LAST UPDATE: August 4, 2009

NOTE: VIDEO ON POST 4.

With the arrival of Lich King, and all the changes they’ve made, I’ve noticed that Balance druids will become more prominent in the raid scene. I know that the same questions are going to be asked multiple times, and I and many others are going to sound like broken records by giving the same answers over and over and over. So in an optimistic attempt to cull those questions, I’m going to attempt to put together all the FAQs of Balance raiding into one thread for your reading pleasure.

Please take notice: This thread/guide is intended for one specific audience; Raiding Moonkin Druids at the 10 and 25 man levels. If you play mostly 5 mans, solo, or PvP, then this isn’t the thread you want to read.

Finally, before I get into the FAQs, I’d like to thank some people: Murmurs, Madrox, Bullocks, Randomsmo and Graylo for your theorycrafting and number crunching. Saintrancid, Toridd, Lashlar, Ziinaya, Spinoza and countless others for being great vessels to pass out the information as well as theorycraft of your own, and to everyone at themoonkinrepository.com for helping double check all my facts in this guide. Last but not least, though she doesn’t play anymore, Alleine. She was the one that mentored me the most when I made the switch to a moonkin druid for raiding in March of 2008, and the writer of one of the best guides for TBC raiding: Common Moonkin Misconceptions. I shall be using some of those concepts from that guide, in this thread.

Now to get into the heart of this thread. The FAQs are coming, but there are some major points I want to hit first and expand upon. Some concepts from TBC to LK are not changing, and I’d like to re-emphasize those points to make sure that those that read this understand. Taken from Common Moonkin Misconceptions:

Moonkins benefit from stacking intellect:

Wrong.
Stacking intellect is a stupid idea. Don't gem for it, don't enchant for it, don't itemize for it - just don't do it.
I already know what you're going to say, "But when I socket/enchant intellect I also get crit, damage, MP5 and, of course, the mana.
Yeah, I know. I get it. Intellect gives you some mana and a minuscule amount of other beneficial stats.
Here's the deal.
Moonkins were given a talent called 'Lunar Guidance'. It was meant to compensate for the lower damage values that moonkins typically have. This meant that while moonkins were stacking damage, we would receive extra damage from the incidental intellect that is itemized on practically all caster pieces.
Lunar Guidance is not justification for stacking intellect at the exclusion of the more important stats, but rather it's a bonus - something to keep us viable against other casters.
As mentioned earlier, the best stats for a Moonkin druid are Hit > Spell Damage > Spell Haste > Spell Crit. Although you are correct that intellect provides a minuscule amount of regen, damage and crit per point, you need to understand that you could NEVER get the proper amount of hit/damage/crit/regen by stacking intellect alone. Counting on intellect to satisfy gaps in your stats is counter productive - you're spreading your key stats too thinly.

Leather is better than cloth:

Not always.

True story; I was on the PTR the other day with my Moonkin pal Florana. We were discussing many Moonkin-y things when we were accosted by a "balance druid"(and I use the term loosely) who was wearing a strange mix of greens/blues/purples who informed us, rather frequently and loudly that we were 'ghetto moonkins' because we had cloth pieces equipped. It was also explained to me that a grey leather belt is superior to an epic cloth belt - because druids should never under any circumstances wear cloth. It makes you a bad person. Wearing cloth makes you want to kick puppies and chew with your mouth open in public places.

No, seriously - most balance druids aren't this extreme, obviously, but there is a stigma attached to the usage of cloth. As I mentioned earlier, our armor multiplier in Moonkin form basically takes a piece of cloth and puts it up to leather armor level - and besides that, armor is a useless stat in PvE.

Wear whichever piece has the best stats. Don't choose leather simply because you have an irrational dislike of cloth. Sometimes you really won't have too many options.

Source: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=6286658964&sid=1

Some other major points.

Moonkins are called OOMkins for a reason.

This was true…2 versions of the game ago (Vanilla WoW). With TBC, Dreamstate and Intensity were able to be picked up in the same spec, and Spirit mechanics changed. These two changes in large part shifted moonkins away from the old nickname. With Wrath of the Lich King, even more changes have occurred to pull us away from the term OOMkin. Moonkin form gives back 2% of mana on crits (please note this does not make crit our best stat.), Omen of Clarity has been changed to affect all spells/abilities, and More classes outside of shadowpriests are getting regen abilities, that are going raid wide. If you still have mana issues with all these changes, it’s the not spec that’s the issue. There’s even theories that will take points OUT of regen talents as your gear improves. OOMkin is a dead term, has been since TBC. Anyone that calls you an OOMkin, should be simply laughed at.

