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Shifting Perspectives: Balance in Throne of the Four Winds
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat , bear , restoration and balance druids. This week, we'll fight a giant blob of wind ... or air ... or something like that. It'll be totally awesome guys -- I promise! Greetings once again, my druidic companions! In the previous weeks, we valiantly struggled once again to end the life of two of Deathwing's children. It wasn't an easy victory, to be sure. This week, we put ourselves against a new foe: the elemental lord of air Al'Akir. The elemental lords have always been quite chaotic in nature, once serving as a part of the Old Gods' armies when they ruled Azeroth. It comes as no surprise, then, that the wind king (much like the fire lord) has thrown his lot in with Deathwing. On a side note, I think this creates the perfect opportunity to bring up why this proves that druids are vastly superior to shaman. Sure, both groups may harbor some control over the natural forces of the world, but the shaman rely upon the elements in order to perfect their art. These elements are quite fickle. Oh sure, they can beg and plead to have the elements bless them, but what do they do when the elements say "no"? Druids don't have this weakness. We control nature itself; we are the rightful caretakers of this world. Personally, I say the next war should be between the Cenarion Circle and the Earthen Ring. We've pretty much fought against all of the elemental lords in one form or another; I think it's high time we targeted the root of the problem. I'm just sayin'.
Shifting Perspectives: Raiding late Blackwing Descent as a balance druid
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat , bear , restoration and balance druids. This week, we'll be mopping up our adventures into a dragon's lair. That's always a fun task ... assuming you don't get eaten. Remember, you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup, so be careful. Welcome back to another week of basking in the glory of being an overweight hybrid space create that probably belongs in a zoo. Love me some Moonkin and all, but, let's face it people, we're a tad on the fantastical side; and I don't just mean the fact that we shoot crazy green balls of something that only the flying spaghetti monster knows what. In case you missed it, last week's part 1 of Blackwing Descent can be found here. As an aside, I should say that I am stoked to be a raiding balance druid for the first time in the history of WoW. It was a blessing to be one of only a handful of balance druids raiding back in vanilla, but I always felt that I was really only there because the guild liked me as a player and to prove that it could still be done. TBC was an improvement, but it was never about damage then; we were just group buff bots that offered an increase in group damage while only being mediocre ourselves. Wrath got a lot better where balance was finally recognized for the damage that it could pump out, but we never really had a moment in the sun where we were considered to be a powerhouse DPS spec to the point that a guild felt they were missing something by not having us. Now though? Now I cannot fathom to be a guild without a balance druid, and it's even worth it to have two sometimes! Our damage is more than acceptable; we're far more viable than we ever have been for raiding, and I love it. So let's talk about downing some bosses, shall we?
Shifting Perspectives: Raiding early Blackwing Descent as a balance druid
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat , bear , restoration and balance druids. Triple moonkin! All across the sky! It can only mean one thing, that's right kiddies: It's raiding time. Strap on your big boy pants -- things are about to get serious. Seriously. OMG, OMG, OMG it's here! Yay, I actually did something that I said I would do. This is such a drastic change for me that I think I'll write a whole article on how important this momumentous event is, instead of actually writing about boss tactics and annoying things like that. No? Not feeling it? I suppose I can go ahead with the normal plan, although I think the other idea was much better. Raiding thus far has been rather hit-or-miss, in my opinion. Perhaps I'm jaded, but many of the encounters feel a tad ... simplistic, or at least far easier than they should be. Certain encounters, and especially the end encounters of all three raids this tier, are tough and fun, but the in-betweens seem a little weak at times -- but again, that's just me. For example, I spent more time wiping on the first boss of Grim Batol when it showed up as my first heroic ever than I did on Magmaw. Maybe that's just us; I don't know. Whether or not you agree, raiding is about being prepared. We've covered gearing yourself up for raids to death, so let's get on with the second part of those preparations.
