[Shaman] Elemental Spec Aggro Dilemma
 

I'm not really experienced in raiding much, I've only been up to Shade of Aran in KZ. And I've noticed I've got a threat ceiling on every trash pull, so my questions are:
-With those Threat ceiling in mind and no skill-based aggro reduction (except for BoSalvation & 10% off talents) why should I go crazy on spell damage?

-I'm sitting on 26% non-buff spell crit currently without the talents included and feel OK with my burst dps, I know my damage is not spectacular when it doesn't crit. But at least I've got some semblance of mana effeciency with the clearcasting crits. So I'm socketing every socket with +8 Spell crit gems with this goal of 40% spell crit in mind with Totem of Wrath it's achieved. Is this OK ? Or am I gimping myself in some encounters?

-Do you include flame shock as part of your spell cycle? Or rely mainly LB, LB LB CL when Clearcast is up? I realized casting CL when clearcast is up seems efficient, but waiting for LB to land & register a crit takes a second or so (more when max distance) so I find it more efficient to just spam LB continously and Flame shock when I'm close enough for a little bit more dps. In boss fight that I have to move a lot eg. Aran, I usually place a searing totem to deal consistent dmg.

-I've taken two trinkets recently for a test and pretty happy with the result with Dr.Boom test on non-PTS Server (100% clearcast still in effect). I've buffed myself with:
Spell Dmg Food
Elixir of Adept
Totem of Wrath
Totem of Mana Spring
Wrath of Air Totem

I popped 1 Combat Mana pot near the start. Then Super Mana pot whenever cooldown is up. I've managed to kill Dr Boom from 95% and ends the fight at around 30-40% mana. It took me around 16 minutes and 7 super Mana potions.

I basically repop the Mana Spring totem when it's gone. Then do a Totemic Recall when they're 5 second to wearing off before resummoning them. Every 3 minute I used my Elemental Mastery skill.

Mark of Vindication
Binds when picked up
Unique
Trinket
Classes: Paladin, Shaman
Requires Level 62
Equip: Increases attack power by 54.
Equip: Chance on spell hit to restore 128 to 172 mana to the bearer.

Darkmoon Card: Blue Dragon
Binds when picked up
Unique
Trinket
Requires Level 60
Equip: 2% chance on successful spellcast to allow 100% of your Mana regeneration to continue while casting for 15 sec.

I've had these two trinkets equipped with my current armory profile. Would they be a viable raiding gear pieces? or am I sacrificing too much dps for longetivity?

Thanks, sorry if my post kinda long.

Edit:
I did 581,919 dmg and dps metre showed 43% percent crit which is pretty accurate.
There was a mage jumping in the last 3 minutes to finish off Dr Boom. I could've gone a little bit longer but Boom died prematurely.

Do you and your tank have KLH Threatmeter installed? What sort of threat level is your tank generating? You might be able to suggest some improvements to your tanks regular skill cycle to significantly improve his threat per second.

check :
your TPS
tank TPS

post it here

There's tons of ways to manage your threat, esp. as elemental. Enhancement basically stop attacking, and pray the tank can regain before they die.

FIrst and foremost, get at the very least your tank and yourself to download KLHThreatMeter. Check his threat per second (TPS) with KTM. Check yours. Adjust your start time accordingly. Keep one eye on your castbar, the other on KTM at all times.

Get Subtlety enchanted on your cloak. Give your tank more of a buffer for threat generation before opening on trash mobs.

If you don't need to AoE, avoid CL with multiple mobs and simply spam LB on the MT/OT's target. Shocks are a waste of a good GCD, imo, esp. given our +10% crit on LB compared to shocks. Save that 6 sec CD for interrupting.

Increase your spot healing. Its threat is only 50% of the total effective healing done.

Etc., etc.

Alright that sounds agreeable. That's what I do most of the time anyway.
Lately I've been thinking I should resocket my gems.
Currently I have 18x Gleaming Dawnstones (+8 spell crit) socketed everywhere.
I'm planning to replace them with 18 x Potent Noble Topaz (+4 spell crit & 5 spell dmg)
Which will result in -72 Spell Crit Rating (3.25%) & + 90 spell dmg
I've also considered replacing my +30 INT enchant on weapons with +40 Spell dmg, I'll lose a little bit of MP5 since 6% INT is convered to MP5 from talent as well as perhaps 0.375 Spell Crit Loss.

