Hey kids,
I finally finished out v2.0 of my threat spreadsheet, which is up-to-date with 4.0.6a. I calc'ed out mangle (within a 0.0005% variance - which is good enough for me) and added it to the sheet.
While doing so, I found another bug.
The base damage of Mangle is not multiplied by MSS. It's nothing game breaking or anything, but I mean, come on. It can't be that hard to miss. That's just fucking pathetic.
/rage
Here's the sheet yo.
Showing posts with label PvE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PvE. Show all posts
2/10/11
Tank Threat Part 1 - Scaling
Tanks serve a really simple function in principle, but a really wierd one in practice.
The principle is to control. Control damage output, where it is directed to, and positioning. The implementation varies from class to class. However there are two basic principles they all share:
1) Damage intake reduction. They should all take fairly similar amounts of damage, although the methods by which this is controlled may vary.
2) Threat output. All tanks should be able to output enough threat to keep the target focussed on them. This of course has to scale upwards to keep pace with DPS output from other classes.
I'm not going to examine the first one, I'll leave that to others. I'm going to focus on #2 - Threat Output.
The first big thing about Threat Output is that it needs to be fun. Now while fun is a subjective term, the universal truth of RPGs is that people like big numbers. Big numbers are awesome.
Now you could just say "Well then make tanks do 0 damage, and just generate threat numbers." That might be enough for some people, but the universal truth about MMOs is that people like competition. They need some way of comparing themselves to others. In WoW specifically this comes down to Damage, and Healing.
This means that just dealing Threat numbers isn't enough. Tanks need to do damage as well. However problems start arising when you need to be able to scale the Damage (and therefore threat) as content progresses along tiers. How do you pick a method to do this that allows your character to grow and progress, but doesn't hamper you or your raid's ability to clear content?
Blizzard has chosen to use something called "Vengeance". This increases a Tank's attack power by a 5% of incoming damage, up to a maximum of 10% of your Base Health + Buffed Stamina. Unfortunately there are inherent problems with this method.
The first and most obvious is that it doesn't scale backwards (or downwards I guess) as well as DPS does. By this I mean a DPS class will continue to do high amounts of DPS at lower tiers of content (be they raids or 5mans), but a Tank will not be able to do as much relative Threat. Of course you could always follow the "tank off your pants" method to solve this problem, but that shouldn't be necesarry. A tank should be able to generate sufficient amounts of threat to hold off equally geared DPS, regardless of the level of content they are doing.
The second is that any Tank that has mitigation that scales off of AP, cannot have their mitigation and threat independantly balanced while Vengeance exists. Increasing mitigation will decrease opening levels of threat, but increasing opening levels of threat to compensate for this makes the Tank completely overpowered at high levels of Vengeance.
I'm speaking of course, of Druids.
If we were to do away with Vengeance, we would have to find some other method of scaling Threat output with gear progression. So what does each Tank have in common with relatively similar values?
- Item Level
- Health
- Mastery
- Incoming Damage
- Outgoing Damage
Item Level is a pretty hokey concept, and I'd rather it remain simply a descriptor rather than an actual gameplay mechanic.
Mastery I like as a concept, but you could only have it increase the amount of threat generated, not damage. This seems to go against the concept of "fun".
We've already tried a combination of Health + Incoming damage, and look where that got us.
But what about Outgoing damage? It's much more constant than incoming damage, making it a much more reliable scalar for both future and past content. But how do you determine how it caps? Well, why not use the existing Vengeance formula?
That means 5% of your outgoing damage is added to your AP, with a maximum cap of 10% of your base health + your Stamina. Thia makes Vengeance:
1) Much more of an "active" scalar than a gear/encounter dependant one.
2) It becomes much more constant and reliable for threat generation. This makes it much easier to balance around.
3) Tank switches become less of an issue since both should be building up equal amounts.
4) Avoidance strings become a good thing and don't cause your threat to suffer.
5) It scales downward infinitely better than the current model.
The only problem is that it becomes more of a constant in PvP. The solution? Disable it when PvP flagged.
And no, I don't give a rat's ass if you want Tank-specs to be viable in PvP.
I'll be making a post later on about what could be done to balance or improve Druid threat specifically.
The principle is to control. Control damage output, where it is directed to, and positioning. The implementation varies from class to class. However there are two basic principles they all share:
1) Damage intake reduction. They should all take fairly similar amounts of damage, although the methods by which this is controlled may vary.
2) Threat output. All tanks should be able to output enough threat to keep the target focussed on them. This of course has to scale upwards to keep pace with DPS output from other classes.
I'm not going to examine the first one, I'll leave that to others. I'm going to focus on #2 - Threat Output.
The first big thing about Threat Output is that it needs to be fun. Now while fun is a subjective term, the universal truth of RPGs is that people like big numbers. Big numbers are awesome.
Now you could just say "Well then make tanks do 0 damage, and just generate threat numbers." That might be enough for some people, but the universal truth about MMOs is that people like competition. They need some way of comparing themselves to others. In WoW specifically this comes down to Damage, and Healing.
This means that just dealing Threat numbers isn't enough. Tanks need to do damage as well. However problems start arising when you need to be able to scale the Damage (and therefore threat) as content progresses along tiers. How do you pick a method to do this that allows your character to grow and progress, but doesn't hamper you or your raid's ability to clear content?
Blizzard has chosen to use something called "Vengeance". This increases a Tank's attack power by a 5% of incoming damage, up to a maximum of 10% of your Base Health + Buffed Stamina. Unfortunately there are inherent problems with this method.
The first and most obvious is that it doesn't scale backwards (or downwards I guess) as well as DPS does. By this I mean a DPS class will continue to do high amounts of DPS at lower tiers of content (be they raids or 5mans), but a Tank will not be able to do as much relative Threat. Of course you could always follow the "tank off your pants" method to solve this problem, but that shouldn't be necesarry. A tank should be able to generate sufficient amounts of threat to hold off equally geared DPS, regardless of the level of content they are doing.
The second is that any Tank that has mitigation that scales off of AP, cannot have their mitigation and threat independantly balanced while Vengeance exists. Increasing mitigation will decrease opening levels of threat, but increasing opening levels of threat to compensate for this makes the Tank completely overpowered at high levels of Vengeance.
I'm speaking of course, of Druids.
If we were to do away with Vengeance, we would have to find some other method of scaling Threat output with gear progression. So what does each Tank have in common with relatively similar values?
- Item Level
- Health
- Mastery
- Incoming Damage
- Outgoing Damage
Item Level is a pretty hokey concept, and I'd rather it remain simply a descriptor rather than an actual gameplay mechanic.
Mastery I like as a concept, but you could only have it increase the amount of threat generated, not damage. This seems to go against the concept of "fun".
We've already tried a combination of Health + Incoming damage, and look where that got us.
But what about Outgoing damage? It's much more constant than incoming damage, making it a much more reliable scalar for both future and past content. But how do you determine how it caps? Well, why not use the existing Vengeance formula?
That means 5% of your outgoing damage is added to your AP, with a maximum cap of 10% of your base health + your Stamina. Thia makes Vengeance:
1) Much more of an "active" scalar than a gear/encounter dependant one.
2) It becomes much more constant and reliable for threat generation. This makes it much easier to balance around.
3) Tank switches become less of an issue since both should be building up equal amounts.
4) Avoidance strings become a good thing and don't cause your threat to suffer.
5) It scales downward infinitely better than the current model.
The only problem is that it becomes more of a constant in PvP. The solution? Disable it when PvP flagged.
And no, I don't give a rat's ass if you want Tank-specs to be viable in PvP.
I'll be making a post later on about what could be done to balance or improve Druid threat specifically.
2/8/11
1/16/11
Arielle's Threat Spreadsheet - V1.1
I updated my spreadsheet with more accurate Live values, mostly at Reesi's behest. I was slacking >.>
Most of my calculations were accurate within a very, very tiny variance (less than 1%). However Thrash is just completely messed up.
I've tried every way I can think of to use Blizzard's datamined Tooltip information, and I just can't get correct values when I use it. Not even close. It doesn't make any sense.
If anyone has any insight they'd like to share with me I'm all ears.
I've also added Pulverize damage with 3 different weapons (Heroic Seliza's, Malevolence, and Herioc Malevolence). I was going to add Mangle, but I had a small damage variance that I just couldn't account for. Maybe I'll try and figure it out again later, but eh. Part of me feels like it's counting the bonus from MSS twice. Maybe I'll respec later to test that theory.
Anyways, here is the sheet.
Most of my calculations were accurate within a very, very tiny variance (less than 1%). However Thrash is just completely messed up.
I've tried every way I can think of to use Blizzard's datamined Tooltip information, and I just can't get correct values when I use it. Not even close. It doesn't make any sense.
If anyone has any insight they'd like to share with me I'm all ears.
