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Shifting Perspectives: Further redesigns to the Mists of Pandaria balance druid rotation
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat, bear, restoration and balance druids. Welcome to our DPS edition, brought to you by Chase Hasbrouck, aka Alaron of The Fluid Druid blog. This week, we make ch-ch-ch-changes. A new week, a new beta patch, and a new design for the balance druid rotation (again)! There are some large changes here, as it appears the developers have scrapped a few of the new ideas that they were trying in the beta and have reverted to more of a Cataclysm-style model. All the theorycrafting on this is still being done, so some caution is in order, but I'm tentatively excited about how this is turning out. First, here's a quick list of the new changes (thanks to Elrahd): Moonfire and Sunfire are now two separate spells independent of Eclipse. Base damage of DoT component damage for both spells increased by 50% and duration reverted to 18 seconds. When Celestial Alignment is activated, casting Moonfire will apply both DoTs. Crits from Starfire and Wrath increase the duration of Moonfire and Sunfire respectively by 2 seconds. Starsurge crits increases both by 2 seconds. This effect is independent of Eclipse. Fae Empowerment no longer exists. Euphoria is no longer a proc but a passive that guarantees double energy generation from nukes outside of Eclipse. Shooting Stars proc rate now 30%, down from 40%. Astral Communion now channels 25 eclipse energy per second for 4 seconds, from 15 energy per second for 7 seconds. New PvP 4 set bonus allows Astral Communion to be channeled while moving.
Shifting Perspectives: Murmurs' moonkin mailbag
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat , bear , restoration and balance druids. Balance news comes at you every Friday -- learn how to master the forces of nature, and know what it means to be a giant laser turkey! Send your questions, comments, or something you'd like to see to tyler@wowinsider.com. Greetings once again, fellow owlbirds. I've returned once again after a weekend visit with the enemy. I'll spare the gritty details, but suffice to say that I was bored to tears for a majority of the trip and, in fact, the 15-hour drive there and then again coming back home was the most exciting portion of the trip. Not to mention, shadow priests make the worst hosts. Chalk that up as another reason why balance druids are just plain better. While I was away, my inbox got a little bit piled up, so I figured this was the perfect time to address all those burning questions in people's minds. Maybe it's a bit lazy of me, but, you know, I like being efficient sometimes (just not often). Let's hit the virtual books, shall we?
The Art of War(craft): Must-have PvP talents for druids in 4.0.1
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Art of War(craft), covering battlegrounds and world PvP, and Blood Sport, with the inside line for arena enthusiasts. Want to crush your enemies, see them driven before you and hear the lamentation of their women? Battlemaster Zach Yonzon, old-world PvP grinder and casual battleground habitué, rambles on about anything and everything PvP. Let's try to get you prepared for Cataclysm, shall we? In the new (banged-up, broken and burnt) world of the expansion, battlegrounds play will stand toe to toe with arenas as far as gear acquisition and quite possibly have even better participation. You don't want to miss out on that. Today we'll discuss the best PvP talents you can pick up as a druid, and you can decide for yourself what other talents to round out your PvP spec. Perhaps the biggest change for druids in patch 4.0.1 is a new mechanic for balance druids called Eclipse, which relies on the buildup of lunar or solar energy conferred by casting either nature or arcane damage spells, respectively. This means that balance druids will be constantly trying to achieve an Eclipse by casting spells from one school, then shifting to another school once they've gotten the bonus. Out of all specs, balance plays the most differently compared to before the patch, but everyone gets fun tools to use in PvP. Let's check out all these toys across all specs.
Sunfire ships high-end Theater Grand processor and amplifiers
If this recession isn't even close to fazing you, Sunfire's got a few components to sell you. The outfit has just started shipping its Theater Grand line of processors and amplifiers, and even the least expensive of the bunch would shock the average home cinema shopper. The TGP-401 processor ($3,500), TGA-7401 Theater Grand Amplifier ($4,450) and TGA-7201 Grand Amplifier ($3,250) are all leaving the docks as we speak, and those with the means to finance one can certainly venture down to the read link for all the nitty-gritty specs. As for the rest of us, at least we've something to aspire to, right?