Shifting Perspectives: PTR 4.0.6, balance and you
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat , bear , restoration and balance druids.This week, I'm going picture hunting. If you happened to send any in last week, chances are I didn't get them. Our emails over here recently changed, and I can now be reached at tyler@wowinsider.com. So send your pics! Okay, okay, so I know that I had originally promised to start doing the raiding guide this week, and I was so totally going to do that, but the information that's currently up on the latest PTR is just too juicy to pass up. Like the mythical GC pony, the raid guide will come next week, I promise. The PTR doesn't hold a lot of information for balance druids overall, but what it does hold is amazingly amazing. (Props to those who know where that one comes from.) There are a few nerfs, and they come in areas where we really needed buffs instead, but there are quite a number of buffs out there as well that can certainly whet the palate. There are also some important profession and general changes that will help everyone, including balance druids. I'm normally not a fan of huge balancing patches such as these that come out so soon after an expansion is released -- rage, what good was beta, and all that -- but at least we are finally getting these changes now. And what changes are those? Oh, why, I'm so glad that you asked.
Shifting Perspectives: Balance druid raiding gems, enchants and glyphs
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat , bear , restoration and balance druids.This week, I'm going picture hunting. If you have any screenshots of your moonkin being the awesomeness that s/he is, then send them to tyler@wow.com. I promise to abuse them liberally. You've got your gear, you've read all the strategies, but there's always that little something more. I know that gearing is perhaps getting a little overdone at this point, but there are still a few points to cover, after which it's on to boss guides. Yes, there was much rejoicing. Mostly it's more so a matter of getting these bosses down myself. Perhaps it's different for some of you, but I am a very tactile learner. I can read day in and day out on what to do, how to stand, where to move, but none of it really helps me until I've actually gone and seen the encounter itself. For that reason, I like to experience bosses at least once before I write about them. It doesn't take much to write out a generic boss guide -- and I do not mean that as a bash on TankSpot or the various other guide sites; they are all highly useful -- but writing for a specific class is different. There are small little tweaks and adjustments that every class and spec can make for each boss that simply can't be conveyed in a general guide. There isn't enough room for it. So, next week, I promise. Until then, let's go into the final touches that need to be made to all that wonderful gear that you've collected at this point.
Shifting Perspectives: Cataclysm heroics guide for balance druids, part 2
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat , bear , restoration and balance druids. So, it may not actually be Throne of the Tides, but you don't get to ride a seahorse as a moonkin, so I think it's cooler. That, and the LFG tool did not work with me this week in my dungeon selection. Blame RNG! Seriously! Well, well, well, another week down, and it's that time again, folks. Last week, we began detailing the various ins and outs of the heroic dungeons that you'll be faced with. This week will be the second and final part of that series. Heroics can be easy or excruciatingly difficult, even now, even with quite a bit of heroic gear. Although gear certainly helps -- our guild heroic runs generally use a lot less CC now -- it is not what is going to make or break the success of a group. Completing dungeons is about strategy: knowing the fights and knowing how to cope with various mechanics. Doing this makes everything significantly easier. I know the more casual players will cringe slightly at the thought. Heroics can take a lot of time. They can take quite a lot of effort as well, and having to put forth research and energy into a hobby can seem like it saps all of the fun out of the game. To you, I say this: Don't think of guides or strats as a requirement or a chore that you have to do in order to actually play the game. Just look at it as another facet of the game as a whole. Like chess, you wouldn't just move a piece at random; you would think, plan, and have a strategy.
Shifting Perspectives: Running heroics as a balance druid, part 1
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat , bear , restoration and balance druids. This week, we start the long dive into dungeons that will be consuming your life for the next few years. At least, until the next expansion. You know all of the gear that you want to get out of heroics. You know that you need to get your one random heroic done each day. But you are constantly finding yourself struggling to get through the instances that you are placed in. Don't fret; this is actually a fairly common experience, even for those players who have done more heroics than they would have liked to by this point. Even when I do random PUGs, things can get rough. Sometimes the tank and/or healer is undergeared; sometimes the players are just new to the instance and don't quite have the feel for how things work. There are a lot of things that can go wrong in a Cataclysm heroic dungeon, and anyone stepping into them should be prepared to wipe multiple times no matter how prepared they are. However, there are things that you as a balance druid can do to make any heroic instance you run more smoothly. Sometimes it's through CC, sometimes it's through knowing what does what, and sometimes it's by making use of every single tool that you have in your toolbox. This week is the first of a two-part series explaining in detail how balance druids can best assist their groups in heroics.
