If you're geming for that socket bonus, you're doing something wrong. Blue gems are terribad. The best meta when considering gem bonuses and the lack of threat ceiling (if you have a good tank) is the [Ember Skyflare Diamond] which requires 3 red gems.
However, I was looking through gear and took a note of these beauties: [Gloves of Grandeur] Could it be that it is like T4 all over again? T7 set bonuses not being worth the horrible pieces for Affliction locks?
It kind of looks that way for 4pcs. However the 2Pcs bonus is definitely worth it for any spec lock, it procs so often it might be broken.
If you look at this Wow Web Stats in a 3.5 min patch fight the 2Pcs bonus proced 31 times.
And reposting what I had edited in earlier: "It is interesting to note that hit cap seems a lot easier to hit, so perhaps all this hit gear isn't really worth much in the end. What would be the most efficient way to gain hit cap?"
And reposting what I had edited in earlier: "It is interesting to note that hit cap seems a lot easier to hit, so perhaps all this hit gear isn't really worth much in the end. What would be the most efficient way to gain hit cap?"
Yea does anyone know if they plan on fixing how Pandemic works with +crit modifiers? More crit on SB is not a bad thing.
On your 2nd question this probability comes down to personal preference more then anything, however there probability is a “best” way to do it.
Personally I generally try to get gear that has good +hit without sacrificing other stats, however single items that have large values like Dying Curse for example are great as they tend to allow you to take items without hit in other areas and stack another stat.
If you armory me I’m sitting at 290 hit in 4PCs, 10 man Gothik (I think) ring and the Belt from Thad (25) are the 2 things I am shooting for next. It’s much easier to get hit with a 1H and offhand as there is not a 461 damage staff with +hit on it that I have seen.
The only spec where [Ember Skyflare Diamond] is even close to competitive with the [Chaotic Skyflare Diamond] is affliction. So most people are going to need two blue gems. The unfortunate thing is [Purified Twilight Opal] is not currently in game, so we are left with the best dps gem for a blue socket is currently the [Perfect Purified Shadow Crystal]. The plus side is that the Purified gem is good enough to justify gemming for any spellpower bonus if there is two sockets or more with only one blue requirement.
I have a few questions and I have been out of the loop for a while and for that reason there may be dumb questions so here goes:
1. Does the glyph of corruption stack with nightfall?
2. What does spirit actually do for warlocks other than the SP bonus from the fel armor?
3. Imp SB only apply to direct damage or dots as well?
4. Does the Glyph of curse of agony increase the damage done or only duration? And if it doesn't is it more beneficial to use glyph of immolate since (from my understanding) it gets a boost in damage from haunt and spell stone?
5. How beneficial is it to go into Demo tree and get Demonic Aegis since it gives an additional 54 SP to fel armor and 9% more spell power from spirit? I would think the spell power would increase the damage of all the spells rather improving just SB and immo crits. opinions please.
6. I have been going to those Boss level target dummies in the major cities and have been getting a lot of partial resist, anyone know the cause? And how to fix that?
Thanks in advance.
If you're geming for that socket bonus, you're doing something wrong. Blue gems are terribad. The best meta when considering gem bonuses and the lack of threat ceiling (if you have a good tank) is the [Ember Skyflare Diamond] which requires 3 red gems.
The meta with run speed instead of int requires a blue gem, I didn't check the other metas.
1. Yes
2. That's what it does.
3. Both, like always, just to yourself now though.
4. Increases the dmg and duration, 2 extra ticks of the 'middle damage'
5. For affliction, it doesnt work out. At least not atm.
6. The target dummies, at least for me, are only good for practicing your rotation/priority system. The actual damage done to them is never correct.
1. Yes
2. That's what it does.
3. Both, like always, just to yourself now though.
4. Increases the dmg and duration, 2 extra ticks of the 'middle damage'
5. For affliction, it doesnt work out. At least not atm.
6. The target dummies, at least for me, are only good for practicing your rotation/priority system. The actual damage done to them is never correct.
Please correct me if I am wrong but:
2. What does spirit actually do for warlocks other than the SP bonus from the fel armor?
-It increases the Life Tap amount as well.