Critical strike is our haste because of Nature’s Grace:

While Nature's Grace and Haste Rating have similar affects on spell casting, it is important to note that they are not the same.

Haste Rating decreases your casting time and the global cooldown by a percentage. It affects all spells and all casts until the minimum global cooldown of 1 second is reached.

Nature’s Grace applies a 3 second buff that increases your haste by 20%. It has been confirmed that Nature’s Grace does in fact lower the Global Cooldown, but the GCD still cannot go below 1 second. Assuming full raid buffs a 1 second GCD is reached at 400 haste with Natures Grace. Since most raiding moonkin easily exceed 500 haste you can see that some of Nature’s Grace is wasted on short casts like Wrath, Moonfire, and Insect Swarm.

These differences are important for three reasons.

1. While most raidng moonkin still use Starfire as the primary nuke, it is undeniable that Wrath, Insect Swarm and Moonfire also play a big role. This means that Nature’s Grace will have a limited impact on 30% - 40% of Moonkin DPS.

2. When NG procs it is equivalent to 20% haste and reduces your Starfire cast from 3 seconds to 2.5 seconds (3/1.2 = 2.5). At level 80 It requires 656 Haste Rating to make the same reduction in casting time. One point of Crit rating will give you a 0.02178% chance to crit. Therefore, the Nature's Grace component of one Crit Rating is equivalent to 0.1429 Haste Rating (656 * 0.0002179 = 0.1429). Even if you triple that value factor in multiple casts receiving the buff, it is easy to see that Haste has a much greater impact on Cast time then Crit does.

3. Finally, assuming a Lunar Rotation, Haste rating will increase your DPS more point for point then Crit rating will. The difference is a lot smaller then it used to be, but I expect this to remain true for all of WotLK. I have run the numbers for various levels of Crit and Haste Rating and Haste rating always increases DPS more for all reasonable levels of Crit and Haste.

Nature's Grace is a very good talent, and significantly improves the value of Crit Rating when we evaluate stats. However by itself it is not a good reason to choose Crit over Haste. The Crit vs Haste debate really centers around Mana. Haste will increase your DPS more then Crit will, but it will cause you to run out of mana quicker. Therefore, the only logical reason to choose Crit over haste, given equal amounts of each stat, is because you have concerns about your mana pool and don't think you can support that level of haste.

(Thanks to Graylo for this write up.)

FAQs:

Q1: What’s the best dps spec?

A: Best is a subjective word in this case. I can recommend this build however http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#0xG0uiIscdIVhouZbxcdb:fru to start with and you can adjust it to fit your needs. Understand there are some talents that you may think are optional but are such large dps gains that they essentially are not. These talents include Force of Nature, Starfall, and Eclipse. These talents may seem optional but each adds a large dps increase and it is highly advised to not skip them. The talent build itself is a basic foundation. It takes all the necessary regen talents while still getting all the core dps talents. If you find yourself with plenty of mana, then feel free to take the 2 points out of Intensity and move them to any of the following talents: Gale Winds, Brambles, Improved Moonfire or a Typhoon/Gale Winds combo. "But Wisp, what about Owlkin Frenzy!?" I know this question is going to be asked and my reasoning is this: Owlkin Frenzy requires a certain dps uptime to be a dps gain. I've never seen a WWS report, WoL report or WMO report that has Owlkin at greater than 3% uptime. If the uptime is magically upped to 8-10%, then the talent is worth considering. However, until then, I cannot justify it mathematically.

"But Wisp, you guys have been staunchly against Improved Moonfire for the longest time. Why recommend it now?" I know, but a combination of the new idol and the 2pc T9 bonus makes the talent much more appealing.


Q2: How should I enchant my gear?

A: There’s a couple enchants that you can use for most of your slots. Here’s a breakdown by slot. Note: these are not listed best to worst or vice versa.

Helm: Arcanium of Burning Mysteries (30 SP/20crit) - Kirin Tor Revered
Shoulders: Greater Inscription of the Storm (24SP/15Crit) - Sons of Hodir Exalted
Cloak: Greater Speed (23 haste)
Chest: Powerful Stats (10 all stats)
Bracers: Superior Spellpower (30 SP)
Hands: Precision (20hit) or Exceptional Spell Power (28 SP)
Legs: Brilliant Spellthread (50sp/20spirit) - Tailor craft
Belt: Eternal Belt Buckle (adds socket) - Blacksmith craft
Boots: Icewalker (12hit/crit), Tuskarr's Vitality (15stam/8% run speed)
Weapon: Mighty Spellpower (63SP) for 1Hands. 81spellpower for Staff users.