I've also added Pulverize damage with 3 different weapons (Heroic Seliza's, Malevolence, and Herioc Malevolence). I was going to add Mangle, but I had a small damage variance that I just couldn't account for. Maybe I'll try and figure it out again later, but eh. Part of me feels like it's counting the bonus from MSS twice. Maybe I'll respec later to test that theory.
Anyways, here is the sheet.
1/13/11
Team Waffle Podcast - EP#2
Hey Ya'll,
I forgot to tell you, but Episode #2 of the Team Waffle Podcast is now available.
Check it here:
http://teamwafflecast.com/?p=78
I forgot to tell you, but Episode #2 of the Team Waffle Podcast is now available.
Check it here:
http://teamwafflecast.com/?p=78
12/21/10
Gearing your pre-raid Bear Pt. 3 - Post-Raid
I've constructed a normal mode raid gear list that has what I am pretty sure are the BiS items/enchants for a Bear. This list was constructed with the following restrictions:
1) No BoP profession specific items. This is not a "is Profession X better than Profession Y" debate.
2) Randomly enchanted BoEs from Temple of Wind were ignored. These cannot be relied on. In some cases they will definitely be better than the static drops, but are incredibly random.
3) No PvP gear was used. I'll be making a post later on regarding PvP vs PvE gear.
4) Avoid Haste if it all possible. It is a terrible, terrible stat for Bears.
5) The least desirable secondary stat was reforged to Dodge Rating, regardless of what it was.
6) This is for maximum MITIGATION, not THREAT. If you are having threat issues when you start raiding (not likely) you can drop some of the Hit / Expertise reforges.
Gemming:
For the most part gem Agility, unless the socket bonus warrants something else. If you are having survivability issues (ie. not enough health), then switch to primarily gemming Stamina unless the socket bonus warrants it. You will still need 2 Yellow (+Dodge) gems to make your Meta work.
Reforging:
As previously mentioned, reforge the least valuable secondary stat to Dodge Rating.
Item List:
Helm: [Tsanga's Helm]
Reforge: 67 Crit Rating -> 67 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Trash Drop in Bastion of Twilight.
Necklace: [Necklace of Strife]
Reforge: 50 Haste Rating -> 50 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Valiona in Bastion of Twilight.
Shoulders: [Poison Protocol Pauldrons]
Reforge: 59 Crit Rating -> 59 Dodge Rating
Obtained: The "Tron" encounter in Blackwing Descent.
Back: [Cloak of Biting Chill]
Reforge: 50 Crit Rating -> 50 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Maloriak in Blackwing Descent.
Chest: [Sark of the Unwatched]
Reforge: 79 Crit Rating -> 79 Dodge Rating
Obainted: Atramedes in Blackwing Descent.
Wrist: [Parasitic Bands]
Reforge: 50 Crit Rating -> 50 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Magmaw in Blackwing Descent.
Hands: [Double Attack Handguards]
Reforge: 59 Expertise Rating -> 59 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Chimaeron in Blackwing Descent.
Waist: [Belt of Nefarious Whispers]
Reforge: 73 Hit Rating -> 73 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Leatherworking.
Legs: [Stormrider's Legguards]
Reforge: 75 Critical Rating -> 75 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Purchasable with 2200 Valor Points.
Feet: [Storm Rider's Boots]
Reforge: 59 Haste Rating -> 59 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Halfus Wyrmbreaker in Bastion of Twilight.
Ring: [Hornet Sting Band]
Reforge: 52 Haste Rating -> 52 Dodge Rating
Obtained: 1250 Valor Points.
Ring: [Signet of the Elder Council]
Reforge: 50 Haste Rating -> 50 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Exalted Reputation with The Earthen Ring.
Trinket: [Tia's Grace]
Reforge: Nothing
Obtained: Heroic Dungeon drop from Siamat in the Lost City of the Tol'Vir.
Trinket: [Fluid Death]
Reforge: 128 Hit Rating -> 128 Dodge Rating.
Obtained: Purchasable with 1650 Valor Points.
Weapon: [Malevolence]
Reforge: 91 Crit Rating -> 91 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Halfus Wyrmbreaker in Bastion of Twilight.
Relic: [Relic of Golganneth]
Reforge: 28 Haste Rating -> 28 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Purchasable with 700 Valor Points.
Additional Trinkets that you will want to pick up, should you need them:
Trinket: [Symbiotic Worm]
Reforge: Nothing.
Obtained: Magmaw in Blackwing Descent.
Trinket: [Mirror of Broken Images]
Reforge: Nothing.
Obtained: Exalted with Baradin's Wardens.
Trinket: [Vial of Stolen Memories]
Reforge: Nothing.
Obtained: Valiona in Bastion of Twilight.
Trinket: [Essence of the Cyclone]
Reforge: Nothing.
Obtained: Halfus Wyrmbreaker in Bastion of Twilight.
Notes:
There is very little choice when it comes to gearing your Bear at T11. Since our stat priorities are very clearly defined, there is only 1 piece of gear that fits those priorities per slot. In some cases, there's only even 1 option (Relic, Weapon). Talk about removing "choice" from gearing. Jeezus.
The two trinkets listed in the main set are what I would use for regular tanking. The additional trinkets fill niches that you may find uses for. Additionally, the BiS Heroic Level raid set will be identical to this one except with Heroic versions with the exception of the helm. The helm will be replaced with the T11 helm.
1) No BoP profession specific items. This is not a "is Profession X better than Profession Y" debate.
2) Randomly enchanted BoEs from Temple of Wind were ignored. These cannot be relied on. In some cases they will definitely be better than the static drops, but are incredibly random.
3) No PvP gear was used. I'll be making a post later on regarding PvP vs PvE gear.
4) Avoid Haste if it all possible. It is a terrible, terrible stat for Bears.
5) The least desirable secondary stat was reforged to Dodge Rating, regardless of what it was.
6) This is for maximum MITIGATION, not THREAT. If you are having threat issues when you start raiding (not likely) you can drop some of the Hit / Expertise reforges.
Gemming:
For the most part gem Agility, unless the socket bonus warrants something else. If you are having survivability issues (ie. not enough health), then switch to primarily gemming Stamina unless the socket bonus warrants it. You will still need 2 Yellow (+Dodge) gems to make your Meta work.
Reforging:
As previously mentioned, reforge the least valuable secondary stat to Dodge Rating.
Item List:
Helm: [Tsanga's Helm]
Reforge: 67 Crit Rating -> 67 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Trash Drop in Bastion of Twilight.
Necklace: [Necklace of Strife]
Reforge: 50 Haste Rating -> 50 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Valiona in Bastion of Twilight.
Shoulders: [Poison Protocol Pauldrons]
Reforge: 59 Crit Rating -> 59 Dodge Rating
Obtained: The "Tron" encounter in Blackwing Descent.
Back: [Cloak of Biting Chill]
Reforge: 50 Crit Rating -> 50 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Maloriak in Blackwing Descent.
Chest: [Sark of the Unwatched]
Reforge: 79 Crit Rating -> 79 Dodge Rating
Obainted: Atramedes in Blackwing Descent.
Wrist: [Parasitic Bands]
Reforge: 50 Crit Rating -> 50 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Magmaw in Blackwing Descent.
Hands: [Double Attack Handguards]
Reforge: 59 Expertise Rating -> 59 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Chimaeron in Blackwing Descent.
Waist: [Belt of Nefarious Whispers]
Reforge: 73 Hit Rating -> 73 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Leatherworking.
Legs: [Stormrider's Legguards]
Reforge: 75 Critical Rating -> 75 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Purchasable with 2200 Valor Points.
Feet: [Storm Rider's Boots]
Reforge: 59 Haste Rating -> 59 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Halfus Wyrmbreaker in Bastion of Twilight.
Ring: [Hornet Sting Band]
Reforge: 52 Haste Rating -> 52 Dodge Rating
Obtained: 1250 Valor Points.
Ring: [Signet of the Elder Council]
Reforge: 50 Haste Rating -> 50 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Exalted Reputation with The Earthen Ring.
Trinket: [Tia's Grace]
Reforge: Nothing
Obtained: Heroic Dungeon drop from Siamat in the Lost City of the Tol'Vir.
Trinket: [Fluid Death]
Reforge: 128 Hit Rating -> 128 Dodge Rating.
Obtained: Purchasable with 1650 Valor Points.
Weapon: [Malevolence]
Reforge: 91 Crit Rating -> 91 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Halfus Wyrmbreaker in Bastion of Twilight.
Relic: [Relic of Golganneth]
Reforge: 28 Haste Rating -> 28 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Purchasable with 700 Valor Points.
Additional Trinkets that you will want to pick up, should you need them:
Trinket: [Symbiotic Worm]
Reforge: Nothing.
Obtained: Magmaw in Blackwing Descent.
Trinket: [Mirror of Broken Images]
Reforge: Nothing.
Obtained: Exalted with Baradin's Wardens.
Trinket: [Vial of Stolen Memories]
Reforge: Nothing.
