Moonkins aiming to get DPS and group utility
weren't the only ones to get some attention from the crab last night. The Balance Druid post wasn't an especially information-filled post, but mostly served as a reminder that even though the devs may not respond to your threads, they are paying attention. Ghostcrawler explains that whlie she may be focusing more heavily on Feral Druids, that doesn't mean she isn't aware of Balance's needs. She clarifies their role in a raid (caster, duh), and states a Moonkin's needs to meet that role. She lists the following:
Competitive dps. Mages and warlocks just tend to get a lot of attention, maybe because there are more of them, or more races of them, or they are more archetypal classes (in the familiarity sense).
Good AoE utility. Encounters and dungeons tend to get designed with the assumption that the ranged DPS can do AoE. Hurricane is phenomenal now. I healed a run today and did really competitive dps with Hurricane on the ranged pulls. And I wasn't even Balance! I love Starfall. It's a rare spell because it feels new -- it isn't single target and it isn't classical Hurricane-style AoE either.
CC. If a group has a choice between a druid and a mage and only the mage can CC, the decision gets a lot easier. With Entangling Roots used inside, problem solved.
Group utility. I think deep balance provides that now. Even Insect Swarm and Faerie Fire have a better role now. Without the vicious cycle of Curse of Shadows buffing warlocks which lead to inviting more warlocks somewhat solved, I think it will be easier for Balance druids to get into raids regardless. We've just opened space for more classes now.
The ability to keep causing damage. I think the oomkin thing was largely addressed in BC, but it's still something we need to keep an eye on, or at least try and banish the stigma that other players still think it has.
Ghostcrawler also mentions that Moonkin need a way to not go insane by pushing one button repeatedly, forever. She cites the new talent Eclipse as something to mix things up for them, but a handful of Balance Druids immediately came back with no, no, a million times no! It seems Eclipse is... not very popular.
A few Balance Druids that have spoken up so far also seem to not be fans of the sheer amount of utility Moonkin provide in Wrath, which is probably more than almost every other class/spec combination currently. Having played utility classes through all my 4 years of WoW, I can't say I understand that sentiment if the devs are still offering up competitive DPS. Utility is a good thing, not a punishment. While I understand that you're not DPSing while rebuffing Improved Faerie Fire, you're not DPSing while casting Curse of Elements, Vampiric Embrace, Focus Magic, Totems, Battle Shout, or Horn of Winter, either. If having utility isn't holding back your class to extremes, I think more utility is fantastic.
