tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36209840716120972712024-03-08T02:22:00.120-05:00Crofe's CornerCrofehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06541418467095439951noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3620984071612097271.post-21637013533761819512010-03-01T09:24:00.002-05:002010-03-01T09:42:43.899-05:00I was probably wrong...maybePeople over at <a href="http://elitistjerks.com/f79/t76510-elemental_patch_3_3_now_more_fire_nova/p23/">Elitist Jerks</a> have been doing some testing on the PTR (I won't blame you if you don't wade through that forum post). From their results, it would appear that extending the duration of Flame Shock by 6 seconds does exactly what it says it does. The spell will try and fit as many ticks as it can in those 6 seconds.<br /><br />On the other hand, I did some testing of my own (with the help of our resident Shadow Priest) on the live server (stupid PTR and not letting me log in). Shadow Priests already have their DoTs affected by haste and have a way of renewing it. But because I'm dumb and forgot exactly what I was looking for, we ended up testing something completely different that had odd results given the PTR testing.<br /><br />The Shadow Priest 2P T9 "increases the duration of Vampiric Touch by 6 seconds" (incidentally, our 2P T9 does the same for Flame Shock). When he had this set bonus activated, he would only ever get 2 extra ticks...no matter how much haste he had. We even Blood Lusted, and still only 2 extra ticks. Obviously, this is counter to what is coming out of the PTR.<br /><br />I think the difference lies in when the 6 seconds are added. With the 2P T9, the 6 seconds is added prior to spell casting. Because of this, it is also affected by the haste value. That is to say, the duration of the spell may be calculated something like this:<blockquote>([Original Duration] + [2P T9]) * [Spell Haste]</blockquote><br />This can happen because the extra 6 seconds are always there.<br /><br />But now we add 6 seconds after the fact; and indirectly to boot. The equation becomes:<blockquote>(([Original Duration] + [2P T9]) * [Spell Haste]) + 6 Seconds</blockquote><br /><br />This question remains: Is the extension suppose to be 2 ticks or 6 seconds? Since it's still in the PTR, all we can do is wait and see what Blizzard does.Crofehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06541418467095439951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3620984071612097271.post-20620969974977047932010-02-22T09:50:00.004-05:002010-02-22T11:33:16.098-05:00Festina Lente3.3.3 promises the following change to Flame Shock<br /><blockquote>Flame Shock: The damage-over-time component of this ability can now produce critical strikes and is affected by spell haste. (<a href="http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/test-realm-patchnotes.html">Source</a>)</blockquote>The crit change is trivial since the Current Flame Shock glyph does this for us. Being affected by spell haste is much more interesting (and brain racking). Ok, to be fair it is only brain racking if you have <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=70817">4P T10</a>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">How does haste affect DoTs?</span><br /><br />Taken from the 3.3.0 patch notes (when haste affected DoTs were first introduced):<blockquote>Shadowform: This talent also now causes Devouring Plague and Vampiric Touch to benefit from haste. Both the period length and the duration of these spells will be reduced by haste.</blockquote>This means that a Hasted DoT will tick faster, causing it to not last as long. Each tick will still do what it normally does damage wise. This is easy peasy to comprehend; it does what it does, only faster.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Why is this an issue?</span><br /><br />Our 4P T10 extends the duration of our Flame Shock by 6 seconds. It is my understanding that in reality this adds two ticks to the duration. (As in, DoTs are actually calculated in ticks and normally a tick happens every three seconds giving the illusion of a timed duration.) Others believe that the actual duration of the FlS is increased by 6 and you'll get as many ticks in as will fit.<br /><br />If it works the way I think it will, then the amount of time we can sustain a single FlS will be reduced because haste doesn't effect spell cooldowns. This creates contradicting messages; T10 4P says "Hey, you don't have to cast FlS as often." which means maybe we could pump up a FlS and keep it rolling for extra damage. The haste change says, "Hey, you have to cast FlS more often. <span style="font-style:italic;">Oh, and you can't sustain it as long with the T10 4P because that 6 seconds isn't actually 6 seconds and your LvB won't be off CD.</span>" Obviously this reduces the impact of pumping up an initial FlS through <a href="http://crofescorner.blogspot.com/2010/01/keep-rollin-rollin-rollin.html">clever use of potions and trinkets</a>.<br /><br />If it works the way others think it will, then we get an odd situation where the FlS will linger for a bit at the end without doing damage. For example, if the ticks are counting every 2.5 seconds, then extending the duration by 6 seconds will allow for two more ticks (just like the previous example). But those two ticks will only take 5 seconds to complete and then I have 1 second left on my FlS where it does nothing except enable other things to happen (i.e. LvB to crit and T10 4P to extend it again). Eventually that residual would add up to allow for an extra tick as well. I'm almost hoping this is how it works, but I'm not holding my breath.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">So what's the point?</span><br /><br />I don't think pumping up a FlS at the beginning of a fight will be as beneficial as before because the pumped up FlS cannot be sustained as long. We will end up with a DPS gain though, since doing the same amount of damage faster is what it literally means to have an increase of DPS. Of course, as with everything, there are more factors to consider. Having to cast FlS again eats up a GCD which could have been spent on LB. Does the extra DPS from a hasted FlS equal out to a loss of a LB (and a loss of a 2 sec reduction to EM)? That I'll leave up to the true theorycrafters. I'll just continue to muse.