Spec Spending

After the improvement I've seen in my DPS since my little re-spec the other day, I thought I'd do a bit of research on my chosen talent points.

It turns out that many of the tooltips are either a little misleading, or when you do the maths don't really add up to much.

So at some point this weekend, I'm going to try out a new build:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=cEb0zxxRVu0esuce0bZx00b

(Note: It requires an addon to use this build effectively, such as Track-O-Matique)

Rotation Rotation Rotation

That's the mantra for Hunters.

Mark -> Sting -> Shoot -> Lather -> Rinse -> Repeat

I've been wondering lately why my DPS seems to be dropping, when my gear is getting so much better.
Obviously, the Hunter Nerf had some effect, but I should still be seeing an improvement.
So, having a bit of spare time last night, I thought I'd do a bit of testing on the heroic target dummies. And, suprise suprise, I figured out the problem.
My all-purpose macro's were mis-firing 1/3 of the time. They worked fine pre-patch and blizz didn't mention anything about changing them, but hey... since when do they tell us everything?

So with a bit of tweaking I got things back to normal, and then realised that my Talents were a little mis-placed after the nerf, so also did a small respec.

........35g Later.

I now find myself with 4k Attack Power, and have a spare 103 Hit Rating. So I can re-gem a few things, and increase my Attack Power or Crit even further... Result!

4k AP (with Hawk Aspect), 100% Hit, 25-27% Crit, and 17kHP all Unbuffed... Sounds good to me.
Now I just need to pick up some shoulder and helm enchants (but nothing too fancy - not epic yet) and change a couple of gems to re-use some of that wasted Hit Rating. Arthas here I come.
And still not one item from raids. All this is from Heroics only.

EDIT: Decided to try an pick myself up a Staff of Trickery - Looks like I'm not going to find anything better pre-25 Mans.
It actually already dropped for me once, but I passed for a druid (Tins I think) who needed it more at the time.

Naxxed Out

Its taken me the whole of... well... just a couple of weeks really, and I'm now maxed out in pre-Naxx gear:

Head: Plunderer's Helmet (Heroic Drop)
Neck: Pendant of the Outcast Hero (Emblem Reward)
Shoulders: Spaulders of the Abomination (Heroic Drop)
Chest: Polished Regimental Hauberk (Rep Reward)
Waist: BatRider's Cord (See below)
Legs: Giantmaim Leggaurds (AH 300g)
Feet: Boots of the Neverending Path (Rep Reward)
Wrists: Giantmaim Bracers (AH 300g)
Hands: Handgrips of the Savage Emissary (Heroic Drop)
Ring 1: Dream Signet of the Bandit (AH 50g)
Ring 2: Stained-Glass Shard Ring (AH 50g)
Trinket 1: Mirror of Truth (Emblem Reward - Ignore the tooltip, it procs in ranged too)
Trinket 2: Crusader's Locket (Quest Reward - Green, but no better AP trinkets till Naxx)
Back: Ice Strikers Cloak (Leatherworking BoE - 300g Mats)
Melee: 2x Fang of Truth (Rep Rewards 62g Each)
Ranged: Drake Mounted CrossBow (Heroic Drop)

The only thing I still have to buy is Vereesa's Silver Chain Belt. And a couple of better enchants / gems. But I'm almost out of cash, and epic enough for now.

Be.Imba actually rates me as capable of handling even the hardest 25-man raids.
And all within just a few weeks of starting heroic runs, a bit of research, and very little gold spent on the AH. That sounds like a bargain to me!

So to all you out there who think raiding is only for the 1337 people... I say:
"Bullshit. Pull your thumb out of your arse, make a bit of effort, and suprise yourself."

With the Munquis now making plans to start raiding Naxx, and a few test-runs already big successes, things are looking promising.
Watch the forums for Munqui Raiding info, coming soon.

Naxx the way (a-ha a-ha) I like it

Actually, I didn't, really. I wasn't that impressed by Naxx.

The Munquis made their second venture into Naxxramas last night (Arachnid Quarter).

It was a last-minute raid, we were all planning on doing Heroics when Shirt suggested that given we had about 18 level 80's on, we look at Naxx instead.
Apologies to anyone who felt left out that they couldn't come, but space was limited, and specs were the priority, followed by those who asked first.
Official Munqui-Raids will be much more organised.

Result:

2 Wipes, which were both entirely just the learning curves, and 3 Bosses down.
The run took a couple of hours, but to be honest, we wasted alot of time waiting for people who were afk, and without the wipes, which I doubt would happen next time it would be much quicker. Probably about an hour, or less, to kill the 3 bosses.

The Group:

Tanks:
Vind (Karudan)
Bronze

Healers:
Raq (Diliana)
Amandala
Rolfi (Pinarello)

DPS:
Vedd
Knicks
Babe (Hetebliksem)
Shirt (Shirtimus)
Me (Hunter)

Summary:

I'll try not to name and shame here, but we probably could have 9 (or even 8) manned it. The Tanks both did fine, with the Healers 2/3 were great, 1 did well enough, but not excellent (although he was also leading the group, so we'll let him off).
With the DPS, we had 3/5 that did similar amounts of damage, at the top of the meter (Yes, I was at the very top, but I won't mention that).
the Other 2 DPS'ers were lacking a little, no offence to them. I know that neither of them have been 80's for very long, so maybe they're still a little undergeared. One DPS'er at the top of the table almost counted for both of the bottom 2. But that's not the point.

