Patch Notes: Starfire & Wrath Buffed - 4T11 Nerfed

This change was announced late Friday, so I'm sure most of you have already seen it. Just in case you have not, this is what you missed.

• Starfire damage has been increased by approximately 23%.
• Wrath damage has been increased by approximately 23%.
• The 4-piece Balance druid tier 11 PvE set bonus, Astral Alignment, now provides a total of 15% critical strike chance with 3 charges, decreasing by 5% per charge, instead of 99% decreasing by 33% per charge. This change was made because the set bonus proved so valuable it was not possible to upgrade out of the set into tier 12. To compensate, changes have been made to Starfire and Wrath (listed at the top of the druid class section). (src)

The current live version of 4T11 is very strong. So much so that there was some talk that it might be best to ignore the T12 set and stick with T11. I don't think that would have been worth while in the long run, but clearly it's a situation Blizzard wants to avoid after the 2T8 issues we had in WotLK. The question is how effective is this change?

I've tried to look at this change from a couple of different angles and it looks like the results are favorable. First, I looked at the WoL parses of five different moonkin over a series of fights to see what a 23% damage increase would do to the parse results. When I applied a straight 23% buff to Starfire and Wrath it increased the total damage of the parses between 5.16% and 7.77%. That is a pretty wide margin and a significant portion of the variation seems to be due to the presence of Dark Intent, which fights are included, and player skill. This of course doesn't account for the nerf to 4T11, but I think it's obvious that 23% buff is a significant increase.

I also tried to compare the change using WrathCalcs. Hamlet has created a version that takes these new changes into account and I compared the results I got from the PTR version to the current live version using the same set of gear, glyphs, and rotation. When I compared the two versions of WrathCalcs I saw a 3.01% buff to overall DPS from these changes. EJ poster Berthold also ran the changes through SimulationCraft and had favorable results. Using standard glyphs and rotations, SimulationCraft showed the change to be worth a 2.13% buff. If you changed a few changes he showed a 4.87% buff.

All and all it's clear that this is a positive change from a purely mathematical point of view. However, it's also a great change from a quality of life point of view. This will simplify a few things while we wait to pick up our T12 set pieces. For example, using Starfall around the start of Eclipse will no longer be a DPS loss due to losing Astral Alignment charges to Starfall hits. In short, this change not only buffs the overall damage of a moonkin but it also simplifies the moonkin rotation a little bit which I think is a good thing. However, there are a few ripple effects from this change that we should consider.

The Glyph Impact:

Of the Prime Glyphs, Glyph of Insect Swarm and Glyph of Moonfire will still be the two dominate glyphs, but these buffs will change the debate about the third glyph a little. Glyph of Starsurge will still be the best Glyph when you have multiple targets and can cast Starfall on cooldown. In fact, Glyph of Starsurge is probably buffed a small amount because we no longer have to worry about using it during Astral Alignment, and it can get more of a buff from Lunar Eclipse.

The changes occur in Single target fights and in fights where Starfall is unlikely to be cast on cooldown. In 4.1, many of the top moonkin preferred Glyph of Starfire in these situations because it allowed us to cast Moonfire just once per Eclipse transition and most if not all of our MF/SF dots would be buffed by Eclipse. However, a buff to Wrath is also a buff to the Glyph of Wrath, and according to the calculations I did with WrathCalcs, in T12 level gear the Glyph of Wrath moved ahead of Glyph of Starsurge in these single target situations.

In my opinion this is a happy side effect, because it's another simplification of the Moonkin rotation which I think is a little overly complicated at the moment. Not using Glyph of Starsurge should make it a little easier to track and reapply DoTs, because the dot durations should stay aligned.

Is Starsurge Worth it?

I hadn't considered this possibility when I first read the change, but some observant people wondered how this change would Starsurge and our over all cast priority. In patch 4.1 we saw a significant nerf to Starsurge. In patch, 4.2 it looks like we are going to see a significant buff to our other nukes. On top of that, the 4T12 set bonus, diminishes Starsurge in terms of Damage per Energy. Considering all of this together you have to wonder if Starsurge is worth it in 4.2 raiding.
Hamlet has already made a great post on Elitist Jerks considering this question. What Hamlet says is that from a damage perspective Starsurge is still a strong spell. Starsurge has "the damage of a Starfire in the cast time of a Wrath," Therefore it's still stronger then both of the other spells from a damage perspective. When you consider Energy production and usage Starsurge is still favorable in all situations up until you have the 4T12 set bonus.