<br /><br />*The title is Latin for "Make haste slowly." While not exactly what we need to do in this situation, I like the quote because of it's seemingly paradoxical existence. And it does have Haste in it, so cut me some slack.Crofehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06541418467095439951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3620984071612097271.post-78571186578197768272010-02-18T14:29:00.004-05:002010-02-19T16:09:33.426-05:00Best Laid Plans of Mice and MenAround the dawning of 3.3 I posted a <a href="http://crofescorner.blogspot.com/2010/01/emblem-of-frost-usage.html">buy order for EoFrost gear</a>. I've also got an overall <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?profile=20719649">gearing goal</a> I'm aiming for. It has sifted slightly since I originally posted (and probably needs updated now that the new boss gear is solidly in place), but it's pretty close.<br /><br />If you were to ask me, I'd tell you I am pretty far along in my gearing (pieces wise. Stupid iLvl 200 Trinkets :(). But I have come to a crossroads. Down one road lays my new belt of choice, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50992">Waistband of Despair</a>; down the other road lays my fourth piece of T10, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50844">the pants</a>. Both are bought with EoFrost (60 and 95, respectively).<br /><br />Here's the problem. I am about 50ish points over the hit cap (assuming a Boomkin or SP in the raid). If I buy the belt, I'll "lose" 51 points of Hit and pick up haste (tasty). Here's the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?compare=47286;50992&focus=0">breakdown</a>. If I get my 4P T10, I'll lose haste, lose the 2P T9 (I'm not wearing my third piece of T10 yet) but I'll gain the 4P T10 and about 100 crit (meh). Again, here's the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?compare=48335:50990;50841:50844&focus=0">breakdown</a>.<br /><br />And to throw another wrench into the equation: the pants can be obtained through other means, namely VoA (10m for 251, 25m for 264). I am really heavily leaning towards picking up the belt when I can and hoping my pants drop in VoA. Being basically the only Elemental Shaman in my guild, and doing VoA 25m weekly (with the guild) pretty much guarantees I'll get the pants if they drop. This will mean I won't have to spend 95 EoF, or pick up a token to upgrade them.<br /><br />The VoA argument, coupled with losing extra baggage to pick up things which are beneficial to me makes up my mind. Even though the 4P T10 would be a better "status" symbol, I think the right move in this situation is to get the belt.<br /><br />Bottom line: Plans are nice and all, but you've got to be able to adapt to the current situation.Crofehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06541418467095439951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3620984071612097271.post-21761330402906844642010-01-20T09:38:00.003-05:002010-01-20T09:45:13.011-05:00Keep Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'<blockquote>The Shaman Tier 10 bonus has been redesigned and will no longer reduce the cooldown of Lava Burst or enable Lava Burst to be guaranteed to critical strike without Flame Shock present. Instead successful Lava Burst casts now increase the duration of Flame Shock on the target by 6 seconds. <br /><br />Please note this is still a work in progress and we may end up with a different or modified bonus before the patch goes live.</blockquote><br /><a href="http://blue.mmo-champion.com/8/22418704464-tier10-elemental-shaman-4piece-bonus.html">Source</a><br /><br />If this goes live, it opens up the ability for Elemental Shamans to roll Flame Shock. If you’re not familiar with the practice of rolling DoTs, it’s not a new concept to the game.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />What is DoT rolling?</span><br /><br />When a DoT is cast, the properties are set and persist throughout the duration of the DoT. These include things like Spell Power and Crit. Cast time is the only time these properties are looked at. The idea of rolling a DoT is to front load the Spell Power and Crit (through Potions and Trinkets), which will then persist when the DoT is refreshed. Shadow Priests have been doing this for awhile now, and our 4P T10 will give us the ability to do this to.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">How does this help?</span><br /><br />With the help of <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50259">Nevermelting Ice Crystal</a> you can add 20% crit to the DoT. But you’re not going to want to <span style="font-style:italic;">actually</span> wear the Nevermelting Ice Crystal. What you can do instead is activate the buff slightly before a pull and switch out to a different trinket before entering combat. You should be able to make a macro for the trinket and equipping a new one. Similarly, you can pop a <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40212">Potion of Wild Magic</a> for another 200 crit rating / 200 Spell Power and still have access to a Health or Mana potion (in 1 minute).<br /><br />One more note. The resident Shadow Priest in our guild also has a deal with one of the Rogues to cast the first <a href=http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=57934">Tricks of the Trade</a> on him. I’m not sure that this can actually be rolled, but it’s still not a bad idea if you can get a cooperative rogue.Crofehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06541418467095439951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3620984071612097271.post-1792459489639545962010-01-12T09:26:00.002-05:002010-01-12T10:03:07.604-05:00Brothers in Arms<span style="font-family:arial;">In the last week, the second wing of ICC opened up. Having cleared the first wing on 10 and 25 man, the guild I'm in quickly dispatched the first four bosses and stood in the shadow of the new wing. Many promptly died to Frogger v2.0. Hurrah for slow loading times.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:130%;">25 man</span></span><br /><br />We tried our hand at 25man first, blindly chose a direction and ended up in front of <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=36627">Rotface</a>. Now, this is the guy with the slimes. He's all about the slimes. We had quite a few wipes on this guy figuring out the slimes and getting everyone on board, but we eventually killed him. I can't stress this enough: He who controls the slimes, controls the fight...or something like that.<br /><br />Next we wandered over to <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=36626">Festergut</a>. This fight is an interesting one (mainly for healers) because it switches from Tank heal intensive to Raid heal intensive and back again. And man, when I say intensive Tank heals...I mean intensive Tank heals. On 25man, our stumbling block was tank death. You need to pull out every CD you have to keep a tank alive when Festergut has 3 inhales (90% more damage / 90% haste). Our first night on this guy, we spent a good hour, hour and a half wiping because we couldn't keep a tank alive through the 3 inhale phase. Our second night there, we finally kept a tank alive (once) but then we hit the 5min enrage when he was at 10%.