Nerf 'em!

BBB mentioned this the other day (did I tell you I love BBB? I always save up his posts and gorge myself on them!).

Well OK, he didn’t say it was the Tanks fault… but I’m good at taking a phrase out of context and trying to ram that down your throat. He did basically say that Tanks DPS is currently OP.

They should be TPS machines, not DPS machines.

Let’s face it, no one has to grind dailies in their tank spec any more (well, unless the off spec is heals I guess… Mmmm then a gain that isn’t so bad.. I was doing higher dps than the tank and one DPS in HVH the other night… yeah I was meant to be healing … Sssshhhh!)

Anyway, I believe…

No, I know, that one of the reasons that DPS & damage is so low for some dps toons is that the tanks are insane…

Well their damage output is insane.

No, my 1st statement was probably correct..

Tanks are INSANE!

Go on.. Nerf 'em!

Even my tank buddy Vikingmetal was putting DPS to shame, from around level 70.

He’d rush in, AOE tank the trash, the mobs would be down to 1/2 health before the DPS caught up.

God help you if you are DPS with a cast time… It’s all over before your spell/ability leaves your hand.

I know Gnomeaggedon’s given up any concept of a rotation now. I’m lucky if I can living bomb one target and get a couple of Blizzard ticks off before most of the mobs are dead.

Frostfire Bolt?

More like casting the Frostfire after the horse has bolted.

If I could get one off I’m sure it would hurt… And scorch really doesn’t cut it unless I get an instant pyro out of it… Which I do… Often… It usually pops as the last mob goes down and expires before I reach the next pack…

No Screenshots, but it happened!

Case in point.

I ran a stock-standard-boring-old-been-there-done-that heroic the other day, I was stumbling along at 2k dps… now I KNOW I am worth more than that.  Unfortunately, so was everyone else.. including the tank… lots more.  It’s hard to even cheat the numbers with Mage AoE when the tank has nearly destroyed the mobs purely by pulling them.

TreeHuggerDave then convinced me to try out FoS.. yeah right.. well OK, I’ll give it a go…

This group was much more balanced, and lo and behold, I am doing mid 4k dps.  Things lived long enough to get a score on the board!

So I’m with BBB…

NERF TANKS!

(ok, yeah, except Big Beautiful Bear Tanks of course…)

Yeah I got balls to say shit like this...

Gnomer and Out!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

http://gnomeaggedon.net/2010/01/18/its-the-tanks-fault

DEAD DPS DO NO DAMAGE!

Ok, so Gnomeaggedon has been on the wrong end of that statement before.

More than a few times.

But you know what, I know whose fault it is when I’m lying dead on the floor 30 seconds into an encounter.

As much as I would like to blame Mr. Tree’s weak-arsed “One DoT will last Gnomer all night” healing, the reality is I brought the death upon myself.

• Not the Healer!
• Not the Tank!
• Me and only me!

Just cause I can pump it out at times doesn’t mean I should. Yes it’s a shame when the 3rd moon of Venus is aligned with Pluto, the planet of personal transformation, and the libido in the air is just ripe, but if the mother-in-laws of all aggro are also there…

I have two options…

1. Super-nova or
2. Slow-roast

Slow roast it generally more fulfilling for everyone involved.

• I don’t have to watch the end of the fight (or the wipe) through the grey ghost haze.
• The healer doesn’t slash up in misplaced guilt.
• The Tank doesn’t swear while bashing his head against the desk.
• The rest of the group gets that nice warm feeling as we all sit around the bosses corpse and divvy up the loot.

Here’s the thing…

• It’s irrelevant if I am doing 20%, 30% or even 40% of the DPS…
• It’s irrelevant if I am doing 20%, 30% or even 40% of the overall damage…

If I am dead 30 seconds into the important fight.

HDick

I was doing HToC the other night… The 5 man version, nothing high falluting for me yet.

Everyone’s DPS was, well below average is being generous, even Squidly beats 1,500 DPS as Elemental… and that’s his offspec, in his pre-raid one-day-I-will-play-with-the-big-Gnomes gear.

Everyone but one.

A Pally.

He was uber.

He was hitting 3,000 DPS.

He was also hitting the floor after 30 seconds.

Followed by a bit of WTF!

• The kind of WTF that is directed at the tank for not holding aggro.
• The kind of WTF that is directed at the healer for not keeping him alive.
• The kind of WTF that suggests there is only one person in the instance that know how to play.

After the 3rd wipe he started ripping strips. Maybe he was smart enough not to slag me off, but he wasn’t smart enough to shut up when it came to Viking.

