Balance Druid Artifact - Legion Alpha

[@Preachgaming]

Don't picnic, Affliction will be up in a few hours, this video just happened to finish before that one.

[@charlesdaniel7450]

+Preach Gaming ALL THE PICNICS! :)

[@ShadowLycan132]

+Preach Gaming No sandwiches, no slaw.

[@baklazan777]

+Preach Gaming Does that mean that shaman isn't yet available? I wanted to see enh ;

[@songbirdo]

+Preach Gaming Yay

[@Ethox5000]

Preach there is still port and holy pally

[@forformgamer]

You're a gift that keeps on giving, Preach :) It's great to see these first impressions! Thanks for all the hard work m8! And a thanks to Ghosty for the nice artwork. Looks really nice and clear on the channel :)

[@Wavorn100]

"THE SCYTHE BELONGS TO THE WORGEN!!" My druid: ".....but I'm a worgen."

[@evanbunnell]

+Wavorn Snowber You're a neutered, house-broken Worgen. You're as much Worgen as dogs are wolves. #hordepride

[@Wavorn100]

evanbunnell Pretty sure his MRP says otherwise.

[@autonomous4277]

+evanbunnell #whordepride*

[@MoXfy_Milling]

+Wavorn Snowber yea it is gonna be weird for us worgen druids when we do boomkin :P

[@Trutadruida]

+Wavorn Snowber I just changed my druid to Night Elf, worgen is ridiculous. Sorry for the bad english :p

[@HarryPotterFan3394]

Preach, thank you so much for doing this video and all the other ones! I'm super super excited and hyped about moonkins :D

[@TheAssirra]

Isn't Zen'Kikki the troll druid from the western plaguelands that always fails?

[@tojge]

+Assirra The very same :) glad to see the guy again, he was hilarious...

[@Morgowitch]

+AdamG3691 He always missed (and hit himself and stuff) but heals can't miss ;)

[@SadBirbHours]

+AdamG3691 The struggle is all too real xD

[@RojoSostenido]

What a great video, I watched it to the end, they really are making things great, loved all the new stuff for druids, can't wait to play.

[@Killluha]

Naralex was the sleeping druid in wailing caverns. you fought the giant murlock while his disciple woke him up. So you weren't that far off the point.

[@MacCraig8]

+Killluha I was really hoping he'd work it out when he found him, as he was so close, alas no such luck :P

[@Xarca]

I think Naralex is the dreamer from the Wailing Caverns

[@jackiemckie5953]

+Nikolai Anzuoni You are correct.

[@Feast_]

+Nikolai Anzuoni There's also a small neutral quest hub with him and his pet Tauren in Southern Barrens

[@PedroIgori]

+Nikolai Anzuoni hence the association with a giant murloc :D

[@marcoswillianl]

+Nikolai Anzuoni OMG i was trying to remember where he is from, i was so sure i have found him before!

[@GBxFeaR]

So. Many. Videos. Love it Preach, keep up the great work, looking forward to the quick looks!

[@GeoTown123]

Looks really cool, fun and challenging. Will defo try it out come Legion, been wanting to play a good Ranged dps class in a long time, this seems up my alley.

[@gruadia]

I really like how Balance plays this expansion. I was really saddened by the MoP changes removing my own ability to control the eclipse.

[@GenGariczek]

Owlkin frenzy is built in the moonkin form.

[@Detinator247]

May the light of Elune be with you Preach :)

[@Detinator247]

also I think they changed starfall so players wouldn't accidentally starfall the wrong mobs in raids or too many mobs when questing

[@dagowow]

+Smiles Farmkin is dead. My Druid is dead. The best farming class has just become one of the worst. Sadface

[@Detinator247]

PATRICK TUWSE Nah we still have argueably the largest most powerful aoe in the game, not only is the radius big af but you can customize it to make it godly big

[@dagowow]

It's a targeted area spell. You can't pull multiple camps simultaneously nor is it "free-to-cast", you must have 60whatever

[@Detinator247]

PATRICK TUWSE Well previously it costed 1 of 3 charges, considering how fast we gain power, the old verison was more expensive. Also this is TECHNICALLY more control, and they don't want it manditory for you to pull everything within a 40y range of you, over time it has and would've become more of a hassle than a benefit. We still have the biggest aoe in the game so we still have the advantage

[@kippies66]

Wow, did you see that full moon spell? You just summon and drop the f*cking moon on top of your target. XD

[@Knives7777]

+kippies66 i know right so fucking epic

[@MetuLiberOfficial]

+kippies66 cast time is way too long for pvp

[@Leopoldshark]

Unstoppable in PVP without the Oath of Order. :)

[@Graine01]

That full moon animation is dope as hell.