Obtained: Valiona in Bastion of Twilight.
Trinket: [Essence of the Cyclone]
Reforge: Nothing.
Obtained: Halfus Wyrmbreaker in Bastion of Twilight.
Notes:
There is very little choice when it comes to gearing your Bear at T11. Since our stat priorities are very clearly defined, there is only 1 piece of gear that fits those priorities per slot. In some cases, there's only even 1 option (Relic, Weapon). Talk about removing "choice" from gearing. Jeezus.
The two trinkets listed in the main set are what I would use for regular tanking. The additional trinkets fill niches that you may find uses for. Additionally, the BiS Heroic Level raid set will be identical to this one except with Heroic versions with the exception of the helm. The helm will be replaced with the T11 helm.
Team Waffle Podcast - Ep 1
Hey y'all,
I wanted to let you know that I finally finished the post-production Team Waffle's first podcast episode.
Get it here.
I wanted to let you know that I finally finished the post-production Team Waffle's first podcast episode.
Get it here.
12/14/10
Arielle's Spreadsheet V1.0
So I did a spreadsheet. It shows the AP coeffecients for our threat abilities, except Mangle. I chose to ignore Mangle since it is far, far, far and away our best Threat ability, so modelling it is kind of pointless.
So what I've found so far while doing this, after hours of math:
1) Thrash does not currently consume Omen of Clarity procs. This has to be a bug.
2) The bleed portion of Thrash is affected by Armor. This is contrary to the very definition of a bleed. This has to also be a bug.
3) Pulverize scales like crap. Although since its only purpose is to grant 9% Crit, that doesn't really matter.
4) There's a breakpoint around 9500 AP where Thrash becomes better than Lacereate for Threat. However since Lacerate will trump Thrash for mitigation this won't really matter until possibly T13 or T14.
5) There is also a breakpoint around 20,000 AP where FFF becomes better than Lacerate for threat. However again since Lacerate is better for Mitigation, and that this also depends on the Spell Damage debuff existing, it doesn't have any practical application.
6) All of the Bear damage ability tooltips are incorrect, except FFF.
You can find the spreadsheet here. Let me know if you find anything or have any questions.
So what I've found so far while doing this, after hours of math:
1) Thrash does not currently consume Omen of Clarity procs. This has to be a bug.
2) The bleed portion of Thrash is affected by Armor. This is contrary to the very definition of a bleed. This has to also be a bug.
3) Pulverize scales like crap. Although since its only purpose is to grant 9% Crit, that doesn't really matter.
4) There's a breakpoint around 9500 AP where Thrash becomes better than Lacereate for Threat. However since Lacerate will trump Thrash for mitigation this won't really matter until possibly T13 or T14.
5) There is also a breakpoint around 20,000 AP where FFF becomes better than Lacerate for threat. However again since Lacerate is better for Mitigation, and that this also depends on the Spell Damage debuff existing, it doesn't have any practical application.
6) All of the Bear damage ability tooltips are incorrect, except FFF.
You can find the spreadsheet here. Let me know if you find anything or have any questions.
12/6/10
EJ = Sad Panda
Took EJ off my link list because their theorycrafting is mostly crap now.
Plus they use Rawr for choosing tank gear.
Plus they use Rawr for choosing tank gear.
12/5/10
Gearing your pre-raid Bear Pt 2: Items
I've constructed a pre-raid gear list that has what I am pretty sure are the BiS items/enchants for a Bear. This list was constructed with the following restrictions:
1) No BoP profession specific items. This is not a "is Profession X better than Profession Y" debate.
2) No crafted items that require BoP materials. This means nothing that needs Chaos Orbs.
3) No enchants that need Maelstrom Crystals. I'm pretty sure they are not reliably obtainable outside of raiding, and since this is a pre-raid gearset, well, you see where I'm going with this.
4) Avoid Haste if it all possible. It is a terrible, terrible stat for Bears.
5) The least desirable secondary stat was reforged to Dodge Rating, regardless of what it was.
6) This is for maximum MITIGATION, not THREAT. If you are having threat issues when you start raiding (not likely) you can drop some of the Hit / Expertise reforges.
Gemming:
For the most part gem Agility, unless the socket bonus warrants something else. If you are having survivability issues (ie. not enough health), then switch to primarily gemming Stamina unless the socket bonus warrants it. You will still need 2 Yellow (+Dodge) gems to make your Meta work.
Reforging:
As previously mentioned, reforge the least valuable secondary stat to Dodge Rating.
Item List:
Helm: [Helm of Numberless Shadows]
Reforge: 72 Hit Rating -> 72 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Heroic Dungeon drop from High Priestess Azil in Stonecore.
Necklace: [Pendant of the Lightless Grotto]
Reforge: 44 Crit Rating -> 44 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Heroic Dungeon drop from Ozruk in Stonecore.
Shoulders: [Embrace of the Night]
Reforge: 52 Hit Rating -> 52 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Purchasable with 1650 Justice Points.
Back: [Cloak of Thredd]
Reforge: 44 Crit Rating -> 44 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Heroic Dungeon drop from Helix Gearbreaker in Deadmines.
Chest: [Vest of Misshapen Hides]
Reforge: 64 Crit Rating -> 64 Dodge Rating
Obainted: Heroic Dungeon drop from Erudax in Grim Batol.
Wrist: [Double Dealing Bracers]
Reforge: 44 Crit Rating -> 44 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Heroic Dungeon drop from Lord Walden in Shadowfang Keep.
Hands: [Stormbolt Gloves]
Reforge: 67 Haste Rating -> 67 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Exalted Reputation with Wildhammer Clan.
Waist: [Sash of Musing]
Reforge: 52 Expertise Rating -> 52 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Purchasable with 1650 Justice Points.
Legs: [Leggings of the Burrowing Mole]
Reforge: 64 Expertise Rating -> 64 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Purchasable with 2200 Justice Points.
Feet: [Boots of the Predator]
Reforge: 52 Hit Rating -> 52 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Heroic Dungeon drop from Baron Ashbury in Shadowfang Keep.
Ring: [Elementium Destroyer's Ring]
Reforge: 35 Crit Rating -> 35 Dodge Rating
Obtained: BoE from Jewelcrafting.
Ring: [Signet of the Elder Council]
Reforge: 50 Haste Rating -> 50 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Exalted Reputation with The Earthen Ring.
Trinket: [Leaden Despair]
Reforge: Nothing.
Obtained: Heroic Dungeon drop from High Priestess Azil in Stonecore.
Trinket: [Tia's Grace]
Reforge: Nothing
Obtained: Heroic Dungeon drop from Siamat in the Lost City of the Tol'Vir.
Weapon: [Seliza's Spear]
Reforge: 54 Crit Rating -> 54 Dodge Rating
Obatined: Heroic Dungeon drop from General Husam in the Lost City of the Tol'vir.
Relic: [Sandshift Relic]
Reforge: 25 Hit Rating -> 25 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Heroic Dungeon drop from Ascendant Lord Obsidious in Blackrock Caverns.
1) No BoP profession specific items. This is not a "is Profession X better than Profession Y" debate.
2) No crafted items that require BoP materials. This means nothing that needs Chaos Orbs.
3) No enchants that need Maelstrom Crystals. I'm pretty sure they are not reliably obtainable outside of raiding, and since this is a pre-raid gearset, well, you see where I'm going with this.
4) Avoid Haste if it all possible. It is a terrible, terrible stat for Bears.
5) The least desirable secondary stat was reforged to Dodge Rating, regardless of what it was.
6) This is for maximum MITIGATION, not THREAT. If you are having threat issues when you start raiding (not likely) you can drop some of the Hit / Expertise reforges.
Gemming:
For the most part gem Agility, unless the socket bonus warrants something else. If you are having survivability issues (ie. not enough health), then switch to primarily gemming Stamina unless the socket bonus warrants it. You will still need 2 Yellow (+Dodge) gems to make your Meta work.
Reforging:
As previously mentioned, reforge the least valuable secondary stat to Dodge Rating.
Item List:
Helm: [Helm of Numberless Shadows]
Reforge: 72 Hit Rating -> 72 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Heroic Dungeon drop from High Priestess Azil in Stonecore.
Necklace: [Pendant of the Lightless Grotto]
Reforge: 44 Crit Rating -> 44 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Heroic Dungeon drop from Ozruk in Stonecore.
Shoulders: [Embrace of the Night]
Reforge: 52 Hit Rating -> 52 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Purchasable with 1650 Justice Points.
Back: [Cloak of Thredd]
Reforge: 44 Crit Rating -> 44 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Heroic Dungeon drop from Helix Gearbreaker in Deadmines.
Chest: [Vest of Misshapen Hides]
Reforge: 64 Crit Rating -> 64 Dodge Rating
Obainted: Heroic Dungeon drop from Erudax in Grim Batol.