Viking quickly solved the guys problem

/kick

A moment later one of the weak DPS asked what happened. Viking told him why the guy got kicked, which was more about his attitude than anything else.

At this point I was already typing… I anticipated the next words that came to chat.

Pugger says: But he had awesome DPS!

I say: But he had crap damage!

Pugger says: Damage doesn’t matter, DPS does.

Viking and I shook out heads (OK, I have no way of knowing that for sure, but let’s call it my Spidey-Squid-Sense).

We called it. Replacing the one DPS wasn’t going to change the outcome.

Admittedly it was a difficult fight. Undoubtedly we could have done something different.

Still there are ways of suggesting these things…

There are also ways to stay out of the green…

Remember:

• Dead DPS do no damage…
• DPS doesn’t matter…
• It’s not my problem if you stand in the green… That’s yours!

Gnomer and Out, Squidly and Stout!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

http://gnomeaggedon.net/2009/12/04/dps-dont-matter/

I am being appreciated for what I am, who I am… DPS!

Sure it took a Shadow Priest to acknowldge me, but Gnomeaggedon has a lot to say on this subject, so thanks for the invite Cassandri, let me begin.

Whoah there little Gnome! What make you think Cass was talking about you?

Ummm Mage = DPS in it’s purest sense, so of course she is talking about me.

Pffft you think you can heal, but I can’t DPS? Step aside little Gnome before a cloven hoof tattoos your bald spot!

Cassandri brings us up to speed:

In truth I don’t think about DPS much when I’m writing for Hots & Dots. I’m much more philosophical about healing, PVP and people, probably because I don’t really understand any them at all. That’s what I tend to write about.

A Q&A for DPS (unnamed) was started by Death Goddess. I thought it was a great idea and it was very sensible of Death Goddess to let the temperamental healers and tanks have their moment in the spotlight first. I refuse to subscribe to a blog written by a Death Knight so I had no idea that this was actually started a couple weeks back.

First off, let me send you round to read some of the great posts that I’ve read in this circle: Spazmoosifer talks about Shadow Priest DPS and Roxxon actually came up with some pretty profound stuff for a Mage (OK Gnome highlighted this very important word).

I’d love to hear Cynwise talk about his Warlock – we have so many raiders entering the discussion and not enough PVPers! I’d also like to hear from Gnomeaggedon since I find myself nodding my head furiously whenever I read his posts.

Lettuce Begin

What is the name, class, and spec of your primary dps?

Gnomea-ooofffff-geddon. Hey watch your elbow! GNOME FrostFire Mage (Gnome being the most important part)

Squ-Owwww-idly. Get your staff out of there! Some-Time Elemental Shaman, always DPS, even when healing.

What is your primary dpsing environment? (i.e. raids, pvp, 5 mans)

Gnomeaggedon: In bed, I DPS them girls till they forget their names!

Squidly: Fool Gnome, just because you are spending more time offline than on doesn’t mean you are mixing it up with Oomaggedon… Anyway, I saw her 1st and she came to visit me!

For the record I primarily DPS in Instances when there are Holy Priests that don’t know how to Shadow.

I will throw out the odd offensive spell when I am healing though… I need an excuse to drink.

Gnomeaggedon: When I can be bothered logging on it’s 5-10-25 man stuff in that order, heavily weighted to the 5 man end at the moment. A few months back it was 10 man or nothing.

What is your favorite dps spell/ability for your class and why?

Squidly: Whack a Gnome. I use Healbot to try to thump the Gnome Mages over the head with a rank 1 LHW… Don’t want to overheal!

If there aren’t any Gnomes, then it’s a toss up.

Chain Lightning cause it’s way pretty. FlameShock+Lavaburst for pure hurt.

Gnomeaggedon: What? Just one? I have multiple toolbars full of them.

Frostfire Bolt… Mmm the scent of fire with the crack of ice!

Living Bomb+Flame Strike + Blizzard… Mmmm Scrolling Combat Text make my PC hurt! The mobs don’t feel so good either…

What dps spell do you use least for your class and why?

Gnomeaggedon: Easy… Anything beginning with Frost* or Arcane* there, that takes out 60% of the irrelevant Mage abilities. Basically if it doesn’t burn I don’t like it.

Squidly: Earth Shock… I know I should… But I don’t. Still, unlike the Gnome I don’t discriminate on school/spec

What do you feel is the biggest strength of your dps class and why?

Gnomeaggedon: Strudel, Portals, Heals, Tanking with a bit of DPS on the side.

Squidly: BUUUUFFS. Pick a group comp, any group comp. Pick an encounter any encounter. You need it, we got it! We can also heal on the side, but I’ll leave the tanking to the Mage.