My Opinion(s):

The point is..... Naxx IS very easy. A little bit too easy in my opinion. It didn't feel like as much of a challenge as I expected, in fact it was as easy, if not easier, than many heroics.
Also, I wasn't keen on the style of the place. It just didn't have the same atmosphere as somewhere like Karazhan, one of the best designed dungeons in the game IMHO. And the boss design in Kara is awesome, lots of tactics to learn, and all different.
I know it's supposed to be the way it is, but it just didn't feel very 'Epic' in there.

I'm not dissapointed... yet. There's still lots more of Naxx to go, and it may improve. But I didn't expect a disorganised group of udergeared first-timers to be able to make any progress. Fingers-Crossed.

Hero-Class Heroics (Part 2)

After teaming with Vind last night I'd like to retract 'most' of what I said about DK's.

It appears that I was just unfortunate enough to be teamed with 3 almost identical UnHoly specced players. UnHoly does nothing for me. Although it does add a % dmg increase to spell casters.

However, Blood spec was a nice addition to the overall party, and I can see the potential benfits from having at least one of them with you.

So my new theory is:
DK's don't suck... but treat with caution.
(Which I suppose is no different than any other class)

Ready2Raid?

Here's the big questions:

Do you think that the Munquis could start raiding Naxx?
My Opinion: Yes

Should they?
My Opinion: No

I'm pretty sure that the Munquis could start doing the 10 mans at this point, but I think it would be a bad idea.
Given the simpler learning curves for the heroic -> raid progression, I think the Munquis should sit back and enjoy the heroic fun.
Epics are available from the emblem vendors, and heroic bosses, and I've already seen that quite a few of us are beggining to build up a nice collection.

Also, quite a few of the usual suspects, for raid teams, have only recently hit level 80, and although they're not slackers (even though I might have teased them about it sometimes) they need to gear up more by spending more time in heroics.

They're not that hard to do, and the progression is pretty fast.

As an example:

In total I've done 10 or 11 Heroics, which isn't many in my opinion. I certainly don't feel like I've been grinding them, as they've all been alot of fun (except for Occulus.. never... ever.. go there)
And in my travels I've collected my 50th Emblem of Heroism, and I've also got a nice stash of Stone Keeper Shards, as well as a few epics Drake-Mounted Crossbow, Pendant of the Outcast Hero.
And the championing means I'm now 'Honored' with Wyrmrest Accord and 'Revered' (and 50% of the way to 'Exalted') with the Argent Crusade.
Giving me 2x Fang of Truth and meaning I'm almost ready to buy 2 more epics for around only 100g Polished Rehimental Hauberk and Boots of the Neverending Path (Leather but excellent for Hunters)

With all these rewards, and fun to be had, why would I want to rush into Naxx?

The Growl and the PussyCat

I've had some stick in the past for leaving my pets 'Growl' turned on when in a party.

Let's get something straight. I cause more aggro than my DPS pet. Much More.
My pets growl is fine, for me, while I'm solo'ing. Because anything I'm trying to kill is usually dead by the time I over-aggro it.
But if I solo an elite, it usually comes running after me just before it dies.

When I'm in a group, the tanks these days generate much much much more aggro than me. So why shouldn't I leave growl turned on.

The chances of the mob focusing on my pet are minimal as long as the tank is up and running.
The chance of my pet over-aggroing are almost Sweet-FA, and I can always use 'Cower' if I notice it getting too high.
But let's say the tank misses a mob, or is stunned, the next one in the threat list is gonna get a fistful of DMG shoved down their throat pretty quickly.
Who would you rather got that DMG?

There's 4 options:

1 - Me - Who's probably 2nd on the Threat Meter, but I have 10k Armour, upto 20kHP can feign, shadowmeld, misdirect, trap etc etc.
2 - Others - Who may / may not survive.
3 - My Pet - Who has upto 20k HP, 12k Armour, an instant rez button, and who isn't usually too far down the threat list, but hopefully higher up than...
4 - The Healer(s) - Alot of them wear paper armour, and most have the survival chances of a chocolate tea-pot in a microwave. They might last a few seconds, but then they're just a stain.

I don't send my pet in to attack until I start attacking, and I always allow a few seconds for tanks to build aggro, as it's pretty easy for me to overaggro at the beginning of fights. Just good practice, and well worth the cost of a few seconds of DPS.

Pet always attacks in 'Defence' mode, but if it goes off the rails it can be switched to 'Passive' and recalled with one click of button 5 on the mouse.

Edit: There are always exceptions to the rule, for example, I switch the pet to agressive when fighting Jodega Shadowweaver in Old Kingdom, simply because my pet starts attacking whichever mob she sacrifices as soon as it's released. And identifies it to the group.