Wrist: [Double Dealing Bracers]
Reforge: 44 Crit Rating -> 44 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Heroic Dungeon drop from Lord Walden in Shadowfang Keep.
Hands: [Stormbolt Gloves]
Reforge: 67 Haste Rating -> 67 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Exalted Reputation with Wildhammer Clan.
Waist: [Sash of Musing]
Reforge: 52 Expertise Rating -> 52 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Purchasable with 1650 Justice Points.
Legs: [Leggings of the Burrowing Mole]
Reforge: 64 Expertise Rating -> 64 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Purchasable with 2200 Justice Points.
Feet: [Boots of the Predator]
Reforge: 52 Hit Rating -> 52 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Heroic Dungeon drop from Baron Ashbury in Shadowfang Keep.
Ring: [Elementium Destroyer's Ring]
Reforge: 35 Crit Rating -> 35 Dodge Rating
Obtained: BoE from Jewelcrafting.
Ring: [Signet of the Elder Council]
Reforge: 50 Haste Rating -> 50 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Exalted Reputation with The Earthen Ring.
Trinket: [Leaden Despair]
Reforge: Nothing.
Obtained: Heroic Dungeon drop from High Priestess Azil in Stonecore.
Trinket: [Tia's Grace]
Reforge: Nothing
Obtained: Heroic Dungeon drop from Siamat in the Lost City of the Tol'Vir.
Weapon: [Seliza's Spear]
Reforge: 54 Crit Rating -> 54 Dodge Rating
Obatined: Heroic Dungeon drop from General Husam in the Lost City of the Tol'vir.
Relic: [Sandshift Relic]
Reforge: 25 Hit Rating -> 25 Dodge Rating
Obtained: Heroic Dungeon drop from Ascendant Lord Obsidious in Blackrock Caverns.
Gearing your pre-raid Bear Pt 1: Stats
There are a number of pre-raid gearing guides floating around out there. Some of them (like Ri's) are good. Some of the other ones (like people assuming parry-haste still exists) are not.
I've put together a gear guide for a "pre-raid" bear using Fasc's spreadsheet. You may not choose to believe me, but I've tried pretty much every viable combination including gems. I do not however claim it is perfect, and there may have been something I have overlooked. If you think something doesn't fit please do not hesitate to contact me and let me know (see the right hand side for how).
I've split this into two parts. Part 1 will discuss the various stats, what they do, and their relative values. Part 2 will have the actual gear list. So here weeee goooooooo!
Stats:
Agility:
Agility is the "bread n butter" stat of any Feral Druid, be they Cat or Bear. It increases Attack Power (AP), Critical Strike Chance, and Dodge %. The amount of Agility is mostly tied to the iLvL (Item Level) and quality (Uncommon / Rare / Epic) of the gear. There can be some variation but there usually isn't much. At entry-level raiding Agility is an amazing stat because it has such a huge impact on Savage Defense uptime and effectiveness. You will find yourself mostly gemming Agility in your gear, unless the socket bonus warrants otherwise. Actual stats below:
1 Agi = 2.5 AP (2.625 AP) [2.8875 AP]
1 Agi = 0.0030783% Crit (0.0032323%)
324.85 Agi = 1% Crit
1 Agi = 0.0041054% Dodge (0.0043106%)
243.58 Agi = 1% Dodge
Strength:
Strength is now the bastard step-sibling of Agility for a Feral Druid. It grants Attack Power but nothing else. In the past it actually granted more AP per point than Agility, but no longer. You will only find it on cross-class tanking accessories. However those accessories are generally sub-par when compared to an Agility-based accessory of the same level due to how awesome Agility is. For the most part avoid it like the plague unless the secondary stats on the item warrant it.
1 Str = 2.5 AP (2.625 AP) [2.8875 AP]
Stamina:
Stamina increases your health. It also has a side-effect of increasing the amount of Attack Power granted via Vengeance. So in a roundabout way it is a mitigation stat. However it is not as effective as actual mitigation stats like Mastery. Stamina is directly linked to the iLvL and quality of the item.
1 Sta = 17.1402 Health (17.99721)
Critical Strike Rating:
Critical Strike Rating increases the chance that you will critically hit an enemy. This makes it a valuable threat and mitigation stat for Bears as crits proc Savage Defense. It is generally the second most important secondary mitigation stat behind Mastery.
1 Crit Rating = 0.0055779% Crit
179.28 Crit Rating = 1% Crit
Haste:
Haste is garbage. Avoid it at all costs. It is the crappiest secondary stat for Bears by a factor of 4. STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM IT IF IT ALL HUMANLY POSSIBLE.
128.05701 = 1% Haste
Dodge Rating:
Increases your chance to Dodge. At a pre-raid level of gearing this will be the stat you Reforge to. Reforge everything except Mastery to Dodge. Mastery is the second most valuable secondary stat behind Dodge, and since every piece of gear will come with 2 secondary stats, you pick whatever isn't Mastery.
1 Dodge Rating = 0.005687% Dodge
176.71899 Dodge Rating = 1% Dodge
Hit Rating:
Increases the chance to hit your target. It also increases your White and Yellow crit caps. However that isn't something you have to worry about in a pre-raid environment. As Hit is only the 2nd least valuable secondary stat, reforge it into Dodge whenever possible. If you find yourself having threat problems, get more Expertise before you get more Hit.
Increases chance to hit.
120.109 Hit Rating = 1% Hit
1 Hit Rating = 0.0083256% Hit
8% Hit = 960.872 Hit Rating
Expertise Rating:
Expertise reduces the chance a mob will Parry or Dodge your attacks. Since Yellow attacks are on a "2-roll" system, it is actually more valuable for mitigation than Crit until you reach the Expertise "softcap" (6.5%). However since Expertise (specifically Expertise+Mastery) pieces are so rare, it isn't a stat you should be actively seeking out, let alone reforging/gemming for.
30.0727 Expertise Rating = 1 Expertise
Level 85 mob = 5.0% (Dodge) / 5.0% (Parry) = 601.454 (20) / 601.454 (20) Expertise Rating
Level 86 mob = 5.2% (Dodge) / 5.2% (Parry) = 631.527 (21) / 631.527 (21) Expertise Rating
Level 87 mob = 5.4% (Dodge) / 5.4% (Parry) = 661.599 (22) / 661.599 (22) Expertise Rating
Level 88 mob = 6.5% (Dodge) / 14% (Parry) = 781.890 (26) / 1684.071 (56) Expertise Rating
Mastery Rating:
Mastery increases the amount your Savage Defense bubbles absorb. This is great. You should be seeking it out on gear, and reforging whatever it comes with to Dodge.
179.28 Mastery Rating = 1 Mastery
Armor:
Armor decreases the amount of physical damage taken from attacks. It is directly tied to iLvL and quality of the item. You may see some items with a "green" value for their armor. If you see one of these, remember that the bonus portion of the armor does not get multiplied by the Bear armor modifier. The "regular" portion (which is directly tied to iLvL/quality) still does.
1 Armor = 3.2186 Armor (Bear + Thick Hide)
1 Armor = 3.282972 Armor (Bear + Thick Hide + Meta Gem)
Armor cap (75% DR) for Lvl88 Boss mobs = 97717.5 Armor
Your secondary stat priorities: Dodge > Mastery > Expertise(until softcap) > Crit > Hit = Expertise(after softcap) >>>>>>>>>> Haste.
This ends part 1.
I've put together a gear guide for a "pre-raid" bear using Fasc's spreadsheet. You may not choose to believe me, but I've tried pretty much every viable combination including gems. I do not however claim it is perfect, and there may have been something I have overlooked. If you think something doesn't fit please do not hesitate to contact me and let me know (see the right hand side for how).
I've split this into two parts. Part 1 will discuss the various stats, what they do, and their relative values. Part 2 will have the actual gear list. So here weeee goooooooo!
Stats:
Agility:
Agility is the "bread n butter" stat of any Feral Druid, be they Cat or Bear. It increases Attack Power (AP), Critical Strike Chance, and Dodge %. The amount of Agility is mostly tied to the iLvL (Item Level) and quality (Uncommon / Rare / Epic) of the gear. There can be some variation but there usually isn't much. At entry-level raiding Agility is an amazing stat because it has such a huge impact on Savage Defense uptime and effectiveness. You will find yourself mostly gemming Agility in your gear, unless the socket bonus warrants otherwise. Actual stats below:
1 Agi = 2.5 AP (2.625 AP) [2.8875 AP]
1 Agi = 0.0030783% Crit (0.0032323%)
324.85 Agi = 1% Crit
1 Agi = 0.0041054% Dodge (0.0043106%)
243.58 Agi = 1% Dodge
Strength:
Strength is now the bastard step-sibling of Agility for a Feral Druid. It grants Attack Power but nothing else. In the past it actually granted more AP per point than Agility, but no longer. You will only find it on cross-class tanking accessories. However those accessories are generally sub-par when compared to an Agility-based accessory of the same level due to how awesome Agility is. For the most part avoid it like the plague unless the secondary stats on the item warrant it.
