I dont know about you guys, but the Pokemon Stadium fights in MoP make me wonder if the Moonkin Hatchling will be OP or not !
I bet they will be.
What was YOUR favourite pokemon? Orignal 151, please. No new generation nonsense!

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PTR for 4.3.2 was deployed, and data started streaming already. What we currently know :

Item – Druid T13 Balance 4P Bonus (Starsurge) now also increases Starsurge damage by 10%.

Finally ! This is a very much welcome change, as our 4 piece pretty much sucked. This will help a bit. Considering Starsurge is somewhere around 10% of my dps nowadays, it’s approximately a 1% dps boost.

What would be the best 4-piece bonus for you, knowing the fights and the Dragon Soul encounters? Do you feel our tier bonuses are underwhelming, comparing to other classes ?

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Hi guys,

Sorry for my lack of posting lately.  Really haven’t played WoW much since I got back from vacation, and I’ve just now recently started raiding again (although only via LFR).  I’ll try to catch up on your questions, etc., shortly.  I won’t lie, though, I’ll probably be pretty busy with Star Wars: The Old Republic in the next few weeks as well, but I should have plenty of time to keep things updated here.

Again, thanks to Balourd for stepping in during my (unannounced) absenses, and I look forward to seeing more posts from him in the future.

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Okay, let’s hear it !
Considering your experiences in Dragon Soul, how do you feel Moonkin DPS is doing compared to the other classes, other contents, between fights?
Any tips you have, share away!

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Allright, it’s been announced, you probably heard about it everywhere. Whether you’re hyped for it or depressed about it is up to you.

Here are the changes and upcoming revamps concerning Moonkin :

• Eclipse gave Hurricane its chance in Lunar Eclipse:
• When you reach 100 lunar energy you will deal 25% more arcane damage and Hurricane will become Arcane Storm. When triggered, both lunar and solar eclipses grand 1% spell haste and energizes you for 16% of your total mana;
• I also tried to find Nature’s Grace, but it seems as if its gone;
• Moonkin Aura is back to its 5% crit to raid members;
• You get Leather Specialization as soon as you spec into something;
• Moonkin Form now increases damage from arcane and nature by 20%;
• Insect Swarm is revamped : Now increases damage from Wrath, Starfire and Starsurge by 30%;
• Faerie Fire lost its stack mechanic, now 12% right off the bat;
• Barkskin is not Moonkin-spec exclusive, reseto will get Ironbark (same effect basicaly);
• Shooting Stars, Omen of Clarity, Euphoria, Owlkin Frenzy, Lunar Shower, Balance of Power and Mastery are now passives you get throughout your leveling. You get the benefits automatically : no more point investing.
• Killer Instinct increases your agility by 100% of your intellect when in Cat or Bear Form;
• SYMBIOSIS : New ability available at lvl 87 : grants the druid one of the target’s ability depending on the target’s class and the druid’s spec. In exchange, gives the target a druid ability depending on the druid’s spec.
• This ability is crazy cool! I’d imagine that for moonkins, it will be beneficial to give it to a caster, probably ideally a mage or elemental shaman.

This is all the changes I could spot in one overview, of course if you didn’t give the new talent calculator a look, check it out over the official website.

Welcome back home Sunfyre!

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I’ve returned from vacation… many thanks to Balourd for stepping in while I was away.  I’ve got a lot of catching up to do, but it seems besides the Class Q&A for MoP, not a lot more has changed, especially for balance druids in the 4.3 world.  This is the only small change that I think has been missed so far:

• Celestial Focus now also reduces Cyclone spell pushback.

A small buff for PVP.  I’m really hoping that something still changes with the 4pc Bonus or to Starsurge before the patch is released.  I think we’re sadly going to be disappointed.

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Class Q&A was happening yesterday, and here’s the recap for druids and upcoming MoP changes. I’m curious to know what you guys think about the hybridization of the druid, the good ol’ hybrid tax debate and everything else that’s mentioned. Lots of changes coming our way, does it scare you ? Do you anticipate it ? (source : Mmo-Champion recap)

• The new Druid talent trees are trying to bring back the hybrid part of the druid class.
• Resto Druids will get a baseline replacement for Barkskin that will be able to be cast on other players.
• The Nurturing Instinct talent will be baseline to both Feral and Guardian Druids.
• A new talent which grants attack power based on Intellect for Restoration and Balance Druids will be added.
• Incarnation for Balance transforms the Druid in to the Chosen of Elune Form, which currently increases spell damage done and Solar and Lunar energy generated.
• In 5.0 Mangle will no longer cause a bleed damage debuff, and will be usable from any facing.
• Guardians (bears) will have Mangle, but not Shred. Mangle and Shred will both exist for Feral (cats).
• Shred will offer slightly more overall DPS compared to Mangle if you are able to stay behind the target. Once Glyph of Shred works from Mangle as well as Shred, the difference between a Mangle and a Shred rotation is actually fairly small (in the 5% range).
• Feral Charge and Stampede are becoming part of Wild Charge, so you can select not to have that complexity with Ravage.
• A possible level 87 ability for all Druids called Symbiosis that will add flexibility, utility, and survivability for the Druid.
• Heart of the Wild is intended for encounters where there is a period where increased healing is needed. Master Shapshifter is for encounters where the Druid would need to switch between healing and DPS. Disentanglement is for when less shifting is needed but a well timed one would help.

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Greetings from Barcelona, Spain!

In a few hours I will be boarding the Carnival Magic. This is a 16 day cruise all the way from Spain to Galveston, TX.

I won’t arrive stateside until November 14th, and I will most likely not have Internet onboard.

I apologize for the quietness of the blog, but fear not, I will return soon!

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One of the questions from the Q&A today was what the developers plan to do to address the problem with Eclipse, including how we have to sit in Solar to cleave and do decent AoE damage.

It was revealed in 5.0 that Hurricane would now have a ‘Arcane’ component while in Lunar Eclipse.  Now, let’s hope they actually buff Hurricane, because lord knows we don’t use it as is for most AoE.  I shall call this new ability Hurarcane! (get it?).

I think I would be satisfied if they returned the splash component to Starfall.  Right now, it does the same damage across 2 or 200 targets.  If Starfall could actually splash, we’d have decent Arcane AoE back.

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I’m sure you’ve all heard about the World of Warcraft Annual Plan by now, and rest assured, I’ve already signed up so I can get into the Mists of Pandaria Beta ASAP!

Another neat aspect of the Annual Plan is that it will give it’s subscribers Diablo III for free.  It was also just announced that for those who desire to be Annual Plan members and also purchase the Collector’s Edition, part of the price of the Collector’s Edition will go towards your WoW Annual Plan as a credit.

What are your opinions of the annual plan?  Will you be signing up?

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