Combat Guide for Cata [12/01/2011] - Page 42

Chult86 · 07/27/11, 1:43 PM

The first cast for each Initiate will be cast towards the person with the highest threat. This means that they WILL pivot around. Circle-strafing is a must for the first cast.

Nylith · 07/27/11, 2:20 PM

Originally Posted by Exisled

I find the female's casting direction is harder to identify as they appear to cast at a sideways angle, making it difficult to see exactly which way they are turned.

For females, align yourself so you are standing directly in front of the flame in their hands while they're casting. They will shoot the fire out to your right, and you will be not be hit.

fierydemise · 07/27/11, 2:20 PM

Originally Posted by sp00n

Yes they do. But it's fucking ridiculous to identify their casting direction.
Maybe I should just play in first person view.

The trick I've been using is get behind the right elbow. The casting animation has the left arm across the chest, right arm cocked back, the cast will go along the direction of the right arm so stand behind the right elbow. Its annoying to see and with more people around in 25s its even worse but that is the best way to avoid the brushfire.

sinnaa · 07/27/11, 2:55 PM

Ok, since everyone else is saying how they do it, I might as well throw in my 2 cents.

For males, pretty obvious, stand on the opposite side of the big ball of fire in is hands.

For females, I zoom in to about half the distance i normally play at. Then I just simply watch her ears. Always have her ears pointing towards you and you are golden. The other ways should work as well. I will admit the females did throw me off for awhile. If you are unable to pull it off, just ask for someone next to you to get a mark or call it out in vent. I have to call it out all the time.

The other option is to use Killing spree if you really just have no clue and are scared. Ports you behind her, and then just follow her as she turns. Just make sure you are careful about when you use it.

Pathal · 07/27/11, 4:07 PM

I'm somewhat surprised that no one stands on top of the initiate's. I rarely ever take ticks from Brushfire, and never consecutive ticks. I haven't had as many opportunities to test it out as I would like, but I think you could potentially avoid taking any ticks from Brushfire if you stand perfectly on top of them.

ninjawhite · 07/27/11, 4:35 PM

I normally turn of any chat bubbles that I have turned on, and zoom in close for the female initiates. Something I would like to ask, just so I know I'm not crazy, has anyone else noticed the occasional out of sequence cast of Fieroblast? I've only been on the initiate's for 1 week for my guild's 1st heroic kill, but *most* of the time the cast sequence is Fieroblast - Brushfire - Brushfire - Fieroblast, but every so often it shortens to Fieroblast - Brushfire - Fieroblast. It's a real pain when you are trying to keep one locked down alone with gylph of kick on.

Kenney · 07/27/11, 10:12 PM

I have interrupted in a cycle with a few different classes and I believe it depends on the duration of the spell lockout. After a wind shear (2s) or strangulate (3s) they will cast one brushfire, any of the longer lockouts will force them to cast 2.

ninjawhite · 07/27/11, 11:19 PM

Originally Posted by Kenney

I have interrupted in a cycle with a few different classes and I believe it depends on the duration of the spell lockout. After a wind shear (2s) or strangulate (3s) they will cast one brushfire, any of the longer lockouts will force them to cast 2.

Well that's what I figured at first too, but I am the only on interrupting once I'm on the add. Glyph of kick is fine if they cast 2 brushfires, I normally have our resto shammy on call to hit him with a wind shear if there is an odd short cast, its just annoying.

Jestyr991 · 07/28/11, 9:59 AM

One thing I have found strange - A friend and I were talking about combat and sub reforge and the way they work well if you're swapping to and from - and then we put his mutilate gear in for combat, just for the "lols" factor of it. We found in his gear, which is comparable to mine, but stacked for mastery, he was a mere 200 dps behind me via shadow-craft. I am starting to be a bit more curious, if blizzard didn't quite fix the problem of "We don't want combat rogues using slow off hands".

Has anyone tested any high mastery counter parts to the standard model at all?

Crevan · 07/28/11, 12:53 PM

There is no connection between combat mastery and off-hand speed, so I'm not sure what you have in mind. And Combat Potency ensures that you will always want a fast off-hand weapon for higher energy regen.

Freitzehn · 07/28/11, 4:57 PM

Originally Posted by Crevan

There is no connection between combat mastery and off-hand speed, so I'm not sure what you have in mind. And Combat Potency ensures that you will always want a fast off-hand weapon for higher energy regen.

It's deadly poison too, since it doesn't work off a ppm model

Paelli · 07/29/11, 1:48 PM

Probably has been posted before, but why is [Shatterskull Bonecrusher] superior to gatecrasher? Doesn't make sense to me :s

MikeJ714 · 07/29/11, 2:07 PM

Originally Posted by Paelli

Probably has been posted before, but why is [Shatterskull Bonecrusher] superior to gatecrasher? Doesn't make sense to me :s

Haste>Expertise

• Aldriana · 07/29/11, 2:18 PM

The short answer is "once you reforge everything, it works out that way".

The slightly longer answer is: while Expertise is a better stat than Haste in the abstract, it caps out, such that additional Expertise on one piece of gear gets reforged away elsewhere; hence, for comparing items, the actual value of Expertise is that of the stat you reforge it to elsewhere. As it turns out, at heroic Firelands levels of itemization, what you reforge it to turns out to be Hit or Mastery, both of which are worth less than Haste. Hence, it is in fact slightly better to have Haste on an item than Expertise.

All that said: we're not talking a large margin here - I show a difference of 12 DPS out of 36k in full BIS - a margin you will never, ever notice in practice. But if you're looking for true optimality, Shatterskull Bonecrusher does have the edge.

Cerevantes · 07/30/11, 2:28 PM

Is the current white hit value for combat based off the assumption that DP stacks are falling off on sustained single target?

On Rag p1 I have had several DP stacks fall off with 17.56% spell hit and was wondering if this was modeled, and if others are finding situations happening.