Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Talent Focus: Eclipse

When the Wrath of the Lich King talents first leaked, I like most moonkin really didn't like the new talent Eclipse. In fact I called it "the dumbest suggestion I have ever seen." If you take a look around the WoW Druid Forums or the Moonkin Repository you will see that this is still a very popular opinion, but my opinion has changed.

Please hear me out before you call me a noob or think I'm an idiot.

I am not saying this a must have talents as it is currently written or functions. All I am saying is that it has some potential that I don't think many of us have considered. So here are my new thoughts on Eclipse with pros and cons. Please post in the comments if you disagree, have something to add, or see an error in my reasoning. I would like this to be a debate.

Disclaimer: This is all speculation based upon second hand info. I am not in the alpha and do not know anyone that is. This analysis is entirely based upon the info available from the alpha wiki. All of the information is subject to change, and will likely change some what before WotLK is released. This is just for fun and to explore the possibilities of our new talents.

Eclipse
Tooltip - When you critically hit with Starfire, you have a 60% chance of increasing damage done by Wrath by 10%. When you critically hit with Wrath, you have a 60% chance of increasing your critical strike chance with Starfire by 10%. Effect lasts 30 sec and has a 2 minute cooldown.

From Wiki - "The buffs cannot stack, however it is possible to gain one buff less than 2 minutes after you've obtained the other. In actual terms, there is a definitive one-minute period minimum of "dead time" currently with Eclipse."

Analysis
This appears to be an effort to complicate our casting rotation. It potentially gives us a reason to cast Wrath in raid and Starfire in PvP. How it would work is definitely complicated. I propose that we could treat Eclipse like a trinket buff that triggers off of a spell cast and only cast Wrath to buff Starfire. Here is how it could work.

1. Tank pulls Boss.
2. Moonkin starts casting Wrath until Eclipse procs the Starfire buff. Assuming you have a max rank Eclipse and 25% crit chance this will take 6 to 7 casts on average (10-12 seconds of casting time with no haste).
3. Switch to casting Starfire as soon as you get the SF buff and use your normal casting rotation. (You may want to just chain cast Starfire for 30 seconds also.)
4. Due to the "dead time" the Wrath buff should proc a little more then a minute after the SF buff procced. As of now we would ignore this buff.
5. Due to the "dead time" the Starfire buff won't be available until a minute after the Wrath buff procced. After the "dead time" ends start chain casting Wrath again for the SF buff and start the cycle over.

Pros
* Provided you with a buff that can significantly increase your DPS from additional damage and Imp Moonkin form haste affects.
* It is possible that Eclipse would proc off of Rank one Wrath. This way you could spam it while the tank is still trying to gain aggro.

Cons
* It is extremely dependent on the random number generator. While it would take 6 or 7 casts on average for the buff to proc it could easily happen on the first cast or not until the 14th cast. Even after you get the buff there is no guarantee that you will benefit from it since crits are also determined by the random number generator. On average this should be nice but can be very feast or famine.
* I have not heard of any new buffs that apply to Wrath that do not apply to Starfire also. So Wrath still has all the same disadvantages that it currently does.

* Due to the "dead time" and the time it takes the buff to proc you will not get the buff every 2 minutes on cooldown. In practice it will probably take 2 minutes 30 seconds to get a new buff.

Recommended Changes
* Change the proc chance from 20%/40%/60% to 40%/70%/100%. This would reduce some of the randomness of the buff and make it more manageable.
* Allow the buffs to stack or reduce the "dead time" to 30 seconds. This would reduce the time between buff. You still won't be able to get it ever 2 minutes but it shouldn't take to much longer.


Conclusion
I think most moonkin get hung up on the fact that you have to cast Wrath to get anything from Eclipse. It is going to take a long time for people to get over the perception that Wrath is not a good spell for raiding. Just look at the Oomkin nickname. We haven't had significant mana issues for quite a while but quite a few people still assume that we do.


I am not convinced that this is a great talent that will significantly increase our DPS and should be picked up by every moonkin when WotLK drops. I am not down on it either. I think it has potential. Lets not write it off yet and see how it unfolds.

Guild/Toon Update
It has been a while since I wrote one of these and a lot has happened. Like many guilds this time of year we have had our share of attendance problems. We have actually put Kael on Hold for a little while because people seemed to be getting burnt out on the fight and we were running low on some of the roles required by that fight. The guild has also gone through some structural and leadership style changes. As of right now I am not 100% sure I am happy with all of the changes or how they were implemented, and I have heard similar thoughts from other members and officers. In fact a couple of people who I considered to be key members and officers of the guild have already /Gquit as a result. I am currently in a wait and see mode. If the new structure and tone of the guild help us to down new bosses and progress then I will be a happy camper. Even if it doesn't work out I don't have a whole lot of options. Most of the raiding guilds on Eitrigg have fallen apart or are having issues of their own. I also don't really want to transfer and leave my friends on this server. I am kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Graylo - As I said earlier, we have put Kael on hold for a little while and have done more in Hyjal and BT, including putting some attempts in on Gorefiend. Those attempts went pretty well but some people still need to figure out the mini game and that is wiping us currently. He as also been running ZA quite a bit and picking up new gear. I picked up [Shadowcaster's Drape] from timed loot and and [Loop of Cursed Bones] from Zul'jin. I also picked up the healing chest off of Lynx for my offset. As of right now the only thing out of ZA that I 100% need is [Hex Shrunken Head]. It did drop once but I lost the roll. I would also take the [Hood of Hexing] if no one else in raid needed it. It did drop once but I am still holding out for my T5 helm or something with a meta gem, and I can't take it if some else will get more use out of it. On a different note, I am starting to regret my decisions to pass on the [Hammer of Judgement] twice. It has dropped since I passed on it the last time but I wasn't in raid when it dropped, and I have been in Hyjal several times since then. I will get it eventually but it is starting to be a little frustrating.

Graypal - I ran a kara with him this past weekend and got enough badges to pick up [Studious Wraps] but a cloak still didn't drop. Other than that nothing. The only place I would be interested to raid him now is TK for the caster helm or caster pants, and I don't see that happening anytime soon. I will probably use him for daily quests once Grayfel gets close to 70 so that I can get him his epic mount right away.

Grayfel - He is now about 3 bars from level 63. I have made a lot of progress since my last update on him at level 58. He is in Outland, but I am very bored with HFP. I've seen it two many times now and I'm tired of getting ganked by a Fel Reaver. Good news is I will be out of the zone soon if I follow my guide. The down side to Grayfel at the moment is his epic mount. I have done all of the quests up to the Lab run in Scholomance, and haven't been able to get a group together to do it. I will admit that I have mainly been looking for some one to run me through it instead of getting a real group, but I had hoped to be done by now. I'm not blaming anyone because I know every one is busy and doesn't' necessarily want to do that sort of thing after a raid. Its just frustrating to go slow when I could be faster.

Graytom - Haven't put a ton of effort into him but he is up to level 14 now.

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