It looks like a lot of Moonfire/Starfire spam to me. I could be reading it wrong, though.

What good would delaying the switch in Eclipse state when your "big boom" insta-cast spells are the ones that move the bar?

(I'm only now getting the hang of Boomkin playstyle. Forgive the noobish questions.)

If I'm not mistaken - and I probably am - it ALMOST looks like Lunar Shower is no longer being used as a buff to DPS while moving. Instead, it simply causes Moonfire/Sunfire to stack increasing amounts of damage by being cast whether you're moving or not, and balances that by making it move your Eclipse bar.

The latter part of the statement implies that instead of hitting Solar Eclipse and staying there spamming Sunfire and Insect Swarm and Wild Mushroom during AOE phases or in PVP, you must cast the off-Eclipse attack that will not move the bar if you wish to sustain Eclipse.

i.e., you enter Solar Eclipse and gain Sunfire. 3 Sunfires will stack to ludicrous damage, but will also generate 24 Lunar energy, moving you slowly out of Solar Eclipse. Wrath or Starsurge will also move the bar, so if you wanted to sustain the Solar Eclipse - say, for a phase change on a boss with an AOE component, like the black vial phase on h. Maloriak, you would instead cast Starfire since that won't provide Lunar energy.

@Fizzyl

Thanks for explaining it that way. THAT makes sense.

Is this mechanic more hellishly complex than any other DPS'? Seems my Surv Hunter is much easier...

I sporadically play my boomkin in raids, and I think the playstyle is getting increasingly difficult to master, and the constant changes doesn't make it any easier.

All through this patch we've had to find work-arounds to maximize our AoE dps, sunfire spamming + mushroom planting while moving all over the place, is clearly not our intended AoE rotation. These changes seems to end this and force us to do our intended AoE rotation, but without buffing any of our AoE abilities, which would be a nerf.

Singletarget dps is probably not going to change, which is sad because I have seemed to take a hit from the Starsurge nerf. My retri pally in similar gear is always in the top 3 dps-wise, while my boomkin struggles in the lower half of the raid. Maybe I just suck at playing boomkin, but there seems to have been changes in this expansion which made it worse.

Yeah...Lunar Shower is making my head hurt.

They make a talent that says "we want you to spam the hell out of moonfire" and then they change it to a "we'll penalize you if you spam the hell out of moonfire...but please put talent points here"

Lunar Shower, live, works in one of two ways:
* Normal Eclipse Play: Casting Wrath (and Starsurge) while in Solar Eclipse and after, then casting Starfire (and Starsurge) while in Lunar Eclipse and after (only refreshing Moonfire/Sunfire once or twice per Eclipse)
* Solar Spam Play: Get to Solar Eclipse. Never cast Wrath or Starsurge, spam Sunfire while moving, and refresh Insect Swarm as needed. This is a dps loss over Normal unless you're moving, at which point it lets you sustain *okay* (but not great) dps.

Lunar Shower, on 4.2, works in one of two ways:
* Normal Eclipse Play: Casting Wrath (and Starsurge) while in Solar Eclipse and after, then casting Starfire (and Starsurge) while in Lunar Eclipse and after (only refreshing Moonfire/Sunfire once or twice per Eclipse)
* Crying Moonkin Play: Get to Solar Eclipse. Spam Sunfire while moving, and refresh Insect Swarm as --oh, crap, you're out of Solar Eclipse, and your dps just tanked.

In other words, they're screwing moonkin.