop reducing during Starfall.