As far as profession specific enchants go:

Leatherworking: Fur Lining (76 spellpower to bracers)
Engineering: Hyperspeed Accelerators, Springy Arcanhoweave, Nitro Boosts (if you don't need the hit from Icewalker, this is the best enchant for Engineers)*
Enchanting: Greater Spellpower (23 spellpower to ring)
Inscription: Master’s Inscription of the Storm (70 spellpower/15 crit to shoulder)
Tailoring: Lightweave Embroidery (Chance to proc 295spellpower for 15 seconds)

* Hyperspeed is 320 haste for 12 seconds, Springy is 27 spellpower + parachute and Nitros are 24 crit rating + massive run speed for 5 seconds

Q3: How should I gem my gear?

A: Moonkin Gemming Basics:

Red: Runed Scarlet Ruby (19 SP)
Yellow: Veiled Monarch Topaz (9SP/8Hit) until hit capped. Reckless Monarch Topaz (9SP/8haste) or Potent Monarch Topaz (9sp/8crit) if you are hit capped already. NOTE: These gems are only legitmate if you have a need for hit, or you have an item with an amazing socket bonus (9spellpower), otherwise the Runeds are the best option here.
Blue: Purified Twilight Opal (9SP/8spirit) NOTE: Only need two of these to meet meta reqs. After your two for meta reqs, Runed Scarlet Rubies or Reckless Monarch Topaz go in any other blue sockets (which gem is personal preference).
Meta: Chaotic Skyflare Diamond (21crit rating/3%crit strike damage, Requires 2 blues)

Please understand that this is simply a basics guide. Not all moonkins, especially the more progressed ones will follow this to the letter, as sometimes, circumstances dictate so. This is just a basics guide that should always net positive results. Please note that this assumes Rare quality (blue named) gems, that should be easily obtainable from the Auction House, or via your own guild’s JCs. Epic gems follow this same basics, just with higher values placed on the gems.

Q4: What’s the best rotation?

A: The days of choosing a Solar or Lunar rotation are gone. With 3.2, Blizzard has made the eclipse procs on seperate cooldowns meaning you can proc them back to back. So the rotation now is essentially keeping your dots up and spamming one of our direct damage spells until you proc eclipse, and switching as needed. Which eclipse you choose first does not really matter, that is up to you to choose.


Q5: What glyphs should I be using?

A: The standard moonfire, starfire and insect swarm should still net great results for you. The other alternative third glyph is Starfall, which you can replace wither MF or IS with. Which one is still up for debate though if I recall correctly now with the idol and 2pc T9, IS would be better to replace.

As far as minor glyphs go, there's no glyphs that will increase your dps currently in the game, so really these are all personal choice. Myself, I use the glyph of Unburdened Rebirth, Glyph of Dash and Glyph of the Wild.

Q6: What do Moonkins bring to a raid group?

A: A variety of synergy aspects. 5% crit to the raid, that isn’t proc based (like Elemental Oath), 13% damage increase via Earth and Moon**, Innervate for a healer if the moonkin him/herself doesn’t need it, OoC rez to make wipe recovery faster, Improved Moonkin Aura is a 3% haste buff to the raid (provided they are in range), 3% spell hit, if specd into Imp FF, and still one of the best dances .

**Please note, that this increase is just 13% more damage to all schools. Curse of Elements from a warlock untalented is less damage increase, but has passive spell penetration that will reduce resistances to bosses. Unholy Death Knights should have Ebon Plaguebringer, which is equal damage increase and also increases damage to diseases. None of these stack, so if your DK gets his Ebon Plague off before you get E&M, his buff will be the one that shows. Please note, even of E&M isn’t on the boss, you will still get the 3% increased spell damage personal benefit.

Q7: What Professions are best for a Moonkin?

A: If you are in a guild that min/maxes every last detail of a raid, then you will want to sit down and discuss things within your guild. Blizz has made it clear they don’t want certain professions becoming a must for a certain aspect of the game, hence why professions have certain perks to them that all are pretty nice. Basically, choose what you want to choose.

Q8: What’s the new hit cap?

