Ding! 92

Note: I'm not sure when 91 dinged. I'll try to find that somewhere.

Okay, it's been over a year since I've played with Jal, but it's ding time again. After some hoodlums convinced me that we needed to play a bit over Christmas break, I paid for a month of access so that our noob accounts (level 20 and under) could have at least one character in them able to create a party. It was an enjoyable weekend or two or three... We finished up Blackfathom Deeps, which was fun.

So, as long as I have a month of over 20 access, it was time to get Jal moving again. Somehow, I started out in Ashran, but eventually made my way to Elodor Fields.

I'll admit that I went back and forth a bit on whether I wanted to stay in Warlords. The questlines just weren't grabbing me. I spent a little time back in Pandaria, but only just enough to learn that the XP was crummy at level 91, and to really continue following the plot, I was going to have to run dungeons. I don't mind dungeons, but I really prefer PvE when I don't have hours to invest at a single sit-down. And I don't enjoy incredibly easy PvE, so back to WoD I went.

The off-spec is dead. Long live the off-spec.

I may have also been put off on how much easier balance druiding seems to have gotten. We have one heal spell, and, as far as I can tell, only one attack in cat form that awards combo points, and no finishing moves that'll use them up. (As I write this and read why, I'm guessing I picked the wrong affinity talent. I must have picked Guardian for some strange reason. That was a mistake...)

I'll agree with the OP here; no matter what Marodriss says in the reply, it's not easier to off-spec now. Before, I'd often drop into heal mode when a group or raid went crap, and, without changing spec, be able to off-heal reasonably well even if the main healer went down. Once, I even went into bear mode when a PUG lost its tank and we'd waited too long for a new one to show up. Surprisingly, with some amazing healing, we made it through about half of Lost City of the Tol'vir with a four-person group with an off-spec bear tank before a "real" tank showed up.

And no more Eclipse Bar is better?

Balance Druids suffered from having their gameplay focus around watching a UI bar. Eclipse has been replaced by an Astral Power resource, and the Legion gameplay is to keep up powerful DoTs, generate Astral Power, and spend it on either Starsurge or Starfall.

I don't know. How is Astral Power any less UI bar centric? I'm just staring at the icon for Starsurge. And hasn't healing always been a UI-watching game? I know it was when I secondary spec'd resto.

This new setup is not more fun. But more on that in another post.

What's important is this... DING!

I've got a few more Dings! to log from my month of wagon falling, which I'll fill in ASAPish. Finishing up level 91 wasn't great. I did eventually warm up to Warlords, but at this point, the PvE remained too easy, the NPCs weren't really growing on me yet, and the garrison mini-game seemed a timesink rather than a well-integrated portion of the game proper.

Working on rotations

With the Razer Naga, I've already added several spells into the PvE rotation, though I haven't done any of the requisite mathes. Solar Beam-ing a spell casting mob, causing them to charge you, followed by a Typhoon, is a fun way to aggravate mobs and keep damage down. But I Googled around a bit to see if anyone has The Right Way to rotate these spells I've now got at my thumb-tip.

Elitist Jerks seemed to have the best guide:

This is a compendium of information on raiding as a Balance Druid. It contains everything a beginner needs to achieve basic competence at raid DPS, as well more detailed discussion for people more interested in understanding the theory or more advanced play. The article is supplemented by the attached spreadsheet.

I haven't mathed up Starsurge, but I think it's to your advantage to cast even in the midst of an eclipse, something Jerks seems to agree with, though it's written just ambiguously enough I won't swear to it.

Casting Starfall during Lunar isn't something I'd considered closely enough. Good point.

EDIT: For some reason, I conflated Thorns and Roots, below. Honestly, I've completely forgotten about Thorns. In the Recruit-a-friend, I'm playing with a druid who is Thorning, and I caught the mistake. I should throw it onto the Naga rotation.

