Mage: Simple Questions/Simple Answers - Page 140

Ashgir · 08/03/09, 9:39 PM

Originally Posted by manly

Then also theres people that further cheese those top parses by 'not doing their job' and instead just going for whatever does the most damage. An easy example would be not nuking any mob at all on hodir and just hit hodir the entire time.

Fortunately, recount can catch those people. At one point we had two mages who would either not scorch at all, or throw one scorch and start DPS on the boss to pad their meters as much as possible. They couldn't understand that their behavior was a RDPS loss.

Have you tried binding your main nuke to your mouse scroll button? That was a noticeable DPS increase for me. You could also try a macro keyboard or autohotkey to spam the button fast, but I am not sure if those methods are EULA violations or not.

Tyrian · 08/04/09, 8:09 AM

Originally Posted by Codyjd

Does anyone know of videos of world-class mages running Ulduar? I would be interested in seeing what exactly they are doing differently to pull off that extra dps.

Echoing an above poster, the main difference between the "World class Mage" and "A great mage" (assuming comparable raid buffs) is not readily obvious from a video. The biggest difference is they will have a formiddable understanding of encounter mechanics and superior at dynamically adjusting position/rotation/movement for best DPS/uptime. Understanding the former helps you excel at the latter.

Mimiron Firefighter is an excellent fight that backs this notion up. After doing P1 Firefigher (25) a few times, you'll notice the smart-ranged figure out what needs to be done for Max DPS. Other people will just continue to perform pooly, due to not using smart positions/utilising Blink etc. It doesnt matter if those people look at the rotation/spells the superior performing players use, its all in their positioning (which itself is a derivitave of their understanding of encounter mechanics). Video's don't always explicitly teach that, they just often show people "going through the motions".

Kir · 08/04/09, 12:59 PM

I think you guy's are just reaffirming his reasons for wanting to see the videos, though he didn't word it accurately. The positioning is one of the main things you take away from watching a video, not the rotations. In coming back to the game, watching videos of certain encounters gave me a much better understanding of encounters, even ones I'd done a few times, and my dps went up.

In any case, I don't have any specific videos for you to watch Cody, but like a previous poster said, go on WCM and look up some. Also, you can find a lot on youtube too, of course. Just look for comments about 'mage perspective' in the info.

iwog · 08/05/09, 5:33 AM

After playing mage for a few months and getting to what I would call an acceptable standard I still have a few questions, what is "clipping" and how can I do it? I've seen it mentioned in both the Arcane and Frost threads and whilst I have zero interest in frost I want to know how to clip my last arcane missile? As my attempts at doing so dont seem to be working.

Saioran · 08/05/09, 5:44 AM

Originally Posted by iwog

After playing mage for a few months and getting to what I would call an acceptable standard I still have a few questions, what is "clipping" and how can I do it? I've seen it mentioned in both the Arcane and Frost threads and whilst I have zero interest in frost I want to know how to clip my last arcane missile? As my attempts at doing so dont seem to be working.

Clipping Arcane missiles was removed/fixed several patches ago

diemor · 08/05/09, 4:44 PM

I have been researching trying to figure out if Hot Streak proc'ing off of Living bomb ticks is working as intended, but haven't found anything conclusive.

Without the Living bomb Glyph Its nearly impossible to get a hot streak proc now as each tick resets the hot streak count between fireballs.

I'm assuming(or hoping) that this is a bug, anyone else have any solid info?

Edited: Found the answer on the Mage Compendium in the last few pages.

Anaxo · 08/05/09, 5:01 PM

Originally Posted by iwog

After playing mage for a few months and getting to what I would call an acceptable standard I still have a few questions, what is "clipping" and how can I do it?

Clipping was fixed a while ago. Since you asked what clipping is, it is casting a spell before the the previous one has finished casting, therefore clipping your damage by losing the last tick(s). Using arcane missiles as an example, it used to be possible to start casting the next arcane missiles before your previous one had finished, if you spamming your keys. You would then lose the last tick of AM damage and start the new cast.

Originally Posted by diemor

I have been researching trying to figure out if Hot Streak proc'ing off of Living bomb ticks is working as intended, but haven't found anything conclusive.

Hot Streak proccing from Living Bomb is intended. (blue quote)

Originally Posted by Ghostcrawler

The intent, as of this writing, is that Living Bomb ticks that crit will proc Hot Streak.