Once you get 4T12 the situation gets a little more complicated. With the 4T12 set bonus Starsurge will generate slightly less Energy per Second then Wrath or Starfire outside of Eclipse. As a result there are some situation where casting a Starsurge could extend the down time of Eclipse longer then necessary. However, as Hamlet indicates, this shouldn't be a big concern. The chance that Starsurge will extend your Eclipse down time is fairly small, and the mental math you would have to do to determine when Starsurge isn't advantageous is pretty complicated. Therefore, it's probably best to simplify your rotation and just cast Starsurge on cooldown as we do currently.

Other Concerns: Lunar Shower

The new changes do not impact the debate over skipping Lunar Shower in patch 4.2 at all but I want to take another look at it since we are getting pretty close to the patch being released.

In case you've forgotten when 4.2 is released "while under the effects of Lunar Shower, Moonfire generates 8 Solar Energy, and Sunfire generates 8 Lunar Energy." This change has lead to many people questioning if we should spec into Lunar Shower at all. I honestly thought we would see another change to Lunar Shower before 4.2 is released, because I don't think this is a question Blizzard wants to leave up to the player. However, since we've seen no change in the month since this patch note was announced and all indications are pointing to 4.2 being ready for release, it's a question that we players are going to half to answer.

From my point of view, there aren't a whole lot of positives for specing into Lunar Shower when 4.2 goes live. On a movement heavy fight it can still be a significant source of DPS. Yes, it will cause you to use up your Eclipse power and move out of Eclipse more quickly, but that is somewhat mitigated by the fact that it will also allow you to move into Solar Eclipse. Unfortunately that highlights the problem that Moonfire's energy generation is asymetric. Moonfire will generate Solar energy when your out of Eclipse and moving towards Solar, but generates no energy when out of Eclipse and moving towards Lunar.

However, the problem with skipping Lunar Shower is that there aren't any good alternative talents. Even when we do spec into Lunar Shower we still have 6 points to spend on optional talents that provide minor DPS gains, mana or utility. From my perspective, I don't have a big need for additional talent points to pick up utility.

In the end I think speccing into Lunar Shower is going to depend heavily on what fight is being worked on currently. If there is a fight that encourages a significant amount of multi-dotting with low movement, then you will see a lot of people getting out of Lunar Shower so they don't consume Eclipse with their Moonfire casts. However, outside of a big multi-dot fight, I don't see a reason to spec out of it. On single target fights without much movement Lunar Shower shouldn't have any significant impact, but none of the other available talents would either. On a fight with heavy movement Moonfire spam may be very beneficial.

Mailbag: Haste Breakpoints

I know it's been a while since I blogged last, I apologize for the lack of content. My real life has been very busy. In WoW, my guild situation has been very unsettled, and I've had a bit of writer's block when trying to come up with blog ideas. Luckily a reader reminded me of a topic that I had meant to tackle, but apparently had forgotten about. So, this week I am reaching into the mailbag and take a look at Haste Breakpoints.

The Question:

From what I understand and have read in several places is that although there are several haste "break points," after the break points haste is still a better stat to have than mastery or crit. Am I misunderstanding the information or is this correct? The "Top" moonkin on the server keeps his haste at 18 percent, right around a break point but currently I have mine a bit higher. Thank You.

Jason E.

What are Haste Breakpoints?

The short answer to this question is a level of Haste rating at which your DoT or HoT gains an extra tick of damage or healing.

You may remember in WotLK, Haste did affect some HoTs and DoTs by reducing the duration of the spell. The spells did the same amount of damage or healing, but did it in a shorter amount of time. This is pretty much the same way that Haste changed Nukes. The problem with this was that by the end of the expansion our haste levels were very high, and the durations of those HoTs and DoTs were nearly cut in half. This caused several problems for both DPSers and healers that I won't get into.

In Cataclysm, Blizzard fixed those issues by changing the way haste affects HoTs and DoTs. Now, at specific levels of haste HoTs and DoTs will gain an extra tick and extend the duration of the spell. This means that the duration of both Moonfire and IS will always be between 17 seconds and 19 seconds long no matter what buffs or how much haste rating you have.

