Moonkin Power Auras updated

Just a quickie today to let you know that I've updated my Power Auras for Moonkin page.

I've added a couple of extras and changed the way the Eclipse auras work slightly. I'm still working on the healing auras - watch this space.

Balance Druid Gear Guide Updated

I couldn't leave out my more Balanced side so I have now updated my Moonkin gear guide to the

Balance Druid Cataclysm Pre-Raid Guide

Unlike the Resto version, I haven't given the items scores. The extra complexity in considering whether you're under or over the hit cap makes stat comparisons difficult.

Instead, I have listed available items more or less in order of item level, with priority given to items with Haste on them. This is not a BiS list - more of a shopping catalog to see what's available as you gear up.

I also marked the items with Spirit or Hit on them, to make them easier to identify. Since Spirit gives Moonkins Hit Rating with the Balance of Power talent, it means that we can almost use the same gear for both Resto and Balance spec. Convenient!

I hope you find it useful in planning for your Moonkin!

Patch Time!

Honey, I'm home!!

Okay so the place kind of exploded while I was away.  The patch hitting means that, thanks to my Gem changes post, I had the highest number of visitors I've ever had. Now that I'm back it's kind of gone back down to near normal, but I hope the new visitors found something useful here and will come back again! Make yourselves at home :)

Thank you very much to the people who sent me guest screenies of their favourite places to put up while I was away, including Rades, Tarinae, Anslym and Vidyala! 

Patch 4.0.0 is currently installing on my computer - it's a slow one, isn't it? In the meantime, I've been catching up on what to expect once I finally get to log in. First things first, although many of my addons have been updated, I will be turning them all off and rebuilding from scratch I think.

May I just send out a huge thank you to all the Druid bloggers who have been following and writing guides for the changes. Druids all over the world appreciate your efforts - you guys are awesome!

If you're looking for a few good guides on how things have changed for your Resto or Balance Druid, may I recommend:

• Keeva's 4.0 guide for Resto Druids on Tree Bark Jacket


• Restoration Druid has been talking about the changes in nice bite-sized chunks


• RestoDude has an awesome Resto guide as well.


• Lissanna and Beruthiel have answered a lot of Resto and Moonkin questions


• Graylo and Battlechicken both have great guides for Moonkin for 4.0.

Please note I have now updated my cheat sheets for Resto and Balance.  

For kitties, check out Primal Precision's post here.

The Inconspicuous Bear has some leveling tips for Bears, and plenty of other Bearish information.

Good lord, there's a lot to re-learn.

Introducing R&R Resources

Things have been a little quiet around here lately as I've been very busy with that other game called Real Life that some other bloggers have been talking about. Some exciting things have been going on there, too, but y'know, this is a WoW blog ;)

If you read this blog through a reader, you may not have noticed that I have been quite busy gathering some Balance and Resto Druid information into a new page:  the R&R Resources page.  You can find a link to it along the menu bar under the blog title.

In that page I've linked my existing Resto and Balance cheat sheets, and also compiled the fresh 80 gear lists into pages as well - one each for Resto and Balance.

You'll also find my profession charts, power auras information and also a shiny new Macros page which not only lists a few macros but also shows how to make one, and also how to make a macro work with Clique.

I've linked a few other blogs around the place that I find particularly useful, but if you know of a Resto or Balance druid resource that you think I've missed, please suggest it!

I plan to update the Resources page with new things so check back from time to time.  I hope you find something useful there.

Druid Catclysm Answers from Twitter

Time for another Twitter Dev chat with Blizzard. This time there were all sorts of answers about changes planned in Cataclysm. I'm going to go through some of the answers mentioning Resto and Balance Druids.  If you don't want to hear about the changes, stop reading now :)

Original source is on the WoW Forums.

Q. Is every healer supposed to be able to tank-heal efficiently, or will we still see specs excel in it more than others?
A. Each healer is intended to have a different niche and different strengths, such as Restoration druids with HoTs, or paladins at direct healing, Discipline priests at absorption/prevention, etc. That said, each healer should be able to keep up a tank and have some deeper “tank healing gameplay” as they do now. 

This sounds kind of interesting considering they aren't giving us anything new to play with... we'll have to wait for more information to see how they're planning on improving Druids' tank healing abilities.

Q: Will relics and wands be getting any new attention in Cataclysm?
A: With relics, the plan is to make them class agnostic. In other words, there might be a +strength relic that a death knight or paladin might want to equip. We think that will let us add more of them to the game without them being so specialized. They will feel more like wands.
 
How to make wands and relics a bigger part of gameplay is something we’ve had many, many discussions on. Ultimately though we’d rather see warlocks, mages and priests casting their spells, not zapping someone with a wand. In Cataclysm we don’t expect to see much wanding, even at lower level. 