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:130%;">10 man</span></span><br /><br />Our 10man team was the exact opposite. We spent an hour to an hour and a half on Rotface, dying horrible deaths. We switched to three healers and still someone died. This fight is harder on 10man in my opinion. Looking back, I think I know why. It's the ratio of healers to heal targets (at any given time). There should only be three(ish) people taking damage during Rotface: The MT who is getting hit by Rotface, the OT who is kiting the ooze, and the person(s) who is infected. Typical 25man has 6 healers, two for each role. Typical 10man has 2-3 healers, at best one for each role. In 25man if a healer gets infected, they have a back up. In 10man if a healer gets infected, they have to try and still heal effectively while moving the little ooze to merge with the big ooze.<br /><br />After our spirits were crushed from our (many, many...many) defeats at the hands of Rotface, we trudged over to Festergut. We had a few learning attempts, with each getting better and better. Then we finally got him down (even if we ended up with 4 people alive, a win is a win). For this guy, being a shaman healer was nice. Shamans have the nice flexibility of tank or raid healing. Chain Heal the melee when they're taking the brunt of the damage, Lesser Healing Wave after first and second inhales, Healing Wave after the third. Rinse. Repeat. Our tank still died (poorly timed heals after a big hit), but so did Festergut and we were happy.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Wrap up</span></span><br /><br />All in all the new wing is challenging, much like the first wing was our first week. I believe that we'll be able to get to <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=36678">Professor Putricide</a> this week in both our 10 and 25man raids. (Actually, our other 10man group got a look at him already). Hopefully the second wing becomes like the first wing and we start one shotting bosses.</span>Crofehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06541418467095439951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3620984071612097271.post-76682366285451275502010-01-03T09:00:00.001-05:002010-01-03T09:06:14.289-05:00Emblem of Frost Usage<span style="font-family:arial;">Deciding what to buy with the EoFrost can be a pain in the butt. When figuring out what is better to get first, it is important to remember your hit cap. I play Horde side and know that I almost always run with a Boomkin who can provide extra hit with his FF, so I sit at around 289 hit rating. If you don't have a regular Boomkin (or Shadow Priest), you should be sitting at around 368.<br /><br />I started by prioritized upgrading items that do not currently have Hit rating on them so that I am never losing Hit rating in an upgrade. I also looked at what else was added in 3.3 as far as drops go to see if there was anything useful I could get from raiding. Items which were exclusive to badges were placed higher. Then of course was the amount of an upgrade the item is.<br /><br />So without further ado, here's the order I'll be buying stuff with EoFrost:<br /><br />1. <a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50845">Frost Witch's Shoulderpads</a> (aka T10 Shoulders) - No matter if you're sporting your <a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=48331">T9.5 Shoulders</a> or the crazy odd <a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47996">Heroic Pauldrons of the Glacial Wilds</a> (like me), these shoulders are a step up even at the 251 iLevel. One thing to consider at this point are your set bonuses. If you only have 4 of your T9 and one of them is your shoulders, then you will also be losing your 4P T9 bonus and not gaining your 2P T10 yet.<br />Cost: 60 badges<br />Total Badges spent: 60 badges<br /><br />2. <a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50843">Frost Witch's Helm</a> (aka T10 Helm) - Another clear upgrade from the <a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=48333">T9.5 Helm</a>, even at the 251 iLevel. A slight loss of Haste (4 rating) is all you'll see from this upgrade with gains everywhere else. You will break your <a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=67228">4P T9</a> at this point, but also pick up your <a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=70811">2P T10</a>.<br />Cost: 95 badges<br />Total Badges spent: 155 badges<br /><br />This is where my path diverges. <a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.wowhead.com/?profile=20643568">I'm aiming for this set of gear.</a> The <a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50005">Amulet of the Silent Eulogy</a> and the <a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=49977">Loop of the Endless Labyrinth</a> are both drops from 25man ICC and contain Hit. Depending on if I have either (or both) of those and my hit is still ok without gemming for it, will determine what I buy next. Basically, if at any point from here I need to gem for Hit...I'll buy the <a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50996">Belt of Omission</a> (Cost: 60 badges) to boost my current hit.<br /><br />3. <a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50844">Frost Witch's Kilt</a> (aka T10 Pants) - This is the first piece that will come with a Hit rating loss. At only minus 10 hit rating compared to <a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=48332">T9.5 Pants</a> though, it is an easily manageable loss (hybrid hit gem negates till other hit items are acquired). Depending on what you already had and what you've replaced, this may break your <a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=67227">2P T9</a> without gaining <a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=70817">4P T10</a>. If you started with 4P T9 and bought the T10 piece you didn't have first (going 4P T9, 1P T10), then you will be 2P T9, 3P T10 at this point.<br />Cost: 95 badges<br />Total Badges spent: 250 badges<br /><br />4. <a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50841">Frost Witch's Hauberk</a> (aka T10 Chest) - This will round out T10. It is also a large loss of Hit (85 Rating) compared to the <a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=48335">T9.5 Chest</a>. If the RNG has been cruel, swapping in the good old <a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=45866">Elemental Focus Stone</a> for the transition may be needed.