Originally Posted by wowhead
It Converts 710 plus triple your Spirit.
3. Imp SB only apply to direct damage or dots as well?
-It does not increase DOT damage now.
Originally Posted by wowhead
The actual buff you get is:
Buff
Shadow Mastery Magic
Shadow damage dealt increased by 10% from non-periodic spells.
12 seconds remaining
I was wondering if someone had done the math on the benefit of Runic Mana Potion versus Potion of Haste.
It would seem to me that if you are gonna go oom at any point during a fight that Runic Mana Potion would yield a greater dps than Potion of Haste, but I could be wrong. I haven't seen any parses so far of warlocks using the mana pot. I guess if you have 4 piece you would also have to factor this in as well. This is in regards to a patchwerk style fight where you aren't moving.
I was wondering if someone had done the math on the benefit of Runic Mana Potion versus Potion of Haste.
It would seem to me that if you are gonna go oom at any point during a fight that Runic Mana Potion would yield a greater dps than Potion of Haste, but I could be wrong. I haven't seen any parses so far of warlocks using the mana pot. I guess if you have 4 piece you would also have to factor this in as well. This is in regards to a patchwerk style fight where you aren't moving.
For patchwerk:
Runic Mana Potion gives you 4300 mana over 180 seconds. 4300/(180/5) = 119.4 MP5 (or ~40.3 haste rating as calculated below) Potion of Speed gives you 500 haste for 15 seconds in a 180 second fight. 500*15/180 = 41.7 haste rating (EDIT: Another way to view this is 4300 mana divided by the average life tap amount. Checking my WWS last night (0/41/30 and no 4p yet) I have 2650 average mana per tap so that's 4300/2650 = 1.6 life taps saved. With my haste at 10% life taps take 1.37 seconds to cast, so that's 2.2 seconds saved. 2.2/180 = 1.23% "haste". At 32.79 rating per %, 1.23*32.79= 40.3 haste rating.)
Given that, at full usage mana pot loses out, particularly with 4p bonus or improved LT.
Apply the values to the stats that you use and decide. Side notes:
-Life taps are marginally better since they keep 4p bonus running (as you pointed out).
-Mana potions (or rejuvs) can be beneficial for certain healing-strained fights.
-Potions of Speed can be coupled with trinkets, buffs (when a on-hit proc lights up, for instance), DPS-phases, etc.
-Potions of Speed win for any fight where there is enough movement that you are able to life-tap on the move
It kind of looks that way for 4pcs. However the 2Pcs bonus is definitely worth it for any spec lock, it procs so often it might be broken.
If you look at this Wow Web Stats in a 3.5 min patch fight the 2Pcs bonus proced 31 times.
Fun fact: the 2piece T7 bonus currently procs from ALL dots, not just corruption/immolate as the tooltip suggests.
Concerning the 4piece bonus, well, it averages out to something like ~40 spellpower (7 taps during a 3 minutes fight), so while it's not as overpowered as the T6 bonus was, it might still make 4 pieces T7 competitive compared to non-set alternatives.
Runic Mana Potion gives you 4300 mana over 180 seconds. 4300/(180/5) = 119.4 MP5 (or ~40.3 haste rating as calculated below) Potion of Speed gives you 500 haste for 15 seconds in a 180 second fight. 500*15/180 = 41.7 haste rating (EDIT: Another way to view this is 4300 mana divided by the average life tap amount. Checking my WWS last night (0/41/30 and no 4p yet) I have 2650 average mana per tap so that's 4300/2650 = 1.6 life taps saved. With my haste at 10% life taps take 1.37 seconds to cast, so that's 2.2 seconds saved. 2.2/180 = 1.23% "haste". At 32.79 rating per %, 1.23*32.79= 40.3 haste rating.)
Given that, at full usage mana pot loses out, particularly with 4p bonus or improved LT.