I may be underutilizing Thorns, which, since it doesn't set up melee mobs for Wrath-spams any more, has fallen off of my rotation in PvE almost entirely. Jerks suggests it does enough dps to keep it up. From outdoor only to ubiquitous use to nothing, it's been a real pain to keep up with Thorns. I'm also likely underusing Insect Swarm. I only use it and Faerie Fire for long fights in instances, though Jerks would have me believe that I should keep IS and scrap FF almost entirely -- "Faerie Fire: We no longer need to use this unless the raid is missing an Armor debuff." /shrug

Honestly, though, this is the sort of stuff that kills the enjoyment for part-timers like me, yet I'm just math-inclined enough (and efficiency worried) that I keep getting drawn back in. There's probably also a small tinge of worry that a PUG might get upset that I'm not using my skillz The Right Way. I don't know why. I've never been called out for not putting out enough dps.

And, honestly, for PvE, the fights are too short for maxing DPS and Innverate too good at keeping you at max mana for much to matter, afaict. Fire and forget.

In any event, Jerks' is a good guide, and the Naga really does change the way I play.

Testing tooltipping with balance druid helms

I'm mostly trying out the Wowhead tooltip, but the helms aren't selected by random. Each is a pretty easily attainable helm for balance druid helm

Druidic Helmet of Second Sight
Exorcist's Wyrmhide Helm
Wyrmhide Helm

Thottbot's Helm of Second Sight
Thottbot's Druidic Helmet of Second Sight, but possibly with a wowhead tooltip. Nope, no luck.

Course as nice as tooltips are, they don't really do much for letting you compare stats at a glance, do they?

Note to self: q2 is green. q3 is blue.

Yay, Druidic Helmet of Second Sight

Welp, finally went for the Gorefiend quests and bagged my Druidic Helm Tuesday. It's a nice enough helm, with decent heal/dmg bonus and three gem sockets. I'm not sold that it's better than my Stylin' Jungle Hat for Panzer nor my Nature's Wrath for Boom, but it made it into my farming outfit. First head armor item I've had with those danged antlers. And why does Jal's facial hair go away when he puts it on (see far left in pics below)? Must be related to the Second Sight.


The most fun part was when the 5 man all got to the mountain top to wait on Vel'khur and someone remarks, "We don't have a tank." I said, "I'll do it," the same way I said I could heal when we had four, and went bear -- but only to build confidence. When Vel'khur came back around, I swapped to Moonkin. Okay okay, the first time I missed him because I forgot the goggles, but the second time, I got on panzerkin gear, pulled with Starfire, and started wailing.

It's incredibly easy to tank a single mob as a moonkin, of course. Very easy to out-DPS everyone by Wrath spamming, Starfiring, and proc'ing a few trinkets. The shammy, iirc, kept me at 90+% health (I didn't realize shammies healed, honestly. Casual gamer, folks) and we knocked down the undead dragon easily, as in the picture, above.

Course it was hard to see jack with five folks, totems, and a summoned demon all sitting on the pinnacle of a small mountain.

Interesting on the Gorefiend quests is that my treants couldn't see the dead things, as they weren't wearing the goggles. That stunk, and I almost got myself into trouble aggroing too many mobs. Barely soloed the horsemen, and only got two down, which was embarrassing, but the trunch dropped and all was well.

Welcome, Windhawk Bracers

Welp, I finally leveled my leatherworking, farmed even more mats, caved and auction housed the last three Primal Airs, and created Windhawk Bracers, the only item of the Windhawk set that doesn't require a Primal Nether and, therefore, a little instancing to craft.

So let the mathes comparison begin. Rather than trying to go theoretical, let's just slap up a screenshot comparison of Jal's stats with the Windhawk Bracers versus Murkblood Bracers of Nature's Wrath, the latter worth 115 armor and +42 nature damage.



So here are the changes with the Windhawk with a vendored +4 spell critical yellow gem, all stats listed while in moonkin form:

Nature damage: -10
Health: +220
Mana: +285
Non-nature spell dmg: +32
Healing: +52
Crit %: +1.14
Mana Regen: +10
Armor: +220

I'm not too worried about the base stat changes not listed above, as their practical usefulness should be reflected in the stats.