Shifting Perspectives: Balance druid pre-raid gear guide
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat , bear , restoration and balance druids. If you've been like me and chain running dungeons day in and day out, there are probably a few things that you are ready to wish never existed. Don't worry, I've got a plan to get rid of all those pesky rogues ... Another week, another week. It seems that every week is another week, which I suppose it is. It's all philosophy, of course, which is a topic that I happen to enjoy just about as much as theorycrafting. That is why I also want to start today off with a little bit of both, but in a very light sense. Now that most players have their mains up to level 85, the next grind is for gear in order to enter raids. Gearing is an essential part of the game; in fact, I'd say that half the battle for downing a boss starts before you even make that first pull. As during every new tier of gear released, everyone and their mother makes a best in slot list. I hate BiS lists. Best in slot is highly debatable terminology, and there aren't many cases wherein any one particular item actually fits into that category -- even more so now, with the introduction of mastery and reforging. Generally speaking, an item is only going to be the universal best if it falls into one of two categories. Either that particular item is over-itemized in comparison to similar choices -- it's usually trinkets that fall here -- or there simply aren't any other choice at that item level. When you build a gear set, there really is more than one way to skin the proverbial cat. That is why I rarely ever refer to things as being BiS, and that is why I am writing a gear guide and not a BiS list. The other issue I have with BiS lists is that they are highly specific. In many cases, they are only going to work out to be the best if you have all of the items on the list, particularly in respect to hit. That simply isn't always a feasible goal, especially if you run in a 25-man raid and there are multiple items that you have to win over several other people. Philosophy and theory out of the way, let's get start on that gear list, shall we?
Shifting Perspectives: Balance druid leveling in Cataclysm
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat , bear , restoration and balance druids. This week, I'm running myself ragged trying to level and getting no sleep, relying purely on the soothing sounds of Coheed and Cambria and Dragon Force to keep going. Remember, I could still use your leveling screen shots, so send them in! And the race is on! Cataclysm is finally here: new zones, new races, new quests, new dungeons, new raids -- everything new. By now, most of the hardcore types are probably already level 85. I remember the sadness of getting home from work at eight in the morning to see that half my guild was already level 83. Even this "late in the game," as it were, I would still like to bring up a bit about leveling specs. Not just leveling from 80 to 85, but starting fresh from level 1; alts do exist, you know, and some of us have more than one druid. (Guilty.) Before we begin on this little journey, I want to say one thing; everything listed here is merely a suggestion from my point of view after leveling during beta and on live. There are other ways to spec for leveling, there are multiple ways to spec even at level 85, and what is written here is not a gospel. OK, well, some of it is -- but for the most part, you are always free to make up your own mind. Without further ado, here we go!
Shifting Perspectives: Broken things that aren't
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat , bear , restoration and balance druids. It's time again folks! A new expansion is on its way, and I want all of the cool shots you can snag of your balance druid living the life in the new world. Send anything you like to tyler@wow.com! Welcome, balance druids! It's the week before Cataclysm, and all of the WoW internet is abuzz with excitement. This is the week of leveling guides; what zones are the best to quest in, which quests to avoid, which are a must, what spec and glyphs you should use to maximize your damage and uptime -- all that good stuff. If you are looking for such information in this week's Shifting Perspectives, then I'm sadly going to disappoint you this time. Fortunately for me, I've grown a thick skin that can withstand anyone's stare of disapproval, and I've got the Rent soundtrack blaring, so everything is splenda. Instead of focusing on the leveling experience that everyone will soon get to enjoy, I want to talk about those quirky little things about balance druids that have become a bit of a topic as of late. A few of these issues are things that were brought up during the beta process; some of them are issues that only developed on live servers. A lot of things have changed recently, and the new WoW forums are all a-twitter with concerns both from and about balance druids. Will we "suffer" -- though I doubt anyone who's been playing a balance druid since release would call Wrath "suffering" -- another expansion with faulty mechanics? Not likely at this point, but there are always things worth improving and looking into.