[@Ayayron_e3]

I've waited since Vanilla to know where that portal leads to...

[@Nightdude23]

We always knew they lead to the dream :)

[@Ayayron_e3]

I guess i was too young back then to get attracted to the lore.

[@LuxuriaU]

Most people know because of the event it was tied to back in the day. They spawned green dragons which were essentially world bosses. It was in and around the time that the Nightmare was in full swing , and Ysera was out of commission. I never did it personally , I only played the game for lore reasons. However most people I know , despite being uninterested in lore , they knew where it went for the fact it spawned these guys and gals. Story wise where it leads is kinda buried , lest you were looking you wouldn't have found it , not your fault really.

[@Obsessions95]

When he said "New moon, half moon" I couldn't help but think "Total eclipse". I literally screamed laughing

[@SamCastaneda87]

Isn't that Zen'kiki guy at [46:45] the one we helped in western plaguelands?? I remember he was a total fail at trying to dps and finally discovered he should be resto

[@lyakiplays3253]

nice vid , preach! love watching all your vids. Btw frenzy procced like all the time when you were looking for a target dummy. Love the vids, cant wait for the feral one

[@charlesdaniel7450]

"It's not racist, I'm bad at it." -Preach 2015 Can't stop laughing!

[@TheBoomkings]

Overall, a lot better information than I expected. (I do a lot of the work for Moonkins!) There's a lot of interplay with the spec right now. Some information: Owlkin Frenzy is baked into Moonkin Form. Starsurge applies BOTH empowerment buffs. Shooting Stars is crazy at the moment. Starfall is very, very strong due to the DOT interactions.

[@chimchompat5909]

I have the say how the astral power from the dots works as a non random way to replace the shooting star procs! That's bloody brilliant.

[@elmirBDS]

I was 90% sure about moonkin, but now it's definately 100% This has so much more depth to it than the current iteration.

[@chadwickhjones]

Wait, though. I'm at 6:45, and I remember so many people saying recently that druids were getting four full specs "quad spec", which I interpret as four talents lines. But in this spec chart, it looks as though Balance and Feral spec are merged? What am I missing?

[@cooltv2776]

+Chadwick Jones if your talking about the lvl 45 talent selection, there are 4 druid specs, you choose which one you are, then an off spec (the talent) balance wasnt an option here because he WAS a balance druid if you were, say, resto, then you would have a balance option in the place of a resto option

[@chadwickhjones]

+Alex Gregory ohhhhhhhhhj

[@joekerr9197]

Remulos (the Cenarius looking guy) was the same guy who actually gives you the moose mount introduced recently so yeah...you know him from there. But he is involved in few other quests as well...namely the quest chain from Icecrown and some quests in vanilla. He is also connected with the entire story in Maraudon since his son and daughter are quest givers/boss NPC's as is his brother Zaetar. He is also deeply involved in the entire Druid story etc. Oh and...the "e" in Tyrande is not silent, it's pronounced "eh" so it's not "Tea-rand" but "Tea-rand-eh". Oh and...thx for the video. ;)

[@CVL98sweden]

27:45 so what's big stag guy called? the one killed by archimonde

[@valernos6075]

+Preach Gaming Shan'do means teacher and is generally a title other druids use for malfurion since he taught most of the older ones

[@rizzen7]

I love targeted starfall, especially the talent thats lets you move and cast in the radius. Gives Starfall more prominence rather than being a boring buff. Very useful for pvp

[@MrAdamAnty]

One of the most exciting parts of this for me was the reassurance that new Dalaran will have portals to other important places (eg Shrine). My hearthstone was set to Shrine all the way through WoD, just because it is a much easier way of getting around.