So here, it's a nobrainer. I lose 10 dmg per Wrath, but gain pretty seriously everywhere else, including +1.14% crit, which is another (381 to 429 + 745) * 1.14% = 13.11 damage already for my wraths, on average. The Murkbloods aren't better even with wrath damage, their speciality area. So out go the Murkblood Bracers to the vendor. Sad to see 'em go.

Other nature's wrath items aren't so obvious, I don't think. I've upgraded a few slots since I last took stock. My helm gives +81 nature damage, iirc. That's going to take a disproportionate increase in stats to beat (realizing there's no Windhawk headpiece). Chest is currently giving +75 nature damage, and the Dragonhawk version gives +81; will the Windhawk Hauberk beat that? Its intellect bonus is just 12 more than the bracers, and spell dmg just 19 more. Can that beat a +39 nature damage increase on the chest relative to bracers? It'll be closer, I think. We'll see.

Again, for general use, the Windhawk armor has it all over "of Nature's Wrath" gear. I'm here looking specifically at burst damage, as that's the most important thing when doing PvE outdoors, when you can root most anything, and when filling the DPS slot in a 5-spot instance. Your drinks are going to outweigh mana regen bonuses for PvE and 5-spots, and armor shouldn't matter too much if you root melee mobs and have good tanks.

And you can't come close to beating the price of the Nature's Wrath gear at 8-15g a slot. That's less than many daily quest rewards!

Here's what a full set of Windhawk needs, according to gajackson at thottbot.com:

18 Heavy Knothide Leathers
48 Wind Scales
34 Primal Airs
6 Primal Mights
3 Primal Nethers

+ 3 Yellow gems (or compatible) total
+ 3 Blue gems (or compatible) total

+ whatever you are going to choose in the way of endgame-ish AKs, enchants, etc.

What's the better causal gamer buy again? All of the above for 3 pieces of armor, or less than 100g for 400+ DPS?

The Windhawk bracers beat out Dragonhawk Bands even for adding damage to wrath, so, farming already done, they're in for all of my outfits, panzer, boomkin, and hybrid. It's my first purple armor since I made Lava Belts for the Old World. I just wonder if completing the set is going to be worth it, or I should save the time and effort to run instances until the WotLK shows up.

Gimme a chilli chese dagger A PLENTY!!!!

WARNING: This is a true blog post, with logic all over, messy html, and no real conclusion. That said, today we're talking daggers.

I've started in on the Capture the Weapons quest, and thanks to a guildie managed to down Makazradon, having soloed Morgroron a while back.  The end result of the chain is the Illidari-Bane Mageblade, a dagger that ups spell crits by 20 points and spell damage to demons by 185.  I'm not sure it's worth it, as my Bringer of Death gives me +121 as is against every mob, but some demons did own our guild plus a couple of pick-ups when we hit the Terrace recently.  And it was a nice break from farming...

Anyhow, on the Illidari-Bane Mageblade page for Thottbot, there were links to "better" daggers that themselves had links in the comments for yet still arguably better daggers.  I thought I'd include a few here.

First, the Illidari-Bane Mageblade.

Illidari-Bane Mageblade
Binds when picked up
Main Hand	Dagger
31 - 100 Damage	Speed 1.60
(41.3 damage per second)
+12 Stamina
+11 Intellect
Durability 65 / 65
Equip: Improves spell critical strike rating by 20 (0.9%).
Equip: Increases damage done to Demons by magical spells and effects by up to 185.
Item Level 115
Disenchant value: 30 Gold 14 Silver
Vendor value: 9 Gold 7 Silver 91 Copper
Source: Quest
Score: 43.0  (Customize)
Thott <Afterlife>  Live (2.4.1)

Now a few "alternatives."  Let's see if we see a theme.