Shifting Perspectives: Balance racials and new abilities
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat , bear , restoration and balance druids. This week, I am recovering from the after-effects of indulging in far too much food and reflecting on the changes to come -- oh, and getting some ever important Thanksgiving achievements done! What a wonderful world we have entered. Thanksgiving has come and gone -- or just happening for some of us -- and the world of Azeroth has been shattered completely by the coming of Deathwing. Aside from the fires, destruction, earthquakes, and other destructive forces wrecking havoc across the land, everything seems to be going rather well. One of the biggest things to do at this point in the game is collect the new pets made available or level a new alt to check out new class/race combinations and the new quests that have appeared. Content for level 80s is a little bit dry at this point. Still, everything else aside, there are plenty of other issues to deal with. Even though 4.0 has been out for a long while, there is still quite a bit of misinformation and questions out there that need to be addressed. I know that some of this is going to be a re-hash of "old" information, but please indulge me just this once on the matter. My concern, and the focus of this piece, is to bring to light issues that we're facing as well as to present options that we can use to work around those problems. Some of it is a little fluff, some of it may not seem exclusively balance-related, but all of it is important in the long run; trust me on that.
Shifting Perspectives: If moonkin could fly
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat , bear , restoration and balance druids. This week is all about questions, and whether or not moonkin are too fat to fly. Hey, if you can dream it, then anything is possible, right? Cataclysm is coming out soon, The Shattering is just around the corner, and the entire world is in chaos. Life certainly is grand, isn't it? During these troubling times, players have many questions about the changes that are occurring and that have already occurred -- questions about rotations, specs, glyphs, questing, leveling, dungeoning, and raiding. I like questions, and I like answering them even more; however, there is nothing so pure as a question. Questions are a beautiful thing, and that is what I would like to focus on in this article. People (myself included) seem to have a love of asking questions, but the sad thing is that their sole focus also seems to be on the answers, never the question itself. That's a vital flaw; it is never about the answer, but it is always about the question. Asking the right questions can sometimes be far more important than getting the answers -- which is why I want to know your questions. What is is about balance druids -- anything about balance druids -- that you would like to know? What are your dreams for balance druids? If your balance druid could do anything, anything at all, what would you like it to be? As for myself, I have plenty of questions.
Shifting Perspectives: Dungeon diving in 4.0.3 and beyond
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat , bear , restoration and balance druids. This week we are going in the darkest, smelliest, most fantastical places around Azeroth in search of epic loot, epic encounters, and hopefully being able to come out alive by more than the skin of our teeth. It seems that my fellow Shifting Perspectives cohort Allison Robert miffed a few people in her latest installment in regards to druidic lore, so I'm going to add a bit of clarification -- because I'm that much of a nice guy. The tauren were not the first druids; the night elves were the first druids. In fact, the first druids were clearly the blood elves -- who captured the Naaru Elune, sapped her nature-ness and used her holy powers to create a race of super-druids that then spread chaos across Azeroth. Their destruction was so terrible that they were banished to Outland, where they constructed Botanica, an interdimensional spaceship, in an effort to grow their own world tree and conquer the universe as we know it. This conquest was only thwarted by Rhonin going back in time to slay the blood elf druid leader, High Botanist Freywinn, before their project could be completed, leaving the blood elf druids stranded in Botanica until wayward adventurers butchered them all as they made their way toward Kael'thas Sunstrider. And now you know, and knowing is half the battle. Now that we all have our facts straight, I want to get down to the business of talking about dungeon diving as it will be in Cataclysm. It's common knowledge by now that future dungeons are nothing akin to what we have seen in Wrath; mobs hit really flippin' hard, so hard that tanking an entire pack solo is entirely out of the question. Using CC is a requirement of the new dungeons, and it's not the only change that players need to be prepared for. Focusing on the tank's target, avoiding incoming damage, and possibly even healing yourself in times of trouble also need to be considered. Dungeons, particularly the heroics, can be very dangerous, and you should be as prepared for them as you possibly can.