What are the Haste Rating Break Points for Moonfire and Insect Swarm. The table below shows you how much Haste Rating you need to get an extra tick of damage. All of the columns assume you have Moonkin Aura, DI = Dark Intent, NG = Nature's Grace. If a column is blank then you would reach the break point with just the buffs indicated and no additional Haste Rating.

Extra Ticks	Std Buffs	DI	NG	DI&NG
+1	68
+2	1423	1009
+3	2778	2324	746	351
+4	4134	3640	1924	1495
+5	5489	4956	3102	2639
+6	6844	6271	4281	3783
+7	8199	7587	5459	4927

Why Haste Breakpoints are Significant:

The significance of Haste Breakpoints revolves around the Damage per Execution Time (DpET) of your spells. This is the Damage done divided by the time it takes to cast the spell. Since our DoTs are instant the Execution time is the Global Cooldown. Typically Haste affects your DpET by reducing the Execution time of your spell, and small increases in Haste result in small increases in DpET. Haste Breakpoints change this equation. When you reach a haste breakpoint, you not only reduce the cast time of the spell, but you also increase the damage of the spell by adding an additional tick of damage. This causes the DpET of your spells to jump when you reach a Breakpoint, and the output of a single spell cast increases significantly. Also, since your DoTs duration increases at the breakpoint, it means you are casting DoTs less and Nukes more. This should have a small impact on your DPS.

Haste Breakpoints matter most when you don't plan on refreshing the HoT or DoT. This is why healers care about the breakpoints so much. To a healer, it doesn't really matter if the healing happens over 11 or 13 seconds. If time is really important they are likely using a direct heal instead of a HoT. So, healers don't really care about the HPS of a spell, but the HpET can be very significant. When a healer reaches a breakpoint that extra tick means that their HoT heals for more. So they get more output from their spells because they typically don't refresh a HoT on anyone except a tank.

For moonkin, there is a similar situation when we are AoEing groups of adds. Hurricane is quite weak and mana intensive at the moment, and Wild Mushroom has a 10 second cooldown. Therefore, if you expect the adds to live more than 15-18 seconds it's typically best to multi-DoT the adds to do the most damage, and being just over a break point significantly helps in that regard.

Why Haste Breakpoints are Unimportant for Moonkin:

Passing a Haste Breakpoint is definitely a good thing, but it's important to not over value it's impact. Crossing a Breakpoint may be huge for the DpET of a DoT, but it has no special affect on the DPS of a DoT. Yes, an additional tick of a DoT will increase the damage of the spell but it also increases the duration of the spell. As a result the DPS of the spell before and after Breakpoint is virtually the same. You gain a little time by passing a Breakpoint, but the amount of time gain shrinks with each breakpoint you pass and becomes less significant.

The main reason you shouldn't care about Haste Breakpoints is overall stat valuation. Once your hit capped, Haste is the best secondary stat no matter where your stats are relative to the Haste Breakpoints. If your just above a breakpoint, Haste is still better than Crit or Mastery. Therefore it doesn't make any sense to keep your haste at a breakpoint. More Haste is always better if the alternatives are Crit or Mastery. So, to answer Jason E.'s question, there is no reason you or the other moonkin should hold your Haste levels at 18 percent. The only possibility I can think of is that he may switch to resto quite often and uses the same set of gear. In which case he is trying to optimize his gear for both rolls.

TL-DR: How I view Haste Breakpoints.

Haste Breakpoints, are a good thing to keep in mind when gearing your toon, but they shouldn't have a huge impact on your gearing choices. The only time they play a really significant roll in your DPS is when you are multi-DoTing adds and don't expect to refresh the DoTs. Plus, Haste Rating is always a better stat than Crit or Mastery. Therefore, it doesn't make any sense to sacrifice Haste for Crit or Mastery even if you just past a break point.

If at all possible I would prefer to be slightly above a Breakpoint than slightly below one, because there are advantages to being above a breakpoint. However, I wouldn't sacrifice anything more than very small amounts of Hit or Int to get there (i.e. 20 points), and I definitely wouldn't hold my haste levels constant until I could reach the next Haste Breakpoint.

Moonfire, Scaling, and ICC Raiding

In the Moonkin Basics post I did last week I said "there is some discussion that Moonfire does not scale well at the very top levels of gear." In this post I want to take a closer look at that statement, and see if there is a need to change the Moonkin rotation when you complete your

The Hypothesis:

The Hypothesis is this. Moonfire does not scale as well as Starfire or Wrath, and that the DPET (Damage per Execute Time) of an unextended Moonfire is less then that of an Eclipsed Starfire or Wrath. Therefore, Moonfire should not be cast while Eclipse is active if you cannot guarantee Moonfire will be extended. In short, you should cast Moonfire during Solar Eclipse.

