@(Balance) Druids, glyphed or unglyphed Insect Swarm?

[awarrior]

I see most Balance Druids going for glyphed IS, which I'm assuming is a decent boost to dps? I also hear people talk about how Druids in general are one of the squishiest classes in the 39 bracket, and with the overpopulation of Hunters and Rogues I was wondering if leaving IS unglyphed, to make use of the decreased chance to hit, would be beneficial. Would this stack with Night Elves Quickness, bringing a total of 5% decreased chance to hit? I understand most people prefer static buffs over random chance, but I would assume missing that blind or aimed shot would be pretty nifty. Thoughts?

 

[Metamorfos]

I am quite sure that it stacks with the nightelf racial.



As for the glyph, I see it as quite essential. 30 % is a lot. With the glyph your IS should easily tick for 100 +. The dmg gain outweighs the loss of decreased chance to hit. It is too RNG anyways.



Druids are indeed squishy (even more so for balance ones). You have only ~ 20 % dmg reduction by armour. Hence melees sticking on your but are a pain. Switching to bear increases your survivability and you can bash. However that is mana consuming and reduces your damage.



Staying away from melee will make you run around in travel form in a lot of cases. The added dmg on the dots ticking on your target really helps. Precasting a regrowth also helps.



As for hunters, LOS and dot if possible.

 

[Falkor]

yes it stacks. its nice glyphed and unglyphed. the -3% is pretty great, altho yes it is rng....if you have more than 1 balance druid in your guild or something have one sacrifice the dps and keep -3 hit, the other one can then glyph it. or if youre the only balance druid and your guild decides they really want the hit debuff. if you solo que, just take the damage increase imo.

 

[seffilicious]

As a nelf I´d be tempted to not take the glyph - because of successive probabilities 5% will be quite noticable. Perhaps in BG, where as much pressure as possible counts, I´d take the glyph. I´d just try them both practically and see how you find it.

 

[awarrior]

Thanks for the responses guys. Yeah, I figured I'd give it a try, just run around for a few games with it glyphed, then switch the glyph out with something else and see how much of a difference it makes. I always preferred a defensive setup over damage, but I do know how much of a pain rng can be. However, like you said Seff, since I'd be going Nelf, that's kinda what's pushing me to try IS without glyphing it.



The only reason I could see this as a downside, is that my alternative could be to run around with a Green Whelp armor and Deadmans Hand during those heavy Rogue/Hunter games, in which IS would kinda screw that up.

 

[awarrior]

Has anyone tried a 22/0/8 build to grab Subtlety? Sacrificing a good? amount of damage for more rng, but you're getting dispel protection for both your hots and dots, as well as pushback protection for multiple spells from Natures Focus, and a small improvement in overall stats from Imp Mark. I know Balance Druids seem to go all out on dps, but I figured a 22/0/8 build would be pretty neat for an offensive healer, especially if you're dealing with a lot of shamans and priests. Thoughts?

 

[Metamorfos]

That would work for a support healing spec. But you can support heal fine as full balance.



If you would go offensive healing, you would burn your mana fast. You don't have access to Intensity. As balance you will have max 2.8k mana.

Moreover you are not only losing dmg (Lunar Guidance and Moonfury), you are also losing 4 % hit and some spell dmg reduction. This means that you will need to switch enchants to hit, lowering your SP even more.



Talents as Nature's Focus are handy against hunters and maybe ret paladins and warriors. However when a melee is on your butt, you will want to either run away from it (low armour) or switch to bear to get off a bash and then root/run. Therefore, you are not getting the full potential out of your talent.



In a team heavy on priests and shamans, that spec might be an option though. It would fit a "tab-dot and meanwhile hot up your party" style of play. Again your mana would be an issue.



Edit: For arena, that spec might be quite interesting against priests. IS costs less base mana than dispell. Imagine a priest burning his mana by trying to dispell your IS ^^. Your spec reminds me a bit of the typical 80 resto spec. Only difference is that you don't have all the healing goodies.



I haven't played that spec before (hell haven't even played druid 39 post 3.2 ><). I hope my comments gave you some extra insight .

 

[awarrior]

I hope my comments gave you some extra insight .

They did, thank you for the reply, gives me a lot to think about I guess the mana issue would be kinda problematic. I was contemplating running around with a heavy spirit set and speccing Dreamstate instead of Moonfury before, but my chardev didn't look to good. I think I was around 2,100 hp or less, and the mana regen I didn't think was enough of a tradeoff. I don't know though, this is all on paper, no idea what it would be out in the field. Perhaps if I was going to do an offensive healing spec, I should just go 8/0/22 like everyone else does?