As you can see i have dropped the 2 points in threat reduction, 1 point in range, and the 2 points i used to put in student of the mind. The spec works fantastically in ulduar, pushback protection is a must for arcane to fulfill its potential dps. I do however have to watch my threat generation slightly more, but i find invisibility to be on a short enough cd to handle that.
As you can see i have dropped the 2 points in threat reduction, 1 point in range, and the 2 points i used to put in student of the mind. The spec works fantastically in ulduar, pushback protection is a must for arcane to fulfill its potential dps. I do however have to watch my threat generation slightly more, but i find invisibility to be on a short enough cd to handle that.
Your link doesn't work, but if you are having to invis as a result of moving points from threat to pushback, then you're kind of defeating the purpose. Instead of losing dps/dpm from pushback, you're losing dps time by having to invis. Even if this does still give you a higher net dps, you're now reliant on not getting hit with random damage while you wait for invis to kick in.
I was by no means saying that is a flawless spec, it all depends on your raid setup. If (like me) you lack pushback protection from concentration aura, then 5 points in arcane stability helps a lot, i have considered trying to leave out all points in extra range to put one back in threat reduction, but that is a future test. As to not getting hit with random damage while waiting for invis to kick in, scoping out a 2 second gap to pop it in the fight is not a hard thing to do. Also, i don't use invisibilty on every availible cd, just slighlty more regularly on fights where i get an external dps buff.
As you can see i have dropped the 2 points in threat reduction, 1 point in range, and the 2 points i used to put in student of the mind. The spec works fantastically in ulduar, pushback protection is a must for arcane to fulfill its potential dps. I do however have to watch my threat generation slightly more, but i find invisibility to be on a short enough cd to handle that.
No Subtlety, full Stability (we have 2 paladins and neither runs with Conc), and I have 12% hit from gear so I don't need the full 3/3 AF. Threat is a very rare problem. The only time I had to Invis was on Ignis, early in the fight, when I resisted two Flame Jets in a row and could continue casting unimpeded. Having 100% pushback is vital in my opinion, particularly if you're using exclusively ABx3->AM, which I am.
Without concentration aura, you should only place 1, 3 or 5 points in this talent; with concentration aura, you should only use 2 or 4 points as additional points are wasted.
Obviously, this assumes that the damage taken occurs before the specified number of bolts.
Just felt the need to quote this post again, since it's buried way back. I've found it very useful for making Arcane Stability decisions, even now. Points are wasted if you deviate from the below.
Without concentration aura: 1, 3, 5
With concentration aura: 2, 4
Just felt the need to quote this post again, since it's buried way back. I've found it very useful for making Arcane Stability decisions, even now. Points are wasted if you deviate from the below.
Without concentration aura: 1, 3, 5
With concentration aura: 2, 4
These numbers aren't considering imp conc aura though. With imp conc, the pally is giving 50% coverage, so the 1 3 become the equivalent of 3 5. In a 25 man setting, there's no reason to have more than 3 in my eyes.
Apparently, [Spark of Hope] does indeed drop your base mana cost, so an AB 3 stack costs noticeably less than without using the trinket edit: roughly 450 mana less (Thread on Subcreation).
Does it mean it reduces mana cost of AB of all stacks by 16%(42/261) ?
it affects either base_mana_cost - trinket_mana_redux or round(base_mana_cost [* arcane_focus] [* elemental_precision]) - trinket_mana_redux. In other words, the mana cost reduction is applied 7 times on a 3 stack AB.
<Eej> YOU"RE GONNA PULL
<Eej> IF YOU SQUEEZE OFF ANOTHER ARCANE BLAST
<Spectear> You've obviously never played with Manly.
<Spectear> That's hardly a reason to stop DPS. Very Manly Staff
Most fights im doing the most DPS, but im not top on dmg and im not oom, im always casting except for evocate which i usualy will use the last tick of my veins or bloodlust with.
Questions:
1) why is my dps higher than everyones but my dmg not on top
2) Do i have too much haste?
3) In ur guilds raids for ulduar, are hunters warlocks and rogues above mages?
Now i know TTW/FB spec is said to be the highest dps spec for raiding... but i find that on fights like General Vezax the amount of controlled dmg i can spit out when in the cloud is going to be far better than fire, and the movment in some of the other fights as well. my dps was about 10k on him and that was with wanding whenever i wasnt in a buff cloud.
If i spec TTW/FB will my dps be more competitive with the other classes?
you know i didnt raid during BC, but PREBC i was doing more dmg as fire than any mage i have heard or seen, and i remember looking at dmg meters on this forum and seeeing that i would do more than everyone, i know im not a terrrible player... but maybe im missing something.
The last reset I got to Yogg-Saron in 10man and to Mimiron in 25man and pushback is and is not a problem so to speak.