What do you feel is the biggest weakness of your dps class and why?

Gnomeaggedon: Apart from Health? We aren’t weak, we is killing machines!

Squidly: Threat. I can generate it plenty, on as many mobs as I want… But a partial dump on one target, on a cooldown?

In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel, in general, is the best dps assignment for you?

Gnomeaggedon: That’s a bit sexist isn’t it? I want a 24 girls + 1 Gnome environment. Mmmm Gnome Lurvin!

If I have to work for my place, then give me trash… Or a boss.

• Trash for instant gratification.
• Boss for the heart stopping frenzy of DoTs and Instant “I’m wiping that big evil grin off your face” Pyroblasts.

Squidly: Mmmm 15 man more or less. No raiding experiences to date, but lots of Battlegrounds.

Of course in that environment my role is more about killing the Horde via heals than DPS. Heal my mates, let them be the long arm of my DPS.

What dps class do you enjoy dpsing with most and why?

Gnomeaggedon: Fried Chickens – I loves me some extra Boomkin Crit ya in the face you wussbag of a boss!

Squidly: Anything that will take a hit, or over aggro me. For once I think I agree with short stuff. Fried Chicken tastes good!

What dps class do you enjoy dpsing with least and why?

Gnomeaggedon & Squidly (In chorus): I don’t think they are a class, at least I have never found them at the character creation screen, but they are the NOOB and they have to have as many specs as there are classes X 3.

Many of them tell us they are experienced, so all I can do is feel sorry for all the lives they have ruined.

Luckily Cass put a disclaimer on this statement:

Or Mages. They’re so selfish about keeping Focus Magic to themselves. And they can out-DPS me so easily. That hurts.

Like this:

Gnome Mages and Gnome Death Knights are the exception. I can’t stay mad at something so cute.

Otherwise the answer would have been a whole lot more specific…

What is your worst habit as a dps?

Gnomeaggedon: picking my own target.

1. I can’t see over everyone’s head to target theirs and
2. By the time I have wound up my spell the bloody rogues have already bust the mob down.

This means I am always one boss ahead of the raid… and…

I need 10 tree Druids in the raid for Battle Rezs.

Squidly: DPSing as Resto and forgetting my tool bars are now set for heal rather than hurt.

I get great numbers on the healing meters, not so much on the damage meters.

What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while dpsing?

Gnomeaggedon: no one respects my tanking or healing abilities.

Squidly: Bosses and mobs that make the healers life hard. I want their healing love, so leave them alone!

Do you feel that your class/spec is well balanced with other dps?

Squidly: Apparently we are awesome, so we must be.

Gnomeaggedon: Apparently I am awesome, so we must be.

What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a dps’er?

Gnomeaggedon: The oooohhhhs and aaaahhhhs from the crowd.

Squidly: am I alive? I must be better than the average goo standing DPS.

What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your class?

Gnomeaggedon: that all we care about is our position on the meters… Obviously we care about the phat loot as well.

Ohhh, and that we can summon!

Warlocks have love in their hearts and summon you to be close.

Mages port you to the opposite side of the world.

Squidly: that cause I am a Shaman I can take a few hits… Which I could if I wore mail, but why roll on mail when I can pinch cloth and leather for my offspec?

What do you feel is the most difficult thing for new dpsers of your class to learn?

Gnomeaggedon: DPS doesn’t matter. Damage does, while means staying alive, which in turn means many of our utility spells are as much, if not more, important.

Squidly: totems. Which totems, when. Also that it’s all the other things that make a Shaman cool. Interrupts, buffs, debuffs.

Don’t worry so much about yourself, lift the team!

What DPS class do you feel you understand least?

Gnomeaggedon: Warriors… Why don’t they sink when they jump in the water?

Squidly: Mages, how can a class with so much Intellect be played by so many dumb people?

What add-ons or macros do you use, if any, to aid you in dps?

Gnomeaggedon & Squidly: all of them!

We downloaded all of the WoWwiki macro pages and the entire Curse addon database and shoved it kicking and screaming into WoW.

• If you have more than 3 fps you arent trying hard enough.
• If you can actually see the mob you are meant to hit, your screen isn’t cluttered enough.
• If you know what is going to happen when you press that keybound macro you aren’t living on the edge.
• If your tool bars aren’t filled with ?, where is the fun in the game?

So basically every skill is macro’d and often more than one addon does the same thing… But at least when my whole screen if flashing I know to move out of the goo… Even if my fps won’t allow it.

What stat to stack, and why?