Enthorn · 08/05/09, 5:41 PM

But, the intent was probably not to have the DoT portion of Fireball and Frostfire Bolt reset Hot Streak. For those who haven't found out (hopefully it is hot fixed soon), the small DoT on Fireball and Frostfire Bolt will reset Hot Streak if the DoT ticks inbetween two criticals, or if it's allowed to tick at all. There are two cases where you won't notice this: if you have enough haste, it seems that the DoT will never tick if you are chain casting. I have 429 haste (13.08%) and my Frostfire Bolt has a 2.65 sec cast time. As long as I am chain casting, the DoT never ticks. Naturally, once I break away from refreshing the DoT with another spell, it will reset Hot Streak counter (refreshing Scorch/Living Bomb/Pyroblast will allow it to tick).

The other way you won't notice this is if you are using Glyph of Fireball, as it removes the DoT. I strongly recommend that until this bug is fixed (hot fixed or through a patch), players use Glyph of Fireball in some manner as it's the current work around for this bug.

manly · 08/05/09, 6:06 PM

That would pretty much be the nail in the coffin for ffb spec for as long as the issue remains.

Bossakula · 08/05/09, 6:08 PM

I have been unable to reconcile the theorycrafting (which I generally believe) and my DPS logs with regard to the benefits of the Living Bomb glyph.

I realize it has been buffed substantially in 3.2, so my question is largely historical (and procedural) -- what was (am) I doing wrong with this analysis:

Living bomb ticks (with the glyph) account for roughly 7% of my damage (often less). The split is often 2.5% of my total damage is normal ticks, and 4.5% of my damage is "crit ticks". I get those numbers straight off WWS/WoL. For example: World of Logs - Real Time Raid Analysis

I realize that ignite would add additional damage, taking that 4.5% up to (about) 6.5%. So, the total damage done, during a real fight, is (typically) around 9% from living bomb ticks (assuming I have the glyph).

By contrast, same spell casting, if I did not have the glyph, I figure I'd see about 5% of my total damage coming from living bomb ticks. That's the same 2.5% I was already seeing from non-crit ticks of living bomb, plus another 2.5% (down from 6.5%) from the ticks that are currently critting but can only crit with the glyph.

Net/Net, I figure that I was getting about 4% damage boost from the glyph of living bomb on real fights (9% total from all ticks vs 5% total from all ticks).

Wouldn't the glyph of fireball provide a larger DPS boost, something slightly over 5% given the ~250% scaling we see on fireball crits?

It's not that I don't trust Rawr, it's that I trust my own logs, and (at least on good days) my ability to interpret them. What have I done wrong here, 'cause I'm clearly reaching the wrong conclusion.

diemor · 08/05/09, 6:14 PM

Not only does FFB and FB dot reset hot streak but the unglyphed Living Bomb ticks do as well.

So regardless of which glyph puts out the best DPS right now, the Living bomb glyph is required for any spec utilizing Hot Streak.

Alezio · 08/05/09, 6:33 PM

Is anyone else having problems with [target=focus] macros for living bomb? Mine worked pre patch and is not doing anything now, a guildmate couldn't get his to cast either. Target=mouseover works fine.

Alinth · 08/07/09, 3:14 AM

Mana Concerns

Hey guys,

I was just hoping i might be able to get some advice from the more experienced mages about mana usage in some encounters.

My DPS has always been very high, but also my Mana use as well, and when it comes to some fights like Thorim HM, i end up running completely oom, with Evo, Mana pot, and gem/mana tap all on CD mid way thru P3. Same thing happens in alot of the other fights to the point im begging for a druids innervate, but the raid grpkeeps them for the Healers. Resto shaman totems, and other things like that are set for the healers as well.

Are there any tips/tricks that can be used in these fights to help with mana in these sorts of situations? Or do i just need to bite the bullet and look into a different spec for these fights?

Curently i run 20/51/0 with 2/3 Arc Med for fights that dont require mages to run special specs to aid in the encounter.

Many thanks in advance for any help

Extrudedcow · 08/07/09, 5:38 AM

Usually when I run into mana issues it's due to poor replenishment uptime. Keep an eye on your buffs (or set powerauras to show an icon when replenishment is not active) to see if replenishment is active for most of the fight. If not, look into having another member of your raid supplying it to boost uptime.

Fux0r · 08/07/09, 12:22 PM

quick simple question: Where's the FB thread?