[@intrepidmilotic5999]

OMG! amazing, everyone who has read Stormrage Novel and loves Night elf/druid lore must be fangirling like me

[@joshyman221]

Sometimes Preach is a brilliant imaginative creator. Sometimes, he can just be so fucking annoying because he misses the simplest things like when he is at the portals "I wonder where these take you" -bottom right "Moonglade/Grizzly Hilss/.." All good, you certainly have done the best artifact reviews on youtube :)

[@ThijmenDF]

+goodsire Or when he was searching for training dummies to see how often the Owlkin fenzy procs, if only he would've payed attention to his buffs at that time (since it also procs out of combat :P)

[@SinnerSavedByGrace85]

Wow, balance is looking really nice. Thanks for the vid. I don't normally play balance because of the stupid eclipse bar, but these changes make me want to play balance over resto. I can't wait to see your resto video with balance affinity to see how viable they really are making healer dps.

[@Scrydragon]

Targetted starfall exists now so that you can use it in dungeons/raids. Previously, it would only go up on mobs that you had one of your dots on (resulting in lost dps if you had continuously spawning mobs and couldn't get them fast enough). More often than not, boomkin would just take the original, unmodified version, angering groups of players because starfall would hit EVERYTHING in a dungeon and wipe a group. Targetted starfall is designed to be friendlier to both new players who don't have the same skill cap, and to groups who don't want to wipe because the boomkin pulled something 50,000 yards away.

[@Ayayron_e3]

at 18:10 it says weld but i think it's a typo and is supposed to say "wield."

[@QuickShotMan]

Not even a comment from you preacher on "Full Moons" animation, I thought that big ass moon coming crashing down was sick, great video tho keep it up preacher :D

[@johnniejackson2375]

your owlkin frenzy was proc'ing the entire time you were walking around

[@TheHorreK2]

"I wonder where they take you" mouse hovers multible times over a sign with the name of the destination xD

[@tinyjazzhands2074]

Naralex is the sleeping night elf in Wailing Caverns, you're thinking of the Murloc boss you fight while he's beeing woken up. You were close though Preacher

[@UrgeNexus]

Man, Druid has always been so cool to me, but I've never been able to get into the class. I like what Balance looks like compared to what it's like currently though. I'm very excited to see what Bear tanking is like in Legion, I would love to finally play and enjoy a Druid. EDIT: It also occured to me just now that this video is about a month old. Well done me!

[@zxc9884761]

Good stuff preach, thanks for speak out all the quests.

[@ech0six]

Nothing waxes my carrot like putting greased troll tusk in my snatch.

[@unclephil4112]

I think zen'kiki is from a quest chain in plaguelands where you have to help a new druid find their spec, he ends up being a healer because they can't miss.

[@drewj557]

OMG THAT FULL MOON visual thoooooo :D

[@PurpleDerpy]

Yikes... not a fan of them reusing the Kharazan bits for 3 classes. "We're focusing on class fantasy" Yup nothing says class fantasy like a boomkin in Kharazan... I mean, I get it. The Scythe of Elune and the Worgen are very very closely related lorewise, but chasing the same guy in the same place and killing him in the same way with a ~slightly~ different story each time is a little disappointing.

[@DanzieReviews]

+PurpleDerpy Yeah, you can overlook them using it twice for Warlocks and Death Knights because it fits thematically... but a nature loving druid in a creepy old magic castle? That's just blizz being straight-up lazy. They could at least have a different guy helping you. Maybe some fire-loving goblin mage who doesn't value nature, but you have to work with him despite your differences in the same way that this priest was a foil to the evilness of the warlocks and death knights? I mean, I'm just throwing out ideas, but they need to do SOMETHING to make it different.

[@EliteRocketBear]

+PurpleDerpy While I am also not a fan of them reusing karazhan, for either of the classes. It makes more sense for the Boomkin Artifact (Scythe of Elune) to take place in Duskwood and Deadwind pass/karazhan. Why? Because if you ever did the the old Duskwood quests (dunno about the new ones), a lot of it was about the Scythe of Elune and the Dark Riders and the worgen curse. Remember, this quest is about getting your artifact weapon, not necessarily about class fantasy. Here it fits the predating lore of the weapon. Where as for Unholy and Affliction, it was just kind of pulled out of their arse to fit in there somewhat to save on quest design. What would have been cool if they sent Unholy DKs back to Naxxramas plague or Armory quarter, and Affliction warlocks into actual Karazhan, and did something else for the quest. For instance, the Unholy DK can easily be something where it fights through the mindless scourge that Bolvar failed to get under control, and you basically go and either get your artifact from a weapon that was sown into Thaddius, and thus been infused with unholy plague energies, or you retrieve it from one of the 4 horsemen. For Affliction warlocks diving into Karazhan, have em go into the upstairs entrance, and find one of Medivh's personal artifacts that has been touched by Sargeras' essence. To be fair, Blizzard, if you read this. Just hire me for quest design. Fire the guy who did these, because he is shit.