Gnomeaggedon: Beauty. If you aren’t beautiful, you won’t get a raid spot, which means you won’t get to do DPS.

Look at Jong and Megan, you think they get their raid spots based on ability?

When Jong rips the buttons off his shirt people stand up and oooohhhh aaaaahhhh.

He hasn’t even started DPSing yet!

Squidly: BEER! More Beer and a home delivery bottleshop.

If you can’t play your character when you are plastered you just can’t play!

This is the problem with PvE players. Everything is scripting and timing. Throw in a psuedo PvP encounter, or god forbid actual PvP and the players go to pieces…

But, but, it spoils my rotation! The training dummy didn’t fight back, it’s not fair that the mobs do!

See the human mind is a nasty piece of work. When you first learn your class you are flexible, you have to be because you can’t be sure when that spell will finish casting or when your cooldown will pop.

But in time, you can close your eyes, turn your back, play guitar hero with your toes and still put out theorycrafted DPS… Because you brain is now conditioned to know how long 2.3 hasted seconds are, where the ohh shit button is etc.

So that’s where beer cones in.

Drink till you can’t find the keyboard and you are trying to turn your character with your cell phone.

Then, only then, will you Starr to become a good player. You have absolutely no choice. It’s either perform, or go get another beer from the fridge!

BTW Blizzard, 1-30 seconds of BG reserect time is not long enough to go to the fridge, have a smoke and water the lemon tree… Please change this!

Ohhh you are a teetotaler?

Simple solutions:
1. Start drinking
2. Keep drinking
3. Last resort, change your keybindibgs before every raid, before every boss if it’s becoming too easy. It’s like drinking, but without the overflowing recycle bin and the empty bank account.

Gnomer and Out, Squidly and Stout! (Stout – that’s an alcoholic drink with more vitamins than your average 3 course meal… Great for breakfast as well!)

The End

Gnomeaggedon & Squidly: What, that’s it? We have only drink 1/2 a slab each… Give us more!

Gnomeaggedon: When the bloody he’ll are those uppity plate wearers going to invite me to write their Tanking questionnaire… More brains in their butts even with Arcane Brilliance!

Hey Kriz… Heard you were nearly unemployed… 50,011 words down hunh! About time you told us how awesome your Deeps is!

Larisa, Oi, come out of your cellar, tell how you do it!

Ummm, are there any other DPS bloggers out there that haven’t done this yet?

Well here’s your challenge, do it now, say I told you to, before someone else does it at my request.

Gnomer and Out, Squidlys crashed under the lemon tree… Ewww yuck!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

http://gnomeaggedon.net/2009/11/19/now-were-talking-dps/

See I am still here!

Karch has been doing a great job answering his readers questions (why don’t I get questions? Oh yeah, I had one about whether you should stay Fire spec back in TBC. Apart from that they are just questions about help getting $millions out of Nigeria)

Anyway he had one the other day about how to fix low DPS, which prompted me to respond asking when do you know if your DPS is too low and does it really matter.

Now admittedly if you are only doing 1,000 DPS and you aren’t doing burning crusade content at level 70, then your DPS is too low.

I have seen on various forums that numbers such as 1,200 – 1,400 is acceptable for starting heroics and 1,400 to 1,600 is acceptable for starting Naxx.

So beyond that, how low is too low?

I saw one forum post where the Mage was excluded from guild raids until he hit 3,000 DPS. The problem was that as FFB spec in a mix of heroic and 10 man gear he was so reliant on crits to hit 3k, that he wasn’t in a position to get up to get 3k more reliably.

Using myself as an example, FFB, mix of quest, heroic, 10 & 25 man gear, I am only averaging 2k DPS in a Naxx run. Sure some fights I am notching up. 2.5 or 3k, but then on other fights 1.5 or 1.8!

It probably doesn’t help the the 1st & 2nd meter place winners are pulling 3-4k DPS. There isn’t much left for me to kill when they wind up. Hell sometimes I am at best equal with our Pally tank (though that maybe because he is dual specing Ret and letting our Warrior tank take a few hits).

Maybe it doesn’t help that I am pretty casual. I haven’t even started on Hodir rep for the shoulder enchants, and I am often running to catch up during trash, or just can’t be bothered popping cooldowns.

• How/against who do you measure it?
• What fights are acceptable measuring posts.
• What can you do about it?

How/against who do you measure it?

Do you compare yourself against other Mages?

I am usually the only Mage in our raids, so unlike Pugnacious Priest, I am not in a position to have a meter war with a Magely colleague.

Same Spec?

Even if I do find myself with another Mage, they are often another Spec, so what do I make of the comparison then?