<br />Cost: 95 badges<br />Total Badges spent: 345 badges<br /><br />5. <a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50980">Blizzard Keeper's Mitts</a>* - These are nicely itemized gloves for Elem and the Hit loss over the <a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50842">T10 Gloves</a> can be made up elsewhere. Also, because of how the T10 items are bought you need to spend the same amount of Badges on either of these gloves, but you also need a Token for the T10 to make it equivalent to the Blizzard Keeper's Mitts. That sacrifice has been made on other slots in order to get the 4P T10.<br />Cost: 95 badges<br />Total Badges spent: 440 badges<br /><br />6. <a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50458">Bizuri's Totem of Shattered Ice</a> - You may be asking yourself why this is so low on the list. My answer is that if you have <a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47666">Totem of Electrifying Wind</a> (which if you don't, you can <span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >easily</span> get from EoTriumphs) then you only gain 20 haste from this upgrade. There are other trade offs as well, but you should be using Lightning Bolt enough to keep the ToEW proc rolling.<br />Cost: 30 badges<br />Total Badges spent: 470 badges<br /><br />At this point I may purchase <a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50357">Maghia's Misguided Quill</a> to use when the resident Boomkin is not present. This far down the list, there's not much else to buy.<br /><br />I also originally had <a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50468">Drape of the Violet Tower</a> listed. While it's a good cloak, it is more for healing than DPS. I feel I could do better with <a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47291">Shroud of Displacement</a>, but I'll have to rely on the RNG for that.<br /><br />And there you have it. A list of the EoFrost purchases, and then some.<br /><br />*I feel I must explain my choice of omitting the T10 Gloves. The <a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50980">BKM</a> gloves are well itemized for Elemental and the Hit can be made up elsewhere. The goal is 4P T10. There's no good substitute for T10 Helm, so that's one. Shoulders have a good option with <a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50059">Horrific Flesh Epaulets</a>, but they are basically equivalent and depend on a specific drop from Festergut 25man. Chest has the option of <a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50974">Meteor Chaser's Raiment</a> which is also purchasable for 95 badges. This is a harder choice as technically the non-tier would offer 16 Haste and 12 SP (if you gem the extra slot for SP) while losing 24 crit. But it's a Cloth robe and looks horrible imo, and yes I'm vain enough to say that. Lastly we come to the Legs, the other contender for replacement. If you have deep pockets, you can opt for <a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=49891">Leggings of Woven Death</a> crafted by a Tailor using 8 <a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=49908">Primordial Saronite</a> (Taken over the comparably crafted <a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=49900">Lightning-Infused Leggings</a> because of the Haste for Crit trade), or there is the <a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50056">Plaguebringer's Stained Pants</a> which is better because it dumps all the crit for Haste and keeps the Hit. Good luck getting them though since 1. They Drop from Festergut 25man and 2. they are cloth, meaning most likely Mages, Locks, and SPs will have priority (rightly so imo).</span>Crofehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06541418467095439951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3620984071612097271.post-37446245475434168812009-12-31T09:51:00.004-05:002009-12-31T10:46:43.639-05:00Craziness and Car AccidentsApparently some people still come around to this site (much like I did with some other blogs), and for that I say thank you. Still not much to report in WoW cause of the holidays. I hope that changes in the new year (stuff like me actually making raids and such).<br /><br />This post is mostly for me to just write down something that's been on my mind lately, and not WoW related at all. It is also not a happy tale, so tread carefully.<br /><br />Recently I was in a vehicle accident on my way to a business trip. I was driving, and there was one passenger. We hit a patch of ice and slid into a metal light pole going 45-50 mph. I suffered a broken left clavicle from the seat belt locking up and my passenger suffered two broken ankles.<br /><br />I used to fear being pulled over by cops while driving friends, or anyone for that matter. The waiting in the car before the officer walks up would be awkward to me. I don't fear that as much anymore. It has lost it's significance in light of the idea of wrecking and causing either permanent disability or death of a passenger.<br /><br />I feel bad enough in this instance where both of my passenger's ankles got broken (minor breaks from what I know, no cast on either). Part of this comes from the fact that he has lost his mobility, at least temporarily, while I walk away with a bit of a stiffness in my shoulder. If his injuries had been worse, including death, I honestly don't know what I would do. Especially because I would face it everyday since he is a coworker. Knowing that my actions (however out of control of the situation I had been) resulted in the death of another would wear me down.<br /><br />But that didn't happen, so I deal with what did. This is my first broken bone, but apparently if you're going to break a bone, the clavicle is the one you want to break. I'm not in a cast or a sling or a brace (although this worries me somewhat that the bone isn't going to knit) and my instructions were, "No heavy lifting. If it hurts, stop doing it."<br /><br />I do really mean to post things here, and I'm making it a New Year's Resolution to do so. I have a personal list of Shamany (Elemental) things to buy with Emblems of Frost, in the order *I* was going to buy them, but my status in the guild is shaky at the moment. Nothing bad, just that we needed healers instead of DPS but some new and old Resto Shamans have cropped up...we shall see what happens there.<br /><br />Until I post again, have a Happy (and safe) New Year's Eve.Crofehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06541418467095439951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3620984071612097271.post-64381265638201307622009-11-12T16:46:00.003-05:002009-11-12T16:53:42.157-05:00No ExcuseOk, no excuse for not posting. Haven't had anything to say really.<br /><br />I did make the switch and am no longer playing my Paladin. My shaman is my main now, and he's Elemental mostly. Resto is creeping up as what he does though, so I'm keeping an eye on getting better at that too.