Q: When you say you're going to make relics class agnostic, does it include druids' idols as well?
A: Druid, shaman, paladin and death knight. It’s possible we will still keep some that are very specific to certain classes and specs. Overall though we’re not happy with the current design where an ability procs a buff on you. If it’s an ability you don’t use often, then the item is terrible, so they end up feeling really passive already. At the same time, the fact that we have to offer so many prevents us from ever giving you the choice of which one to use. So we make the Resto druid or Enhance shaman version every new tier. It would be a more interesting decision if there was a crit + Intellect relic and a haste + Intellect relic, and you can choose which one to use. 

Eeenteresting. "Agnostic" relics obviously won't work for current relics - they all involve class-specific spells at the moment, such as Steamcaller's Totem and Idol of the Black Willow. Assuming they will be changing the proc effects to things like an increase in intellect (since spellpower is going away on everything except weapons), this makes relics just like an extra proc-based trinket slot, and we lose some of our special class-specific items.  I guess it's good that we won't have to disenchant the Libram that dropped for the 50th time when there's no Paladin in the group, but I'm still not sure I like the idea.

Q. Why are Restoration druids the only spec in the game not receiving a new spell?
A. Restoration druids are actually getting a fair bit. For one, Tree of Life is getting a whole new model (think Ancients of War) and will also “morph” some of your spells to do crazy things while in the form, such as cause Regrowth to be instant, or Lifebloom to apply two applications at once. Tranquility will be raid-wide. We’re also touching nearly every Restoration druid spell to make sure each has a niche and feels good. In general, playing a Restoration druid should feel a lot different (better!) in Cataclysm than it does today. 

Ancients of War, eh?  Those things are huge?! (see image at the top) This is the first we've heard about the new cooldown-based Tree of Life - and that our existing spells are getting tweaked.  Suddenly I'm not so sure our healing style will stay the same as it is now. Having spells do crazy things sounds good though, as long as they are controllable crazy things!

Q. What change are you most excited about?
A. Some of the new Balance talents for druids, like Solar Beam, which works like Freya’s spell where it instantly silences a target and they have to move out of the beam to get rid of the debuff. 

What's this? Were we already told about this Solar Beam thing? If so, how did I miss it?!  Sounds interesting, but very PvP... sounds a little overpowered to be applicable in PvE, unless they make the mana cost through the roof so that it's very difficult to use a lot.

Q: How will haste affect channeled spells. Will it be similar to DoTs and HoTs?
A: They will channel faster but their duration will remain unchanged. You will get more ticks on the same cast.

More lightning bolts for the price of a normal storm?  Awesome! So they're changing the way this works - at the moment the ticks are faster, but there are the same number of ticks, so the duration is shorter.  They're saying the duration will stay the same length but there will be more ticks. An interesting change, but I wonder why they made it. It means casters of channeled spells will be more mana-efficient since we won't be casting so many times. I'm wondering if this is the same with HoTs - at the moment Rejuvenation falls off faster than normal because of the Rapid glyph.  With the new change rejuvenation will be the same length but heal more ticks?  Yes please!

We're gradually being drip-fed more information - I think the Beta will be coming very soon.  As I said at the top, I've only covered Resto and Balance Druid stuff - there's way more interesting info if you read through all the answers in the forum post.

Cataclysm Druid Preview - the Blues Respond

Here's a collection of Ghostcrawler's responses on the Druid class changes post. 

Once again, if you'd rather not know, don't click to read more :)

Cataclysm Druid Preview

Blizzard has posted their plans for Druids in Cataclysm. I'll list the ones affecting Resto and Balance druids and give my initial reactions after the break, so if you don't like spoilers, you can stop reading here. There's diagrams and things though.. :)

BIG DISCLAIMER:  These changes are initial in-development plans.  They are in no way final!  In fact, many of them may not make it past the first Beta version!  Read with a pinch, in fact a whole handful of salt!

Magic with Macros

Macro Magic has Moved :)

http://reviveandrejuvenate.blogspot.com/p/macros.html

Please update your bookmark!

Fresh 80 Moonkin Gear Plan - Part 2 - Legs and the Rest

The Moonkin Gear Plan has moved to a new page!


http://reviveandrejuvenate.blogspot.com/p/balance-druid-fresh-80-gear-plan.html


Please update your bookmark :)

Fresh 80 Moonkin Gear Plan - Part 1 - Head to Waist

The Moonkin Fresh 80 Gear Plan has been moved to a new page!

http://reviveandrejuvenate.blogspot.com/p/balance-druid-fresh-80-gear-plan.html

Please update your bookmark :)

Balance Cheat Sheet

Welcome to the Balance Cheat Sheet!  This page is designed as a quick reference for Druids to easily find information relating to the Balance spec.

As with my Restoration Cheat Sheet, I've tried to distill as much information about being a Balance Druid from several places into one post.  At the moment it is aimed at 80+ druids, and new-ish 85s.  You can find links to more Moonkin resources at the bottom of the post.

I know there are already plenty of guides like this out there and it wasn't meant to copy or replace them, but as a Druid blog I feel R&R should help with making the information available, and the more the info is out there, the easier it is to find.