Sunfire's TGR-401 AV receiver nets a thumbs-up review
If you're on the fence about Sunfire's recently released $4,000 Theater Grand Receiver (TGR-401), we suggest you have your dealer arrange an in-home demo; but if you still need some swaying, the the review at Home Entertainment magazine might get you to pull the trigger. The naysayers will tell you that no $4k AVR should be without onboard Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA decoding and ship with a 3-in, 1-out HDMI setup. Good points, we say, but the review found plenty to like in the sonics this beast delivered. Combined with a good UI and a usable combo of Auto EQ with manual tweaking to bring things right in line, the proverbial "straight wire with gain" came up when describing the audio performance -- and with 7x200-Watts of power, that's a lot of gain, indeed.
Sunfire's delightful $4,000 TGR-401 AV receiver now shipping
Just saying the word "Sunfire" sends chills down the spines of wallets everywhere, and sure enough, the outfit's latest bad boy receiver ain't no bargain. The Theater Grand 401 Receiver (TGR-401) -- which includes 200-watts x 7-channels of amplification, SIRIUS satellite radio support, dual Olé touchpad ports, a VIA!migo socket for iPod connectivity and a configurable front panel input -- is now shipping to those who are willing to cough up the requisite $4,000 (MSRP). Aside from a sleek, sexy exterior, you'll also be buying three HDMI v1.3a inputs / one HDMI output, a microphone input, eight-channel input for DVD-Audio or SACD, eight balanced XLR outputs and a sophisticated video upconversion system for squeezing the most out of every source. Anyone buying in?[Via CNET]
Sunfire' TGM-100 goes after the well-heeled media server crowd
Upmarket custom-installs are where the comfy margins are, so it's no surprise to see high-end specialists like Sunfire heading in that direction as well. The company is marking its entry into the media server market at CEDIA with the $10,000 TGM-100; and if you think that's pricey, wait until you add some storage -- you know, to make it useful -- your options are a 1TB RAID 0 (TGM-HD1, $700), 3TB RAID 6 (TGM-HD3, $12,000) or 6TB RAID 6 (TGM-HD6, $14,000). At these prices, we'd demand some Blu-ray support, but the release only mentions upscaling to "near-HD 1080P" (sounds familiar) for your DVDs and Gracenote metadata for your music. Like we said, this part of the market is about the margins.
Sunfire joins the in-wall speaker crowd with Cinema Ribbon Wall models
Sheesh -- if the high-end in-wall speaker category gets any more popular, we'll start seeing models with integrated iPod docks! Jumping into the fray and disappearing into your walls, Chuck Wagon-style, is the latest offering from Sunfire. True to its beginnings with Bob Carver, Sunfire has borrowed some tech from the rest of the XT-series and incorporated ribbon drivers to its in-wall CRW-2 and CRW-2C (center channel) offerings. If the Cinema Ribbon Trio In-Wall (CRW-3 and CRW-3C) models are more speaker than you need, these might be a better fit for you. You'll get the same 6-inch ribbon tweeter, but fewer of the 4.5-inch drivers. The CRW-2C has an acoustic lens for widening the sweet spot, and the lens can be removed if you want to use the CRW-2C for L/R channels, so mix and match as you see fit. At $850 per speaker, you may just consider these for your next high-end, high-fashion install.
Sunfire kicks out HRS satellite speakers to complement subwoofer
If you've fallen head over heels in love with your HRS subwoofer, Sunfire's looking to help you round out your surround system with satellites to match. Announced this week at EHX in Orlando, the company is bringing the $450 HRS Sat-4 and $500 HRS-SAT4C Center to market. As expected, each of the glossy black speakers will tout a curved design, cast aluminum front baffle, a 4.5-inch High Back-emf woofer (two for the Center in a D'Appolito configuration) and a 1-inch silk-dome tweeter. Additionally, each speaker can handle 200-watts of RMS power, and if these things deliver half the delight of HRS subbies, we'd say Sunfire has a couple more winners on its hands here.
