Need help with my druid build

[Seca]

What should a druid in cata gear (mostly 333 and 346 for now) be dealing out for DPS?
Back when I didn't pay attention to any stat other than hit, i had a decent amount of Mastery and crit, nothing high but enough to cause my starsurge to crit for 52k on rare occasions and usually crit for at least 35k-40k
Then threw together a 10man for Baradin hold where at least 4-5 dps where doing 12-14k dps.

the highest I have ever been is around 10-11k and that is treants/starfall/ eclipse and buff'd up the A.

i know that I am doing something wrong. After seeing the dps in that raid I asked about my build in trade chat and someone had me look at their gear. they told me that after I cap my hit rating that I should focus on Int. then haste, then crit. Well I did that. Reforged everything so i had enough hit then gem'd everything and enchanted everything as i was told. and my dps dropped.

Here is my gear/build

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...c3%a8ca/simple

I know that my bracers are crap. They only reason i have them is because half of my gear was cloth, which I know didnt help anything, so i have been working at it. My helmet is the only piece left to change but I know that the 5% int boost isn't going to bring me up far in dps.

I read the article here, or rather followed the link that someone post in response to a question much like my own and it told my how many points of sp and int certain things were worth and all this stuff that I really don't need to know (I dont think) i have been told by 1 person that haste is key, by another who said he checked this website and he said that mastery is key, that and crit.

What I would like to know is:

What stat should I work on after hit and what (general) number should it be at?
At the moment my hit is at 17.24 or something
my haste can't be far above 10
my mastery probably around 10-11
my crit might be at 17
spellpower at 5k+ and int about 3-3 1/2k

I know my rotation well enough. I don't use starfall on CD all the time because( though i have it glyph) i have pulled a mob or two and felt like an ass. I havent used the mushroom much at all unless I am lucky enough to get them down before the tank pulls and never use them after the opening attack. Though I have read that I should use them on CD when there are 3 or more targets in the group.

more questions

Should i be putting my two dot's on every mob in the group before i focus on 1? Because usually i dot and nuke 1 (the skull) then move to the next assuming there isn't a cc to disrupt(another reason i don't us starfall often)

Also I usually only use thorns on the tank right before a boss pull. So there are obviously something that i could be doing better (I know doting the whole group would help a bit and using starfall and treants more freely) but can that really bring my dps from the 6-8k that it is now to the 12-14k that i have seen?

Sorry for this mess of text, I am trying to remember everything I want to ask as I am typing.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank You.

~Seca

[Quinafoi]

You are wearing cloth... bye bye 5% intellect from Leather Mastery.

As for HIT, according to WrathCalcs it actually isn't the highest priority stat. While it is a relatively high priority stat, even sub hit capped Intellect, Spellpower, and possably Haste will likely be more valuable than it. Spirit IS Hit for Balance. You should actually be using Spirit to reach the Hit Cap. Other than Trinkets, Rings, Cloaks, and Necks, you should have Spirit on your leather pieces to get your Hit Cap. This is because the Balance of Power talent converts 100% of your bonus spirit into Spell Hit Rating. Spirit IS ALWAYS better than Hit and there is a logical reason to this. Spirit increases your out of combat regen, meaning between pulls you have to drink less often. While it doesn't increase your combat regen the fact that it provides any benefit besides just Hit means it is always better than Hit. The only reason you would ever intentionally get Hit Rating is if you are reforging an item that already has Spirit on it to get more Hit Rating like you did with your Belt. Part of your problem right now is you are working on the wrong number, Spirit IS Hit.

As a general guideline for stats...
Intellect > Spellpower > Spirit/Hit (to Hit Cap) > Haste > Crit > Mastery
Here a little fun fact for you...
Restoration's stat priorities are...
Intellect > Spellpower > Spirit > Haste > Crit > Mastery

Now when I look at your character profile and it says average item level of 349, and your current average item level equiped is only 340, that tells me you probably have better gear in your other spec (or just have garbage sitting in your bags inflating the value). Since Balance and Restoration stat priorities are virtually identical, if you have a better piece you use for Restoration, it can almost always be used in your Balance set. The general exception to this rule is often trinkets which may only proc off of one type of spell.

Spec.

Why are you speced into Blessing of the Grove? Sure there are fights that involve movement at certain times, but you are hardly Moonfire Spamming enough with Lunar Shower active to require that. Earlier on those points are better spent in Moonglow or Furor as your mana pool is very insufficient right now. Speccing into Dreamstate is the highest level of efficiency you can get if you are innervating yourself all the time, however if you are forced into innervating others which you will likely be required to do so in a raiding group, those points would be better spent in Furor or Moonglow to provide you with a benefit all the time.

Your glyph selection is fine. Right now it's kinda a wash between Glyph of Wrath or Glyph of Starsurge for the third Prime Glyph though Glyph of Wrath will be better after the 4.0.6 patch.

You're exhalted with Baradin's Wardens, but only Friendly with Wildhammer Clan and you are wearing the Ramkahen talbard... wow. Wildhammer has... a 346 Ring at Revered, and a 359 Neck and Belt at Exhalted for leather casters. Not to mention a 333 Shoulder at Honored which would also be an upgrade for you. Ramkahen has... a 333 Ring at Honored for casters... that's it. I guess you really want a Camel to up your DPS? You're reputation priorities are really messed up right now. Right now your top priority should be Wildhammer and your Second priority after that would be Therazene which will give you another 346 ring at Revered and the better shoulder enchant at Exhalted.

