[Shaman] Beyond Karazhan: raid spec? - Page 6

Miaxi · 03/20/07, 1:30 PM

Originally Posted by Pane

granted I've only done RRH once, but I was hitting him in the back of the head for all of the fight, except when I was tagged to run. Why should you do nothing?

Because it is nearly impossible for the tank to generate good threat on the wolf. Half of the time he fears and other half he is chasing the red riding hood. If I do damage like normal, the wolf will come and eat me as soon as his chasing phase ends.

Wascal · 03/20/07, 4:29 PM

Originally Posted by Aezoc

The problem with even a weapon swap is that most of the situations where an enhancement shaman's healing is a meaningful contribution are the "oh shit" moments, and spending 1.5s on a GCD before you can start the heal is self-defeating in those situations.

The cooldown on weapon swap that you are referring to only applies to melee attacks, not spells. Also, your gear equipped is calculated at the moment the heal lands, not when you begin casting, so you can quite easily recognize the "oh shit" moment, begin your 1.5 second heal, and then hit your hotkey to swap weapons while in the process of casting, and you will still get full benefit of your healing weapons when the heal lands.

• Shalas · 03/20/07, 5:02 PM

Originally Posted by Wascal

The cooldown on weapon swap that you are referring to only applies to melee attacks, not spells.

It definatly applies to spells, unless priest heals are melee attacks.

• frmorrison · 03/20/07, 5:29 PM

Originally Posted by Wascal

The cooldown on weapon swap that you are referring to only applies to melee attacks, not spells.

Any weapon swap in combat will trigger the GCD, which means everything will be slowed.

mek · 03/20/07, 5:33 PM

Originally Posted by Wascal

The cooldown on weapon swap that you are referring to only applies to melee attacks, not spells. Also, your gear equipped is calculated at the moment the heal lands, not when you begin casting, so you can quite easily recognize the "oh shit" moment, begin your 1.5 second heal, and then hit your hotkey to swap weapons while in the process of casting, and you will still get full benefit of your healing weapons when the heal lands.

This is correct. Weapons swaps initiate the global cooldown BUT they can still be done even if you are within the global cooldown, therefore you can start casting a heal and then immediately swap your weapons.

Cynic · 03/20/07, 5:55 PM

I suppose that raises the question of the +heal attached to items being calculated upon spell cast, or upon spell landing/completion. Anyone know?

Aezoc · 03/20/07, 6:05 PM

Well, I was under the assumption that the +heal value was taken when you started the cast, but some quick testing showed it's whatever you're wielding at the end of the cast that matters. So move along, nothing to see here...

That's a nice little trick I wish I'd been aware of sooner.

Nya · 03/20/07, 10:47 PM

Spell effects are calculated the instant the spell finishes casting, and since while casting the spell you can change equipment without invoking a new GCD, you can basically macro in a totem, weapon, and off hand for each spell you cast.

Totally reminds me of playing my red mage in FFXI

[edit]: Only works for spells with actual cast times though, since if you macro in the weapon swap first it invokes the GCD and your spell won't fire, and I don't think swapping in equipment after you cast an instant spell will affect it.

Kegsta · 03/21/07, 12:08 AM

just tried it out, works well, i dont have the chain heal or healing wave totem yet, but all the rest work so i dont see why they wont, these macros will also use any activate trinkets you have as soon as they are ready. also if your targeting a mob/enemy and hit heal it will heal whoever its attacking.

Lightning Bolt + 2 Trinkets

#showtooltip Lightning Bolt
/script UIErrorsFrame:UnregisterEvent("UI_ERROR_MESSAGE");
/use 13
/use 14
/script UIErrorsFrame:RegisterEvent("UI_ERROR_MESSAGE");
/cast Lightning Bolt(Rank 12)
/equip Totem of the Void

LB Rank 1 for free clearcasting if your oom

#showtooltip Lightning Bolt(Rank 1)
/cast Lightning Bolt(Rank 1)
/equip Totem of Lightning

Healing Wave

#showtooltip Healing Wave
/script UIErrorsFrame:UnregisterEvent("UI_ERROR_MESSAGE");
/use 13
/use 14
/script UIErrorsFrame:RegisterEvent("UI_ERROR_MESSAGE");
/cast [help] Healing Wave; [target=targettarget] Healing Wave;
/equip Totem of Spontaneous Regrowth

Lesser Healing Wave

/script UIErrorsFrame:UnregisterEvent("UI_ERROR_MESSAGE");
/use 13
/use 14
/script UIErrorsFrame:RegisterEvent("UI_ERROR_MESSAGE");
/cast [help] Lesser Healing Wave; [target=targettarget] Lesser Healing Wave;
/equip Totem of the Plains

Chain Heal

#showtooltip Chain Heal
/script UIErrorsFrame:UnregisterEvent("UI_ERROR_MESSAGE");
/use 13
/use 14
/script UIErrorsFrame:RegisterEvent("UI_ERROR_MESSAGE");
/cast [help] Chain Heal; [target=targettarget] Chain Heal;
/equip Totem of Healing Rains

Ele Mastery + CL

#showtooltip Elemental Mastery
/script UIErrorsFrame:UnregisterEvent("UI_ERROR_MESSAGE");
/cast Elemental Mastery
/use 13
/use 14
/script UIErrorsFrame:RegisterEvent("UI_ERROR_MESSAGE");
/cast Chain Lightning
/equip Totem of the Void

if you dont have the totem then remove the last line of the macro, if you have the totem you may have to remove the #showtooltip part to fit it all in.

RK · 03/21/07, 12:22 AM

Originally Posted by Nerull

What I dont understand is that some players post that they feel the urge to prove themselves as top 3 , if not top 1 damage done.

Over-compensation. Hybrids have sucked for a long time for raid DPS or raid tanking. Feral druid tanks were always closest to viable, and got the overpowered push that has made them acceptable to raids now. Everyone else hasn't had that, so there's still a negative perception about them from most people. They need to over-achieve for a bit to achieve acceptance, really.

I've been in my guild since September 2005. Almost every first kill from Luci to AQ40. I still had to fight tooth and claw to get a Kara raid spot as elemental (having previously gone as resto) just as an experiment. And believe me, bloodlust and totems or not, making some key heals in the middle of DPSing or not, had I not torn up the place and been high on the meters, I would not have gone back. Quantifying the impact of totems/bloodlust on other people's DPS is difficult to qunatify- and in any event, I could do those as resto, so it's kind of a given that those buffs will exist. If elemental doesn't do viable DPS on top of that, then a resto shaman goes in place of another healer and a "better" DPS fills the DPS spot.

Aezoc · 03/21/07, 9:33 AM

Originally Posted by RK

Over-compensation. Hybrids have sucked for a long time for raid DPS or raid tanking. Feral druid tanks were always closest to viable, and got the overpowered push that has made them acceptable to raids now. Everyone else hasn't had that, so there's still a negative perception about them from most people. They need to over-achieve for a bit to achieve acceptance, really.

Well, I think it's about more than just perceptions. At least in my experience, DPS classes are typically a dime a dozen, while healers are harder to come by. And as an enhancement shaman, my buffing abilities above and beyond what a resto shaman would bring are pretty marginal - a little more str and agi from my totems, and a 10% AP group buff. Good, but not a must-have in and of itself... and for elemental shaman, ToW is probably even less of an advantage. So I'd better be putting out damage very nearly on par with the primary DPS classes, or the opportunity cost of me not being resto is just too steep. My guild's pretty laid back, so I probably wouldn't get any comments if my DPS did slip. But as a former raid leader, the desire to min/max the raid performance is too deeply ingrained to be happy with that.