Balance Druid: Reworked Dragonflight Talent Tree Reviewed - Big Improvement, Not Perfect

Posted 2022/10/19 at 5:00 AM by tettles

design phase over and the tuning phase underway for Dragonflight Talent TreesTo learn about the best PvE talent builds in Dragonflight for this class, and export these builds into the game, please check out our Balance, Feral, Guardian, and Restoration Druid class guides:
Balance Druid Talent BuildsFeral Druid Talent BuildsGuardian Druid Talent BuildsRestoration Druid Talent BuildsBalance Druid Talent RevampStarsurgeStarfallTier SetDruid Balance Class Set 2pc - Starsurge and Starfall increase the damage of your next Wrath or Starfire by 20%, stacking up to 3 times.

Druid Balance Class Set 4pc - When you enter , your next Starsurge or Starfall costs no Astral Power and deals 35% increased damage.

Umbral EmbraceUmbral IntensityPrimordial Arcanic PulsarStarweaverRattle the StarsStarfallSample Raid TreeThick HideWell-Honed InstinctsStampeding RoarNature's VigilInnervateConvoke the SpiritsRattle the StarsPrimordial Arcanic PulsarRattle the StarsDruid Balance Class Set 2pcDruid Balance Class Set 4pcStellar FlareMoonfireSunfireStarfall

Sample M+ TreeUrsol's VortexImproved SunfireTyphoonSkull BashForce of NatureSolar BeamStellar FlareShooting StarsOrbit BreakerIncarnation: Chosen of EluneElune's GuidanceRattle the StarsStarfallWild MushroomDenizen of the DreamFriend of the Fae

The Problems and FeedbackSolar BeamSolar BeamUmbral EmbraceUmbral IntensitySkull BashStellar Flare in DungeonsTwin MoonsStellar FlareStarfallWild MushroomFury of EluneShooting StarsOrbit BreakerBugsthisConclusion

Comment by akaRavenToo little too late, too many druids have already bailed on the class and moved on to something that got more attention during Alpha/Beta and that is in a better spot.Comment by chunta7Too little too late.Comment by lovelywazToo little too late, too many druids have already bailed on the class and moved on to something that got more attention during Alpha/Beta and that is in a better spot.Comment by 2406856When I first saw the pictures of the new balance stuff during their DF promo I was hopeful that druid class in general might once again become as fun as it was for the full duration of legion. However playing beta was sadly an eye opener experience to me regarding this class.

Balance druid indeed is better than s2/s3/s4 versions were, but something must went really wrong if we consider any of those version worthy to even mention. In SL balance druid was only good to play during S1 and that was because of the BoaT legendary which made it utterly broken and thus hidden the underlying issues. DF version is better than that, but still sucks compared to the legion iteration (and compared to most of the classes atm gameplay-wise).

Not many classes were as neglected as druid was during beta. Seriously the druid dev should be ashamed of itself. The entire class reeks of negligence. So much time was wasted on just rectifying awful takes that literally no one asked for of the rare occasions when they actually did some changes to this spec.
The end result will reflect this: A dps spec that is not as sad as late SL version was if we look at the overall performance. And it stops here. Gameplay wise still no vision, not compelling/fun, feels clunky overall.

If I factor into this guardian and the class tree too... well rip
Guardian got all its feedbacks outright trashed, got zero changes except the nerfs during its beta... Yeah the druid "dev" really dropped it this time.

I guess I'll just let go of my idea of playing druid in DF even semi seriously and instead will play a class that was actually iterated on.
DH on beta for example felt nice to play, both tank and dmg. So did Monk, literally all its specs great.Comment by CajePoor boomkins, having to actually actively play now instead of pressing starfall and taking a nap.Comment by maerlimsciI agree 100% with his analysis.

Solar Beam is a bit costly. But that's not a big deal.

Stellar Flare is. It's awful, awful to play. I hate it. It doesn't fit boomkin. It's cumbersome and annoying. If it was at least optional, for some scenarios only. But as it is, Stellar Flare is the one thing hurting an otherwise really cool spec.Comment by ChioyI still cannot believe they didn't implement Eclipse stances, so we can switch between Lunar <-> Solar anytime we want to, just like Paladin auras, or Warrior stances. Regardless... The talent tree is indeed an improvement.Comment by IgotbubbleI have no clue how to fix the situation because a lot of it is that there are not many talents better than Flare, especially on AOE.

Make Stellar Flare combine Moonfire and Sunfire into a single Stellarfire, giving it AoE like Sunfire, no casttime, and leaving druids to only maintain a single dot instead of multiple.

Make Stellar Flare a passive effect, that increases damage of your Moonfire and Sunfire while Starfall is active, based on number of Starfall stacks.

Make Stellar Flare a passive effect, making Starsurge apply the Stellar Flare dot.

Make Stellar Flare replace Wrath, keeping all of Wrath's benefits, basically just make it more powerful of a spell.

Make Starsurges cast during Starfall into Stellar Flares, refreshing the duration on your Starfall stacks, and making Falling Stars proc more often for a few seconds.

Comment by akaRavenToo little too late.Comment by RageIronfistToo little too late.Comment by roldy27Seeing most of these comments here no wonder the last druid dev quit his job lol.

I tried it on the beta and it's a lot of fun to play. Compared to some other specs druid players can be happy. Considering how much utility (which only gets way better in DF) and unique niches the spec has they don't even need to rely on balancing to be viable (at least in a raiding context) and they seem to get a lot stronger for m+ as well.

Reworking all the talent trees is a huge endeavor and comparatively balance druids are really well off. Seeing people already "rerolling" off of boomkin before the addon has even come out gave me a good laugh though.Comment by MenandrisBro the pre-patch isn't even out yetComment by chunta7Too little too late.Comment by TerbasminI have no clue how to fix the situation because a lot of it is that there are not many talents better than Flare, especially on AOE.

Make Stellar Flare combine Moonfire and Sunfire into a single Stellarfire, giving it AoE like Sunfire, no casttime, and leaving druids to only maintain a single dot instead of multiple.

Make Stellar Flare a passive effect, that increases damage of your Moonfire and Sunfire while Starfall is active, based on number of Starfall stacks.

Make Stellar Flare a passive effect, making Starsurge apply the Stellar Flare dot.

Make Stellar Flare replace Wrath, keeping all of Wrath's benefits, basically just make it more powerful of a spell.

Make Starsurges cast during Starfall into Stellar Flares, refreshing the duration on your Starfall stacks, and making Falling Stars proc more often for a few seconds.

Comment by mizuganBasically no comment on the horrible class tree?
There are so many talents in this tree that are completely useless to 2 (sometimes even 3) out of the 4 specs and the pathing of the tree is extremely bad. Because of that you are forced to spend points on so many talents that you'll never use. As a moonkin there aren't even 8 talents in the upper part of the tree I would want to spend points on. On top of that we lose cc compared to the last expansions and even 2 out of 3 capstone talents are pretty much useless.Comment by AenthasPlayers don't want a healer interrupt meta, only the 1% of players do people really need to stop talking for others, ironic i know but i had to get that point across.Comment by couchpotato2013Poor boomkins, having to actually actively play now instead of pressing starfall and taking a nap.Comment by oxezToo little too late.Comment by TernelMeanwhile bear is actually a dead meme specComment by ScaryfoxI'm glad that the devs are attempting to rework it, considering how many people have probably already jumped ship. It'd be one thing if you actually got into the beta or even just did the PTR and didn't like it for any reason. Unfortunately, that's not the overall impression I'm getting.