HAT – Raid 1

So last night we were headed to the Construct wing in 10-man Naxx. Patchwerk was a new fight for us and I was a little nervous about the new build. I didn’t have my finisher cycle work out. Didn’t have time to read about HaT finishing cycles. Basically, I didn’t have the foggiest idea how I would manage 100% rupture and SnD uptimes all while spamming Evis and maintaining a Hemo debuff on the target. You can’t really afford to be lacking in DPS on Patchwerk, even in his already-scaled-down-from-preBC-days 10-man form.

 

10-man Patchwerk requires 12,000 DPS. Subtracting out your three healers, that’s a little over 1,700 DPS you need on average from the other seven people in the raid. We’re just starting out… our tanks aren’t going to pull more than 1,300 (if that depending on what class). Low-balling the tank DPS figure at 750, with two tanks, we’d need each DPS to average around 2,100. We weren’t sure if we had that kind of DPS.

 

We had about five extra DPS wanting in, so before we headed to naxx I had everyone head to IF to hit the boss level target dummy. We ran a 7-minute mock fight on the dummy to determine two things. 1) who were our top five DPS and 2) did we have the DPS we needed even among our current top performers?

 

Well we ended up having 6 DPS over 2k; I was at just over 2600. While I’d hoped for about 3k DPS, I expected about 2200ish. So, the build out performed my expectations and I was pleasantly surprised. As my gear improves, so will my DPS. **note to self, post armory links and character screenshots**

 

Also, there are a few things I can “fix” to optimize my DPS with this build.

 

1)       Get a good combat cycle

2)      Keep at least 35 energy in reserve instead of 0

3)      Respec’ing to 3/23/45 may have better results.

 

Random Observations from last night’s raid

 

1) Cheat Death is awesome sauce. (especially on Grobbulus) Srsly. I had several members of the raid cursing me for my survival by the end of the night. It was really funny when I hit a lag spike and fell off the pipe headed to Gluth. One of our hunters jumped down to give me the Pack buff on the way back (no warlock then). On the frogger slimes we both got hit (no clue how as we were in the exact middle of two when we tried to cross). He died and I lol’d. I also absorbed a Patchwerk hateful on our first pull when our OT died 2 seconds into the pull, immediately followed by the deaths of a DPS warrior and DK. I was able to vanish and get to the corner and use my shadowmeld when he aggro’d me again. I LIVED!!! MWUHAHAHAAH!

 

2) I didn’t notice until last night that Dirty Deeds had been upgraded! Very nice…20% more damage to targets below 35% health. Very nice indeed…

 

 3) I can’t tell if the one second rule on HaT is being ignored or not, probably for a couple of reasons. First, it was a 10-man raid, so less crits going on than there would be in a 25-man raid; second, we’ve just started and our gear reflects that. [EDITED TO ADD:  After some more raids, I think the 1 second CD is working properly]

 

4) I need to get rid of some of the SCT spam… poison, bleed ticks and the like.

 

I’m currently working on a crummy spreadsheet for HaT because it’s not modeled anywhere (and may never be). It will give me a general idea of how stat changes, different talents and such will help or harm my DPS.

 

More on this build to come.

 

 

Tearjerker

I get all kinds of spam emails from my friends. Every once in a while I get something worth reading. The following story is an example.

Two Choices. What would you do? (Don’t look for a punch line, there isn’t one; read it anyway)

My question is: Would you have made the same choice?

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves children with learning disabilities, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question: ‘when not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does, is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?’

The audience was stilled by the query.

The father continued. ‘I believe that when a child like Shay, who was mentally and physically disabled comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child.’ Then he told the following story: Shay and I had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, ‘Do you think they’ll let me play?’

I knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but as a father I also understood that if my son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.

I approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, ‘we’re losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we’ll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning.’

Shay struggled over to the team’s bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt. I watched with a small tear in my eye and warmth in my heart.

The boys saw my joy at my son being accepted.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay’s team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as I waved to him from the stands.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay’s team scored again. Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat. At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game?

Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn’t even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball. However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay’s life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact.

The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed.

The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.

The game would now be over.

The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game. Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman’s head, out of reach of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, ‘Shay, run to first! Run to first!’ Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base.