<br /><br />In other news, I not only switched to playing my shaman, I also switched servers and factions to be with a different guild. So far so good. My gear was a bit low for starting out with them, but they accepted me anyway and I hope they haven't regretted it yet :). (As an aside, my gear has gotten much better since my time with them). We clear 25m stuff easy peasy and are now trying 25m Heroic ToC. The crazy thing is that is where they want me as Resto! Apparently I do well enough healing.<br /><br />That's all for now.Crofehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06541418467095439951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3620984071612097271.post-70470801511385073222009-09-22T14:38:00.003-04:002009-09-22T15:06:13.740-04:00A follow up on 969Wow. Just want to thank Honorshammer at <a href="http://honorscode.blogspot.com/">Honor's Code</a> for the link to my post. Didn't think that was going to happen especially when I talked with another Tankadin in my guild who basically said, "Well, duh." when I mentioned this.<br /><br />Next to address some of the comments on the <a href="http://crofescorner.blogspot.com/2009/09/my-mind-just-exploded.html">last post.</a><br /><br />Argon, the rotation that you are using has a lag in it. Even with a fully spec'd Judgment giving you an 8 second cooldown on it you will have to wait to use it again (by this time your Shield of Righteousness would be usable however). Since everything is an instant cast (in theory) you look at the GCD of 1.5 seconds per spell. With this in mind you need to cast 6 spells before you can use the same 9 ability (6 * 1.5 = 9) and 4 spells before you can use the same 6 ability (4 * 1.5 = 6). You're only casting 4 spells between your 9s.<br /><br />Lanashara, I used these two<br /><br />Nines<br /><blockquote>/castsequence reset=9 <br />Judgement of Wisdom, Consecration, Holy Shield</blockquote><br />Sixes<br /><blockquote>/castsequence reset=6 Shield of Righteousness, Hammer of the Righteous</blockquote><br /><br />Alternate between them and you'll have the 969 rotation. The reset=# is just there so that it'll start from the beginning when you pull the next group.<br /><br />Kaziel, I haven't tested this recently but if I'm reading what you're saying correctly you'd have each ability on it's own /cast command. Afaik if a macro hits a /cast command it can't cast that triggers the GCD it will stop the macro. I've always used /castsequence though, so I could be wrong about that.<br /><br />Femtifire's link is exactly like I'm saying and pre-dates mine by quite a bit. (Guess I'm slow to the game) Here's that link again: <a href="http://sacredduty.com/?p=5">http://sacredduty.com/?p=5</a>.<br /><br />And finally with a few days under my belt using the macros as stated above...it doesn't feel right. I knew that I would lose flexibility to react (mostly at the beginning stages since everything *should* be on cooldown when you're doing this right). I noticed a lot of times that I'd do a 9669 on accident starting out because of misfiring of the macro. The next few days I'm going to work on using each ability on it's own keybind till I find something I'm comfortable with. I've already tried the key set I stated in my last post, but switching between Q and E was troublesome for me.Crofehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06541418467095439951noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3620984071612097271.post-64788661368333658812009-09-17T16:11:00.006-04:002009-09-17T17:27:04.616-04:00My mind just exploded.I kid you not. <span style="font-style: italic;">What follows is an epiphany I recently had while reading about 969 rotation for Pally Tanks.</span><br /><br />I've not been having as much fun on my Pally tank and much of that has been due to frustration with threat (i.e. making me feel like a horrible tank). I admit that I do not currently use the 969 rotation that many believe is optimal threat in most situations. This is because I couldn't wrap my head around it. It's just too long of a rotation for me to memorize.<br /><br />Then it happened. I was fishing around for what the 969 rotation was (since I had forgotten it) and finally found it at <a href="http://www.raider101.com//wikka.php?wakka=PaladinProtection">Raider101</a>. But it wasn't complete. Here's the important part of that page:<br /><blockquote># Judge(9)<br /># Shield of Righteousness (6)<br /># Consecrate(9)<br /># Hammer of the Righteous(6)<br /># Holy Shield(9)<br /># Shield of Righteousness (6)<br /># Judge(9)</blockquote>The last Judge loops to the first Judge and you should be able to start the rotation over. But SoR won't be up because you just used it. So you have to switch to HotR instead and continue on. The complete loopable rotation is actually this:<br /><blockquote># Judge(9)<br /># Shield of Righteousness (6)<br /># Consecrate(9)<br /># Hammer of the Righteous(6)<br /># Holy Shield(9)<br /># Shield of Righteousness (6)<br /># Judge(9)<br /># Hammer of the Righteous(6)<br /># Consecrate(9)<br /># Shield of Righteousness (6)<br /># Holy Shield(9)<br /># Hammer of the Righteous(6)<br /># Judge(9)</blockquote>Which is the rotation I remember reading about.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ok, so what?</span><br />Here's the epiphany. You can separate the 9 and 6 parts of the rotation. I'm going to assign what I will use as keybinds to the abilities so as to abbreviate.<br /><br />The 9s<br />1- Judgement<br />2- Consecrate<br />3- Holy Shield<br /><br />The 6s<br />Q- Shield of Righteousness<br />E- Hammer of the Righteous<br /><br />The above rotation becomes this:<br />1Q2E3Q1E2Q3E1<br /><br />Notice how the numbers and the letters have a mini rotation relative to themselves.<br /><br />Here's a more pronounced version<br /><span style="font-family: courier new;">1-2-3-1-2-3-1<br />-Q-E-Q-E-Q-E-</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Short version</span> - This is a new way of looking at the 969 rotation that may be easier for some people to wrap their heads around. I know personally remembering 1-2-3, Q-E is going to be much easier to remember than the longer sequence.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Corollary</span> - With this in mind two macros could be developed, namely a 9s rotation and a 6s rotation that you would then alternate, simplifying the overall rotation to 1-2-1-2. As with all macros, you will lose flexibility by doing this.Crofehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06541418467095439951noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3620984071612097271.post-27506374937831356402009-09-11T16:24:00.005-04:002009-09-11T16:43:25.774-04:003.2.2 Shaman ChangesFirst thing first. I'm still with the same guild, but I've been playing my Elemental Shaman more than my Tankadin.