For Discussion: How would YOU improve Moonkin?

[Zarathustra]

The title says it all. A Balance Druid can do decent damage, but is quickly outshined in terms of raid utility by a Shadow Priest. How would you go about improving the spec so that it has more utility (thus encouraging use in raids) without making it overpowered?

My #1 solution thus far has been an added effect to Moonkin aura, akin to what they did with Leader of the Pack. If the aura gave some sort of a mana refund along with the crit, that might be all it takes to make their use more appealing.

[oldmandennis]

Go back to 40 man raiding. It has more room for offspecs with marginal synergies.

[Warlock]

Room for offspecs comes from content that doesn't need finely tuned groups, not the content size per se (except in that it's easier to carry 2.5% of your raid instead of 4%).

My feeling is that Balance doesn't need a whole lot in raids. Long single target fights are it's strength, it scales well with +damage gear and is mana efficient. Allowing Omen on spellcasts would help, as would a little more healing power - I'd like to see it become a role switching build providing DPS or healing depending on the fight. Better itemisation would help too.

I don't think much of it in 5-mans though. Shorter fights, weaker gear, rare cc, no silence or interrupt, limited AOE, weak burst... certainly not my favorite choice to fill a DPS slot.

Soloing I'd like to see Moonkin available earlier - around level 20 or so as a trained skill to make both Balance and Restoration more attractive as levelling builds. The trained version would provide armour and mana-by-melee but not the aura which would stay a talent.

[Taelas]

Get rid of the absolutely useless mana-on-hit, add a different bonus which is actually beneficial, and give Moonkin aura the mana-equivalent of Improved Leader of the Pack.

[mandydax]

Well, first off, get rid of the white meat. It's dry and doesn't taste all that great. The dark meat is the best part. Maybe make the moonkin have 6 legs instead of 2? Lower the price of [Shake 'n' Bake] at the vendor. [Shaked 'n' Baked Oomkin] is a great buff food (and tastes delish!!), but instead of +30 Stam and -30 MP5, I'd prefer to see +spell damage.
</wryresponse>

I don't have a lot of experience playing with a moonkin, and none playing one myself. I think that it could be a very viable tanking option (or at least OT option) if they added a +threat buff along the lines of Righteous Fury and some sort of taunt. Also, they definitely need a resist pushback skill to make that viable. I love having the Moonkin Aura in my party, though.