Shifting Perspectives: Delving into balance PvP
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat , bear , restoration and balance druids. After indulging in some stunning dance movies by Irarenovo of Shattered Hand, it's time to get back to the not-as-fantastical world of balance PvP. Some hate it, some love it, but everyone needs a little bit of killing in life. Generally, I start each PvP article that I write with the disclaimer that I am not an avid PvPer; this one is not any different. However, this is a caveat that I need to add to that disclaimer: I am not an avid arena player, and due to the dominance of arena play in WoW PvP, it has pretty much closed out what PvP I do enjoy. I am a BG player. I love BGs, and given the choice, I could play in BGs night and day. In my opinion, BGs are the truest form of PvP. I don't want to be thrown into a little box and told to fight like a Roman gladiator. I want objectives, I want give and take, I want the tactical aspect of a battlefield. Perhaps it's because I was raised by a massive war nerd who drilled tactics into my head night and day -- understanding the meaning of tactical losses, of forcing hands, of overextending. There is a reason for bringing up a bit of my own history here, and that's because balance druids (in my opinion, at least) are the experts of tactical PvP play. We are a highly adaptive spec that can take on many forms depending upon gear, spec and glyph choices. We can play as a skirmisher, a powerhouse, a controller or even a tank in the right settings. Balance druids have many PvP faces, and each has seen success in a variety of different ways throughout WoW's PvP history. The tanking form held great success in parts of The Burning Crusade, and although balance wasn't particularly strong in Wrath, some players did manage to garner success playing either heavy control or wrecking balls. Today, we re-evaluate all of those faces and see how they might play out in Cataclysm.
Shifting Perspectives: Balance spells redesigned in Cataclysm
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat , bear , restoration and balance druids. After recovering from my BlizzCon wounds, it's back to the normal grind. This week, we'll be exploring how some of our spells have changed for the coming expansion and how they could still be improved. Greetings, team! BlizzCon has come and gone, with little passing for balance druids. Unfortunately, there wasn't that much information for World of Warcraft all around, for us ... Well, the most exciting announcement was a joke about moonkin getting boobs for female models and another joke on removing the balance spec completely. I wasn't all that amused, but I suppose my perspective on the issue is a little skewed. On the plus side, I did get to meet an amazing person in the best moonkin getup that I've ever seen; to whomever you are, you were the best thing at BlizzCon 2010. All of that aside, let's talk about balance druids -- because let's be honest, we're way more cool than anything else that might be going on right now. I'd like to talk about a few of our spells that have been redesigned for Cataclysm, how they function best now and what spells might still need a little TLC in order to work better. In a strange turn of events, I'll also try and work some PvP balance into this -- I know, the world is probably ending ... But no worries, I have a fully stocked bomb shelter. The specific spells and talents that I feel still need the most work done on them are Owlkin Frenzy, Thorns and Force of Nature. In some cases, the spells just lack the right amount of power to be useful; in others, they just need a little something extra to make them stand apart from the crowd. The more extreme examples that we'll be dealing with simply don't have a useful niche and need to be adjusted for the sake of making them worth something.
Shifting Perspectives: The 4.0.1 balance rotation
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat , bear , restoration and balance druids. After a few days of fun rocking through Ulduar and Icecrown Citadel, I'm back once again to give you the skinny on probably the least skinny spec in WoW. A day late and a dollar short, as always. As the World of Warcraft community reels from the drastic changes of the recent patch to prepare us for Cataclysm, balance druids are adjusting to a new life of their own. For anyone who has read the forums recently, it may come as no surprise that portions of the community feel that we are now overpowered. Whether you agree or not, I highly suggest you go and read this post of mine to get a little bit more insight into what is going on. Instead of going into theories about why our damage might be the way that it is today, I would like to go into a bit of discussion on how to get the most out of your balance druid now and how to best prepare for the release of Cataclysm. There is a lot to get used to with the new changes: figuring out Eclipse, timing cooldowns, glyphs, our rotation. If you are a more theorycraft-based player such as I am, then take a look at this by Arawethion; it has a lot of great information on it. If numbers aren't quite your thing, then stayed tuned; I'll be breaking down most of the information plus some other neat tricks.