<br /><br />With that out of the way, I was browsing <a href="www.mmo-champion.com">MM0-Champion</a> and noticed the <a href="http://www.mmo-champion.com/index.php?topic=106663.0">new additions to the 3.2.2 patch changes</a>.<br /><blockquote>*Flame Shock: The duration of all ranks has been increased by 6 seconds.<br /><br />*Lava Burst: This ability no longer ever consumes a Flame Shock debuff off of the target.<br /><br />*Glyph of Flame Shock: Redesigned. This glyph now makes Flame Shock periodic damage able to be critical strikes.</blockquote><br /><br />So they're basically making the current <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=41531">Glyph of Flame Shock</a> baseline and changing the glyph to give us our <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=64925">Tier 8 two piece</a>.<br /><br />What happens to our T8 two piece then? Is it getting changed, or will it be redundant to have T82P and Flame Shock Glyph?<br /><br />EDIT: Hey look, Wowhead tooltips!Crofehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06541418467095439951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3620984071612097271.post-14805136533689465152009-08-24T14:24:00.002-04:002009-08-24T14:29:22.116-04:00DPS againAs mentioned in my <a href="http://crofescorner.blogspot.com/2009/08/my-bad.html">previous post</a>, I'm leveling a Horde Mage. I'm liking it so far (only 22ish though). The barrens is as long as I remember it from my old days of Horde, but the mounts at 20 is helping alot. I've also taken a note from a friend of mine and taken herbalism in order to make gold since I don't have a high level character feeding me money. I'm sitting on 20g at my level and I've already bought my regular mount (5g). I might even be able to afford a glyph or two soon.Crofehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06541418467095439951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3620984071612097271.post-47587750922109045322009-08-18T09:27:00.005-04:002009-08-18T09:49:20.843-04:00My BadSo I may have over reacted when I <a href="http://crofescorner.blogspot.com/2009/08/32-is-coming.html">talked about 3.2 changes</a>. Apparently in addition to the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=49231">Earth Shock</a> change they also changed Wind Shock into <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=57994">Wind Shear</a>. This new spell works like Wind Shock in that it lowers your threat but it has some added benefits.<br /><br />1. It's off the GCD. You can cast it whenever you want without worrying about your rotation (for the most part).<br />2. It's an interrupt. Which negates my whole thing about the Earth Shock change. I never cast Earth Shock except as an interrupt and the damage was a bonus.<br /><br />Just wanted to clear that up.<br /><br /><br />In other "news"...I'm thinking of switching guilds, and even more so, switching factions. And I think I'm going to shed my Tanking role and go back to my DPS roots. There's more feedback (i.e. quantitative numbers) with a DPS class (which also means it's more visible to other people, for better or worse).<br /><br />** Originally this was going to be a "tangent", but as I type it up I find myself wanting to go into more detail than a "tangent" should have.Crofehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06541418467095439951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3620984071612097271.post-48685060946734343982009-08-06T09:41:00.003-04:002009-08-06T10:02:10.816-04:00Rant, among other thingsRant first. I dislike people who dislike the Draenei because they are "Space Goats." Yes, Draenei come from a different world and escaped it's destruction in a space ship. But did you know that this same world is the origins of the Orcs? So it's ok that the Orcs traveled from their home world to Azeroth through the Dark Portal, but it's not ok that the Draenei traveled from that same world to Azeroth in a spaceship? That's kind of hypocritical.<br /><br />Maybe it's because Orcs are more of a staple in the Warcraft world than the Draenei, having been in the Warcraft games. I have not played the RTS Warcraft games, so I don't know if the Draenei are mentioned there at all. I have read the Warcraft novels though and the Draenei are definitely mentioned in them. These books were published in 2001, six years before the Burning Crusade expansion came out.<br /><br />While for many people the Draenei may have come out of left field, I'd like to give Blizzard more credit than that even if their brief mention in the Novels was never fleshed out. The simple fact that they remembered the Draenei and used them means either a good memory on Blizzard's part or they were on the table for awhile waiting to be used.<br /><br />/rant off<br /><br />In other news, apparently Blizzard named a gun after BRK. <a href="http://www.dphowell.com/2009/08/06/awww-they-shouldnt-have/">You can read about it on his new blog site (since he has stopped actually playing)</a>. If you enjoyed BRK's WoW blog (or you've never read him and you have a sense of humor), I recommend switching gears and reading his personal blog.Crofehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06541418467095439951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3620984071612097271.post-79095715867255222212009-08-04T13:10:00.001-04:002009-08-04T13:11:41.013-04:003.2 is comingAnother post in the same day! Insanity!<br /><br />Well, 3.2 is suppose to hit today and I was going over class changes for the Paladin and the Shaman again. Overall I like the changes (especially the Totem Bar change...been waiting for that for awhile), but one of the Shaman changes caught my eye today:<br /><br />Earth Shock: Redesigned. This spell no longer interrupts spell casting<br /><br />I fear (purely speculation) that this is a PvP change since Earth Shock has a relatively short CD and perhaps it was deemed too powerful in PvP. From a PvE standpoint, I used Earth Shock a lot to interrupt spells, specifically the Eye Beams on that gauntlet after Heigan in Naxx and also on the Watchers during Razorscale. It was my way of helping reduce damage to the raid during those fights, and I will miss it dearly.<br /><br />Even so, I still think 3.2 will be a good patch and we all will learn to adjust to changes that have been made. And maybe, just maybe, I can keep my Shaman Hit capped without using that JC Hit trinket that gives an insane 96 Hit (with Two Hit Dragon's Eyes).Crofehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06541418467095439951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3620984071612097271.post-65650711681180224662009-08-04T08:26:00.001-04:002009-08-04T08:28:57.224-04:00Ulduar RaidingAnother long spell of not posting. And again I'll say that it's just how I am :(. I get topics I want to write about sometimes, but it's never on a consistent basis. This time around it's raiding.