So it's time. There has been little to no response from Blue on the Beta forums when it comes to Balance Druid mechanics. I'm not worried that Blue doesn't care, because I think they do. I think they've got some cards up their sleeve that might be changing what we complain about. Slowly but surely, they are trying to patch Eclipse till it "works" for us. Maybe we don't need a patch. Maybe we need a full reset.
Eclipse - The Theory
I think it's important to be very clear about what we want Eclipse to do for our rotation. Currently in Beta, it feels like Eclipse acts as a switch. When Eclipse procs, I switch nukes. I'm offered a damage incentive to perform this switch. I might or might not want to cast DoTs depending on their DPET under their respective Eclipse. Given the latest verbiage from Blizzard, I will likely want to cast Starsurge after I reach the midpoint of the Balance Bar to help proc the next spell switch. This interaction is rather boring and although I can't break it down to a static rotation due to crit, I can come pretty darn close.
While I agree that Eclipse should entice me to change what I am doing, I'd like to see a more involved method for interaction. Why must it be just a flat damage boost? I believe that Eclipse ought to fundamentally change my spells. I think at some level, Blizzard agrees with this as well. They want Eclipse to act as an incentive for changing spells. While their solution (having it buff damage) is clearly the simplest solution, it's also not that interesting. So how do we spice up this mundane ability?
Eclipse the Mechanism
As stated, the current Eclipse mechanism is rather uneventful. Perhaps it could offer DoT extension, drastically increasing the DPET of my DoTs and therefore making them an integral part of my rotation. Perhaps it could add a DoT to my nukes, not unlike what Languish (4T10) already does. Perhaps it could allow me to place charges that will explode when Eclipse expires. Or maybe these charges could trigger some Savage Roar type buff that will increase my damage, thereby making it my goal to swing from Eclipse to Eclipse as rapidly as possible to maintain this buff. There are many options (and I'm not saying any of these is particularly compelling or even the best way to go).
The point here is that there are many options for changing the feel of Eclipse that don't involve a flat damage booster. If anything I would suggest that Moonkin form (if it becomes a cooldown: finger's crossed) be the ability that offers a static damage increase and Eclipse provide the more interesting rotational modification.
What We've Got So Far
So I suppose I should point out that while it seems like some of the Balance community is unhappy with the modifications to Eclipse, we have received some improvements. First and foremost is the extension of the Eclipse buff to 45 seconds, allowing us some leeway for movement without "losing" Eclipse uptime. That alone helps pacify our movement penalty, allowing us to pick up our rotation right where it left off.
Eclipse is now buffable through the mastery stat. I think it should continue to be buffable through that stat as it allows our Eclipse some extra scalability outside of just proccing faster (through crit and haste). This new model seems like it will always have roughly the same uptime for Eclipse due to the fact that it cancels at 0 power. Will that make mastery more valuable than either haste or crit? We'll have to do some number crunching, but it certainly won't hurt. Personally I'd like to see Eclipse last 15 seconds or till the halfway point, whichever comes later.
We've gained a smidgen of control over Eclipse procs thanks to the Balance Bar (although this also adds some rigidity to our rotation). No longer are we waiting for that special Wrath crit or suffering the agonizingly slow Starfire cast praying for that crit at last. We have a visual marker and a set progression rate that will allow us to control when we proc Eclipse. Double-edged sword imo, but it's better than no control at all.
What We Want
We = Me, myself, and I. The three of us have conferred and we'd like to see more dynamic introduced. It's a poorly kept secret that I am a fan of complex rotations with situational aspects. I like the feral rotation. If my guild didn't have a kick-@$$ feral druid, I'd try to slip into that position. But I'm also attached to my Balance Druid for sentimental reasons. We asked ourselves if Eclipse really introduced complication into the rotation. We came to the conclusion that Eclipse is like a switch. Throw it up and you cast Arcane spells. Throw it down and you cast Nature spells. You throw the switch by reaching the end of an Eclipse bar. Lights on . . . lights off. Not very fascinating. Now while I am grateful for the additional control, I still would like more.
A lunar and solar eclipse should feel different. They should do different things. I should want to make a choice between the two. Is it better to push a Lunar Eclipse now, or a Solar? And the situation ought to determine that. Mana efficiency has been mentioned a few times. Perhaps one buff should scale well with haste while the other emphasizes crit. This would allow for a meaningful choice during heroism. Again, possibilities here are only limited by balancing the damage output. Whatever changes come, I seriously hope we promote more spell synergy and less "Cast A till proc, then cast B. Repeat"