Shifting Perspectives: Fixing balance druid mana issues
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat , bear , restoration and balance druids. Greetings once again, folks. These are the days that I always dread every coming expansion, the days shortly before -- well, just over a month and a half before -- the newest installment of World of Warcraft hits the shelves, when everything feels as if it has to be done now. Perhaps the sense of urgency is false, but I can at least tell that I am not alone; it seems as though everyone believes that every class balance issue needs to be fixed by tomorrow or the world will end. I am really no different. The new version of the balance druid is an improvement over what we have today. There have been a lot of significant changes that have put us in a better position now than we have even been in before. But nothing is ever perfect, and there is always something that can be improved. What I want to talk about today isn't a minor quality-of-life improvement that balance druids need in order to simply have an easier time of playing; the issue that I want to talk about is one that could potentially prevent balance druids from playing at all. If you have been following the most recent beta forum posts on balance druids (or even a few of my articles), then you know that level 85 balance druids are having a serious issue with mana. The simple fact remains that even our most basic rotations consume far more mana than we are able to regenerate, which leaves us sitting there twiddling our thumbs while the rest of the world is actually killing the big baddie that's looking to turn us into meat paste. It's a problem that I know I've talked about frequently, but today, I'd rather focus on a different aspect of the issue; today, I want to talk about possible ways in which to fix the current mana issues that are threatening balance druids.
Shifting Perspectives: Hopes for balance PvP in Cataclysm
Every Friday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting balance druids and those who group with them. This week, we take a quick dip into the PvP pool, as we glance at what the future holds for balance druids wishing to pummel other player's faces. It is a rather well known fact that I am not the most hardcore of PvP players. I enjoy it from time to time, especially battlegrounds, but when it comes to high-end arena play, that's just a little bit out of my league. I know the theory of it, as much as there can be theory on PvP. I read what those in the higher echelons are doing and say, and I watch those better than me to refine my skills, but it's just not meant to be. I am fine with my own status in the PvP world; I don't particularly seek to top any bracket. I mention this as a preface to the rest of this article because I want to talk about the issues that I have personally seen and read about, with the understanding that I am not a PvP guru. As a further introduction to the topic, it's important to reflect a moment on how balance PvP stands right now. In its current state, balance PvP isn't so much broken as it is excessively difficult; perhaps even "difficult" isn't the correct word to use, either. Balance druids are more of a support class when it comes to PvP, but they rely upon the support of others in order to function. We have never really been able to fend for ourselves, so to speak; we bring great control tools, but only in a limited sense. We have a decent amount of burst, but we still require the assistance of others in order to both finish players off and to help set us up. We aren't exactly in a bad position, but neither are we in a great one. We float along in limbo, and our major hope for change is with Cataclysm.
Shifting Perspectives: The balance of changes for balance druids
Every Friday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting balance druids and those who group with them. This week, we are once again delving into the wild world of beta to see what's been fixed, what remains broken and what is just awesomsauce. Greetings once again, fellow moon chickens. This week has been an exciting one for balance druids everywhere, just in case you haven't been paying attention. The latest beta push made many a remarkable changes to our talent tree and for our playstyle; certainly all of the changes that have been made thus far have been lauded by the community as a significant breakthrough toward everything that we have been pushing for this entire beta cycle. Those who know me, however, know that I am not one to throw parades. Some may call it being cynical; others might say that it's downright pessimistic -- but I like to think that I am merely a perfectionist, and as we all know, nothing can be perfect. To that end, while this is certainly a cheerful week to be a balance druid, let us reflect on those changes that still need to be made, the issues that have remained unaddressed and the problems that beta players are still finding with our spec in the next expansion. Before going into the humdrum of negativity, the bleak abyss of the perpetual rain cloud of doom that seems to surround me, let's at least bask in the glorious light of everything that has gone right this week in the land of overweight, feathered genetic research rejects.
Cataclysm beta: Balance druid build 12984
There is a new beta build of sorts out there that certainly has the World of Warcraft community all aflutter, and for good reason. Although the build is not yet implemented on the beta servers, MMO-Champion has released loads of new information related to the next build that contains loads of new treats for all classes, particularly balance druids. There's been no doubt over the last few weeks that balance has been in something of a poor state, with several glaring flaws floating about that players in beta and testing on the PTR have pointed out. Blizzard has been listening to those comments, and the newest build reflects that. Let me reiterate once again that this build is not yet implemented on the beta servers; it is merely datamined information. While it's certainly accurate and reliable information, it does not mean that everything listed will be changed as listed or that all changes are currently listed. Certain game mechanics could still be changed without being listed, and things that are listed may be reverted before being released. With all of the rhetoric out of the way, let's get on with the show, shall we?