<br /><br />Our guild does a weekly Ulduar 10man raid. It has been going on for about 16 weeks. In that time we have managed to kill 5 bosses: Flame Leviathan, XT, Razorscale, Kologarn, and Auriaya (but only once). It's my personal opinion that we aren't doing well in here. This is how our progression went.<br /><br />Flame Leviathan is a joke. I'm fairly sure we killed him the first time we stepped into Ulduar (after a wipe or two as we got the vehicle controls down).<br /><br />Our next target was XT, skipping the two optional bosses. This was the "original" or at the least harder version of XT with the lower enrage timer. We just couldn't put out the DPS to down him under the enrage timer (but to be fair, we were getting close). We were making it to the enrage timer though. Our problem was a mix of tactics and raw DPS output. We were positioning XT at the stairs, meaning all four trash piles had adds streaming from them. That left one DPS on the heart (along with the tank, who would be me). Shockingly enough, we actually downed XT with this tactic after the enrage timer was lengthened. Now we tank him to the side and only get two trash piles spawning allowing more DPS to focus on the heart. XT is not a problem for us now (if we have our regular healers).<br /><br />After XT, we hit up Kologarn. I don't remember exactly, but I'm *fairly* sure we one shot him our first try. After XT (the way we were doing him), Kologarn was easy. These days, Kologarn is our stopping point however. We wipe a few times before downing him every week. Someone dies from the Eye Beams, either a healer or a DPS. If it's a healer, then we have a healing issue and people start dying when they're grabbed by the Right Arm, or I go down as the main tank because healing becomes too thin. If it's a DPSer that goes down, we don't have enough DPS left to free the person grabbed by the Right Arm meaning we get picked off one at a time till we wipe.<br /><br />Of all the bosses (other than FL) I think Razorscale is our easiest kill. I know when I'm tanking I don't feel the pressure of enrage timers like I do on other bosses. The stacking thing that Razorscale does doesn't seem to do much, since we've never had to worry about it even when our DPS has been low. The only way we wipe on this boss is if an overzealous DPS dies in the Mole Phase, and even then we can sometimes make a comeback.<br /><br />The details of our only Auriaya kill are fuzzy to me. I do know that we didn't directly kill the Defender, since the Void Zone he drops is what was killing us every time on other attempts. Other than that we just pulled out the DPS and healing that week.<br /><br />And that's it, that's all we've done in Ulduar. Some of the problem is that we only go into Ulduar once a week and by the time we kill the bosses we can, we don't have time to try any of the others. We basically need a flawless kill on each of the bosses to even be able to attempt Auriaya. I'm hoping with 3.2 we can get better gear elsewhere and dive deeper into Ulduar, but from what I'm hearing the fights aren't all about the gear.Crofehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06541418467095439951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3620984071612097271.post-90496884919883261632009-06-10T20:57:00.003-04:002009-06-10T21:09:03.552-04:00LoreBeen awhile, I know. I'm horrible that way. I'd like to blame it on my uncharacteristic illness (incidentally, Strep Throat != not fun), but that only accounts for a handful of days.<br /><br />What I have been doing recently is reading the Warcraft novels. I got the Archive which contains the first four: <span style="font-style:italic;">Day of the Dragon, Lord of the Clans, The Last Guardian,</span> and <span style="font-style:italic;">Of Blood and Honor</span>. Needless to say, I'm enjoying them. I think this is partly because they're decently written and partially because they are familiar from playing WoW. <span style="font-style:italic;">Lord of the Clans</span> and <span style="font-style:italic;">The Last Guardian</span> were especially reminiscent because they are the story of Thrall and Karazhan, respectively.<br /><br />It got me to wondering which part I was enjoying more. Did I only like them because they're part of the game I play, or do they stand on their own merit? In the long run it doesn't matter. I got my enjoyment out of it, and there's nothing else that matters beyond that in a book.<br /><br />Short post, but it's a post. See you next time.Crofehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06541418467095439951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3620984071612097271.post-4941641477002002842009-05-12T13:02:00.002-04:002009-05-12T13:05:12.683-04:00Elemental Shaman Pre-Naxx Gear. . .sortaI was planning on listing some options for Elemental Shamans pre-Naxx, but my research wasn't going well. It is my opinion that the number one stat for Elemental Shamans (or any DPS really) is Hit Rating until you are hit capped. Unfortunately there are about zero (decent) Mail spell caster items with hit on them that you can get from Heroics or reputation vendors.<br /><br />What this left me to was to just find whatever items I could with Hit rating on them. For reference, elemental shamans with Elemental Precision need <a href="http://www.wowwiki.com/Spell_Hit">368 hit</a> to be hit capped for Naxx. If you're a JC, there is a lovely trinket <a href=http://www.wowhead.com/?item=42395>Twilight Serpent</a> and you'll be able to pack this with two <a href=http://www.wowhead.com/?item=42156>Rigid Dragon's Eye</a>. This is a huge hit rating for one slot weighing in at 96. If you're not a JC, you won't be able to get this trinket or the gems.<br /><br />If you're into PvP (or if even if you're not) the Wintersgrasp Mail Spellcaster armor has hit on it. It'll take commitment to get all the items though and there's some less than optimal stats for PvE (resiliance) but it is an option for hit items. I started down this route and ended up finding the JC stuff and stopped doing WG as I don't enjoy PvP. Your milage may vary.<br /><br />There's a cloak in normal HoL (<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=36983">Cape of Seething Steam</a>) that has a splatter of hit (29) on it and is easy to get (or atleast you've got more than one chance a day at it).