He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled. Everyone yelled, ‘Run to second, run to second!’ Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base.

By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball. The smallest guy on their team now had his first chance to be the hero for his team. He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher’s intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman’s head.

Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home. All were screaming, ‘Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay’

Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, ‘Run to third! Shay, run to third!’

As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, ‘Shay, run home! Run home!’ Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team.

‘That day’, said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, ‘the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world’.

Shay didn’t make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making me so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!

Now, I don’t know how true this story is. What I do know is that it should be true and simmilar events should be commonplace IMO.

Rogue (partial) Talent Review (part 2 of 3)

Combat Talents

 

Tier 1

 

Improved Gouge

3 points – increases the duration of gouge by half a second per point

 

This used to be a really good talent for PvP, the talent hasn’t changed… but rogues have. Until LK came out I always had this talent for three reasons 1) you needed 3 more points after Imp SS to get to precision and 2) LR never impressed me all that much (it did nothing for your DPS, it offered limited PvP survivability in comparison with other talents and any warrior with half a brain would over power and devour you when you dodged their attack) and 3) I despise partial talents – none of my builds have them… I beg borrow and steal to avoid them… or leave a point unspent /shrug

 

Improved Sinister Strike

2 points – reduces the energy cost of your SS ability by 3/5 energy.

 

If SS is your main CP generator, you’re a fool not to get this talent.

 

Dual Wield Specialization

5 points – increases the damage of your OH weapon by 10/20/30/40/50%

 

The damage of OH auto attacks is penalized by 50%, five points in this reduces the penalty to 25%.

Since the largest chunk of a combat rogue’s damage comes from “white” (auto-attack) damage, this is an important talent for any PvE rogue and any PvP rogue for that matter IMO.

 

Tier 2

 

Improved Slice and Dice

2 points – increases the duration of your SnD ability by 25/50%

 

SnD is a must use in any PvE group you find yourself in, it makes your auto attacks happen more rapidly. As discussed above, auto attacks make up the largest portion of a rogue’s damage (except maybe HaT rogues). Increasing the duration of your SnD is important to maximizing your combat finisher cycle. You want a cycle that keeps SnD and rupture up 100% of the time without loosing ticks on the rupture.

 

Deflection

3 points – 2/4/6% parry chance

 

I don’t know why any PvE rogue would bother with this talent… rogue tank anyone? LOL For that matter, I don’t see it being viable in a PvP build either; most standard builds just don’t have room for this talent. Basically, there are better talents out there. You do have to have it to get to Riposte and that is still a decent PvP talent.

 

Precision

5 points – 1/2/3/4/5% chance to hit

 

You need +8% hit at the bare minimum for boss mobs, that’s 262.32 Hit Rating. After that you need another *6.6% (14.6% total) to never have your poisons “miss” on a boss. Past that amount the value of hit rating plummets. It seems to me that the value of HR between 8% and 14.6% may be slightly over-rated, but I’m not going to question the gurus – I’ll just use my spreadsheet and go on about my business.  At any rate, there’s not too much of a good reason not to utilize this talent – the more hit you get in your spec… the less you have to make up in gems and gear. No reason to not have this talent IHMO, YMMV.

 

*I don’t have access to EJ forums from work, but IIRC from skimming the WotLK Pocket Guide, you need 315 hit rating plus the precision talent to never have your poisons resisted. I deduced from that memory the actual %, if my data is wrong please let me know.

 

Tier 3

 

Endurance

2 points – Reduces the CD of your Sprint and Evasion by 30/60 seconds and increases your total stam by 2/4%

 

This is a good all around filler talent, more useful IMO than say Improved kick or Lightening Reflexes.

 

Riposte

1 point (requires 3 points in Deflection) – Becomes an active attack after you successfully parry, deals 150% weapon damage and slows targets melee attack speed by 20%. Gives one CP.

 

It’s a 10 energy attack. DPE-wise it’s probably our best attack, but that’s on paper. In reality it’s a four-point investment that has no real use in PvE and IMO there are better uses of talent points for PvP. It also only works against melee attacks, so there’s no gain against priests, warlocks (most of their pets), mages, certain druids, most shamans and hunters outside of melee range (even then, the chances of running into a dangerous Munter are infinitesimally slim to nil). It would more feasible to take this talent if it only required the one point as an investment. Skip the point dump IMO.