This is a bit more complicated than necessary, as well as less universal. There is absolutely no need to normalize against the fight length. Both of them add a flat, constant amount of cast time to your fight, so long as the fight is long enough that a mana pot saves you lifetaps. Mana works out to a constant amount of lifetaps, which have a constant cast time. Haste rating for a set duration works out to a constant amount of extra cast time as well. The amount of extra cast time varies depending on the various haste effects you have when you use it (like bloodlust), but for a given amount of haste it works out to a constant cast time. I think it's easier to compare seconds vs seconds because that gives you an idea of how big a deal it is, and it takes into account syncing with cooldowns, which averages don't.
What are your thoughts on the potential for items to see stats shuffled/buffed in 3.1, similar to what happened in 2.1? I picked up a [Damnation] in Naxx tonight, for no other reason than to narrow the pool of players fighting over [The Turning Tide] and to "take one for the team" as it were.
Am I stuck with a terribad staff? Or is there a chance that items will get a pass in 3.1, and/or Crit will becomes more useful for locks of all specs. At the moment, it's inferior to the [Flameheart Spell Scalpel][Watchful Eye of Fate] combo I was using, and I'm hoping something changes to motivate me to equip it. As it stands, Pandemic is pretty sad, and it would be nice to see crit be a more worthwhile stat. It also seems like stuff is itemized better in general than it was when BC first hit, so a bunch of changes to tier gear and other items might not be necessary.
There was a massive item overhaul in 2.1 because kara epics on release were sidegrades or downgrades from heroic loot, because they flattened the itemization curve. There is no such game-breaking itemization blunder this time around, mostly as a result of they having learned from that one. Individual items might get a pass but there's not going to be an entire raid-drop pass like there was before.
This is a bit more complicated than necessary, as well as less universal. There is absolutely no need to normalize against the fight length. Both of them add a flat, constant amount of cast time to your fight, so long as the fight is long enough that a mana pot saves you lifetaps. Mana works out to a constant amount of lifetaps, which have a constant cast time. Haste rating for a set duration works out to a constant amount of extra cast time as well. The amount of extra cast time varies depending on the various haste effects you have when you use it (like bloodlust), but for a given amount of haste it works out to a constant cast time. I think it's easier to compare seconds vs seconds because that gives you an idea of how big a deal it is, and it takes into account syncing with cooldowns, which averages don't.
Life tap cast time varies with haste. Mana returned from life tap varies with spirit. You're right about the fight length, but I was responding to someone asking about a Patchwerk-like fight. As movement in a fight increases, the value of mana pots decreases (since there's a higher chance you don't have any DoTs/Debuffs to cast while on the move).
But yes, this would be as "universalized" as you could get, no?:
Runic Mana Pot: gcd_length*4300/(avg_life_tap_amount) = extra seconds to DPS
Potion of Speed: (500/3279)*15 = 2.29 extra seconds to DPS
Again that's for a fight where you don't get any "free" lifetaps from what would otherwise not be DPS-time.
Given the presence of King's and low (enough) raid damage, would it be worth an increase in GCDs put towards LT to try to maintain a high up-time on the 4-piece T7 buff? With 100% up-time (unlikely) 300 spirit would translate to roughly 100 SP and roughly 1.5 (not factoring haste in) seconds in GCDs every 10 seconds would be needed to achieve such high up-time. My gut is saying the loss in filler casts would be enough to go with the model that stated earlier the 4 piece bonus was worth roughly 40 SP on an average fight, but I think it's an interesting question no less.
I'm thinking a much more likely use to purposefully activating the buff (as opposed to having it as a secondary effect when a LT is needed) is to tap at the start of a CD/Burn down/Execute phase.
I have a question about optimal use of the 4T7 bonus. From Denjinmo's napkin math I take it as a given that it's not worth trying to keep up the buff. However, you will get some uptime out of it from normal play. So the question is how best to use it. It's not just 90 damage, it's 300 spirit, which means that lifetap itself gains more, relatively, from the buff than most of our spells do. So, is it better to spread out your lifetaps so more spells get 90 spellpower, or is it better to lifetap all at once so that you have huge lifetaps and cut the amount of tapping necessary? My gut says that running dry and lifetapping all at once is the optimal play, 900 mana per tap (nearly 1000 with kings) can probably save you at least one lifetap per mana bar, which is an amount of cast time that 90 spellpower to work pretty damn hard to make up for.