could it be more beneficial now to gem Str/Crit in yellow sockets for strength bonuses at a loss of total strength? For example [Bloodbath Girdle] heroic mode has 2 yellow sockets with a bonus of 6 strength. Before I use to gem straight strength but now I'm wondering if getting the bonus is worth it.

Ugh, please don't lump me in with people making some BS argument about "playstyle". When I say "I prefer to use it situationally", I'm talking about making a decision as to whether I'd be able to use GoD optimally in a given encounter. GoD is an unusual glyph in that if it can't be used to its potential (frequent target-switching, disrupted rotations, avoiding CC though that doesn't seem to ever be an issue anymore), it can become an empty glyph slot. To me, this makes it a choice based on what I need to do in a fight.

GoD will clearly get better as gear and especially weapons get better in ICC, there's no debate-- the extra SS will more heavily outweigh the alternatives.

A late quote, I'm sorry for it.
Regarding dirge vs necrosis with GoD.

Since the GoD timing is tricky, we may not be able to use every DC we can, not to loose the diseases on the target.
That not mesurable with sims and that's the matter.

Considering that point, maybe necrosis could be better ?

I guess I'm confused with this bug as to why it only affects the first rotation. What should the rotation with this GoD bug look like now?

We have plenty of free GCDs. Using every DC we can is not difficult, not in the slightest. You just have to know when and when not to use them, and when diseases need to be refreshed would be one of the latter situations.

Awareness does surpass Virulence, but only if you actively gem ArP and are in BiS, and even then they still come within ~10 dps of one another, with Awareness just barely edging out.

Having two sets is, of course, ideal, but it's not that simple. One can't snap their fingers and magically have two of each item. Although, over time, one will get various pieces which they can swap in and out, it does take a lot of time, generally speaking, and at the end of the day there are some items which you'll never get a second of. Besides, you're going to have to prioritize one set or the other. The lead ArP has on a single target isn't all that potent, and just doesn't outweigh Str's performance whenever there is AoE - incidental or otherwise - which is still the case with most bosses.

But, yes, given unlimited gear, two sets is easiest. There is a point in time, however, where you have to stop with theory and look at reality.

@ Leaflock: I didn't mean any offence, and that was directed to what Fmorrison had said, not you, anyways.

It may be a good idea to explicitly state how many mobs you must be fighting for the AoE rotation to overtake the single target rotation. Even if this is already the case at just 2 mobs instead of one, it would prevent any confusion that may arise.

The problem with the standard GoD rotation is that Blood Plague will not get the benefit of Rage of Rivendare (and if you open with Icy Touch, neither will Frost Fever). Your diseases only gain the benefit of RoR if you apply them on a target already affected by Blood Plague. (This doesn't have to be your BP, however). Once your diseases have the benefit from RoR, you can roll them with Pestilence and they will retain that buff (though they will still adjust to any changes in your AP or Crit).

(This behavior is similar to Shadow Priests with Shadow Word: Pain, where refreshing SWP will adjust the value of the ticks to their new spellpower and crit values but will not cause SWP to gain the benefit from increased stacks of Shadow Weaving or Scorch.)

I ran the numbers on some parses from last night, and the loss of RoR from Blood Plague is about 65 DPS (this with 4pT9). The rotation I listed in my post above will get both diseases rolling with the benefit of RoR in the first rotation and shouldn't cost any Scourge Strikes, but has the downside of being awkward and somewhat difficult to re-create if diseases fall off.

GoD timing is not tricky at all, it just forces you to be on your toes and think and takes some getting used to. Having played GoD DW Frost since 3.2 till we got to Anub HC, I find it quite easy to roll the new UH rotation properly. Still struggling a bit with refreshing Bone Shield tho

In the light of stat weights shift, is it only me or DMC:G finally seems to get some competition other than Val'kyr(25) trinket outside ICC?

So the issue would appear to be that when you use GoD to reapply diseases it takes a new snapshot of your AP but for some reason it "saves" whether or not the diseases already on the target are getting the benefit of RoR, rather than adding that benefit (as it logically should) because you are reapplying diseases with BP already on the target (activating RoR).

This would mean that your initial BP, since it started RoR, but did not get the benfit of it, will be reapplied without RoR's damage if you use GoD. If you use PS to reapply it whilte BP is still on the target, though, that new BP gets the benefit of RoR and will maintain it from then out with GoD, as long as it doesn't drop off the target.

I haven't played with it yet, so don't take my word as fact, but hopefully this helps you understand what they are saying.

Hi everyone,

I have two questions/concerns about what the OP suggests in terms of Optimal spec.

Here's a log of my fight against Saurfang yesterday :

World of Logs - Real Time Raid Analysis

I was using the recommended 17/0/54 spec with Glyphs : Dark Death/Ghoul/Pestilence.
However, I stopped using Pestilence to refresh diseases after a while because I took aggro on the blood beasts (hence, my high number of PS/IT).

First question :
Death Coil is 12.2% of my total damage, and Frost Fever is only 6.3%. Even if I clipped the diseases a little due to not using Pestilence to refresh them, I don't understand how gaining 20% damage to FF (GoIT) could be superior to gaining 15% damage to Death Coil (GoDD).
Another DK in my guild (Husnan, you can check his parse on the same WoL page) was using GoIT, GoDD, and Glyph of the Ghoul, and his Death Coils were 12.8% of his damage, while Frost Fever is only 6.9%.

My second Question is about Necrosis :
Looking at my parse on Saurfang, and even though I was using GoDD and very little ArP, my melee damage is 22.5% of my total damage, and Death Coil only 12.2%. How can Morbidity (+5% damage to DC per talent point) be better than Necrosis (+4% damage to Melee per talent point)?
Or is the recommended spec including 2/3 Morbidity to ease AOE rotations with a lower DnD cooldown?

GoIT also affects approximately half of your Wandering Plague damage. The two glyphs are almost exactly the same on a single target, and as such using a single parse to try to argue one or the other doesn't quite work, as getting even one extra DC crit or having FF fall off for even 5% of the fight can skew things one way or the other. The other parse you mention proves this point - he used GoDD but only did 5% more DC damage. When things are essentially equal, you can't really use individual parses to much effect.

With them being near equal, GoIT is taken as it gains dps when you can pestilence to adds.

As to Morbidity, that was brought up a couple pages back. Yes, it's due to the DnD reduction, which is essential for fights where you use DnD. For those who run two specs/swap specs, a single target spec with Necrosis instead is slightly more optimal. I'll probably mess with the OP some to decide how to phrase the issue. Don't think it's worth listing another whole spec when all* that shifts is Morbidity to Necrosis, and that's it. Yet relegating it to the optional talents section doesn't quite seem right, as it's not like GF/IUP (which are flat out inferior to everything else).

*While on the subject, BA overcomes Necrosis even on a single target, for the curious. In ICC, that is.