1 Str = 2.5 AP (2.625 AP) [2.8875 AP]
Stamina:
Stamina increases your health. It also has a side-effect of increasing the amount of Attack Power granted via Vengeance. So in a roundabout way it is a mitigation stat. However it is not as effective as actual mitigation stats like Mastery. Stamina is directly linked to the iLvL and quality of the item.
1 Sta = 17.1402 Health (17.99721)
Critical Strike Rating:
Critical Strike Rating increases the chance that you will critically hit an enemy. This makes it a valuable threat and mitigation stat for Bears as crits proc Savage Defense. It is generally the second most important secondary mitigation stat behind Mastery.
1 Crit Rating = 0.0055779% Crit
179.28 Crit Rating = 1% Crit
Haste:
Haste is garbage. Avoid it at all costs. It is the crappiest secondary stat for Bears by a factor of 4. STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM IT IF IT ALL HUMANLY POSSIBLE.
128.05701 = 1% Haste
Dodge Rating:
Increases your chance to Dodge. At a pre-raid level of gearing this will be the stat you Reforge to. Reforge everything except Mastery to Dodge. Mastery is the second most valuable secondary stat behind Dodge, and since every piece of gear will come with 2 secondary stats, you pick whatever isn't Mastery.
1 Dodge Rating = 0.005687% Dodge
176.71899 Dodge Rating = 1% Dodge
Hit Rating:
Increases the chance to hit your target. It also increases your White and Yellow crit caps. However that isn't something you have to worry about in a pre-raid environment. As Hit is only the 2nd least valuable secondary stat, reforge it into Dodge whenever possible. If you find yourself having threat problems, get more Expertise before you get more Hit.
Increases chance to hit.
120.109 Hit Rating = 1% Hit
1 Hit Rating = 0.0083256% Hit
8% Hit = 960.872 Hit Rating
Expertise Rating:
Expertise reduces the chance a mob will Parry or Dodge your attacks. Since Yellow attacks are on a "2-roll" system, it is actually more valuable for mitigation than Crit until you reach the Expertise "softcap" (6.5%). However since Expertise (specifically Expertise+Mastery) pieces are so rare, it isn't a stat you should be actively seeking out, let alone reforging/gemming for.
30.0727 Expertise Rating = 1 Expertise
Level 85 mob = 5.0% (Dodge) / 5.0% (Parry) = 601.454 (20) / 601.454 (20) Expertise Rating
Level 86 mob = 5.2% (Dodge) / 5.2% (Parry) = 631.527 (21) / 631.527 (21) Expertise Rating
Level 87 mob = 5.4% (Dodge) / 5.4% (Parry) = 661.599 (22) / 661.599 (22) Expertise Rating
Level 88 mob = 6.5% (Dodge) / 14% (Parry) = 781.890 (26) / 1684.071 (56) Expertise Rating
Mastery Rating:
Mastery increases the amount your Savage Defense bubbles absorb. This is great. You should be seeking it out on gear, and reforging whatever it comes with to Dodge.
179.28 Mastery Rating = 1 Mastery
Armor:
Armor decreases the amount of physical damage taken from attacks. It is directly tied to iLvL and quality of the item. You may see some items with a "green" value for their armor. If you see one of these, remember that the bonus portion of the armor does not get multiplied by the Bear armor modifier. The "regular" portion (which is directly tied to iLvL/quality) still does.
1 Armor = 3.2186 Armor (Bear + Thick Hide)
1 Armor = 3.282972 Armor (Bear + Thick Hide + Meta Gem)
Armor cap (75% DR) for Lvl88 Boss mobs = 97717.5 Armor
Your secondary stat priorities: Dodge > Mastery > Expertise(until softcap) > Crit > Hit = Expertise(after softcap) >>>>>>>>>> Haste.
This ends part 1.
11/30/10
So I've been really wrapped up with this whole "Swipe is now useless" problem which is currently plaguing Bear tanks. I've done a lot of math on the problem (which has been linked everywhere from Ri to MMO Champion - go me!), and apparently people just don't understand how Base Damage + AP Coeff abilities work. It's very frustrating.
Regardless, I should be updating this more often.
Anyways, latest info in the Bear world.
1) Swipe iz broke.
As previously mentioned, Swipe is broken. It doesn't do what its supposed to do. Worse than that, it does less damage (at least according to current info) than Thrash. This means that once you hit 81, you take Swipe off of your actionbar. Period.
WTF?!?!
Granted I won't know for sure what will be happening until I hit 85 myself, but that just sounds absurdly dumb. More info will follow after Dec 7.
Additionally the tooltip for Swipe doesn't account for the recent 17% nerf. So if you're attacking an unarmored target and wondering why the numbers don't match, multiply your TT damage by 0.83 to get the actual damage. The TT also includes any damage modifiers to Swipe (2pct10), so don't remove things that shouldn't be.
2) Fasc made a spreadsheet!
Link: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/1083360391
This is Fasc's Bear Mitigation spreadsheet. It breaks down the various stats into different weights to give you an idea of what stats are valuable, and what aren't. As expected Haste has the lowest value of all (by a factor of 4 - lol). So if you find Haste, change it to Dodge ASAP.
In that thread I asked him about the possibility of making a "Bearpoints" mod. If you have (or still do) tank as a Plate tank, you'll know of a mod called "Tankpoints" which breaks down the various stats on an item to tell you how valuable it is with a common value. It'd be pretty cool if Bears finally got something similar.
3) Ri made a levelling guide to 85
Ri (Reesi, @Reesify on Twitter) made a levelling guide from 80-85. I'm a big fan of her work, it's all really good stuff. Go check it out.
Additionally we're trading back and forth on a pre-raid gear guide. I'll hopefully have my selected choices up this weekend. Maybe. We'll see.
If you're interested in following her stuff, go to http://www.theincbear.com - I definitely recommend you check it out.
4) Thick Hide iz broke.
It's granting far more bonus armor than it should be. Don't know why it hasn't been fixed yet, but it sure is amusing.
5) I'm going to be making a Bear damage / coeff spreadsheet from 10-85.
That's right. I'm gonna be doing a spreadsheet.
To be fair I will likely only do this once. I don't fancy re-levelling a Druid every time Blizzard introduces some changes to Bear abilities. That said it is definitely something I'm interested in doing, if only to give myself a better understanding of how the abilities all work. I'm scared I might find out things that I don't really want to know.
That's all for now. Hope to do another post this weekend.
Regardless, I should be updating this more often.
Anyways, latest info in the Bear world.
1) Swipe iz broke.
As previously mentioned, Swipe is broken. It doesn't do what its supposed to do. Worse than that, it does less damage (at least according to current info) than Thrash. This means that once you hit 81, you take Swipe off of your actionbar. Period.
WTF?!?!
Granted I won't know for sure what will be happening until I hit 85 myself, but that just sounds absurdly dumb. More info will follow after Dec 7.
Additionally the tooltip for Swipe doesn't account for the recent 17% nerf. So if you're attacking an unarmored target and wondering why the numbers don't match, multiply your TT damage by 0.83 to get the actual damage. The TT also includes any damage modifiers to Swipe (2pct10), so don't remove things that shouldn't be.
2) Fasc made a spreadsheet!
Link: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/1083360391
This is Fasc's Bear Mitigation spreadsheet. It breaks down the various stats into different weights to give you an idea of what stats are valuable, and what aren't. As expected Haste has the lowest value of all (by a factor of 4 - lol). So if you find Haste, change it to Dodge ASAP.
In that thread I asked him about the possibility of making a "Bearpoints" mod. If you have (or still do) tank as a Plate tank, you'll know of a mod called "Tankpoints" which breaks down the various stats on an item to tell you how valuable it is with a common value. It'd be pretty cool if Bears finally got something similar.
3) Ri made a levelling guide to 85
Ri (Reesi, @Reesify on Twitter) made a levelling guide from 80-85. I'm a big fan of her work, it's all really good stuff. Go check it out.
Additionally we're trading back and forth on a pre-raid gear guide. I'll hopefully have my selected choices up this weekend. Maybe. We'll see.
If you're interested in following her stuff, go to http://www.theincbear.com - I definitely recommend you check it out.
4) Thick Hide iz broke.
It's granting far more bonus armor than it should be. Don't know why it hasn't been fixed yet, but it sure is amusing.
5) I'm going to be making a Bear damage / coeff spreadsheet from 10-85.
That's right. I'm gonna be doing a spreadsheet.
To be fair I will likely only do this once. I don't fancy re-levelling a Druid every time Blizzard introduces some changes to Bear abilities. That said it is definitely something I'm interested in doing, if only to give myself a better understanding of how the abilities all work. I'm scared I might find out things that I don't really want to know.
That's all for now. Hope to do another post this weekend.
11/23/10
Fail.