If you can suggest any improvements to the information I have here, please let me know!

Information is current as of patch 4.1 and was last updated on 27/4/11.

Please don't take any of it as gospel - I recommend reading the other guides listed at the end of this post to keep up to date on the latest information. 

Spec

The most popular spec at the moment according to wowpopular.com is 33/0/8.

Elitist Jerks recommends something like 31/0/6, which has four extra points to be placed wherever they are useful. If mana is an issue, take Furor over Moonglow. 

Glyphs

Patch 4.0.1 introduced a new glyph system, consisting of three types: Prime, Major and Minor Glyphs. The Glyphs are now learned, so they can be swapped between fights.

Prime Glyphs to choose from include:

• [Glyph of Insect Swarm]
• [Glyph of Moonfire]
• [Glyph of Starsurge]
• [Glyph of Wrath]
• [Glyph of Starfire]

The top three are Insect Swarm, Moonfire and Wrath. Swap in Starsurge if there are multiple targets to be hit with Starfall.

Major Glyphs: There are many that may be situationally useful, but [Glyph of Starfall] is definitely a dps increase.  None of the others stand out as being particularly useful, but you have [Glyph of Rebirth], [Glyph of Innervate], [Glyph of Thorns], [Glyph of Focus] or even [Glyph of Hurricane] to choose from. 

Minor Glyphs: Personal preference. [Glyph of the Wild] could save you mana while buffing and [Glyph of Unburdened Rebirth] saves you a bag space. You just never know when [Glyph of Aquatic Form] might come in handy... I guess.

Hit Cap

Hit Chance of +17%, or Hit Rating of 446.  Hit Chance can now be seen on the Character screen, with our other Spell stats.

Moonkins now get Hit rating from both Hit and Spirit on gear. If you find that you're way over Hit cap, try reforging or swapping Hit/Spirit pieces for Haste or Crit.

Stats
Intellect > Hit rating = Spirit (to cap) > Haste rating > Crit rating > Mastery.

To translate, Spellpower now comes from Intellect so it is our most important stat. 

Stack Hit until you're capped, but remember that Spirit also gives Hit Rating with the Balance of Power talent and also gives us mana regen. 

Haste is more important now as it now affects DoTs, so stack as much as you are able. Eclipse is no longer dependent on Crit, so Haste takes priority.

Mastery is the new stat for Cataclysm.  Moonkin mastery is Total Eclipse.  

Gems
In your meta socket use [Burning Shadowspirit Diamond]

Use [Brilliant Inferno Ruby] in red sockets and wherever the bonus is worse than 20 Int. In other yellow or blue sockets, use [Reckless Ember Topaz] or [Purified Demonseye].

Enchants

• Head:  [Arcanum of Hyjal] - Guardians of Hyjal revered
• Shoulders: [Greater Inscription of Charged Lodestone] - Therazane exalted or [Felfire Inscription] - Scribes only
• Back - [Enchant Cloak - Greater Intellect] or [Lightweave Embroidery] (rank 2)- Tailors only
• Chest - [Enchant Chest - Peerless Stats]
• Wrists - [Enchant Bracer - Greater Speed] or [Draconic Embossment - Intellect] - Leatherworkers only
• Gloves - [Enchant Gloves - Haste]
• Leggings - [Powerful Ghostly Spellthread] - Tailoring consumable or [Sanctified Spellthread] (rank 2) - Tailors only
• Boots - [Enchant Boots - Lavawalker]
• Weapon - [Enchant Weapon - Power Torrent] 
• Off-hand - [Enchant Off-Hand - Superior Intellect]

What Spells Should I Use?
The Elitist Jerks Moonkin thread also has a more complex discussion of rotations but is summarised well:

• Start by applying Insect Swarm and Moonfire, and casting Starsurge. Whenever either DoT falls off the target, or Starsurge comes off cooldown, recast it.
• Cast Starfire until until a Solar (Wrath) Eclipse procs, then switch to Wrath. Cast Wrath until a Lunar (Starfire) Eclipse procs, then switch back to Starfire.
• Repeat this Eclipse cycle, always keeping your two DoT's on the target and using Starsurge, Starfall and Force of Nature on cooldown.

Addons

• BalancePowerTracker - a movable bar that helps keep track of Lunar/Solar energy, and can fire warnings 
• Power Auras Classic - places indicators on your screen at certain conditions.  Moonkin Resources for PowA can be found on R&R here, and there are some neat exports here at Druid Reliquary as well.

Further Moonkin Resources

• Gray Matter's 4.0.1 Guide
• Qieth's 4.0.1 Moonkin Guide
• BattleChicken's Noobkin to Boomkin Guide
• Sunfyre's Nest
• Restokin
• The Moonkin Repository
• Elitist Jerks Moonkin PvE DPS thread for Cataclysm
• http://www.wowpopular.com/Balance/Druid