Random Question Thread

[FailureMidgard]

http://www.wowhead.com/item=60557/vi...ns-of-alacrity
or
http://www.wowhead.com/item=58199

on MM hunter?

Feel like the pvp one would be better, but I don't know the exact stats weight.

Definitely pve if you linked the correct boots (those are 365s?)...also crit beats haste still for MM hunters, and even moreso if you're <40% crit raidbuffed (after which CA diminishes crit a little, but it remains ahead of haste). Though, if you want an exact how much better, depends if you're using MM-ai or MM-ar also, as MM-ai has a significantly lower value on mastery than MM-ar does. either way, definitely use PvE there, 3 crit is beating 1 agility currently at my gear lvl anyway, and you're only gaining 15agi for some 169 secondary stat.

[Kaylia]

Bah, I linked the wrong PvP one, this is what I meant
http://www.wowhead.com/item=70501

It's 67 agility+50haste
versus
72 crit+112mastery

[FailureMidgard]

Bah, I linked the wrong PvP one, this is what I meant
http://www.wowhead.com/item=70501

It's 67 agility+50haste
versus
72 crit+112mastery

I assume you got the 384s from BH? The PvP Boots should win regardless in that case, how much depends on current stats and if you're asking about MM-ai or MM-ar.

[Kaylia]

How do I determine if I should be MM-ai or MM-ar? I thought dumping your focus on arcane after the first 10% was generally better.

[edit]
And yes, it was a BH drop. I rolled because they seemed superior at first, but wanted to be sure before equipping them.


[edit2]
I should ask which sheet, or program I should be using for stats weight. I've seen a few, but I don't know which one I can trust.

[FailureMidgard]

How do I determine if I should be MM-ai or MM-ar? I thought dumping your focus on arcane after the first 10% was generally better.

Nah, Aimed is generally better atm, even if you're running mm-ar (though this is somewhat gear dependent, I'm not sure in 359s). First off, go to fd (femaledwarf.com), import your char, be sure you get full raid buffs (Windfury is required or ya...), then run the sim with a normal rotation, then with arcane gone and the proper changes made to aimed shot in the MM preferences (with mm-ar, should make sure you're always aimed during CA anyway, then with mm-ai make sure you are always using aimed as a focus dump, still behind chim). I'm not sure where the haste/crit cutoffs are for when it becomes better enough to be worth it, but ya. Basically, Arcane doesn't benefit from haste as much, nor from crit (since arcane doesn't get piercing), so as gear gets better, aimed pulls ahead of arcane. The other benefit is you get to drop the arcane glyph for something else (steady/rf/chim).
The catch is, if you ever cancel an aimed shot (Due to movement), you lose way more dps than a mistake on an arcane rotation...so on like Rhyo/Beth/Shannox, I just glyph arcane 'cause I use it a lot 'cause I don't want to cancel an aimed. Really, the only difference outside of combat is that 1 glyph slot, don't respec or anything...but even with arcane glyphed, aimed is still better at my gear level, so on said fights I glyph arcane, I just base it on if I think I may need to move in the next 2sec. But cancelling 1 aimed really hurts. And again, its possible with lower gear, mm-ar is better, I haven't really had a need to think about lower gear in a while ;p

As for stat weights, the simulators generally agree on agi/mastery/crit given the same parameters. Haste they all disagree, but call it a little under crit and move on...the same sim can get 2 vastly different results when you change 10 rating on haste, so meh. FD/SC are the only ones i use.

[Kaylia]

Thanks a lot.

I'm glad to see that my build wasn't too far off. At ilvl 355, both abilities were pretty similar on the parse, but Aimed shot was much more difficult to use for the reason you listed (a single interrupt meant a huge dps lost, and raid have a lot of movement). Now that I'm ilvl 366, I didn't expect a huge difference between both, but if Aimed shot is starting to pull ahead, there is no reason not to use it I guess. I will switch that next time I play


One more question. What offspec should I use? Another MM spec focused on adds (with concussive barrage/bombardment)? Survival?

Right now, my main spec is still using concusive barrage which is great in many fight like chogall and bethilac, but it's useless in many encounter (even if its not a huge lost).

[FailureMidgard]

Thanks a lot.

I'm glad to see that my build wasn't too far off. At ilvl 355, both abilities were pretty similar on the parse, but Aimed shot was much more difficult to use for the reason you listed (a single interrupt meant a huge dps lost, and raid have a lot of movement). Now that I'm ilvl 366, I didn't expect a huge difference between both, but if Aimed shot is starting to pull ahead, there is no reason not to use it I guess. I will switch that next time I play


One more question. What offspec should I use? Another MM spec focused on adds (with concussive barrage/bombardment)? Survival?

Right now, my main spec is still using concusive barrage which is great in many fight like chogall and bethilac, but it's useless in many encounter (even if its not a huge lost).

As for MM-ai, realize that you need to use almost pure Aimed to make it worth dropping arcane glyph...otherwise you can keep arcane glyph, and just aimed anyway when you don't need to move. Also, if you do go that route, you need to kinda "plan" for movement more (because once you unglyph arcane shot it becomes pretty awful), try to be as low as possible on focus if you know you need to move, switch to fox, and steady your focus back up (or use a gcd for a chim) while moving.