Same gear?
Assuming I have a Mage, that is the same spec, will they be the same gear “level”? If not, how do I compare?

Note: I do wish that tools like WWS allowed you to put in rating for yourself as a search criteria for other raids/toons with same level of gear.  So much better than just randomly searching through WWS reports in the hope of finding someone to compare against.

Against other classes?
Back in Kara days, I used to compare myself to our Rogue. He was my benchmark. Just before the great nerfs of TBC, it was 50/50 which of us would be on the top of the meters.

Around that time a shaman mate, with a lot more time than me, leveled and badged out his toon and was either up there or beating both of us.

These days, the only time I come close to either of the is if the rogue forgets his poisons, or they both go AFK (or die… I pray for them to die every fight… Just kidding)

How do you take gear into account?

I have already touched on this, but can you compare a toon in heroic gear with one in 10 man gear?

Compare 10 man gear with 25?

Compare Naxx with Ulduar (or anything in between)?

How would you baseline each of these gear levels?

What fights are acceptable measuring posts?

Some fights are AoE, others tank & spank, others high movement, others your role is utility.

Then there is the difference in fights.

Which fights do you baseline yourself against?

When you quote or compare your DPS, do you pick the one where you hit 3k through AoE, or 2.5k via tank and spank, or 2k in high movement, or 1.6k because your other utility is more important than your DPS (and should be acknowledged as well)?

Trash or boss, whole run or specific fights?

Do you look at whole run, Trash fights, individual Boss fights, all Boss fights or only Boss kills (WWS will give you all these breakdowns)

I know some trash fights the Rogue has cleared up the trash before I can find my ISHOUlDWIN! button. I read somewhere that in a 20-30 second AoE fight, the Rogue with his AoE daggers will slaughter casters. After the 30 seconds Mages will overtake, because we aren’t dependent on energy.

Some boss fights I am running for my little squishy life, or sucking mana out of the ether while the Rogue just chop chops away. The reverse is also true of course, sometimes the Rogue is bolting from Boss AoE, while I look on and laugh, my biggest concern being whether I can get my hand out of the chip packet in 2.5 seconds.

What can you do?

I figure that there are some old standards to improving performance, as well as some new options. At one point in my playing career I would have said that the first two of the following were the cornerstones to DPS improvement, but now I wonder if a sloppy option 3 is better than a perfect option 1 or 2.

1. Stay alive

In fact from a DPS standpoint, in some fights, your best option maybe to dump your load and die. Big damage over a short period of time = high DPS.

But let’s face it, your real objective isn’t high DPS, it’s high damage.

3,000 dps for 1 second is only 3,000 damage contributed to a fight. 2,000 DPS for 10 seconds is 20,000 damage, over 3 minutes 3,600,000.

So DPS is great if that’s the only number that counts, but longevity will always be better in the long run.

Of course if you can combine DPS with longevity, you have nothing to worry about.

2. Use cooldowns

Use them like you got ‘em!

If you are 10 minutes away from a boss fight, you could be blowing your cooldowns 5 times on trash, the overall numbers for the run will look much better.

On a boss fight, you need to know how long that fight is going to last. You need to blow your cooldowns as many times as you can while ensuring they are ready for that last 35% of the bosses life.

When the boss hits 35%, you want to pop those cooldowns and drop that boss while raising your numbers.

3. Dual Spec

This is Karch’s solution to low DPS numbers. If your usual spec isn’t cutting it, change spec to rock the numbers.

If my FFB Spec will unreliably give me 2 – 2.5 – 3k DPS, then, if nothing else, change to Arcane for the 3-4 minute fights to reliably get 3-4k DPS. Of course longer fights (or different style fights) if your mana management and gear is good enough.

Others are considering moving from Arcane to Fire+TTW specs for the same reason.

But is it want you want to do… Does it really matter?

The dilemma is, if you are a diehard “spec” player (I’m Fire, Krizz is Frost, Larisa is Arcane), do you change your spec just to squeeze that last ounce of DPS out of your toon?

I’m not talking RolePlaying here… I can’t Roleplay my way out of Gnomeragan, I have grown up fire, and base a lot of my identity as a Mage on being Fire (It was hard enough to go *cough* Frost *cough* Fire Bolt.

Am I too old school in loving my Fire, and hesitating to go Arcane just to rock the damage meters?

Should I stay true to my great balls of fire, or consider Dual Spec just another cooldown?

A Mage helping a Tank to Tank?

Completely urelated, but I thought worth giving a plug.

If you are a Mage doing the Hodir encounter, help your tank out by doing insane DPS and going way past their aggro…Just coordinate it with them 1st!