 

Close Quarters Combat [aka QCQ]

5 points – increases crit chance by 1/2/3/4/5%

 

It’s five percent free crit. You’re a rogue… take the talent for pete’s sake (unless you are mutilate, then you probably can’t invest the points… nor do you really need the talent).

 

Tier 4

 

Improved Kick

2 points – gives a 50/100% chance that your kick will silence the target for 2 seconds.

 

This is a PvP talent as boss mobs are immune to silence mechanics (note – they are immune to SILENCE mechanics, that is not synonymous with interrupt mechanics). Between CS/Garrote, KS and Imp Kick you can lock down a caster for more than 10 seconds (whilst still DPSing them)… that’s nice, but 2 seconds isn’t really all that long IMO. The interrupt of your kick lasts for 5 seconds (no talent required… err talent points that is)… so pay attention, if you’re on a healer kick the heal… 5 pt KS at 5 seconds then you should be able to kick again once that wears off. Anyhow, I’ve used this talent as a filler before but I don’t personally find it to be a must have for any situation.

 

Improved Sprint

2 points – gives a 50/100% chance to remove movement-impairing effects when you use your sprint ability.

 

IMO this should be innate in Sprint, but blizz doesn’t see it that way (YET!). I like this talent, always have. Its use is not limited to PvP and has saved my bacon time after time in a raid (gruul anyone?). That said, its not a must have. I don’t have it with my HaT spec right now… but I sure do miss it! J If you’re looking for a filler, give it serious consideration.

 

Lightning Reflexes

5 points – increases your dodge by 1/2/3/4/5%

 

While my rogue does moonlight as a tank from time to time (normally through some unfortunate incident), I don’t like this talent. I don’t need it unless the tank sucks… and if the tank sucks I’m probably going to die anyway. In PvP it only applies to about half the people I run into and warriors would eat me for lunch 5% more… Not to mention I have evasion for dire emergencies and GS if I’m Sub… plus my dodge is going to be pretty high anyhow. It does nothing for my DPS and it gives me little extra survivability for me in PvP. Meh… I know you’re probably getting tired of hearing this… but there are better talents out there IMO.

 

Aggression

5 points – increases the damage of SS, BS and Evis by 3/6/9/12/15%

 

If your main attack is SS or BS and/or your main finisher is Evis (HaT builds), take this talent. Don’t make me cry when I look at your spec… KK?

 

Tier 5

 

Mace Spec

5 points – ignore 3/6/9/12/15% of your target’s armor.

 

Armor penetration is rock bottom for PvE DPS stats. Thusly, maces remain PvP weapons… This talent makes me sad. I think blizzard should give its stun effect back as an addition to its current effect.  Too much QQ from other classes

 

Blade Flurry

1 point – Increases attack speed by 20%, attacks also hit an additional nearby enemy target; 25 energy lasts 15 sec

 

First I’m going to whine. BF used to hit any other enemy target w/in range (IIRC… its been a long time), then it was nerfed to 2 additional… now its only one. This makes me sad and angry. ONE ADDITONAL TARGET???? Seriously? Why? Oh I know!! We get FoK now, so that more than compensates. AMIRITE??

 

No.

 

/emo off

 

Get the talent if you’re a combat rogue, it’s a precursor to Weapon Expertise anyway. Its still free haste. It gives a little boost (getting smaller every xpac) in damage every two minutes. It’s a good 1 point investment.

 

Sword Specialization

5 points – gives a 1/2/3/4/5% chance to give an extra attack on your target when striking it with a sword

 

I still fail to see why extra attacks proc’ing off extra attacks was OP – or broken (I forget which they said); but that’s beside the point. Sword spec isn’t as good as fist spec, but its still better than mace spec and still competitive. If you use swords you’re not going to hurt your group, or gimp yourself beyond redemption.