A: In TBC the spell hit cap was 16%, with 1% that you could never push off the attack table. With LK, they’ve removed that last 1% making the new hit cap 17%. The hit/1% conversion at 80 is 26.23/1%, this means that with no hit talents, the hit cap is 445.91. Since Balance of Power gives us 4%, our Hit Cap with no Misery is 340.99. Add in Misery’s benefit of 3% more hit and the cap is 262.3. For Night Elves that have a draenai in their raids their hit cap with Misery, Balance of Power and Heroic Prescence is 236.07.

For a shorter version:
Untalented: 445.91
BoP specd: 340.99
BoP w/ Misery(IFF): 262.3
BoP w/ Misery(IFF) and Draenai: 236.07

Q9: Why is haste better than crit?

A: This subject still ruffles the feathers of many and the reasoning is as fluid as the weather in Florida. With 3.2 though both eclipse procs can be gained back to back, allowing you to spam both spells when their respective eclipse buffs are active. If you recall that the old Solar haste cap was 400 with Celestial Focus, Improved Moonkin Form and a Wrath of Air Totem. This soft cap for wrath now applies to all rotations. If you are above the 400 number, don't panic unless you are at like 700 haste, then you should panic. =) If you are below, then don't panic. 400 is a mathed out number where Wrath meets the GCD wall. Try to get there, but don't hurt other stats trying to get there. Remember, Nature's Grace does NOT have 100% uptime, which means being above the 400 soft cap will not hurt you as much as you may think.

As far as crit goes, it picks up more appeal post 400 haste, but it's relative dps value remains the same. As before, you wouldn't go out of your way to gain crit at the expense of the more important stats (hit spellpower) but you wouldn't be wrong in leaning more toward crit after you reach the 400 haste mark.

Randomsmo (Staticsmo as you'll see him on these forums) sums it up best:

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Q u o t e:
400 haste is not a target or a limit. It is simply something of which you should be aware.

If you are below 400 haste, be aware that haste rating is as good or slightly better then spell power.
If you are above 400 haste, be aware that haste rating is as good or slightly worse then crit rating.

That's it. Don't aim for it, don't limit yourself to 400, but be aware of the above and gear yourself appropriately.

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Q10: Can I get a starter’s gear set for raiding?

A: I won't lay out a long list here that does nothing but eat forum space, but there are various links and threads that discuss gear. I'd highly recommend reading into those. Gear is based on your particluar needs, so a list of gear might not be ideal. Just remember to get as close to 263 (237 for Alliance if you are assured a Draenai) hit as possible then just get your other stats as high as you can.

If you are an alt or brand new moonkin looking to get geared through heroics before you are taken to Naxx, Ulduar or Colliseum, then there's another sticky at the top of this forum that a fellow moonkin did for Pre-raid gear and some of the best items available through heroics and the Emblem of Heroism vendor. However, with heroics dropping Emblems of Conquest, you may also need to go to the various vendors in Dalaran to examine their wares as some of those items may be worth getting over the items from Heroics.

Best in Slot Colliseum gear? Stay tuned and watch this forum, themoonkinrepository.com and Graylo's Blog

Q11. What about Spirit? Wise to stack it?

A: Nope. Spirit is pretty much exactly like Intellect. Take it as you get it and outside of the two Spell power/spirit gems for your meta, don't go out of your way to itemize for it in any way. I know we get a spirit to spell power conversion while in moonkin form, but it's a way to help us keep up with the other casters.

Q12. Any particular addons I must have?

There's no particluar must have addon. A lot of moonkins use an addon called Squawk and Awe to track eclipse. This addon was essentially a must pre 3.2. However, with the eclipse change in 3.2, it becomes much less needed. If you have it already don't go uninstalling it just yet. It can still be used as a dot timer and it can be a friendly reminder of which eclipse proc you are on. If you don't have it and want something to help you remember which eclipse you are on, then I'd recommend this one. It can be found on wowinterface.com

Other than that special note, just some recommendations for moonkins in raids are the following: Raid frames for bres and innervate, Decursive if your raid frames don't highlight poison and curse debuffs (mine do, and most UF addons do) and a Dot timer of some sort.

Q13: What Idols should I be using?

3.2 brings us a new idol! Idol of Lunar Fury is the new idol that costs 25 Emblems of Triumph. With this idol your Moonfire dots have a chance to proc 200 critical strike rating (or roughly 4.5% crit). This makes this idol the idol of choice. The first 25 Emblems of Triumph you get (assuming it still comes from said vendor, this has not been confirmed yet) should go toward that idol.