Nathrezim Mindblade Binds when picked up Unique Main Hand Dagger 24 - 124 Damage Speed 1.80 (41.4 damage per second) +18 Stamina +18 Intellect Durability 75 / 75 Requires Level 70 Equip: Improves spell critical strike rating by 23 (1.0%). Equip: Increases damage and healing done by magical spells and effects by up to 203. Drops in Karazhan Score 1.4     Vote: [-] [+] by Fire00F1Y, 1.3 years ago Drops off Prince Malchazaar - 2nd to last boss in Karazhan and evidently hard as crap

Talon of the Tempest Binds when equipped Unique Main Hand Dagger 25 - 122 Damage Speed 1.80 (41.2 damage per second) +10 Intellect Yellow Socket Yellow Socket Socket Bonus: +3 Intellect Durability 75 / 75 Requires Level 70 Equip: Improves spell hit rating by 9 (0.7%). Equip: Improves spell critical strike rating by 19 (0.9%). Equip: Increases damage and healing done by magical spells and effects by up to 194. Doomwalker Score 1.7     Vote: [-] [+] by delther, 1.3 years ago This drops from doomwalker just outside the instance entrance in the black temple... 2k AoE, 20k crushing damage yummeh

Vengeful Gladiator's Spellblade Binds when picked up Main Hand Dagger 16 - 116 Damage Speed 1.60 (41.3 damage per second) +30 Stamina +20 Intellect Durability 75 / 75 Requires Level 70 Equip: Improves spell hit rating by 17 (1.3%). Equip: Improves your resilience rating by 18 (0.5%). Equip: Increases damage and healing done by magical spells and effects by up to 247. 3150 Arena Points

Merciless Gladiator's Spellblade Binds when picked up Main Hand Dagger 18 - 112 Damage Speed 1.60 (41.2 damage per second) +27 Stamina +18 Intellect Durability 75 / 75 Requires Level 70 Equip: Improves spell hit rating by 15 (1.2%). Equip: Improves your resilience rating by 18 (0.5%). Equip: Increases damage and healing done by magical spells and effects by up to 225. 2739 Arena Points

To this, one might add the Gladiator's Spellblade, which takes twenty Eye of the Storm Marks of Honor and/or 25200 Honor Points. I'm a casual gamer, so I'm not sure how those work.

The theme? Three of the four (four of the five if you count the last), are all BoP and require some really serious gameplay. I realize the Bane is only good for demons, but what can I do? Where can I get a better weapon as a part-time gamer? I'm not sure there is one. The daggers, above, are not alternatives. They are daggers, sure. They increase spell damage. But finishing up Kara? Not in my immediate future. Nor are the battlegrounds, though that might be a more realistic opportunity.

I suppose taking down Doomwalker might eventually be a possibility, since there's no instance to run and only one boss to bring down.  Also, that Talon is BoE, so for a few thousand gold I could just buy the danged thing.  Not sure either is short-term possible, however.  I think I've got about 400g right now after the LW respecs, which stinks.

Finally, why mess with this when you've got a decent staff that's doing only 60 points less damage bonus than the Talon or Bane?  Well, do remember that 1.) 60 is more than zero and 2.) You then get an off-hand slot as well for more +dmg.  Not to mention the Talon has double sockets.

So having written another blog to think aloud, I suppose, I'll finish up the Bane line of quests, though it looks like it's going to require a run through two dungeons.

Long quest line
Score 41     Vote: [-] [+] by GandalfSC, 1.2 years ago The Hermit can be found at 77,38 (in Terrokar Forest)
...
This quest then follows into the following dungeon quests:

Fresh From the Mechanar  (The dungeon is the Southern Instance of Tempest Keep in Netherstorm.� 82, 70) You will need a flying mount to reach this location and no you can not be summoned.

