You might be right there. I got the same feeling confirmed by dummies testing. But I am dwarf paladin, so... Anyways, sticked to my Torch with Mongoose till Titansteel Destroyer.

Is there anything against using a shield spike while leveling instead of block or stamina enchants? This is for protection spec'd leveling. Is a spiked shield still valid for trash clearing or is block preferred there?

That's the mammoth boss, nevertheless, I'd guess achievements are simply outside of the realm of what Blizzard expects out of a normal 5-man group. It's far from the only achievement that relies on having certain abilities in your group.

I can't really imagine the shield spike being a significant amount of your damage done any more, even with very large pulls. It nevertheless stays more damage than the other options, so if you somehow feel your issue while AoE farming is that you need more damage, it's the obvious option.

Did you max your 2H axe skill? If your 2H mace is at max (since you've been using the Torch) and 2H axe is lagging behind, you will notice the difference.

As a human the axe was a straight upgrade from the Torch to me, even losing my racial Expertise. As was the Titansteel beyond the De-raged Waraxe (re-gaining my racial Expertise).

No, assuming both weapon skills numbers were the same.

The difference between the Axe and Torch is not that much, so don't worry about it. The Axe replaced Torch for me.

You're asking why you're not noticing a 15 damage difference on weapons that average for 1000+ damage per swing. (with AP and % modifiers, ignoring armor)

That's a 1.5% difference in damage per swing. I'd say it's impossible to notice it.


It's still a DPS gain, though the math is interesting when you think about SoB's weapon speed dependency:

Gains:
15~ DPS to auto-attack.
15 damage per CS (2.5 DPS)
15 damage per DS (1.5 DPS, single target)
15 weapon damage * 36% = 5.4 damage / JoB (0.7~ DPS)
15 weapon damage * 28% = 4.2 damage / SoB proc


"Loss":
3k AP / 14 * 0.3 weapon speed * 28% = 18 damage / SoB proc due to faster weapon speed (assuming 3k AP)

16 SoB procs from specials
15.8 SoB procs from weapon swings (3.8 AS)
17.1 SoB procs from weapon swings (3.5 AS)

You go from 31.8 SoB procs -> 33.1 SoB procs, but lose 13.8 damage per proc, or 439 damage per minute (7~ DPS). That 439 damage is offset by the 1.3 extra SoB procs - if your SoB hits for 338 damage, there's no change in overall SoB damage output.

The Deraged weapon is an increase of 20~ DPS, ignoring % modifiers from talents.



There's a larger loss for SoC, due to its PPM mechanic. (doing the analysis just because I use it a lot)
3k / 14 * -0.3 weapon speed * 45% = -29 damage / SoC procs

40.8 % chance to proc for 3.5 AS
44.3 % chance to proc for 3.8 AS

31.8 weapon swings * 44.3% = 14.1 SoC procs
33.1 weapon swings * 40.8% = 13.5 SoC procs

So for SoC, you lose damage per proc AND lose SoC procs by switching to a faster weapon. (2x penalty; reverse is true when going to a slower weapon) Doing some quick math, you lose about 740 damage / minute, or 12 DPS. Throw in the SoC glyph and AC, and the weapon is a small change in DPS for SoC. (sidegrade)

My enchanted TotD (executioner, sigh) was doing more SoC dps than the unenchanted De-Raged War Axe. And about equal SoB dps on the "Boss" dummy. At this point I don't think the axe is worth enchanting if you've got a torch.

I think you're confusing Divine Shield and Divine Protection.

Divine Shield reduces 100% of damage (you take no damage). The talent Divine Guardian affects Divine Shield. 30% of raid damage all redirected to you and reduced by 100%. You take no damage.

Divine Protection reduces damage you take by 50%. This talent does not affect Divine Protection - nothing is redirected.

Thank you very much Fiola.

After running a few 1000 auto-swing tests with various gear on the boss level target dummy in Silvermoon, the numbers completely agree with what I've witnessed in various setups over the last two weeks on live raiding. I hit cap at 5% meaning I'm getting a 4% hit rating for free, which also meets the numbers I've been seeing since I got on beta.

Expertise is as expected. And I did the tests a few times with and without ret aura.

I've not heard of an acknowledgement of it's existence from anyone at Blizzard yet so it's totally up in the air.