Razorscale - rng dependant this being a case where it helps
Ignis - none
XT002 - none
Kologarn - only 1 hit every 25-30 sec or so
Iron Council - very low pushback (dmg aura doesn't pushback the spells)
Auriaya - high pushback fight
Hodir - no need for pushback protection
Thorim - in arena maybe helps a little but depending on tactic might be proven useless to have pushback protection
Freya - minor to none again quite rng dependant
Mimiron - for phase2 and phase4 pushback is a very good thing to have (alot of pushback in those phases)
General Vezax - pushback is not an issue (I only done 10man)
Yogg-Saron - pushback is a very good thing to be immune to (I only got to him in 10man)
From what I experienced, to me it looks like you have 3 bosses where your pushback protection talents kick in and helps your dps alot. Rest of them are either RNG hits or they simply don't have aoe that pushback. It happens that those bosses that require pushback protection are also "final bosses" and are a tad more difficult than the other encounters where you don't need pushback protection, so it gets to a 50-50 decision of taking 100% immunity or not at all, for me at least.
Most fights im doing the most DPS, but im not top on dmg and im not oom, im always casting except for evocate which i usualy will use the last tick of my veins or bloodlust with.
Questions:
1) why is my dps higher than everyones but my dmg not on top
2) Do i have too much haste?
3) In ur guilds raids for ulduar, are hunters warlocks and rogues above mages?
The way that Recount and WWS measure dps flatters specs without dot that need to pause from time to time (evocation). The only valid measure of your contribution to a fight is total damage, not dps. In WWS, you can select average dps which divides total damage by fight duration (rather than dps time) and get a better comparative measure with other classes. Dps is really only very useful when comparing the same classes and specs (and the same fights, including fight length). It is most useful as a convenient guide to your own performance from one week to the next or when evaluating gear with Rawr and similar tools.
Most fights im doing the most DPS, but im not top on dmg and im not oom, im always casting except for evocate which i usualy will use the last tick of my veins or bloodlust with.
Questions:
1) why is my dps higher than everyones but my dmg not on top
2) Do i have too much haste?
3) In ur guilds raids for ulduar, are hunters warlocks and rogues above mages?
Now i know TTW/FB spec is said to be the highest dps spec for raiding... but i find that on fights like General Vezax the amount of controlled dmg i can spit out when in the cloud is going to be far better than fire, and the movment in some of the other fights as well. my dps was about 10k on him and that was with wanding whenever i wasnt in a buff cloud.
If i spec TTW/FB will my dps be more competitive with the other classes?
you know i didnt raid during BC, but PREBC i was doing more dmg as fire than any mage i have heard or seen, and i remember looking at dmg meters on this forum and seeeing that i would do more than everyone, i know im not a terrrible player... but maybe im missing something.
I am at a loss with my mage. I have good gear. I seem to be appropriately glyphed, gemmed and enchanted. I have tried to follow the rotation suggested for arcane and for fire yet I am performing poorly.
I don't understand why I am getting such poor dps and damage as the other highest dps mages in my guild. We are specced identically. We should be getting similar numbers yet we arent. When we attack the dummy we are close but in a boss fight, specifically within ulduar, I am very low. Any feedback on what I need to do differently would be extremely welcome.
What stage are we at with working out a BiS set with current known Ulduar gear?
Ive having real trouble, for one thing, rawr doesnt work on my mac... but also, i think it totally depends on how hard the hard modes are.
The issue of prioritizing spirit, especially since 3.1 is so complicated, because the crit it provides may be totally void if we have to switch to mage armor on certain longer hard mode fights anyway.
My best guess is 2 pieces of T7 and 2 pieces of T8 will be BiS, but which ones?
Furthermore, trinket selection is also quite puzzling, scale of fates is immediately notable as an excellent trinket, but if heroism/bloddust and icy veins manage to take your AB cast time to very close to 1 second, and scale of fates pushes it over, is it BiS?
I love having to work all this out, but it really is confusing at the moment!
I don't understand why I am getting such poor dps and damage as the other highest dps mages in my guild. We are specced identically. We should be getting similar numbers yet we arent. When we attack the dummy we are close but in a boss fight, specifically within ulduar, I am very low. Any feedback on what I need to do differently would be extremely welcome.
I have, in the past, expereinced the same situation.
First, when you compare output on the target dummies, you need to make sure that you run your comparison for an extended period of time. Not just one cycle of mana. The more time and data, the less the RNG screws with your comparison. So, a full 6-10 minutes should get you a better static picture.
The next issue comes from (and I learned this the hard way), comes from understanding the network connection. Make sure you are using Quartz or some other casting bar mod that shows you the latency of your connection. You need to time your spells so you are casting a spell when the casting bar hits the red area. You can gain significant DPS by anticpiating the timing of your rotation. There is an inherent lag between your spell finishes and when you see that on your screen and then again when you release your key and the server starts your next spell.
The next major consideration is your graphics card. Again, if you are not running at peak performance, then the screen will have a delay in telling you when to cast your spell.
Assuming all other factors are equal, you can raise your DPS 500-1000 pts by making sure your spells are going off fast enough.
One side note - I'm not sure why you are choosing to be over hit capped (and with gems nonetheless). You can lower your hit rating and gain some additional Spellpower.
One side note - I'm not sure why you are choosing to be over hit capped (and with gems nonetheless). You can lower your hit rating and gain some additional Spellpower.