As for spec...personally I don't have trueshot or silencing atm, so I have bombardment in standard spec, just because there's a lot of aoe+single target fights (Rag, Rhyolith, Sinestra). I used to be dualspec survival (for if I didn't have Windfury), but heroic Bethtilac basically requires concussive barrage, so my 2nd spec is now -CA + CB, with the rest of the spec being identical to my main spec. Really, it's kinda up to you. BTW, I dropped CA because the "burn" phase on Beth starts at <90%. If you ever get to Beth-heroic, I think that spec is virtually required (I'm sure there's other ways to do it, but they are def inferior).

[Kaylia]

If I was playing with competent players, I would gladly drop Silencing shot and trueshot, but I'm mostly going to play with pug, and I don't trust them at all for shit like interrupt. I don't know...one one side, it's tempting to to change to top dps chart, but on the other side, I love my utility skills.

[FailureMidgard]

If I was playing with competent players, I would gladly drop Silencing shot and trueshot, but I'm mostly going to play with pug, and I don't trust them at all for shit like interrupt. I don't know...one one side, it's tempting to to change to top dps chart, but on the other side, I love my utility skills.

Ya, I know where you're coming from. I've gone into heroics every now and then for the hell of it and was upset at no trueshot (way less dps), and slightly annoyed I couldn't interrupt. In all honesty, I think the Trueshot thing is a pretty big design flaw...there should be a personal gain for every raid buff, and a lot of them have it (Hunting Party, Imp Icy Talons, Abom's Might, Earth and Moon, LotP, etc).

Anyway, there's no right or wrong thing to suggest for dualspeccing...really depends what you do, if it's a lot of pugs, may want to do survival just for 10% haste.

[Kaylia]

I was mostly wondering if there was ever a reason to use another spec. I completely forgot that MM had hunter party, so it might be worthwhile when there is no shaman/dk.

But yeah, hunters tree has a lot of nearly worthless talents near the end (last 5-6 points). Unless you must absolutely min/max, no talents seem to be deal breaker.

[Ksandra]

Did you re-install the driver that came with it (can probably get them online too). I have no experience with a razor naga, but generally, stuff that have a lot of button require a drivers install.

Ya I had to, it's hard to explain what the control panel is like if you don't have one though.

[Guitarman]

Anyone know of a super lightweight addon that will track a single buff? I want something to track my steady shot buff with a huge icon or something along those lines. Thoughts?

[FailureMidgard]

Anyone know of a super lightweight addon that will track a single buff? I want something to track my steady shot buff with a huge icon or something along those lines. Thoughts?

TellMeWhen

It's the best addon in WoW, and can be used for so much more, but can set that up quite easily, as well as watching many other things you may care about!

[Guitarman]

nice. thanks!

[Leashedragon]

Need some Bear help/advice. Just got 85 two days ago, barely. I read up on some sites and all, but they give you a rather general break down of things and aren't very precise on a lot of areas other than Spec/Glyphs. I was suggested to look at this guy from my server's gear as an idea of what I should be doing. A friend/guildie said he's a rather good Feral Bear. While I believe her, I just want a few second opinions and, if there are any here, some other Bears to look at. It seems a few of the Bears I've looked at are very clashing in reforges/enchants.

Should I be going for Hit at all? Some seem to reforge out of it and have very little. Was also told to aim for.. I think it was 16 or 17 Expertise rating, reforge Haste when possible (which I sort of expected). A general order of reforge stats would be nice, other than Haste.

My gear now kind of sucks.. I've had crap for luck in the few Heroics/ZA/ZG runs I've done. I probably don't have the best of reforges at the moment but I'm trying to get Dodge where I can.

[Kaylia]

http://elitistjerks.com/f73/t123595-..._around_4_2_a/

Not the best class guide I've seen, but it cover the basics.


Hit and expertise are great dmg/threat stats, but as a tank, you won't need any (especially now with the new threat system).


[edit]
For gears, make sure to do the first set of fireland dailies, there is at least one easy 365 pieces to get. After that, try to get in a fireland rep farm run. In less than 2-3 hours, you can easily get to revered and grab a 379 belt, capes and a BoE if you're lucky. You can check the AH for cheap 359 too (boot are less than 1k, can probably get a few more pieces for cheap too).

[Tomino]

Talking of DK PvP (not Arena, just BGs and that rare RGB), would you see Frost and Unholy pretty close in terms of effectiveness?
I had started as Frost because I read Unholy was designed toward Arena and the ghould was less useful in BGs but maybe that was just an overstatement, and it would be nice to have a 2nd spec with a perma-pet.

[Tomino]

- double -

[Mortilox]

Frost for sure imo. Being a holy paladin myself I have much less issues against an Unholy DK than frost.

Hungering Cold was nerfed but still somewhat useful in situations where people are grouped up.

[The Stig]

Can you skip straight to Kael'thas in The Eye? For the people that solo him weekly. 1 wowhead comment says you can, but doesn't tell you how, and I've not been in there for a while.