So I promised a post last night. However my procrastinating nature got the better of me, and I decided that since nobody actually reads this thing, I can just do it later.
I may or may not end up doing a post tonight. League of Legends and TV tend to take up most of my free time. And trolling the WoW forums.
List of things I need to cover:
Patch 4.0.3a.
Fasc's Amazing Bear Spreadsheet
Lissanna's Levelling Guide
Reesi's Waffle game.
I may or may not end up doing a post tonight. League of Legends and TV tend to take up most of my free time. And trolling the WoW forums.
List of things I need to cover:
Patch 4.0.3a.
Fasc's Amazing Bear Spreadsheet
Lissanna's Levelling Guide
Reesi's Waffle game.
11/15/10
So you want to be a Bero....
DeathKitty Tanking Guide Part 1: "So you want to be a Bero..."
I hope at least one person gets that reference.
In order for me to impart my knowledge and experience unto others, it's important to start from the basics - From the most basic functions and actions which make a tank what he/she is. With that in mind, what exactly is a "tank"? What do they do? What do they not do? How do they know when to do what?
Those are the sorts of questions that a lot of people and/or tanks out there don't really understand or know the answers to. If you don't know these simple things you can perform the task of being a tank, but you'll never have the awareness to be exceptional at your role. However if you do, there's nothing you won't be able to beat.
What is a "tank"?
A tank is someone beefy. That likes getting beat up. Like an actual tank.
In all seriousness though. A tank has 3 main responsibilities:
1) Make sure the right big baddies are hitting him/her and not the squishies.
2) Make sure said baddies keep hitting him/her until they die or circumstances change.
3) Do their best to not die.
#3 tends to disqualify pretty much everybody that isn't built to tank in the first place. It's fairly easy to make people hit you as any class, and still fairly easy to make them keep hitting you. It's hard to stay alive while doing so. Thus you end up with specific talent trees in specific classes that with the correct items, are designed to survive a long time in that situation.
What does a "tank" do?
To examine this, lets simply elaborate on the previous three responsibilities.
Make sure the right big baddies hit you.
If you've been playing any sort of MMO for any length of time, you'll know that certain fights can have many different monsters in them. As a tank, it's important to know which ones you are supposed to have beating on you, and which ones you're not. A simple example to illustrate this would be the Blood Prince Council encounter in Icecrown Citadel. The tank that is responsible for tanking Valanar and/or Taldaram never wants to have Keleseth turn around and start casting Shadowbolts at him. This will usually constitute an instant death.
Make sure the baddies keep hitting you.
It's one thing to get something to start hitting you, it's another to make it keep hitting you. You need to know the best way to use your abilities to maximize the amount of burning hatred the baddie has for you. This is a term called "threat". The more of it you have, the more damage or healing someone has to do to make the guy angry at them. Remember the goal is to have the baddies hit you, and not the squishy ones in the dresses.
Don't die.
Most big bad boss monsters have an ultimate abilitiy that they use to inflict severe pain on whoever they are hitting. In some cases the healers will not be able to keep up with the level of incoming damage. In these cases a tank would burn a "cooldown". That is they would use an ability that reduces the amount of damage they receive for a short period of time. Doing so allows the healer(s) to catch up with the incoming damage and prevent you from dying. This is a good thing, because if a tank dies everyone else usually quickly follows suit.
Which brings us to....
How do you know when to do what?
Honestly, this is more practice more than anything. I've tanked for about 3.5 years across 3 different sets of raid content. I've done 40 person raids, 25 person raids, 20 person raids and 10 person raids. They're all different and they all require you to adapt. Even 5 person dungeons are different from each other. The way you learn how to properly tank an encounter is simply through repetition. However there are certain skillsets and knowledge you can learn without repeating an encounter over and over again until its drilled into your skull.
That will bring us to Part 2...
I hope at least one person gets that reference.
In order for me to impart my knowledge and experience unto others, it's important to start from the basics - From the most basic functions and actions which make a tank what he/she is. With that in mind, what exactly is a "tank"? What do they do? What do they not do? How do they know when to do what?
Those are the sorts of questions that a lot of people and/or tanks out there don't really understand or know the answers to. If you don't know these simple things you can perform the task of being a tank, but you'll never have the awareness to be exceptional at your role. However if you do, there's nothing you won't be able to beat.
What is a "tank"?
A tank is someone beefy. That likes getting beat up. Like an actual tank.
In all seriousness though. A tank has 3 main responsibilities:
1) Make sure the right big baddies are hitting him/her and not the squishies.
2) Make sure said baddies keep hitting him/her until they die or circumstances change.
3) Do their best to not die.
#3 tends to disqualify pretty much everybody that isn't built to tank in the first place. It's fairly easy to make people hit you as any class, and still fairly easy to make them keep hitting you. It's hard to stay alive while doing so. Thus you end up with specific talent trees in specific classes that with the correct items, are designed to survive a long time in that situation.
What does a "tank" do?
To examine this, lets simply elaborate on the previous three responsibilities.
Make sure the right big baddies hit you.
If you've been playing any sort of MMO for any length of time, you'll know that certain fights can have many different monsters in them. As a tank, it's important to know which ones you are supposed to have beating on you, and which ones you're not. A simple example to illustrate this would be the Blood Prince Council encounter in Icecrown Citadel. The tank that is responsible for tanking Valanar and/or Taldaram never wants to have Keleseth turn around and start casting Shadowbolts at him. This will usually constitute an instant death.
Make sure the baddies keep hitting you.
It's one thing to get something to start hitting you, it's another to make it keep hitting you. You need to know the best way to use your abilities to maximize the amount of burning hatred the baddie has for you. This is a term called "threat". The more of it you have, the more damage or healing someone has to do to make the guy angry at them. Remember the goal is to have the baddies hit you, and not the squishy ones in the dresses.
Don't die.
Most big bad boss monsters have an ultimate abilitiy that they use to inflict severe pain on whoever they are hitting. In some cases the healers will not be able to keep up with the level of incoming damage. In these cases a tank would burn a "cooldown". That is they would use an ability that reduces the amount of damage they receive for a short period of time. Doing so allows the healer(s) to catch up with the incoming damage and prevent you from dying. This is a good thing, because if a tank dies everyone else usually quickly follows suit.
Which brings us to....
How do you know when to do what?
Honestly, this is more practice more than anything. I've tanked for about 3.5 years across 3 different sets of raid content. I've done 40 person raids, 25 person raids, 20 person raids and 10 person raids. They're all different and they all require you to adapt. Even 5 person dungeons are different from each other. The way you learn how to properly tank an encounter is simply through repetition. However there are certain skillsets and knowledge you can learn without repeating an encounter over and over again until its drilled into your skull.
That will bring us to Part 2...
11/5/10
OMG MORE SKY FALLING QQQQ
Seriously guys, this is really getting old.
This week we had two epic batches of "QQQQQQQQQQQQ", and one justified concern from the Feral community. One of them was vaguely justified, however it was based on false and/or incomplete information. The other epic one was completely unjustified and makes me /facepalm. The third is definitely justified and just confuses the hell out of me why it would even happen.
Change #1: Abilities based off of weapon damage (like "% weapon damage") now scale. Everyone thought that the abilities were being uber nerfed. However within 10-15 minutes it was clarified to be scaling (like spells) from 1 - 85. I saw at least 6 Feral rage threads within 15 minutes when this showed up on MMO-Champion. All of them made me /facepalm
Change #2: Leader Of the Pack Self Heal changed from 8% heal to 4% heal. This is in line with other self-healing ability nerfs to DKs and Warriors. At most it hurts soloing. Oh noes. At the root of it it's a scaling issue with huge health pools. Self healing for 12k every 6 seconds is kind of an absurd proposition, even if your max health is 150k.
Change #3: Leader Of the Pack mana return reduced from 8% to 4%. This is ridiculous. This basically kills Feral PvP outright. Unless mana pools somehow double without increasing spell costs (which is impossible) this makes any sort of competitive Feral PvP impossible. I think this was either a typo, or an over zealous coder hitting both numbers without intending to. I fully expect it to be reversed.
That's your Feral changes for this week.
This week we had two epic batches of "QQQQQQQQQQQQ", and one justified concern from the Feral community. One of them was vaguely justified, however it was based on false and/or incomplete information. The other epic one was completely unjustified and makes me /facepalm. The third is definitely justified and just confuses the hell out of me why it would even happen.
Change #1: Abilities based off of weapon damage (like "% weapon damage") now scale. Everyone thought that the abilities were being uber nerfed. However within 10-15 minutes it was clarified to be scaling (like spells) from 1 - 85. I saw at least 6 Feral rage threads within 15 minutes when this showed up on MMO-Champion. All of them made me /facepalm
Change #2: Leader Of the Pack Self Heal changed from 8% heal to 4% heal. This is in line with other self-healing ability nerfs to DKs and Warriors. At most it hurts soloing. Oh noes. At the root of it it's a scaling issue with huge health pools. Self healing for 12k every 6 seconds is kind of an absurd proposition, even if your max health is 150k.