The Lexicon Demonica  (The dungeon in Auchindoun's Shadow Labyrinth, the Southern instance of Auchindoun in Terrokar Forest. � 39,73) For this one you must have the Shadow Labyrinth Key

Who says this is a game for idiots?  Reminds me of the Pokemon Game Guide I got paid to write, though.  Seriously, in thirty years (if not next year), what good is all this information and hours wasted going to be?  And this time, I'm not even clocking some coin.  *sigh*  ;^)

EDIT: Note to self, solo half the instance requirement:
The Mechanar: Overcharged Manacell Solo - 20070324, 2:40 @ 640x480
Contains bonus feature, Sixty to Seventy in Seventy Seconds
Right-click, save-as: 36.7MB -- 2.1Mbps

Cheap balance/moonkin DPS staff

Found the following staff on the Auction House for 32g today, and there were five others from 32.3 to 80.7g. For 32, it's a deal. As you can tell from my screengrab (click for readable size), my previous balance weapon gear stunk. This is a bit better.

The Bringer of Death
Binds when equipped
Two-HandStaff
106 - 196 DamageSpeed 2.40
(62.9 damage per second)
+32 Stamina
+31 Intellect
Requires Level 70
Equip: Increases damage and healing done by magical spells and effects by up to 121. 
Equip: Improves spell critical strike rating by 42.

Source: wow.allakhazam.com

Lightning Capacitor

Hello, Boomkin item. Saw this walking around on a Demonic Reich player today.

The Lightning Capacitor
Binds when picked up
Unique
TrinketMiscellaneous
Requires Level 70
Equip: You gain an Electrical Charge each time you cause a damaging spell critical strike. When you reach 3 Electrical Charges, they will release, firing a Lightning Bolt for 694 to 806 damage. Electrical Charge cannot be gained more often than once every 2.5 sec. 

Source: wow.allakhazam.com

The player also was carrying a Saga of Terokk in the off-hand. Look, I know that's good, but as far as wrath spam burst damage, even this boss boon isn't as good as my cheesy Slavehandler Rod of Nature's Wrath. Which means I really, really need to figure out why extra Intellect is good.

Throw less dots.

Druid Forum, DPS, and Mana Efficiency

I've been taking more knocks on the head for using my "of Nature's Wrath" gear, this time over on the Blizzard forums. The general gist (from here and elsewhere) is that many balance druids go Insect Swarm + Starfire for their rotation to save mana and sustain their DPS. That makes sense, but it's also not what I'm trying to do.

Here's a quote from the above link.

The most common casting rotation is this: IS/SFx4
The highest DPS casting rotation is this: IS/MF/Wx6

Well, exactly. For DPS, you Wrath, and that's where Nature's Wrath gear comes in.

Here's what the question reduces down to for me:

Why all the bias for mana efficiency when you'll often, depending on instance, bring down trash mobs before that's an issue? IS + SF might be good boss material, but it makes you inefficient against trash.

My guess is that the only way +nature dmg gear hurts you is if you...

1. Run into nature resistant mobs.
2. Are forced to back-up heal mid-fight.
3. Have a fight that lasts longer than you have mana.

The first would stink, but I haven't seen much of this outside of Nagraand. The second happens. You can swap idol and weapon to help, but yes, if your party starts to go down around trash mobs, you're in trouble in more ways than just gear. The third happens, but usually the fight's under control by then.

For bosses, you *change gear* if you've got it, but I'd like to see the pre-instance reward gear that'll beat what we've got here.

I mean, seriously, I haven't quite put in the time to have Tiered gear like the examples from the forum post I linked in the first paragraph: Madrox, Caliane, Skeldi, and Horao. Of course I'd rather have that stuff!

Jal's Current Gear

I've started up my fairly methodical blog post comparing "of Nature's Wrath" gear to Nodrassil Regalia with respect to their ability to dish out burst damage. One thing I've learned that, of the flavors of armor that I have currently (Expedition, Clefthoof, Murkblood), the Expedition set pieces have the best "of Nature's Wrath" bonuses. Too bad I can't go in and buy the whole set.

In any event, though I'll be comparing Expedition pieces in the mathes-off, I did first compile what Jal is wearing now, with its bonuses, etc. Here's what he's got.