<br /><br />All your gem slots should be filled with <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40014">Rigid Autumn's Glow</a> (exalted with SoH to get the pattern) if you're still low on hit.<br /><br />There are some enchants available that give hit. You should have <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=60623">Icewalker</a> on your boots anyway, there's <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=44488">Percision</a> to gloves, and if you're desperate there's the <a href="">Titanium Weapon Chain</a> that a BS can make and old world (BC) stuff from Sha'tar (<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=29191">Arcanum of Power</a>)<br /><br />And lastly, there's a food buff from <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=44953">Worg Tartare</a> that gives 40 hit to bump you up that last bit during raids.<br /><br />Again, I stress the hit cap for Elemental Shamans with 3/3 Elemental Percision is 368. If you have more than that it's too much and is wasted.<br /><br />That's the end of the factual stuff, and now for an anecdote. Walked into Naxx on my Shaman with about 360 hit rating (couldn't push it to the full 368), 1600 SP self buffed, and 20%crit. . .walked away with 2k dps overall for a full clear. The guild master commented that I was pushing good numbers for the gear I was wearing (which I agree with, was only hoping for about 1.6-1.7k) and I fully attribute that to my hit rating. Missing takes away alot of your DPS. I also walked away with 7 pieces of gear, which is just crazy to think about.Crofehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06541418467095439951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3620984071612097271.post-1378880649640102502009-04-26T11:00:00.002-04:002009-04-26T11:05:23.075-04:00The Deal<p class="MsoNormal">Without further ado, the little awaited “What’s going on here” post.<span style=""> </span>So first off, I want this to be primarily a World of Warcraft blog.<span style=""> </span>I play WoW.<span style=""> </span>I do limited theorycrafting of WoW.<span style=""> </span>I wanted a place to sound out those ideas, make comments on others ideas (perhaps more elaborately than in their comments section), and all the other things a blog like area will allow me to do.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">As to the informative part, I would say I currently have three characters: my Tankadin main, my Elemental Shaman, and of course the ubiquitous Death Knight alt.<span style=""> </span>I’ve also got a hunter floating around that use to be my main in TBC, but I haven’t played him much since WotLK came out.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">My Tankadin is *the* character I play nowadays.<span style=""> </span>He was originally an Alt that I made for two reasons.<span style=""> </span>First, my Hunter was at the point of not having anything truly useful to do outside of raids.<span style=""> </span>So to get on the Hunter and play around for a few hours felt empty and non productive.<span style=""> </span>The second reason was that the Tanks of our guild, while sufficient, were not. . .how to put this nicely. . .the tanking type.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">As far as I know, our main tank was originally a DPS warrior who switched to tanking because no one else was available and he just became the de facto tank.<span style=""> </span>Unfortunately he still had the mindset of a DPSer and liked those high DPS values.<span style=""> </span>Now don’t get me wrong, he was a good tank or we’d never have gotten as far as we did (up to KT and Vashj), but I still just got the general feeling that he was average in the tanking scene.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Our Off-Tank(s) flat out weren’t that good.<span style=""> </span>Slow to react, not confident, undergeared and expecting much.<span style=""> </span>Not all of the OTs were all of these things, but enough from that list to make them subpar tanks.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">And I thought to myself, “I can do better than this.”<span style=""> </span>And so my Paladin was born.<span style=""> </span>Why a paladin?<span style=""> </span>Well, maybe another time since this is already longer than I thought and I still want to talk about my other two characters.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">My main alt is my Elemental shaman.<span style=""> </span>While I believe that I’ve got the mentality to be a tank, I know that deep down I like being a big damage dealer.<span style=""> </span>About the time WotLK came out, a friend of mine who’s only experience with MMOs was Diablo II decided to give WoW a try.<span style=""> </span>Two or three days into his ten day trial he bought the game and TBC and hasn’t looked back.<span style=""> </span>However, he was completely green to WoW’s style of MMOs and so I created an alt to level beside him and help him learn to play.<span style=""> </span>I settled on a Shaman because it was one of the few classes I had never even tried to play, and they fit a role I like to play: DPS / Utility.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">My DK came about during the time when my Shaman was still low level and my Paladin was in the process of transferring servers.<span style=""> </span>I needed something to play and DKs start at 55.<span style=""> </span>Plus, I heard the opening quest series was very well done (which I agree completely with).<span style=""> </span>If you’re ever thinking of making a DK to just mess around with, and haven’t yet, I suggest you wait till after you’ve been in Naxx a few times because then you’ll be familiar with the people you interact with at the beginning.<span style=""> </span>Or maybe you don’t want to wait or care about that, but I found it fun to be killing these guys on my main, and doing quests for them on my alt.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Ok, I’ll stop there.<span style=""> </span>Stay tuned for a Pre-Naxx Elemental Shaman gearing plan that’s based solely on my observations and researching abilities on <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/">www.wowhead.com</a>, cause I’m going to want one and the best way would be to make it myself.</p>Crofehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06541418467095439951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3620984071612097271.post-86093988714204447442009-04-10T20:30:00.000-04:002009-04-10T20:33:55.550-04:00And so it begins. . .This is the first post, made seconds after the creation of this place. I hope to make a habit of posting here and will do a real post very soon. (Being optimistic here :))Crofehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06541418467095439951noreply@blogger.com0