[@EliteRocketBear]

***** True, I do think the post-cata Duskwood also has some dark rider shit going on. But You're right that the Scythe was used by Arugal to summon the Worgen, which then carried over the Worgen curse to the humans of the Eastern Kingdom, leading to the forming of the Wolf Cult, which were both present in Duskwood and Lordaeron. Pre cata, the Scythe was rumored to be somewhere in Duskwood, being the objective of the Dark Riders. In Cata the Scythe was found by the druids and brought to Gilneas where it was stolen by the Forsaken, where you have to retrieve it. Now for some contrived reason they decide to hand you the scythe to you in Duskwood, cuasing the Dark Riders to jump in, going like "AHAA, gotcha". It's a bit shoddy writing there, but that you have to go into Karazhan after the Dark Riders for the Scythe doesn't bother me at all. I personally like that they tie the old lore of the Scythe back into it, with the Dark Riders. I just think it is bollocks that they send Boomkins, Aff Locks and Unholy DKs after the same wanker. (maybe because those are my 3 characters). Especially when they could have easily made better versions for both Unholy and Affliction, as I've quickly written out above.

[@Sodacacik]

+Danzie Reviews except the lore about the dark riders taking/being after the scythe is very old.

[@PurpleDerpy]

It's cool story wise, but just lazy gameplay wise, considering it's just a copy and paste of the same Kharazan crypt setting with different dialogue and obstacles. Imagine if this guy, Aridan, stole the Scythe and went to Moonglade, then started terrorizing the Druids by unleashing hoards of mindless worgen upon them. Then, imagine you had to fight through the worgen onslaught alongside characters like Malfurion and Cenarius and Genn Greymane and a bunch of Moonglade soldiers. Think of all the cats and bears and moonkins and treants pushing through waves of worgen to make it to the final place where Aridan waits, channeling his spell over the worgen, you take him down, take the scythe, and the mindless worgen he was controlling become normal again, then they join the Druid order and pledge their allegiance to you, the Arch Druid.

[@Kudoas]

+preachgaming can we get the balance druid overview next? anxious to see what they've changed and the direction it will lead

[@paulstaker8861]

The Retreat is the coziest looking inn I have ever seen. And I've been to Lion's Pride. . . . . . I think we all have...

[@AdrydYT]

I'm not sure if someone already posted this, so I will say it either way. Concerning the changes to starfall, I believe the changes were made just so players wanting to troll (or just unskilled players overall) can't simply glyph their starfall and pull an entire instance by pressing one single key. By making it targeted on area, I suppose that won't be happening anymore.

[@Bombandrun]

Hey preach can you let me know what the benefit of using wrath is, as doesn't Luna strike do more damage?

[@BubblesLeBard]

Preach, did you not notice that Owlkin Frenzy was proccing out of combat, pretty frequently?

[@chimchompat5909]

It's from the artifact :) it says that owl kin frenzy will proc with being hit.

[@BubblesLeBard]

+Chimchompat Pardon me, but the Scythe said Owlkin Frenzy can trigger *without* being hit. Beyond that, it triggered as soon as he got out of the equipping cutscene, and multiple times through the video. The interesting part is A, he didn't notice, and B, it can trigger outside of combat, thus you can go into combat with it. I'm interested to see more.

[@Morgowitch]

+The Outsider But it seemed to proc LESS in combat. That was kind of strange. But I thought the same ;) "LOOK AT THE TOP RIGHT CORNER, DUDE!"

[@BubblesLeBard]

+Morgowitch Well, what could you expect from an RNG proc? Seems to activate at the most inopportune times, right?

