I Spec'd BallastFollow

Now, I must utter a disjointed cry for pleh!

I have a freshly dinged Druid, as in "still grinding rep and finishing zones" fresh. The guild are nice guys and they've decided to try to haul me through Dragon Soul. Their theory is that they can throw enough gear on me and they know that I can generally stay back and DPS. The catch is that I'm tasked with getting up to speed on being a caster. I are not a caster! I'm long time physical DPS and the closest I come to being a caster is that I sometimes play a Hunter and I'm at least familiar with ranged combat.

All advice is welcome, be it rotation tips or pointers on fights. Since I don't read any significant amount of Chinese and most of them are weak in English, I would like to go in reasonably well prepared. I realize that I'm spec'd Ballast [sic] and they're figuring they can do it down one man, but I prefer to carry as much of my weight as I can.

You spam Wrath until the thingy lights up and then you spam Starfire until it turns off again.

Or something. You should ask in the class forum. There might be a couple of people left in the BDT who remember how it works.

Edited, Apr 15th 2012 11:03pm by Mazra

Don't worry Rhode, I got the joke. Took me a second read through to get the joke but I got it.

I know Pigtails had a balance druid that was raiding. Anything more than that I cannot help ya. Sorry.

Here's a spec for you.

The remaining points can go wherever you like. Solar Beam and Lunar Shower are optional, but I'd still recommend them. Solar Beam is useful in encounters with casting mobs and doesn't require a turn to charge, and Lunar Shower allows you to keep some dps going while moving. You will move. A lot.

Gear weights are as so:

Int > Spellpower > Hit > Haste > Mastery > Crit

Though with a fresh druid, you're likely just going to want whatever has the higher ilvl, and thus higher int score. Int is just worth that much.

For actually dpsing, above all remember this rule: Always Be Casting, or ABC.

Boomkin dps isn't too hard.

1. Keep DoTs up. Always. Refresh them before they fall off, and refresh them if you get a spellpower or int proc or whatever. This includes Eclipses. If it makes you more powerful, reapply the dot, because it will now be more powerful than the old version already on the mob.
2. Cast Starsurge. If it's not on cooldown, it needs to be. Period. Same goes with Force of Nature (the treant spell)
3. Cast Wrath until you get a lunar eclipse, then cast Starfire until you get a solar eclipse. Cast Wrath again until you get a lunar, etc. It's cyclic. Just keep going back and forth.

It's really not that hard. Just keep the DoTs on the target, Starsurge on cooldown, and cycle between the eclipses. Easy.

If there's multiple targets, just keep your DoTs up on all of them and focus down one.

For AoE, activate Starfall and use Hurricane.

They might be wanting a boomkin because boomkin brings certain things to the table.

Also, boomkin is much less JOHN. F*CKING. MADDEN. than feral kitty, and this easier to do competitive dps with.

Edited, Apr 16th 2012 12:29am by IDrownFish

Kitties, sadly, aren't as JFM as they used to be. Which is why it breaks my heart every time I run into one who can't push more than 10k DPS in Dragon Soul. It's like watching a guy without thumbs trying to text someone. And not on a smart phone with touchscreen, but one of those old phones where you had to get downright violent when typing.

If you can keep Mangle, Rip and Rake up on your target and refresh Savage Roar as much as possible while dumping excess energy into Shred, you should be able to do 12-18k DPS, depending on your gear. It's not 20k, like a Boomkin, but it's much easier because of the way the RNG element works. As a Boomkin, RNG determines which buttons you press. As a Kitty, RNG determines how often you press one button. Omen proc? Shred! Omen proc? Shred! Omen proc? Shred! None of that "Whoops, just went into Lunar Eclipse, better do whatever, or my DPS will drop."

I might be biased, though, but only because Kitties are more awesome than Boomkins.

I like trees.

It's been a problem as of late.

I'll give you points for the antlers, but Moonfire isn't a laser! Do you think the Cenarion Circle put an ion cannon on Elune's left butt cheek so she can pewpew baddies all night long?

And new Wrath looks unbelievably fingers.

That is now the mental image I will forever have when playing my druid.

You're thinking Grenadier.


Edited, Apr 16th 2012 4:10pm by lolgaxe

Rosario + Vampire.

Ah. Stupid me thought that was just the names of the two fighting women.

What's disturbing about a guy getting deceased by a serial killer, coming back as a zombie by an essentially mute necromancer, and then becoming a chainsaw wielding magical girl?