I’m not used to Raiding with Oomkin…
September 30, 2011 
It’s a phrase I’ve been hearing a lot lately, even in my own Guild.
For some odd reason, there’s not a lot of us (meaning actively raiding Balance Druids) out there. Don’t misunderstand, I do still raid as Feral (Bear) but that’s usually on nights that one of our plate tanks can’t make it (we usually run 2 Paladin tanks). No Warrior Tanks or Death Knight Tanks in this Guild, mainly because they’re both classes that are, apparently, either REALLY hard or REALLY easy to play. I guess it depends on who you ask.
In any event, things being what they are, I’m now raiding as Balance, and I can’t say I’m disappointed. The Resto Druid in Guild has been doing this for longer than me so has the gear he needs, which means a lot of the loot drops are going to me (except those damned T13 shoulders…*shakes fist* Curse you, Tristwood!) to get Dreddnought geared out as Balance and as Feral (Bear) because Tristwood doesn’t raid as anything other than Resto. Technically speaking, as Feral (Bear) / Balance I have a little more utility, but he brings the Heals, so I’m not complaining if a drop goes to him.
It’s been a bit of a shift, going Balance, but I’d like to think I’m adjusting well. I can’t wring as much DPS out of the character as I’d like so I’m having a few issues, one is rotation. I know that certain attacks hit like the proverbial truck (50+K crit Starfires and Starsurges) and others are filler (Moonfire, Insect Swarm, I’m lookin’ at you) and I know that I’m supposed to get between Eclipse states as fast as I can, but there’s not a lot else to the rotation. Even Faerie Fire gets left by the wayside in the effort to spam the right spell to get to Eclipse, and with almost 25% Haste Raid-buffed I can’t help but think I’m missing something. Like MOAR HASTE!
I have enough Spirit to get to 17.20% Hit (with 2/2 Balance of Power) and from there I’m thinking I’ll just re-gem and re-forge everything to Haste. It seems my in-combat mana regen is stuck at 931 regardless of what I do so for now I’m going to see about going pure Haste once I have hit capped and see where that takes me.
If there are any of my readers out there that DO play Moonkin, chime in and tell me where I might be going wrong or the rotation you use, I’d LOVE to hear it!
we raid with two paladins because, for some reason, Andrew decided not to come on Einse anymore. it used to be Einse and Kann. and when Andrew’s on business trips, Driver sometimes comes on his warrior Seekndestroy. on the rare occasion, Rick goes on Ryga. *sigh* I miss raiding
Well, I guess that makes sense. Still, a little variety in tanks is nice…I’m not comfortable running 2 of anything in a Raid, it cuts down on your options. But that’s just me. It’s not like we need to stack Healers anymore because of Mana issues (Hello, TBC…lol).
We poor oomkins, being DPS, do not get combat regen from spirit as our healers do. That’s why it’s stuck at 931 (just like my boomkin!). If you have serious mana issues you can pick up Dreamstate and Furor talents. You should already have Euphoria, and Moonglow is also good but you’ll have to drop points from somewhere. Innervate yourself every cooldown.
If you run out of mana a second after the boss dies, you’re doing fine. A second before, and you aren’t doing fine.
There’s a VERY good boomkin guide on the forums which is worth going through. It helped me get up to speed fast.