[@Morgowitch]

What I mean was strange was that out of combat it seemed to just proc every 20 seconds and not too randomly.

[@AuraXars]

At 44:50 ish malfy totaly fooled you with shadowmend, preach gotta step up your game :P Only kidding ofcourse, keep up the great content, can't wait for the ele shaman artifact and the shaman class hall

[@tommcarthur2852]

the one thing I was worrying about moonkin is the new asteral power, but my worries are no more! by the looks of things its every tick of a dot generates power. Which I think is great! I also didn't know whether we'd be a boring class like in wod (my opinion) but judging by this gameplay it looks amazingly fun, gg blizz

[@ryanexsus]

That's funny that you have to wake up Naralex, because I've woken him up a 1000 times in Wailing Caverns.

[@Purpleknicker]

Hey preach, im guessing you're going to wait till beta till you decide what class you'll main. However what are you leaning towards? you seemed to like fury alot :D

[@nathanlynn4018]

does the alpha include the shaman class hall quest line? if so then how soon can you give us a video on it?

[@Danfischer]

I wonder if that full moon spell will be something you charge up to before a boss pull so that you can pre cast it just before pull and get 100 power. The cast time and the damage seems far too low to use mid battle.

[@XxNocturnalKnightxX]

I like the change to Karazhan, I'm glad they put it back into the game after so many of us complaining it should have been a time-walker raid for Draenor.

[@kenthin]

Shooting Stars? Wasn't their a Vanilla skill for Druids that acted the same as what Shooting Stars(The passive) does? Basically raining Stars on peeps?

[@dfwm20]

With that Full Moon ability I can see boomkin rotation becoming pretty stale (Boomkin main) from what I see (not including talents) Keep dots up 100% then the rotation will during end up looking something like this (This does not include opening rotation): (Just after using Full Moon) Starsurge Starfire Wrath New Moon Starsurge Starfire Wrath Half moon Starsurge Starfire Wrath Full Moon repeat With 100 Lunar power after watching the video it is enough for about 2 Starsurges the last starsurge before the cast of Full Moon you will have enough lunar power from the previous Starfire's and Wraths

[@SharkBitt]

That new moon though, the shadow effect ass the giant as falling moon...

[@praus]

That full moon visual is amazing. I suspect Preach didn't see it because he was staring at tooltips lol

[@shanaszun4048]

Preach you had owlkin procing while walking around doing the quests with the weapon equipped, i don't think you noticed, go to 40:30 and watch your buffs for 10 seconds Edit: spelling errors and added a time when your had it proced

[@hristopavlov298]

In duskwood preach's words for lore....I was like "just...don't "

[@vooii7342]

God come on blizz, I want to hear "You've proved an unexpected ally, Shaman"

[@jordanread5829]

I wonder if the text is different if you are a worgen druid when you return back with the scythe, Since well, you are already a 'savage' beast in some sense. But i doubt it, based on similar events (Like Kor insulting sunwalkers even if you are a tauren pally for example)

[@hamsterhamster6492]

Does anyone here remember when you were trying to train Zen'Kiki during the western plaguelands quests and he was hopeless, he turned into moon kin and star fired himself he went in cat form and lost control and started leaping everywhere and he did seal form on land

[@dhaenhuk9613]

The guy you thought was a Murloc (Narlex) or something like that... I am pretty sure he is the guy in wailing caverns lvl 16 dungeon that we find after completing the dungeon and escort a tauren to the Murloc. just throwing out there if you want to know

[@Tizza933]

love your subtle humour at times preach XD 45:20 and 46:10 keep it up

[@LukeCantWin]

I wonder if spreading sunfire then starfall and then going into cat form and swiping with feral affinity will be an aoe dps increase or keeping rip up hmm

[@Thialas]

i think the starfall ability might have been changed due to the way it was being used for farming perhaps? I've seen a lot of druids just stand still at a location where plenty of mobs spawn just spamming it without looking or turning since it hits everything around them.

[@darcgeneral]

how has no one said anything about the full moon animation. it's like a little death star came crashing down on the enemy. love it!

[@limitedexpectations928]

Just a quick thing, I saw owlkin frenzy proc on you when you were running around in the class hall, so I don't think it depends on combat, I think it just has a chanse to pop every so often.