 

Tier 6

 

Weapon Expertise

2 points – Increases your expertise by 5/10

 

After you reach +8% Hit, expertise is a rogues most valued DPS stat next to Agility. PvE rogues will want 213.2 total Expertise Rating. This talent gives you 82. If you’re a combat rogue take the talent or “we’re all going to laugh at you!” Or at least question your sanity. The more of this stat you get with talents, the less you have to make up for in gear and gems. (Incase you care, 164 rating would be the cap at level 80 in PvP)

 

Blade Twisting

2 points – Increase your SS and BS damage by 5/10% and gives your damaging melee attacks a 10% chance to daze your target for 4/8 seconds.

 

If you’re using SS or BS as your main attack take this talent. In addition to being one of the best DPS point investments in the combat tree – it has a daze effect! I like this talent so much better now than in its first incarnation.

 

Tier 7

 

Vitality

3 points – Increase your energy regen rate by 8/16/25%

 

IIRC you generate 20 energy every other second, with this talent you will generate 25 every other second. Faster energy regen = more DPS. Take the talent IMO.

 

Adrenaline Rush

1 point – Increase your energy regeneration by 100% for 15 seconds

 

Your regeneration will be 40 energy every 2 seconds for fifteen seconds. Again, Faster energy regen – more DPS. Take the talent, its one point and you need it for Surprise Attacks anyway (and you want SA if you’re a combat rogue).

 

Nerves of Steel

2 points – reduces the amount of damage taken while stunned or feared by 15/30%

 

This is a decent PvP talent. Its use in PvE is limited and doesn’t yield more you more DPS. A mediocre at best filler for PvE rogues.

 

Tier 8

 

Throwing Specialization

2 points – Increase the range of Throw and Deadly Throw by 2/4 yards and gives your Deadly Throw and Fan of Knives a 50/100% chance to interrupt the target for 3 seconds

 

A solid PvP talent and also can have PvE applications as it gives an INTERRUPT effect, not a silence. So, its like kicking from a distance. If you’re looking for a good all around filler, this is it IMO.

 

Combat Potency

5 points – gives your OH melee auto attacks a 20% chance to restore 3/6/9/12/15 energy

 

As said before… more energy gained is more DPS dealt. Of course as a surface examination… the old CP was better. They did change vitality though… but now that’s an 8-point investment as opposed to the old 5-point investment. Again, that’s a surface observation… I was out of the game for 6 months and I don’t feel compelled to go back over old data to compare the actual energy gained today vs. BC days and then apply it to DPS gained per talent point spent. Take the talent. Be happy.

 

Tier 9

 

Unfair Advantage

2 points – When you dodge an attack you have a 50/100% chance to gain an unfair advantage, which strikes the opponent for 50/100% MH weapon damage. Cannot occur more than once per second.

 

I like this little talent. It’s mainly a PvP and solo talent, but occasionally it’ll give you some free energy DPS in PvE. What I like is that it currently procs w/out breaking stealth if you dodge an AoE attack (think whirlwind) and without dismounting you… Yes, I’m sure its bugged. It also can apply poisons to the target. You’re running through mobs, you dodge them, hit them with UA and apply crippling poison to the target half the time. That’s nice J That said, its merely a point dump and it’s a fair help in leveling as well. I like it, did I mention that yet?

 

Surprise Attacks

1 point – Finishing moves can’t be dodged and increases the damage of your SS, BS, Shiv, Hemo and gouge by 10%

 

TAKE THE TALENT!!! If you’re a combat rogue… Why wouldn’t you?

 

Savage Combat

2 points – Increase your total AP by 2/4% and increase the physical damage you do to poisoned targets by 1/2%

 

Tier 10

 

Prey on the Weak

5 points – Increase your critical strike damage bonus by 4/8/12/16/20% on targets that have less % of their health than you.

 

Your melee crit rate is going to easily go over 30% fully raid buffed. Your special attack crit rate will be 25% easily as well for boss mobs. Why wouldn’t you increase every third or fourth hit by a substantial amount? This is a solid DPS investment. Take it.

 

Tier 11

 

Killing Spree

1 point – Step through the shadows between enemies w/in 10 yards, attacking every half second with both weapons a total of five times.

 

I like this little talent though it could be greatly improved and is not nearly as nice as the 51 point Assassination talent. That said if you’re already investing 50 points… take the talent its one point and will boost your DPS.