If you are still in the process of attaining the emblems needed for Lunar Fury then your Starfire or Wrath idol will be just fine as a fill in until you can get it. I'd lean toward the Starfire Idol as the buff it gives to SF is better than the wrath idol's buff to wrath, but either would work.


Finally, please understand that this is going to be a guide that changes. If a mechanic changes and it affects anything in this guide, I will do my best to update it as soon as possible. If a new enchant comes out that is better than another, I will do my best to update as soon as possible. This is not set in stone for the duration of Wrath of the Lich King and I don’t want to make anyone think that. As the game changes, this guide may change as well. If you have questions or are unclear on something, please don’t hesitate to ask in this thread. This is what it is designed for: To help clarify and lead moonkins in the right direction. I hope this was of great help to those that read it and that knowledge of this thread stays high to help avoid answering the same threads everyday.

For those that want a visual form of the information presented in this thread, My mistress, Foofy of Staghelm, has put together a series of videos (or soon will) that explain these same ideas. These videos are broken down into smaller subjects so you don't have to sit through a one hour long video only to find out the information you wanted was in the last 30 seconds. This is a work in progress and feedback is appreciated. I'm sure she will at least listen to ways to improve future videos.

Vid 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukN5aPoD1tY&feature=channel_page Stat priority, Specs (Run time: 5:54)

Vid 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9i4DMwSAHM&feature=channel_page Glyphs, rotations and gemming (Run time: 5:53)

Vid 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B40rIpiNkZI Idols


I promise you guys that I will get links ot MRB 4 and 5. Just help me remind Foofy to get me the links!!!!

ok, post as you please. Questions will be answered as quickly as possible. I too am in the process of leveling and enjoying the expansion, so please don't panic if I don't get around to your question right away.

Looks good. :)

I have a question on the Moonfire Glyph. According to a comment on Wowhead, someone claimed that the 9 additional seconds ONLY applies to the very first moonfire, and every subsequent moonfire on the target will not receive an additional 9 seconds tacked on. Can you confirm this?

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Q u o t e:
Looks good. :)

I have a question on the Moonfire Glyph. According to a comment on Wowhead, someone claimed that the 9 additional seconds ONLY applies to the very first moonfire, and every subsequent moonfire on the target will not receive an additional 9 seconds tacked on. Can you confirm this?

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Thank you firstly :)

As far as the moonfire glyph, I can confirm it's actual functionality.

Each time you apply moonfire, you'll get 9 additional seconds. This goes for the 2nd, 3rd, 40th, 100th Moonfire.

Well done Wisp. Thanks for putting the work in. Keep it up to date ^^ -mrwolfwood

Great guide! One question, where do you place Spirit in rank for good stats for Moonkin? (Badly worded, I know. =\)

I ask because we get a talent for damage for spirit (Imp. Moonkin Form) and it gives more regen from Intensity.

Considering that Imp. Moonkin Form and Intensity will give us about the same benefit from spirit as we get from intellect (from Lunar Guidance, Dreamstate, and normal Int Benefits), I think that's the sort of ranking we're looking at when it comes to itemisation. However, when gemming to activate our meta, we need 2 blue gems, so we might as well gem for spirit in those (in the form of spell power and spirit together, as listed above).

But unless you're severely lacking in mp5, and don't have enough mana or mp5 to last out a 10 minute fight, even when you have a good rotation, there's not much call for stacking spirit. Imp. Moonkin Form is just there as a nice little boost to our spell power.

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Q u o t e:
Great guide! One question, where do you place Spirit in rank for good stats for Moonkin? (Badly worded, I know. =\)

I ask because we get a talent for damage for spirit (Imp. Moonkin Form) and it gives more regen from Intensity.

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As a dps stat spirit still falls flat in the face of SP, haste, Crit. It's ~equal to intellect.
If you just have to have a spirit gem for the color for your meta or some such (as I have) the don't be shy about it, but dont stack lots of spirit thinking your mp5 will justify it. Also stay away from the SP/Spirit gems as they are rarely a good idea. Sometimes they will be a good idea i(i.e. if that one gem will give you a good socket bonus to make up for the loss).
With my current talents and gear I've drank maybe 20odd beverages lvling (almost to 73) usually after aggroing too many things and dieing (I like to screw around).. That isn't alot. I'm thinking of ditching intensity and just keeping OOC. The increase in dps=mobs die faster=I don't die as often=win!

Good guide, and it will certainly be of help to any balance druids new to raiding (assuming they can get past the snarky comments and generally condescending tone). That's my only issue with this guide, the general "mood" of it is slightly insulting. Otherwise, very good work.