The high proc damage of Dying Curse makes it a strong trinket, even when you don't get much advantage from the +hit it provides. Personally, my mage is over hit cap a bit because of this (I've played with different options in RAWR), but I still get the best dps from being over capped with Dying Curse. Additionally, the pressence or lack thereof a shadow priest/boomkin would make him actually 5 under hit cap. Finally, he may simply not have any better options available to make dropping hit worth the switch.
Maybee the other 2 better trinkets haven't dropped yet, or unlucky roles.
Rather than nitpicking, all the advice about connection is true. The biggest DPS factor (I know its my problem too) is leaving time in between casts or accidently cutting off Arcane Missiles because I typed my next spell too soon.
If you find you are at the end of a fight and mana wasn't an issue or you are never using evoc, you have an opportunity to up your dps by buring more Arcane Blasts.
Also, with the change to PoM I almost stopped using it, then I remember the 30% crit buff, so I now make sure I use it all the time.
BiS gear, I know there is one kicking around here already, i was looking at it the other day.
The next issue comes from (and I learned this the hard way), comes from understanding the network connection. Make sure you are using Quartz or some other casting bar mod that shows you the latency of your connection. You need to time your spells so you are casting a spell when the casting bar hits the red area. You can gain significant DPS by anticpiating the timing of your rotation. There is an inherent lag between your spell finishes and when you see that on your screen and then again when you release your key and the server starts your next spell.
I advice against this, except for channeled spells. Spamming your buttons when nearing end of cast seems to often produce better results, we already discussed it here a few days ago. Trying to time spells also might take your focus off from important things, like watching for fires, or planning 1 spell ahead, watching procs etc.
I advice against this, except for channeled spells. Spamming your buttons when nearing end of cast seems to often produce better results, we already discussed it here a few days ago. Trying to time spells also might take your focus off from important things, like watching for fires, or planning 1 spell ahead, watching procs etc.
Let me clarify. Anticipating your spell instead of waiting for the casting bar to finish completely.
Spamming will certainly come closer and certainly will produce better results than the imperfect timing, but either are better than waiting for the Blizzard cast bar to finish before sending your request.
Let me clarify. Anticipating your spell instead of waiting for the casting bar to finish completely.
Spamming will certainly come closer and certainly will produce better results than the imperfect timing, but either are better than waiting for the Blizzard cast bar to finish before sending your request.
Indeed and I suspect this is a major reason some people are failing when claiming good rotations and they have good gear.
That and handling movement badly.
Something to note if you have someone majorly failing and cannot figure out why.
No Subtlety, full Stability (we have 2 paladins and neither runs with Conc), and I have 12% hit from gear so I don't need the full 3/3 AF. Threat is a very rare problem. The only time I had to Invis was on Ignis, early in the fight, when I resisted two Flame Jets in a row and could continue casting unimpeded. Having 100% pushback is vital in my opinion, particularly if you're using exclusively ABx3->AM, which I am.
If you are rarely having threat issue with no points in Subtlety, that means you are not doing enough dps, or not doing the dps you should be doing. Mages dps, especially arcane during burn phases, is not designed to work without threat reduction if you are doing your potential dps.
There is a new trinket in Ulduar called the spark of hope.
Link: [Spark of Hope]
I'm currently wondering if any arcane mages have this trinket and have explored its mechanics, particularly with the 3% mana cost reduction from Arcane Focus paired with Frost Channeling in the frost tree.
My idea is that if you pair this trinket with frost channeling and the spark of hope, arcane blast spam can be added to the arcane mage cast sequence, in a feasible manner, thus increasing overall DPS. The following chart below shows a list of mana costs under different conditions. I used a simple subtraction of mana costs always referencing the max base cost of AB (256 mana). I have heard rumors that if the base cost of the mana is reduced for arcane blast, that the trinket would then scale with the arcane blast damage bonus (up to 600% of the effect equaling a saving of 256 mana per arcane blast 3 buff cast.
Sample Equation used: (for SOH, FC, and A)
=256-42*6-256*0.1-256*0.03*6
(SoH = spark of hope, FC = Frost Channeling, A = Arcane Focus)
Another nice part of this trinket is the 100 spirit, which is a stat that has become important for mages after the recent patch. I have calculated, according to wowwiki, the crit rating received from this item is 1.32%. (this calculation assumes student of the mind (3) talent)
I advice against this, except for channeled spells. Spamming your buttons when nearing end of cast seems to often produce better results, we already discussed it here a few days ago. Trying to time spells also might take your focus off from important things, like watching for fires, or planning 1 spell ahead, watching procs etc.
Really? I've been using quartz since just before 2.3 and I've always felt that spamming was worse (unless you're lagging unpredictably) since a failed cast seems to trigger a GCD of about .5-1s long. I could be mistaken but spamming seems to trigger a GCD that locks you out client-side from attempting to cast again.
I was under the impression that the Spark of Hope trinket had already been worked out to be less beneficial than Dying Curse proc several weeks ago? The arguments being that since AB3AM was nearly the same dps as AB3[MBAM or ABr], yet much more mana efficient, it'd be better to use the cheap rotation and a pure dps trinket rather than trying to reduce the cost of the expensive rotation.
04/22/09, 11:54 AM
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