Balance Druid 8.3

[Nicthecat 1]

Thank you for your response to my last question. Do we yet know what the best essences will be for balance druids or is this something we should be simming?

[Bora 8]

7 hours ago, Nicthecat said:

Thank you for your response to my last question. Do we yet know what the best essences will be for balance druids or is this something we should be simming?

We have a general idea, but a lot of these essences are not even able to be simmed just yet. The guide will be updated to the best of my knowledge by the patch and will be updated frquently as we know more.

[Guest Pinfeldorf]

I have to ask - why do all the guides say haste is the top secondary stat, there's no cap for haste, gem haste, enchant haste, etc., but then when I check the players saying this in the armory and raider.io, they are stacking crit?  Is it a mistake?  Cognitive dissonance?  Clearly there's a breakpoint where crit becomes more valuable than haste, why isn't that listed in the guides?

[Bora 8]

11 hours ago, Guest Pinfeldorf said:

I have to ask - why do all the guides say haste is the top secondary stat, there's no cap for haste, gem haste, enchant haste, etc., but then when I check the players saying this in the armory and raider.io, they are stacking crit?  Is it a mistake?  Cognitive dissonance?  Clearly there's a breakpoint where crit becomes more valuable than haste, why isn't that listed in the guides?

"Stat weights" are an outdated ideology in World of Warcraft. Our stats shift constantly based on every piece of gear, every extra socket, every talent, and every essence. So when you have four different factors, there really is not an even break / breakpoint to be discussed.

Using my own character as an example, in my base setup I run all Critical Strike gems and Enchants and have roughly the same amount of Haste and Critical Strike as this is what my Top Gear tells me to run. When I swap over to Stat Weights the two are also even. If I swap off Essence of the Focusing Iris, Haste obviously goes up. If i have on Akana's Reefstrider Footwraps, Critical Strike goes up.  If I have on any Loyal to the End, Mastery gets way worse than it was.

The reason for the stat priority page is to emphasize what you should generally be focusing on and not something to be followed religiously. That is why below the stat priority section there are a few examples and explanation of this and on the Gems/Enchants page there is a section explaining how to properly sim yourself.

Final thoughts on this matter are as follows. Haste and Critical Strike are both about equally important in the full Best in Slot (including benthic) raid gear. As you change around Essences and/or lose benthic bonuses, your stats will shift heavily. So sim it!

[NeitherWeaver 1]

I am going back to druid I guess.  I am still messing around with druid at level 20 with the starter pack again.  I got my druid up to level 89 and didn't like it.. so I farted around with other characters and classes... 
I come to find out I one shotted a murloc in Westfall and somehow my internet connection was lost... I am not drawing anything but do people really get jealous that I can one shot a murloc in Westfall at level 20 with Starsurge?  You know that is not a pvp opponent and I would probably lose in a real fight.
I do use versatility over critical strikes and all I can say is its nice for soloing with.. yeah people can pvp and raid with it but it is not nice gear to run around with.  I do think it helps reach quad damage too but it is so rare.  Stacking on crit names double damage almost occur everytime...

[Enso 0]

Arcanic Pulsar tooltip now says 9 Starsurges, rather than 8, as stated in the guide.

[Bora 8]

On 4/16/2020 at 2:35 PM, Enso said:

Arcanic Pulsar tooltip now says 9 Starsurges, rather than 8, as stated in the guide.

At 8 stacks, the 9th cast procs our cooldown. In the guide it says,  "Additionally, after 8 Starsurges, your next Starsurge cast...". The 9th Starsurges impact procs the cooldown activation.