Change #3: Leader Of the Pack mana return reduced from 8% to 4%. This is ridiculous. This basically kills Feral PvP outright. Unless mana pools somehow double without increasing spell costs (which is impossible) this makes any sort of competitive Feral PvP impossible. I think this was either a typo, or an over zealous coder hitting both numbers without intending to. I fully expect it to be reversed.
That's your Feral changes for this week.
11/1/10
ZOMG THE SKY IS FALLING QQQQQQ
Or at least that's what a lot of the ignorant Feral Druids out there think.
Here's the relevant changes:
The first two are merely balance changes. However they also happen to be the ones people are most upset about. Why? Because people don't know how to lern2math before crying "OMGWORLDISENDINGBBQ!!!!11oneone"
Bears were massively overpowered in Cataclysm before these changes were made. I mean really, how could 20k absorbs triggered on crit not be overpowered? What about health pools 20-30k larger than other tanks? How is that not overpowered? It was actually so bad that tanks other than Bears were getting 2-3 shot by bosses. I mean if what you want is to be overpowered then fine, cry nerf. But if you want a game worth playing you'll know that's a really stupid idea.
The main opposition to the 3rd change comes from people that dislike "homogenization". Homogenization is necesarry for adequate tank balance. You can't design encounters to be equal for all tanks if some of them lack the necesarry abilities to tank the encounter correctly.
Lern2mathb4qq.
Here's the relevant changes:
- Savage Defense reduced to 35% of Attack Power from 65%. No longer procs from Lacerate tick crits.
- Bear form Stamina bonus lowered to +10% from +20%. Stamina bonus from Heart of the Wild lowered to +6% from +10%.
- Survival Instincts lowered to 50% reduction from 60%. Cooldown reduced to 3 minutes from 5 minutes
The first two are merely balance changes. However they also happen to be the ones people are most upset about. Why? Because people don't know how to lern2math before crying "OMGWORLDISENDINGBBQ!!!!11oneone"
Bears were massively overpowered in Cataclysm before these changes were made. I mean really, how could 20k absorbs triggered on crit not be overpowered? What about health pools 20-30k larger than other tanks? How is that not overpowered? It was actually so bad that tanks other than Bears were getting 2-3 shot by bosses. I mean if what you want is to be overpowered then fine, cry nerf. But if you want a game worth playing you'll know that's a really stupid idea.
The main opposition to the 3rd change comes from people that dislike "homogenization". Homogenization is necesarry for adequate tank balance. You can't design encounters to be equal for all tanks if some of them lack the necesarry abilities to tank the encounter correctly.
Lern2mathb4qq.
10/25/10
Blizzcon: Question Reactions
So I watched the Blizzcon live stream over the weekend. And since I really, really, really haven't been playing for a long time, I thought that I would throw down my reactions to some of the WoW related questions and announcements that are Feral and/or Druid related.
Credit to MMO-Champion for making it convenient for me to see the Q&A so I don't have to re-watch all of the panels.
- I'm really excited about 5mans actually requiring skill. I'm also excited that the CC changes made in Wrath will make it so that most classes will be able to CC effectively.
- In-Game AtlasLoot continues the vein of Blizzard adopting community mods into the stock UI.
- "Cutting out the suck" of Classic Dungeons earned massive approval, mine too. So much of the suck of Classic Dungeons makes me aggro.
"Are we going to see another caster legendary weapon that isn't a mace?"
I think it is actually the caster's turn to see a Legendary, and you can even make it cross-class if you make it a Dagger or Staff. Granted I would rather see a Feral weapon, but I think I can survive without one.
"That said [Vengeance] shouldn't feel mandatory."
This made me very, very, very, very, very, very, very angry. I actually made an absurdly vulgar tweet about it. Vengeance is extremely mandatory for raiding, especially at 80. When you have Mages that can pull 15k dps without even trying too hard, Vengeance is most definitely required.
At best on a spank-n-tank fight Mages end with around 75% of my threat. If I didn't have Vengeance, they would pull every 5 seconds. To be fair I suspect that DPS and TPS are balanced around 85, but still. That's a blatantly false statement with the information I have available right now.
Wild Mushrooms, currently it does a lot of damage if you stack 3 on top of each other. It has a small range though, and the targeting makes it a bit hard to stack on them. Are there any plans to change it at all?
They completely dodged this question. It was asked by a Balance Druid that wanted to know if there were any plans to make the spell easier to use. Granted the answer of "Ferals use it to pull adds" was kinda interesting. However, when a Moonkin asks you directly "This spell is terrible to use for DPS, can we make it easier?" It's generally a good idea to answer it.
[NomNomNom's] an internet meme that will be less funny in a year, and will embarrass us in 3 years.
Ok, now at least I understand. Granted I was in love with the name "NomNomNom" when it was first announced as a talent name. However I understand their reasoning.\
Hunters are the only class in the game with a minimum range. This hurts us a lot in raids. They can stand directly in front of you, they can repeatedly stand in front of you and use a ranged attack, why can't Hunters do the same thing and stack near the boss?
This guy was an idiot. You would've have to have heard his voice to understand why, but he's stupid. You can't shoot a bow at something that's right in front of you. Deal with it. Scrub.
I love what you guys have done with WoW, I love that there's a lot of strong female chars, though I wonder if we can have some that didnt look like they came out of a Victoria's Secrets catalogue?
Which catalogue would you like them step out of then? We feel ya, we want to vary our female chars more in the future. So yeah we'll pick different catalogues.
I had mixed feelings about this. While on one level I agree with the person who posed the question, and I felt the response from the devs was a bit chauvanistic, I then sat down to think about it. The only really "badly" dressed women are the badguys. All of the PCs are basically fully clothed in armor, and Jaina is pretty darn conservatively dressed. Granted characters like Alexstraza are pretty revealing, but they're dragons. They're allowed.
That said, I wouldn't really mind if things changed.
That's all for now. You can expect kill videos and fun stuff once Cata launches and I get to 85.
Credit to MMO-Champion for making it convenient for me to see the Q&A so I don't have to re-watch all of the panels.
- I'm really excited about 5mans actually requiring skill. I'm also excited that the CC changes made in Wrath will make it so that most classes will be able to CC effectively.
- In-Game AtlasLoot continues the vein of Blizzard adopting community mods into the stock UI.
- "Cutting out the suck" of Classic Dungeons earned massive approval, mine too. So much of the suck of Classic Dungeons makes me aggro.
"Are we going to see another caster legendary weapon that isn't a mace?"
I think it is actually the caster's turn to see a Legendary, and you can even make it cross-class if you make it a Dagger or Staff. Granted I would rather see a Feral weapon, but I think I can survive without one.
"That said [Vengeance] shouldn't feel mandatory."
This made me very, very, very, very, very, very, very angry. I actually made an absurdly vulgar tweet about it. Vengeance is extremely mandatory for raiding, especially at 80. When you have Mages that can pull 15k dps without even trying too hard, Vengeance is most definitely required.
At best on a spank-n-tank fight Mages end with around 75% of my threat. If I didn't have Vengeance, they would pull every 5 seconds. To be fair I suspect that DPS and TPS are balanced around 85, but still. That's a blatantly false statement with the information I have available right now.
Wild Mushrooms, currently it does a lot of damage if you stack 3 on top of each other. It has a small range though, and the targeting makes it a bit hard to stack on them. Are there any plans to change it at all?
They completely dodged this question. It was asked by a Balance Druid that wanted to know if there were any plans to make the spell easier to use. Granted the answer of "Ferals use it to pull adds" was kinda interesting. However, when a Moonkin asks you directly "This spell is terrible to use for DPS, can we make it easier?" It's generally a good idea to answer it.
[NomNomNom's] an internet meme that will be less funny in a year, and will embarrass us in 3 years.
Ok, now at least I understand. Granted I was in love with the name "NomNomNom" when it was first announced as a talent name. However I understand their reasoning.\
Hunters are the only class in the game with a minimum range. This hurts us a lot in raids. They can stand directly in front of you, they can repeatedly stand in front of you and use a ranged attack, why can't Hunters do the same thing and stack near the boss?
This guy was an idiot. You would've have to have heard his voice to understand why, but he's stupid. You can't shoot a bow at something that's right in front of you. Deal with it. Scrub.
I love what you guys have done with WoW, I love that there's a lot of strong female chars, though I wonder if we can have some that didnt look like they came out of a Victoria's Secrets catalogue?
Which catalogue would you like them step out of then? We feel ya, we want to vary our female chars more in the future. So yeah we'll pick different catalogues.
I had mixed feelings about this. While on one level I agree with the person who posed the question, and I felt the response from the devs was a bit chauvanistic, I then sat down to think about it. The only really "badly" dressed women are the badguys. All of the PCs are basically fully clothed in armor, and Jaina is pretty darn conservatively dressed. Granted characters like Alexstraza are pretty revealing, but they're dragons. They're allowed.