So can anyone give me a good reason not to leave "Growl" on?

Hero-Class Heroics

Last night I did a heroic. "So What?" you're about to say, but unusually the team was made up of 3 Death Knights (Raq, Lurni & Stealths) My Hunter and Rolfi's Priest.

Now, don't get me wrong, we absolutely owned the 2 heroics we did (Utgarde Keep and Old Kingdom) and we should have done. The 3 DK's were wearing quite a few epics each, and had lots of other nice gear.
Rolfi and I have run quite a few heroics together now, and we're both more than capable. He's a great healer.

Note: Ignore all the facts and figures below if you're not into that sort of thing, but I'll try and keep it short.

But I noticed something that concerned me a little. I know my own DPS capabilities quite well. I can easily do 1500 DPS while solo'ing, and much more when I pop my CoolDowns / Trinkets etc..
Usually, when in a party, that increases massively, particularly when there's a Pally tank like Bolle and I don't have to watch my Aggro, I've reached upto 2.8k+ at some points, but often average around 2k - 2.2k across a full run. Last night I managed 1600.

I can imagine some people thinking "WTF is he complaining about... ONLY 1600!" but the fact is, with a different group, I could have pulled off much much more. The +100 DPS is probably mostly down to the buffs from Rolfi.

My pet buffs the whole party for +% DMG when it crits (which it does alot) but even so, I realise the only bonuses I bring to a party are that buff (one part of which is being nerfed in the next patch!) and my CC'ing.
The DK's were all UnHoly specced, and all brought exactly the same buff to the party a +15% Movement speed increase. WOW!

Raq tanked the runs, and the other two DPS'd. Yet every oen of their, and my overall DMG at the end of the runs, was within about 10-20k of each other, and everyones average DPS was around 1600. Why?

Note: You can start reading again at this point if you skipped it.

My theory is this:

Well played DK's are great at doing exactly what they're supposed to do, and very little else. Yes, They're sort of a 'jack-of-all-trades', but a they're 'Master' of none.
Their talents and abilities suit them, and them alone, and they bring very little else to a party. I could have been replaced by a 4th DK or a Rogue, or an Arms Warrior and it would have made no difference.
And I bet the average solo DPS for those guys is around 1500 too. They didn't seem to be sharing anything between themselves that even buffed other DK's.

Imagine that same party, but with one of the DK's replaced with something like a Shaman, or even better a Pally. Their buffs would increase the stats of the entire party, and the average DPS would have shot up dramatically.

I'm pretty sure that a team of 4 DK's + Healer could easily handle any of the heroics I've so far seen. And I wouldn't hold back from teaming with them again, they were more than capable players, there's just something about it that I don't like.

I once ran some level 70 heroics with a full team of Pallies, and it was an awesome scene. But even then, buffs were shared, blessings passed around, and team-work was promoted, as it could make a big difference to the entire team.
With DK's it doesn't seem to matter. Once those guys are fully epic'd I'm sure their DPS will go up a bit more, but then what?

If you were a raid leader who had the choice between bringing a fully epic DK, or a mostly Epic Pally who would you pick?

I'd choose the Pally every time, 1x Blessing of Kings on an entire 10-man raid raid and you get a huge DPS buff.
Or a Shammy using totems which he can change at will depending on the situation.

All the other DPS focused classes have a reliable form of CC / Aggro Dropping / Party Buffs too.
Hunters - Traps, Stings, Kiting, Pet Tanking, Feign, Misdirect, TrueShot Aura
Rogues - Sap, Stealth, Vanish
Mages - Polymorph, IceBlock, Buffs
Warlocks - SoulStones, Summons, Buffs
(Note: The hunter list is probably only longer, because I know more about them)

Raq assures me that +15% movement speed also = more DPS but I just don't see it myself. I can see some situations where it would come in handy, but they're few and far between.
If the DK's had all been different specs, it would have helped with the different auras, but still not as much as other classes would have.

So would you really take a straight DPS'ing DK instead of one of them?
I'm sure the Munquis won't discriminate against the DK's when it comes to raids, but overall I feel that they just lack that special something that makes them a welcome addition to any team.

So, go on, tell me I'm wrong.

Mixing Purple and Blue makes Blurple?

I've been spending alot of time recently fine tuning my build and grinding heroics, for no better reason than... why not.

It's Bolle and Vind's fault. They asked me to come and run Heroic: Culling of Stratholme with them, for the Drake you get to roll on if you finish it within 25 minutes.

Well, we wiped the floor with the place, our final time was something like 19 minutes, we rolled on the drake. And Vind won. I became addicted after that.

Since then, I've run Culling of Stratholme twice more, beaten the timer twice more, and still not managed to get my drake. :(
I've also done Old Kingdom, Nexus a couple of times, and god knows what else.

Resulting in me owning my first level 80 epic, and using the free Stone Keepers Shards to buy a nice shoulder enchant for the shoulders that dropped while doing my heroics.

I'm also well on the way to my Argent Crusade rep, which will open up an epic mail chest, and epic leather boots which are both excellent for me. YAY.

Thanks guys. I'm now Blurple Geared.