Way way back (Patch 2.4 even) I looked at haste and how useful it was for Elemental rotations at the time. Today I plan on doing the same sort of thing, but for the post 3.1 Elemental (and this may be applicable to other classes as well).

There's a fair bit of concern out there about how there are "bad haste values". I'll admit part of this is my fault, due to early work on modelling how the rotation would scale with haste (I was forgetting that the dot timer would start at the start...

Binkenstein

Many of you will know this term: Best in Slot (or BiS for short). It's the ultimate list of items that everyone wants to get, for which there are no better items (lesser substitutes are oft frowned upon). What does this term really mean, and is it that important?

Most times, Best in Slot lists are created as some hypothetical listing of items, ignoring progression, availability, and armour slots. There will be much argument as to what exact combination should be on this ultimate listing,...

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Dear Blizzard,

Could you please re-think the way caster gear is itemised?

Most of the gear that is showing up on the PTR at the moment has Spirit or MP5 on it. Not much of an issue for other classes, given they get some benefit from spirit (although for some this bonus is fairly minimal), but Elemental gains precisely zero from any regen itemisation. What this means is that the few items that are added without regen stats will be hotly contested by DPS casters, or forcing...

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So from feedback from Ghostcrawler & co, Elemental DPS at 70 is a bit "low", but it is expected that this will pick up when we get Lava Burst. Most players seem to disagree on scaling grounds, citing the lack of empowerment talents, and the limited scaling talents (Concussion, Call of Flame, Overload, Lava Flows, Storm Earth & Fire), of which only 2-3 affect any one spell.

However, there's one thing that seems to have gone unnoticed so far. The Haste Problem. More specifically, the...

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I've been getting a few questions from people, both on IRC and via PM's on improving Elemental dps.

Most of my observations have been around gearing. The new badge items from SSO are good (see an earlier blog entry), gemming for more haste is better than gearing for more damage (especially as you'll use the somewhat underused [Seaspray Emerald] instead of the ever popular [Shadowsong Amethyst].

Gem wise, yellow sockets should always be [Quick Lionseye], blue should be [Forceful Hand of Justice]...

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