Your professions are a bit neglected as well. You need to work on that Enchanting and at least capitalize on the benefit of the ring enchants your profession provided. And you enchanted your cloak with Spell Penetation? Really? You see Spell Penetration anywhere in that list of priorities? It's not cause Spell Penetration is primarily a PvP stat.

[Seca]

Thank you for the input.

The reason I have the spell penetration enchany on my cloak was because I was working towards getting a full pvp set but had to fill in the missing slots with my pve. I will change that right away.

I just started looking at the Rep quartermasters a couple days ago. i have my Tabard for Therazene equipped now because I just discovered the ring and i am about 1 dungeon and a set of dailies away from being able to buy it. I have yet to find the Wildhammer quartermaster but will do so as soon as possible. I will also respec as you said.

Before I even started messing around with my gear I believe I had a clost helmet, shoulders, bracers, and possibly even the chest. I have been working at transfering it all and some of the items suffered a downgrade for the sake of being leather. the helmet is the only piece i have yet to find a replacement for.

Thanks for your time. This should help alot.

[Seca]

I replaced the 325 shoulders with some 346 ones that I got from the JP quartermaster earlier today so that should help i suppose.

One more question. If I reforged a bunch of my gear to bring my hit rating up (by stacking hit not spirit) should i swhich all of that (or at least what I can) to spirit and the other things to haste or crit or something?

Based on what you told me, i would assume spending 125 commendation points (or whatever it costs) on the Stump of Time trinket was fairly worthless.

[Prexie]

Based on what you told me, i would assume spending 125 commendation points (or whatever it costs) on the Stump of Time trinket was fairly worthless.

Stump of Time is a great caster trinket.

Quinafoi was simply stating that with balance's talent, spirit is point-for-point on par with hit. Spirit gives you out of combat regen but in combat they are the same stat. Also, spirit has the benefit of being useful as resto gear whereas hit would not benefit a healer.

[Quinafoi]

I personally have Stump of Time.

I have 1 trinket, 1 cloak, and 1 ring with Hit rating on it. That means I only have to change those three pieces going between balance and Restoration (I personally change more cause I can afford duplicate gear enchanted/reforged differently, however that level of optimization isn't necessary for everyone).

Again though, trinkets are often an exception to the rule. The Stump of Time has a procing effect that only procs off damaging spells. The counterpart that is Spirit only procs off healing spells. In that case you'd actually take the Hit Trinket cause the secondary effect benefits your role. If the Spirit trinket proced off damage and healing (which I wish it did), then it would be clearly better. As it stands, you'd end up probably buying both trinkets, one for balance and one for restoration. In this case you don't really have a choice, the hit trinket is clearly better. In cases where you do have a choice, Spirit is better than Hit.

I generally reforge or swap items around whenever I get an upgrade to maintain my hit cap. You shouldn't go and spend a lot of money reforging everything again though unless your gear changes and you need to shuffle stats around again.

[Seca]

I got the ring from Therazene today, and am working towards the goodies from Wildhammer. I respec and my mana pool went from 70k to 81k. Threw a 50 int enchant on my cloack in place of the pvp enchant I had on it. I was sitting around 9-10k during a regular dungeon where I didn't have much time to apply dot's to more than a couple people. That was generally focusing on a single mob with the exception of the initial shroom/starfall combo. When I kept the mushrooms up and used hurricane (after applying at least a few DoT's) my dps was at a solid 10k. But with hurricane costing 13-14k mana, it isn't something I plan on using much until my spirit goes up or my mana pool increases.

I went through all of my gear and reforged anything that had hit on it into spirit. So once I come across a decent head that will replace the cloth one I have now and find a replacement for my low level bracers, I think i will be a little better off. Thank you for the help again.

[Prexie]

TBH you probably should have saved your JP and gone for the head first instead of shoulders. 5% int and a meta slot is pretty nice.

Trash damage isn't something to focus on as a benchmark. Raid bosses are the best metric.

[Seca]

I suppose that is where my problem is. Other than keeping thorns in the tank and using starfall and treants on cd, my single target dps is likely still lacking as starfall, though helpful, obviosly isn't doing as much damage as it would were there more targets, and it would be pointless to use the shrooms because it usually does like 12-15k max. and I could get that out with a decent non-crit wrath and save myself the time. So single target rings me right back down to the starfall treant moonfire insect swarm wrath starfire and starsurge combo that has kept me around 8k. i suppose it will get better with my gear, now that I know what I am doing.

I didn't see any leather head pieces when i was checking out the vendor, I guess I didn't look hard enough. I have enough JP that it will only take a heroic or two to get the head so I suppose I am not worried about it.

Thanks for the help again.

[Quinafoi]

Justice Point vendor sells Helm, Chest, Shoulder, Gloves, Belt, Neck, and Off-Hand.

Judging by your DPS I'd say you still have problems with your basic rotation as well and aren't executing it properly. I'd recommend more practice on your timings and if you aren't already using it to get the BalancePowerTracker addon for foreseen eclipse power instead of actual eclipse power.

[Seca]

Thanks for all the help.

Since I posted this I went from doing 8-9k during BH while buffed up the ass to running heroics with half the buffs and doing almost twice the dps. On bosses I can sometimes pull 14k. I even got to 15k one time.

I replaced all of my cloth armor, gemmed and enchanted everything and worked on rep. I am one set of dailes away from Exhalted with Wildhammer and my Neck and Waist. Replacing my waist will get rid of the only item I had that was lower then 346.

I appreciate the help. I am now the top dps in randoms 80% of the time.