Slot	Item	Armor	+DMG	+crit	+hit	+md5
Head	Clefthoof Cover of Nature's Wrath	203	71 nat
Neck	Brooch of Heightened Potential		22	14	9
Shoulder	Clefthoof Shoulderguards of Nature's Wrath	188	54 nat
Back	Ogre Slayer's Cover (+18 Int, +11 Spr)	68	20	16
Chest	Windroc Shroud (squishie cloth)	130	26	21
Arm	Murkblood Bracers of Nature's Wrath	115	42 nat
Hands	Expedition Gloves of Nature's Wrath	169	58 nat
Waist	Murkblood Belt of Nature's Wrath	148	57 nat
Legs	Murkblood Pants of Nature's Wrath	231	75 nat
Feet	Dreghood Boots of Nature's Wrath	147	44 nat
Ring 1	Sedai's Ring (+12 int)		15			5
Ring 2	Wildlord's Band		25	11
Trinket 1	Glowing Crystal Insignia		26/104
Trinket 2	Vengeance of the Illidari		0/120	26
Weapon	Talbuk Sticker (+15 sta, +11 int)		58	10
Off-hand	Slavehandler Rod of Nature's Wrath		34 nat
Idol	Idol of Ferocity (worthless for balance)
	Nordrassil Comparision Totals:	921	284 nat
	Grand Totals:	1399 (without kits)	192 627 nat 747 temp	98	9	5

Naturally there's not much past pure Nature damage. I can see why this would make Mera cry, but I can also see why, with roots or a good tank, this is some great stuff. It's a free crit every time I throw Wrath, and Wrath is powerful enough now that I lead with it instead of Starfire. Interesting to think there's still some room in the Nature's Wrath for improvement, as I could upgrade it all to Expedition, if those ever hit the AH.

Only real downside? Well, I do run out of mana occasionally, the armor isn't great (better than a Clothkin's, but not great), and it's not very flexible. If I need to emergency heal, I swap in my healing staff, but it's still pretty shoddy if I don't have time to change clothes. If I bump into the ever more common nature resistant mob, the DPS goes waaaaay down as I Starfire and Moonfire them to death (though I did just pick up an "of Arcane Wrath" cape questing last night *sigh*).

We'll see how the numbers cut out later, but thought this might be interesting, and following Jal's gear is something I'd been meaning to do more often.

Ding! 69, dude (and of Nature's Wrath)

Well, after running though the Nesingwary quests (and a few battles at Halaa), I took my level 68 self back to Zangarmarsh to finish up a few quests still on the list. Talk about easy experience points -- I got about 780 per kill in the good ole Kill X of Y quests without losing more than half my mana, and could panzer through the mobs for about 1/3 a health bar. It was easily sustainable, and I racked up 80-90k in what must be record time for me.

In Outland, so far I've been most impressed with the landscape in Nagrand (and enjoyable enough Kill X of Y quests building up to "boss battle" style climaxes) and the fairly compelling ogre and Wyrmcultist storylines. Zangarmarsh's Sporeggar are probably the most memorable from that zone, but overall I haven't enjoyed the marsh nearly as much as those other two. Regardless, it's given me the 69, putting me that much closer to hitting the Shadow Labyrinth for my first fragment of the Master's Key as I start up attunement again.

Fwiw, I did solo into the Shadowlabs a bit, but was only able to look around before getting tagged by that giant eye. I think the screengrabs are on the iBook, which I might post later. Definitely a group thing, though I'll try again at 70. Also, in a woefully belated post, I'll finally dig into the powers of "of Nature's Wrath" equipment, which I've been using like mad. When I've got my balance set on, I've got +617 nature spell damage, which has been awfully nice. The bottom line on the Nature's Wrath gear is that I get such a boost to damage that the lack of critical hit bonuses seems a very easy tradeoff. +617, folk. With my Vengeance of the Illidari proc'ing, which adds another 120, I'm wiping up. When Rank 9 Wrath causes 278 to 312 points (and Rank 10 only a bit more, 381 to 429), I'm rolling in the damage. Since I'm usually doing PvE when I've got the balance gear on, I'm also usually outside using roots, so the damage mitigation losses from Nature's Wrathing are all but meaningless.

1800 crits for 210 mana points and 2 seconds of casting ain't bad, folk.