Check out the the tactic at Tanking Tips

Gnomer and Out!

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

http://gnomeaggedon.net/2009/05/21/when-is-your-dps-too-low/

Get on with it Gnome, you are rambling…. actually delirious is probably a better word.

I was just thinking, while listening to the TwistedNether podcasts, about how I always assume that everyone knows so much more about the game than I do (OK, with the exception of the 9 million people that don’t read or intend to improve upon their abilities beyond the talent selection screen.. assuming they know it is even there).  Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to say I know it all… in fact, rather the opposite.

It occurs to me that the ones “holding”, or more importantly spreading the knowledge, are also the ones that are able to acknowledge that they have gaps in their knowledge, or… are Forever a noob.

From that starting point of “I have gaps in my knowledge, and I am prepared to fill them”, one moves onto “I have questions I need answers for, and I am prepared to ask them”.

The thing is, where do you ask these questions?

Blogsphere?
I am a recent convert to the WoW Blogsphere, yet I expect that the readership is minor in comparison to other resources – and from an ex-outsider’s perspective, they feel more like one-way lecture halls, than group-discussion seminars, or think tanks.

So where else would one go for assistance?
The obvious choice is the Official Forums, but it becomes readily apparent that anyone asking a noob-like question, even if a good one, just badly formed, or perish the thought, grammatically incorrect, is TROLL FODDER.  Even long time and knowledgeable posters have had their spirit crushed by the weight of the official forum trolls.

So then where else?
Well, I found it suprisingly difficult to get noobish advice for my Mage. Most wiki’s seem half formed or out of date.  Most forums are full of the Frost vs. Fire debate etc.  But there was one gem in the rough.  One forum that turned my underpowered Mage into Gnome bursting with firey goodness.

I introduce you to the UnOfficial World of Warcraft Forums, and Particularly the Mage Forums.

Want to know how bad a Mage I was, yet when I posted my noob pleading for help post, I was handled with kidgloves my the likes of Twoflower, Rgirty, and Malentra.  Well check out my first post here Help with underpowered mage… Don’t reserect it.. it’s old, but you will get a feel for the nature of the folk here, and how a sensible question will be met with a sensible and knowledgble answer.

A couple of other threads I still have bookmarked, that may be of interest to Mages, though they may be getting a little long in the tooth.

• Gear Requirements for kara and beyond–please help
• Best [pre-raid gear available

Anyway, I just thought I would share an awesome resource, and my coming-of-mage forum post with you.

Gnomer and Out!

I have used a heap of Mage “DPS” tools, some religiously, others I have dabbled with yet found a unusable for some reason or another (not necessarily due to wrong info, or difficult UI, rather because I am using it at work.. and ummm flashing WoW graphics is a give away). So in the end I knocked up a spreadsheet that did what I wanted.. well nearly – it ain’t pretty, and it probably isn’t all that accurate, but it gives me a close enough idea to choose between 2 (or 3 or 4) items to make up a set of gear that I am happy with.

So what I am wondering is, is there anyone out there with the skill and desire to take my concept and clean it up and make it really useful to me… and to anyone else out there that is interested.

What already exists.
To start with I will list the tools that I have used in the past, so if anyone is looking for something to use, they can find something… and it may be all you are looking for. I am sure there are many more…

WoWDigger
Allows you to pull your character from WoWArmory, create additional gear sets including gems and enchants and then compare 2 at a time (current with xyz gear set). All the gear, gems and enchants is there for selecting – it’s very visual.
My issues.

1. It’s too visual.. I mean it looks great, but I can’t really be discrete at work…
2. It takes a while to compose each item – search for the item, choose it, the gems, the enchants, the slot, the set etc.
3. I can’t compare wishlist x with wishlist y.
4. It doesn’t print a nice clean spreadsheet with the info – you need to be able to mouse over the items, and I don’t want icons, I want names.

Mage Optimizer
OK this is is great.. I love it, in fact it was the spreadsheet that started me on the road to creating my own.
It accounts for specs, gear, gear sets. You can add your own gear into the spreadsheet for selection.
You can play with your spell rotation etc.
At a glance you can see how your stats will come out.
My issues.

1. It’s only a little bit visual.. the logo.. but for me it’s still a bit indiscreet.
2. It can take a while to add in the gear – not a big problem, as it makes it much easier to select later – but when you create the gear and the stats (with enchants gems etc) then that’s the way it stays (until you create another one with the changes – either adding or overwriting the gear of choice)
3. I can’t easily compare multiple sets
4. It doesn’t print very well

Vontre’s mage dps spreadsheet
A hardcore one from Elitist Jerks
I think this one is great too, but once again the emphasis is on the dps/ rotations etc.
Luckily it isn’t too visual… yay…
My issues.