That said, I wouldn't really mind if things changed.
That's all for now. You can expect kill videos and fun stuff once Cata launches and I get to 85.
1/18/10
Marrowgar Video
So I got myself a copy of Fraps and I've taken to recording our boss kills.
Why?
Because it's fun. Because sometimes other strategy videos miss things. And perhaps because it amuses me.
Below you will find our Marrowgar kill video.
Yes that is really what I sound like. Next up should be Lady Deathwhisper if I remember to record it tomorrow. I think I will.
Why?
Because it's fun. Because sometimes other strategy videos miss things. And perhaps because it amuses me.
Below you will find our Marrowgar kill video.
Yes that is really what I sound like. Next up should be Lady Deathwhisper if I remember to record it tomorrow. I think I will.
12/18/09
ICC 10m - First Impressions
So we've had 3 nights in ICC so far - which comes out to about 6 hours give or take.
Night 1 we killed Lord Marrowgar after about 5 or 6 attempts. Mostly to get the group composition right and getting the tanks to wake up after the comatose zone that was ToC.
Tanks actually have to pay attention during this fight, which is a welcome change. I'd recommend starting with 3 healers on this fight - if one gets impaled it can get quite messy if you only have 2.
Other than that it's a classic "Don't stand in the fire" fight.
Lady Deathwhisper is easily the hardest of the first four:
We barely squeaked by on the 10 minute enrage timer. This is a careful balance between killing adds and DPSing the boss. If you lose anyone in this fight (especially early) things can get out of control really fast. I'd recommend having a Feral Druid or DK for your offtank so they can provide additional DPS (Kitty / Blood) during P1 as you only need 1 tank. If you have 2 DPS with your tanks on the adds you should be okay.
Target switching is essential. Ranged has to switch to certain types of adds to kill them quickly to prevent a wipe.
I'd reccommend having 3 healers for this fight as well.
Gunship is absurdly easy.
You only need 2 healers for this fight - but it's still a lot of fun.
Kill guys that come on your ship, jump over and kill the mage, jump back, repeat.
Sounds simple but it's still REALLY COOL.
We had a couple of attempts at Saurfang before our night ended and got him down to ~25%. Once we learn how to manage his power generation and focus fire beasts down quick we should be fine.
But for now we are adjourned until January 5th.
Night 1 we killed Lord Marrowgar after about 5 or 6 attempts. Mostly to get the group composition right and getting the tanks to wake up after the comatose zone that was ToC.
Tanks actually have to pay attention during this fight, which is a welcome change. I'd recommend starting with 3 healers on this fight - if one gets impaled it can get quite messy if you only have 2.
Other than that it's a classic "Don't stand in the fire" fight.
Lady Deathwhisper is easily the hardest of the first four:
We barely squeaked by on the 10 minute enrage timer. This is a careful balance between killing adds and DPSing the boss. If you lose anyone in this fight (especially early) things can get out of control really fast. I'd recommend having a Feral Druid or DK for your offtank so they can provide additional DPS (Kitty / Blood) during P1 as you only need 1 tank. If you have 2 DPS with your tanks on the adds you should be okay.
Target switching is essential. Ranged has to switch to certain types of adds to kill them quickly to prevent a wipe.
I'd reccommend having 3 healers for this fight as well.
Gunship is absurdly easy.
You only need 2 healers for this fight - but it's still a lot of fun.
Kill guys that come on your ship, jump over and kill the mage, jump back, repeat.
Sounds simple but it's still REALLY COOL.
We had a couple of attempts at Saurfang before our night ended and got him down to ~25%. Once we learn how to manage his power generation and focus fire beasts down quick we should be fine.
But for now we are adjourned until January 5th.
11/30/09
How do you start a guild?
So I've seen this sort of question bouncing around on the R&D forums a lot: "How do you start a raiding guild? How do you lead raids?"
So I figured I'd give my take on that whole concept.
"How do you start a raiding guild?"
There's one thing you need to know. It will be a lot, and I mean A FUCKING TON of work. I'm not going to lie or sugar coat it. And I only run a 10 person crew. I have run 25s in the past, and they suck. Balls.
My group started over 2 years ago, in the fall os 2007. I had just been /gkicked from my 25m guild without so much as a reason, or even a face to face discussion. I went back to one of my old guilds which was run by the same people that I intially levelled to 60 with (we're talking back in 2005 here) while I figured out what I was going to do.
I got very bored very quickly. I realized that I hated the 25m format with a passion, yet loved running 10s. There were also a few friends that I had made in the pevious guild that were utterly confused and astounded that I had been kicked, let alone treated the way I was, but for the time being they remained there.
So I found that the raiding times for the guild I was in didn't mesh with my schedule. So I asked if it would be ok if I started my own 10m group outside the guild framework. Some people from the guild may join, but it wouldn't be guild exclusive. I was told that was fine.
So I hook up with my brother, and met a rogue by the name of Antic. We messed around and did some heroics trying to find more people to fill out our group. Turns out Antic knew a Druid / Priest combo that he usually ran heroics with (Veritykindle / Scheenstra). I checked them out and played with them a little. Very good players, just hadn't had the opportunity to raid.
Then we found a random pug with a Warlock / Mage combo that turned out to be really good. We /friended them and they signed on.
The Druid / Priest combo knew another Mage that was really good, and he came along.
Got a druid from our own guild to come as he couldn't really make their raids either.
Our 10th actually ended up being a DPS warrior from the 25m guild that kicked me initially.
And off we went. Unfortunately I was /gkicked from the guild I was in for starting the group (even though I had already asked for permission, go figure). Everyone that was in my group and also in the guild quit shortly afterwards. My brother was absolutely furious. Wow. So Veritykindle / Scheenstra had this little guild all to themselves and their family/friends.
I asked if we could use it, seeing as how we'd be running together anyway. She retains GM and I just lead the raids.
We even managed to pull off Bear runs in ZA without having any 25m gear past T4. That still is the thing that I am most proud of with that group - to this day.
So my long winded answer to that question is: Pug. Seriously. If you want to make your own raiding group, go pugging. Find people that are sort of in the same boat as you are. They do exist, and they are out there.
I never would have found my group if I didn't pug. Now one of the highlights of my week is sitting down for a ocuple hours to hang out with my friends and kill shit.
I'll give some advice on how to lead raids in my next post.
So I figured I'd give my take on that whole concept.
"How do you start a raiding guild?"
There's one thing you need to know. It will be a lot, and I mean A FUCKING TON of work. I'm not going to lie or sugar coat it. And I only run a 10 person crew. I have run 25s in the past, and they suck. Balls.
My group started over 2 years ago, in the fall os 2007. I had just been /gkicked from my 25m guild without so much as a reason, or even a face to face discussion. I went back to one of my old guilds which was run by the same people that I intially levelled to 60 with (we're talking back in 2005 here) while I figured out what I was going to do.
I got very bored very quickly. I realized that I hated the 25m format with a passion, yet loved running 10s. There were also a few friends that I had made in the pevious guild that were utterly confused and astounded that I had been kicked, let alone treated the way I was, but for the time being they remained there.
So I found that the raiding times for the guild I was in didn't mesh with my schedule. So I asked if it would be ok if I started my own 10m group outside the guild framework. Some people from the guild may join, but it wouldn't be guild exclusive. I was told that was fine.
So I hook up with my brother, and met a rogue by the name of Antic. We messed around and did some heroics trying to find more people to fill out our group. Turns out Antic knew a Druid / Priest combo that he usually ran heroics with (Veritykindle / Scheenstra). I checked them out and played with them a little. Very good players, just hadn't had the opportunity to raid.
Then we found a random pug with a Warlock / Mage combo that turned out to be really good. We /friended them and they signed on.
The Druid / Priest combo knew another Mage that was really good, and he came along.
Got a druid from our own guild to come as he couldn't really make their raids either.
Our 10th actually ended up being a DPS warrior from the 25m guild that kicked me initially.
And off we went. Unfortunately I was /gkicked from the guild I was in for starting the group (even though I had already asked for permission, go figure). Everyone that was in my group and also in the guild quit shortly afterwards. My brother was absolutely furious. Wow. So Veritykindle / Scheenstra had this little guild all to themselves and their family/friends.
I asked if we could use it, seeing as how we'd be running together anyway. She retains GM and I just lead the raids.
We even managed to pull off Bear runs in ZA without having any 25m gear past T4. That still is the thing that I am most proud of with that group - to this day.
So my long winded answer to that question is: Pug. Seriously. If you want to make your own raiding group, go pugging. Find people that are sort of in the same boat as you are. They do exist, and they are out there.
I never would have found my group if I didn't pug. Now one of the highlights of my week is sitting down for a ocuple hours to hang out with my friends and kill shit.
I'll give some advice on how to lead raids in my next post.
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