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Q u o t e:
Good guide, and it will certainly be of help to any balance druids new to raiding (assuming they can get past the snarky comments and generally condescending tone). That's my only issue with this guide, the general "mood" of it is slightly insulting. Otherwise, very good work.

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its just Wisp's ambiance, you get used to it. the information is the important part anyway. to be fair the older BC guide had a undertone as well, and was written by a different person, so maybe its the guide and not the writers.

You should probably bold some headings on things, for the reading-impaired to focus on. ;o)

Added to my leveling sticky link section, so y'all can find it.

Thanks!

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Q u o t e:
Great guide! One question, where do you place Spirit in rank for good stats for Moonkin? (Badly worded, I know. =\)

I ask because we get a talent for damage for spirit (Imp. Moonkin Form) and it gives more regen from Intensity.

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As stated by Pto and Jooid, spirit is something that you take as you can get it. Don't go out of your way to find it and the only time you gem for it is the two blues for your meta. As far as enchants go, the spirit to chest enchant in my opinion falls short against exceptional stats (10 stats), but without sitting down and beating out the numbers, I can't be 100% sure on that.

@Saboruto: Honestly, what guide doesn't have a certain tone of arrogance? Every guide I've ever read has it.

@Lissanna: Bolded and Underlined when it changes topics. Thanks for pointing it out, and thanks for adding it to your sticky :)

In terms of best rotation I've long since come to the conclusion that there isn't any. This proves true to all classes. The attacks/spells you use are more dependent on the specific encounter that you face than any specific "rotation". Very very rarely are you able to jut stand there and cast consistently. If you base your rotation on only a handful of fights then you won't ever be able to be competitive in the vast majority of fights in the game. Base your rotation on the fight, not on a spreadsheet.

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Q u o t e:
Nature's Grace decrease the cast time of your next non-instant spell by 0.5 seconds after you crit. It DOES NOT reduce the global cooldown, therefore it does not affect any spell that has a cast time of 1.5 seconds or less. As a moonkin, this means Starfire is the only DPS spell that is meaningfully affected by Nature's Grace.

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This is no longer true.

Wrath crits now reduce the GCD of the next non-instant cast.

As a result, the relative valuation of crit has increased. Also, consider the addition of mana return on crit and eclipse procs. This is not to say that crit is better than SP or haste, but rather that crit is significantly better than it used to be.

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Q u o t e:

Q5: What glyphs should I be using?

A: Moonfire and Starfire glyphs for raiding are essentially a must. They synergize so well with each other. MF and SF will still be primary spells used in any rotation (even for those of you that spec loleclipse) and with SF adding duration to MF (note ADDING duration, not refreshing it), the initial damage from moonfire becomes a moot point, so adding to the periodic damage will only benefit you, hence the MF glyph. The third glyph is still in the air, Innervate and or Insect Swarm…more info to come as it’s figured out.

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The "best" third glyph from a DPS perspective will almost certainly end up being insect swarm. Take note of the 2-pc T7 bonus for balance druids. (Increased damage on IS) Mana isn't now, and likely won't be a huge concern in raids at 80, IMO. The innervate glyph will only prove to be superior to the IS glyph if the moonkin would otherwise have gone OOM without it. I don't see any signs that, in the 25-man raiding environment especially, balance druids will be going OOM easily.

A thought: I haven't had a chance to test this yet, but I think it may be possible for NE druids to use shadowmeld to exit combat during raid fights and immediately chug a second mana potion, before the combat pulse returns the druid to combat. (To any reader that doesn't know what the hell i'm talking about, blizzard changed potions from a cooldown system to a "once per incidence of combat" system) If you create a macro which shadowmelds, then immediately uses a mana pot, it may make it less likely that you would get pulled back into combat before you can use the potion.

Once again, it is an idea I haven't tested yet, but it might help to alleviate any remaining mana concerns. I think it could be useful on fights where we have to AoE alot.

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Q u o t e:


As stated by Pto and Jooid, spirit is something that you take as you can get it. Don't go out of your way to find it and the only time you gem for it is the two blues for your meta. As far as enchants go, the spirit to chest enchant in my opinion falls short against exceptional stats (10 stats), but without sitting down and beating out the numbers, I can't be 100% sure on that.

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I would think that +all stats would be superior, since we scale with both spi and int now. A little extra stam can't hurt either.

Without crunching any numbers, I imagine it will at the very least be close enough to be a toss-up.