1. It’s pretty hardcore.. too hardcore for me.
2. While the gear helps to make up the numbers, it isn’t really about the gear, it’s about squeezing the last bit out of your dps through rotations buffs etc.
3. So I can’t easily compare multiple sets.

Theorycraft-o-Matic by Lhivera
Of course there is Lhivera’s Theorycraft-o-Matic, which is great to see what you could do in any given fight, but once again it’s about the dps, and not about the gear.
Mind you it’s a great way to toy around with your specs based on current gear. Really if you haven’t run yourself through it… you should.
The other things is I have used the relative +stat values in my spreadsheet to try and value the gear – so it is sort of a needed addition/compliment to my spreadsheet.

Rawr
I really haven’t had the chance to play with this. I opened it once, but was a bit to visual for the work environment
That said, I have heard great reports about it.

What I am looking for.
OK, so in a way I am not looking for a dps spreadsheet – I am looking for a gear +damage/+hit/+haste/+crit spreadsheet.

• It must be printable.
• I want to be able to see the base stats for 3 different gear sets at any time, which changes as I choose different gear.
• I want to be able to have multiple of above. So I can have a +SpellDamage comparison, +Hit, PvP etc.
• I want a selection of gear, that I can pick between, all on the one screen, but option to select for one set, but not others.
• The ability to add/subtract gems and enchants from the gear selection.
• Ability to give each stat a certain value.
• I would love it if +hit gained no additional value if that gear set had already reached max.

What I am not looking for.

• I am not really interested in what my dps might be (although I know this is a component of the whole), when gear is combined with talents etc. My focus is on the gear itself.
• Groovy graphics – actually, any graphics

Some examples of what I have put together or referenced… (Note some of this is woefully out of date, but I was just looking for screen shot examples.)
I have put the key to the spreadsheets at the bottom.. good chance you don’t want to read that (although you have read this far)

Stats Summary
This Stat summary screenshot is pinched from Mage Optimizer – it’s great, if I can have this for each set, all on one page & printable, I will be a happy man.

The Dodgy stuff I have put together…

Relative “+” values (+dam, +hit, +haste, +crit)
The relative values of the various bonuses based on Lhivera’s calculations.

My list of potential gear candidates, by Slot & source
The “side by side” comparison of gear per slot.

My Stat’s summary – how the 3 sets compare against each other.
Now obviously this is a much simpler/more limited version of Mage Optimiser’s – but generally this is what I want.

Optional

Compares

OK, now going a bit deeper.. I want to compare the same options against 2 options.
But in this case, I don’t care about the whole values for the stat, just the +/- against the target gear.

Target Sets
OK so this one is the “Target Set” – what I want to log on/off in of a night.
I use this to build it on my character (or Outfitter set)

Gem Analysis
Might as well compare the gems while I am at it.

Spreadsheet Key

OK, so you have seen the pretty pictures, what do all the columns etc mean.

Present on Relative
Hit demo = my sheet name…
Used, His & Cur. Used for these calculations, Historical – last time I checked Lhivera’s page, current – this time when I checked Lhivera’s page (His & Cur are just backup figures if I want to change my Used numbers)
Hit Required. The +Spell Hit I require per +level of mob and rating that equates to. Note I have taken my talent into account for this.

Present on gear comparison, Multiple compares, Target sets, Gem Analysis
SD = +Spell Damage – I have kept this simple – it is any +spell damage. (I don’t plan on specing anything other than fire)
SC = Spell Crit rating.
Hit = +Spell Hit rating.
Has = +Haste Rating
Res = Resilience.
SCEQ = The value of +damage that this crit rating would give, based on the relative values in my table)
HitEQ = The value of +damage that this +Spell Hit rating would give, based on the relative values in my table)
HasEQ = The value of +damage that this Haste rating would give, based on the relative values in my table)
SDEQ = SD + SCEQ + HasEQ – doesn’t include Spell Hit. So consider this the damage against something where you are already hit capped – ie. Trash.
SDEQBoss = SD + SCEQ + HitEQ + HasEQ – Consider this the damage against something where you need +Hit – ie. Bosses
D, T, H (also other letters on other sheets) = the “checkbox” y/n whether they should be considered for the set.
Notes = Notes. Where to get it, Gem options etc.
Sta + Int = Stamina and Intellect stats for the item. I don’t really care about Spirit etc, so just listing those.
Spec = Special Damage. ie. +150 damage for 10 sec. Chance of proc for +100 dmg etc.

