There is a lot of rumbling that Starfall is not a good choice in order to up balance's burst PvP damage. To a point, that crowd is correct. Starfall is not directly burst damage in the sense that Lava Burst or Conflagrate are, but it is one of the few burst capabilities that a balance druid holds.I am learning first hand how little burst damage Balance has in PVP. I've been switching out to Balance this past week in PVP and upgrading my suit to include Relentless and Wrathful pieces. I just do not have to the BOOM that Locks and Shaman do.
Take Shaman for instance. Flameshock, followed up immediately by a lava burst and then probably a chain lightning. Lava burst on a flameshocked individual hits really hard and whats more can be cone again in about six seconds. Comparatively if I just put up my IIS, then immediately follow up with Starfires it doesn't have anywhere near the impact on a per hit basis. However I can deliver multiple starfires on the target. The issue isn't that I probably get more DPS out of the engagement if we're all standing still and I'm unmolested. The issue is that almost never happens and my burst has very little burst to it. I cause no fear on the battlefield but paint a pretty big target for every rogue and caster out there. To make the situation worse, given Blizzard's decision to stick with the Eclipse mechanism I'm not sure how they actually increase PVP burst without giving too much of a DPS increase in PVE. It's a conundrum that I don't think will be solved tomorrow but one I certainly hope they devote more time to.
If anything buffing Starfall is a PVE buff -- especially on trash fights or on boss fights with adds. For that I am thankful and will take the buff gladly.