Important Note: This hypothesis only applies to people with the 4T10 tier set. If you have the 2T9 set bonus or a lower level of gear, this discussion does not currently apply to your situation.

The Assumptions:

• Once again I am using myself as an example. My calculations will use 4263 Spell Power, 33.13% Haste without NG, 60.5% SF crit chance, 57.5% Wrath crit chance, and 63.5% MF crit chance. The only exception to this rule is that I assume I have the 4T10 set bonus.
  
• I am also assume the use of Glyph of Moonfire and the Glyph of Starfire.


• I am also using my talent spec for the calculations, and I assume full raid buffs.


• In the SimulationCraft, I use myself again. The only change I make is to upgrade my Helm and my Legs to the 264 tier 10 pieces.

The Math:

First lets calculate the execute times of Wrath and Moonfire. This isn't hugely necessary for the calculations because they are the same number, but I like to be as accurate as possible. As I said above, I have 33.13% haste without Nature's Grace. To calculate the uptime of Nature's Grace I will use Wrath's crit chance of 57.5%

NG Uptime = (1-(1-0.575)^3) = 92.32%

Execute time with NG = 1.5/(1.3313*1.2) = 0.9389, therefore 1 second
Execute time without NG = 1.5/1.3313 = 1.1267 seconds

Avg Execute Time = (1*0.9232)+(1.1267*(1-0.9232)) = 1.0097 seconds

Now lets calculate the damage of the average Wrath cast with Eclipse. I will calculate this number with and without the 4T10 set bonus.

Avg Non Crit Wrath = (592+(0.6714*4263))*(1.53*1.13*1.04*1.03*1.03) = 6589 Damage

Avg Wrath with 4T10 = 6589 + (1.2363*6589*0.575) = 11273 Damage

Wrath DPET with 4T10 = 11273 / 1.0097 = 11165 DPET

Finally lets look at the average damage of a Moonfire for all levels of extension. These calculations do not include the 2T9 set bonus.

Avg Non Crit MF DD = (441+(0.1495*4263))*(0.3*1.13*1.04*1.03*1.03) = 403 Damage

Avg MF DD with 4T10 = 403 + (1.2363*403*0.635) = 719 Damage

Avg MF DoT Tick = (200 + (0.1302*4263))*(1.95*1.13*1.04*1.03*1.03) = 1836 Damage

Avg DPET 5 tick MF = (719+(1836*5))/1.0097 = 9804 DPET
Avg DPET 6 tick MF = (719+(1836*6))/1.0097 = 11622 DPET
Avg DPET 7 tick MF = (719+(1836*7))/1.0097 = 13441 DPET
Avg DPET 8 tick MF = (719+(1836*8))/1.0097 = 15259 DPET

As you can see the DPET of an unextended Moonfire is just 9804 DPET. That is less then an Eclipsed Wrath with an average DPET of 11165. However, extending Moonfire by just one tick increases the DPET of Moonfire to 11622 DPET. Therefore, it is possible to increase your DPS by skipping Moonfire during Solar Eclipse if you don't think you will be casting Starfire in the next 15 seconds.

SimulationCraft Results:

I decided to ask this question to SimulationCraft as well. In this test I ran the simulation two different ways. I first ran it with the default rotation where Moonfire is refreshed when it drops off of the mob. In the second simulation, Moonfire is only refreshed if it is not ticking on the boss and Solar Eclipse is not up.

In the first simulation where Moonfire is refreshed whenever it falls off of the mob the total DPS for the simulation was 9497 DPS. In the second simulation where Moonfire was not refreshed during Solar Eclipse the total DPS was 9512.

As you can see, not casting Moonfire did increase the DPS, but it was just a 0.16% increase. I did run several other simulations were moonfire was only skipped if there was a lot of time left on Solar Eclipse, but none of them increased the DPS of the rotation.

TL-DR:

If you have the 4T10 set bonus, it is possible for a moonkin to increase their DPS by skipping Moonfire during Solar Eclipse. However, the increase is very small, hard to judge, and may not be worth the effort. Moonfire should always be refreshed if Lunar Eclipse is up or neither Eclipse is up.