Present on My Stat’s summary
The names are changeable of course… and might simply be +DMG, +HIT, PvP… but then you might have a sheet for each type so you can play etc…
Raw = Pure + damage
Spec = total of potential +damage from special things/events
Norm = The calculated SDEQ
Boss = The calculated SDEQBoss
Sta = Stamina using this gear
Hit = Spell Hit
SC = Spell Crit
Int = Intellect, the smaller number = estimated crit gained from Int.

Anyway, if there is someone out there that is interested in developing this idea a bit further, drop me a line.

Just want a gander at the spreadsheet… well be warned it’s bloody ugly… but I might be convinced

Gnomer and Out!

Basically we are all a bit sick of Kara, in particular now that we only just form the core of a raid.  The 1st half of Kara is just gravy, the 2nd half is full of wipes of one sort or another. Nightbane is at best iffy, Prince wont go down for us, Illhoof.. well we never seem to find a Warlock to get us through, and our other strategies are really suck it and see, we don’t even bother with Netherspite… we just aren’t a coherent enough group to run it.

Our other option is ZA… If you were to base our chances on the success we have with the Bear boss, then we should steamroll the place… but that’s where it always ends.

Anyway, back to Friday.  We make the decision that if we can get a group together by 9pm, we will give Kara a go.. and low and behold we do.  Not only that but it is readily apparent that the shadow priest we have picked up for the run is awesome.

So once again, we are steamrolling though the 1st half.. even when my mouse goes AWOL during Romulo & Juliet, it just isn’t a problem.  I couldn’t click on my invisibility button cause my mouse wasn’t working, but I was just tab targeting to spread my threat around.  Someone even commented that the whole group was good (or better than usual), as the only ones lower on the damage meters than the tank were the healers.

So we head for the back door to complete this awesome run, when the inevitable happens… our shadow priest leaves due to work commitments.  Little did we realise at that point how our fortunes were about to turn.

We start clearing the trash while looking for one more, and very soon get him, so we turn around and head for Nightbane.  1st attempt, we get him to 50 something percent.  We handled the 1st transition perfectly, but then it all went south.  2nd attempt started with the southerly turn.. so we gave up on the big bony dragon and headed to Curator.

Curator piece of cake.. down just after 2nd evocation, ok things are looking up right? wrong!

I don’t really know what happened after that, but the raid just wasn’t coming together.  We only hit Shade of Aran after that (well we did Chess, just, after we gave up on Aran), but we somehow spent close enough to 1.5 hours there (well, from our 1st attempt on Nightbane to giving up on Aran was 2 hours according to my expiring pot).  The fights with Aran were going so well, but would just fall apart… then people would accidentally jump off the ramp outside Aran’s room and, well, /sigh

One a personal note, I discovered 3 things that made me happy for the night.

1. I can remember back when I was dreaming of breaking 1,000 + spell damage (fire specifically).  It seemed so far away and impossible.  Yet when I buffed up in my boss gear (so a little less +damage), I was sitting on +1,280.. I was pretty happy about that.
2. I have read so often about people doing +1,000 dps.. how easy it is etc… I have always found it elusive.  Normally on a good night I will be racking up mid 800′s to low 900′s, but I never see 1,000.  But I just happened to check my “last fight” entries in Recount on a couple of trash fights.  The 1st one I was just over 1,000 dps (I was so excited I whispered my main competition the rogue).  next fight I was just over 1,100 dps.  I know that they were trash, and don’t really count, but I was stoked anyway.
3. I took my Darkmoon Card: Crusade for test run.  I only recently got it, and was loath to replace my current trinkets, especially in my +hit boss gear.  Anyway, I thought I would take it for a test drive in my trash gear… man I love it!  I was getting 2-3 stacks per scorch, so it was normally sitting on 10 stacks (+80 damage) after a few casts.. and it just kept on giving.  Ohh, if you have one, and didn’t know, you can stack it using polymorph… so polymorph a critter, over and over before you start combat, and you are already fully stacked.. if you time it right you will regen the mana to cover the casts.

I guess best of all, my friend that I put on ignore last week had a whole new attitude (my email to him must of done the trick), so the night, no matter the bad ending, was fun.

Gnomer and Out!

Have you caught up with spelldamage.com yet?

A site for Mage, Warlock, & Priest theorycrafting, with some nice online tools as well as blog topics.

Anyway, if you want to compare you Mage/Warlock/Priest wth my little Gnome, follow this link (my bits are filled in).

Gnomer and Out!

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