Right now I'm sitting at 26% Spell Crit & 570 Spell Dmg unbuffed.
After these changes (Gonna cost a lot of gold T_T) I'll end up with:
22.375% Spell Crit & 700 spell dmg unbuffed.

Is this an acceptable number? If there's mistake somewhere please correct me.
I think, with full self buff I would have:
Totem of Wrath +3% spell crit
Wrath of Air +101 spell dmg
Well Fed +23 spell dmg
Adept's Elixir +24 spell dmg & 24 (1%) spell crit
Superior Wizard Oil +42 spell dmg

Which totals up to around +190 dmg & +4% Spell Crit
And...finally bump it up to 26.375% spell crit & 890 spell dmg.

Comments? Is this OK socketing change for the price?
Edit:
I also realized I have almost zero Spell Penetration stat on my gear. Only +20 from cloak enchant. How crucial is this stat?

If your post has a headliner stating Aggro Dilemma - I would say whatever Penetration does it's not benificial enough if there's Subtlety wich lessens your threat output.

Ever since the introduction of Inivsibility for mages I couldn't care less if Penetration was beneficial or not in theory - I just know I have 0 use for Subtlety when I can dump my aggro 100% and thus I have Spell Penetration on my cloak.

Spell Penetration helps against partial resists. I find shaman are the only class with a real use for the stat as CoE covers most of the casters ass in that department. With the 20 on cloak combined with the +30 elixir, I notice a decent difference in the ammount of partials I get. I still wouldnt rate it as an extremely important stat though.

Threat meter is your friend. Keep an eye on it and make sure you stay below your MT. In my experience a high crit rate makes damage very streaky. When you are riding the MT's butt on threat and get a string of crits you will pull aggro. It's difficult to predict or prevent other than holding back. With that said adding more +dmg at the cost of +crit to your gear should help even it out.

I prefer a minimum of about 20% crit from gear then as much +dmg as I can. Again thats just personal preference.

On most fights I have seen threat has only been an issue during the initial pull or when a boss has a deaggro ability. After aggro is established I have found it very difficult to catch up to the tank (with salvation).

I would recommend spell penetration to cloak over the threat reduction enchant. You will see a much larger improvement in aggro control with KTM installed in your groups than that enchant.

Has anyone figured out the aggro properties of lightning overload yet? I seem to recall that the second bolt either had a reduced aggro component or possibly even reduced your aggro, but it was never clarified and I'd imagine it'd be hell to try to test.

I think that was probably speculation or a suggestion, I don't recall reading anything like that in any blue posts or patch notes.

http://www.wowwiki.com/Patch_2.0.10_...otes%29#Shaman

Which is why I don't post in absolutes anymore!

Yes, I have KTM installed, and it's pretty great for trash and single boss encounters but when we get some Opera event like the one I had today with multiple targets, I find it very very hard to track my aggro.

Failed to control my dps twice in R&J event. I had to force myself to just heal after critting twice in a row because KTM does not reset threat AFTER R or J dies in the first wave, they just keep stacking on the total KTM.

Would love a mod recommendation or any gameplay changes to counteract this problem.
But I had no.1 dps slot for the Kz run and was pretty happy with the general changes, albeit I drank quite a bit of mana pots compared to last time heheh.

Penetration is decent, but only get it when you don't have other options(cloak enchant, occasional epic gem).

8 spell crit gems are bad, Noble Topaz is better, and Runed Living Ruby best.

Flame shock in your rotation will increase your DPS, but lower your mana efficiency.

In regards to your question aggro on trash should never be an issue. Either you are DPSing to hard too early, or your tank needs work.

You have the same reduction that other casters have -10% threat. If mages aren't pulling aggro you shouldn't either. Mages can't use a reactive invisibility, and its cooldown is long enough to make it useless on trash. Warlocks can pop a soulshatter if they pull aggro.

You can pretty easily just switch between Tranq and Wrath of Air to control your TPS. This assume aren't in a tank group which is pretty easily avoided. Everyone in your group can go much harder if they have BoS + Traq on them to start trash pulls.

Flameshock using a GCD < damage than using it on another LB unless there is movement like on Aran where you are hitting him on the run.