[@Knife1437]

THANK YOU BLIZZARD!!! I'VE BEEN WAITING WAY TOOOOOO LONG FOR THE PUSH BAR TO GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 3 FUCKING EXPANSIONS, BUT THEY GOT THERE EVENTUALLY.

[@gligorcristian2323]

I do hope he realized that the proc from the scythe can trigger even when you're standing still, not doing anything. (just look at the buff bar)

[@Anqwa]

Cant believe he didn't notice that full moon, majoras mask style falling on that dummy!? xDD

[@Alfa795]

Preacher, what brand of tea do you drink?

[@benedictifye]

Naralex is the guy you need to wake up at the end of Wailing Caverns

[@evilcam]

I like to look of Balance so far too. It's a shame starfall was changed, but at least they did not take it away completely.

[@Rawzix]

How do you know if your empowered to Lunar or Solar now when you dont have the bar?

[@Paraliel]

I think the purpose of Starfall being targetted now is towards the annoyance of it's Barrage-like effect in pulling.

[@csentertainment8784]

When does the destro lock video come?

[@simonandersen5306]

That healthbar in the middel of screen, what addon is that?

[@larsthomasbremnes6810]

Mutanus is the giant murloc, Naralex was the sleeping -beauty- druid you had to protect.

[@raver377]

9:10 when you found out that naralex discovered a giant mole druid form xD

[@lynthara]

I've been waiting ages!!!!!!! God bless America.

[@wawowhead]

my assumption with the starfall change is that the Noobkins pull an entire room of adds in raids and dungeons and wipe everyone and it really pisses people off, so they decided to make it targeted. I know there is a glyph to make it only hit enemies effected my dots but still...a noob isn't going to know that, or know how to position properly without the glyph.

[@joeshmoelb]

They FINALLY did something with those portals.

[@CJBoehlert]

I don't think that little scenario will only be built for DPS. Remulos will probably change accordingly I.E. you have to heal the roots while he kills the adds.

[@jonnyswift1646]

+Christopher Boehlert Based off of all the other linked class starts it doesn't change as of yet.

[@lassejuulhenriksen5146]

Isnt the thorns for Bear form now?

[@Miller1107]

"I can name them all! Test me!" 10 mins ago: "Naralex... isn't that a big murloc?" I mean you weren't that far off. There IS a big Murloc when we SAVE Naralex back in Wailing Caverns, but he isn't one.

[@raver377]

btw preach: naralex isnt a murloc but you where close naralex is the druid guy you need to awaken in the Wailing Caverns

[@TitansBluze]

Zen kiki is from western plagueland, where you trained him

[@Reofrax]

naralex is the druid that is asleep in wailing caverns.

[@Shlurmpy]

In Preach's druid class preview he said he was totally ok with the starfall change, but now he wants it back the way it was? Is it really that bad now? I thought it was a good change.

[@wowstonecrab]

You missed out on the animation for full moon where it literally drops a moon, from the sky, onto the target. Or if you saw it then you failed to acknowledge its' awesome.

[@Slyfoxdragon]

Surprised you didn't comment on the full moon animation. It looked awesome.

[@cknorthpole]

Looks so much better than what balanced is now. I wanted to play balanced in wod but i just couldn't be bothered with the astral alignment thing, hated it. This is definetely a go.

[@resention8230]

BALANCE IS ALIVE!! Oh my gosh, I am SO happy!!

[@LetoZeth]

+Resention Are you saying that Balance with its 200k crits wasnt alive in WoD?

[@resention8230]

+LetoZeth Balance was one of THE most poorly designed specs in the game during WoD. They finally fixed it, is what I meant.

[@randombowlofoatmeal1523]

+LetoZeth I think he means you're not just keeping moon and sun fire up then spamming starsurge, now it feels like you're doing something.

[@GeneralDouchington]

Isn't Lunar Strike's visual effect just Stellar Flare? RIP that ability I guess.

[@PiksehRaiding]

How did you not comment on how awesome Full Moon looked? Just a big-ass moon smashing right down on your enemy, like KABOOM!

[@Sweetfunkyjesus]

Hot damn, Zen'kiki becomes your personal butler? Ever since I watched him spam moonfire on himself in the Western Plaguelands, I had always thought to myself "Man, I want that guy to dust my knick-knacks."