Hi all, sorry that it's been almost 2 weeks since my last update. I'm moving (IRL), so its been a pain in the butt. My guild was also focusing on Illidan Stormrage, and I'm happy to say that we've now cleared BT. I'd like to think that part of our success was due to my leadership, but that could be my ego talking.. haha.
Anyways, more importantly, 2.3 is around the corner... what do we have in store? Well, honestly, it looks like the biggest change is going to be how HOTW works with feral druids. Previously it increased our STR in cat form by 20%. It is being changed do +10% attack power. So I guess if you hadn't made the connection yet, AGI will be by and far the premier stat of choice.
I'm not sure if you guys have checked out a site called Lootzor (http://www.lootzor.com) but it's a site that allows you to compare gear given metrics that YOU decide!! :) Previously, if you were to say, use Emmerald's stat values (http://www.gurgleblaster.net/emmerald), the lootzor mechanics you would enter in look something like this:
Cat Sustained DPS:
1 Attack Power = 1
1 Strength = 2.472
1 Agility = 2.394
1 Crit Rating = 1.498
1 Hit Rating = 1.101
(I told you I don't necessarily agree with Emmerald's rankings, but its a good list, for lack of a better replacement on the web that is as easily readable and accessible).
In 2.3, those values now change...
If you wanted to stay true to Emmerald's values, it would look something like this post 2.3:
1 Attack Power = 1.1
1 Strength = 2.236
1 Agility = 2.512
1 Crit Rating = 1.498
1 Hit Rating = 1.101
As you can see just by plugging it into Lootzor, several "rogue" pieces all of a sudden jump to the top of our ideal DPS gear. Things that were previously strength heavy no longer become easy favorites (like Hamarid's Bargain, or Razor-scale Battlecloak). Something like Unstoppable Aggressor's Ring all of a sudden drops off the chart!
Anyways, I guess I'll keep this short... try Lootzor if you want to try to find a new loot table until either Emmerald finishes his loot list, or until you get a better DPS gear calculator :)
Another change they made was how they calculated weapon skill. For druids, we previously used a stat called "Feral Combat Skill Rating" (FCSR), which was relegated to only a few items in the game (namely Shapeshifter's Signet, Earthwarden, Clefthide Leggings). 20 FCSR generally provided an insane benefit (+3% hit, -.5% chance to be dodged, parried or blocked). Past 20 FCSR however, the benefits were near non-existent.. which is why many high-end druids still used the Shapeshifter's Signet (available @ Exalted Lower City rep from the Quartermaster in Shattrah City). This stat is now being changed into Expertise. Expertise will no longer increase your %hit chance... it will however give you increased levels of Dodge/Parry/Block avoidance which will not top out @ 20 expertise rating! Another benefit is that b/c all the weapon skill stats are now a generic "expertise" rating, the # of items that you can now use is GREATLY expanded... instead of only 3 Feral Combat Skill Rating items in the entire game, there are now like dozens and dozens of expertise items you now have available. Expertise is now changed to .25% less chance to be Dodged/Parried/Blocked.. so using 20 Expertise Rating (which translates into 5.1 Expertise) will now net you 1.25% chance to be blocked/parried/dodged... which at first seems worse than what FCSR used to give us, but at the very least, you can now choose from a variety of items to use instead of only Shapeshifter's Signet.
In a DPS raid environment, you're only going to face dodge (b/c you always attack from behind, you won't be blocked or parried), so obviously Expertise is not THAT huge in terms of helping your DPS... but if you're already hit-capped (~8.6% hit), you might as well remove that last 3% dodge from bosses by trying to get yourself around 12 Expertise which will then make you dodge-proof as well as miss-proof against raid bosses :) You'll have to use a item-stat-comparison-spreadsheet or something in order to calculate which items would be worth using for Expertise however :)
2.3 changes aren't even finished yet, so who knows where we'll end up! I'll try to write more articles on the topic as I think of them, but of course, do not ignore your other resources such as Elitist Jerks, The Druid Wiki, etc.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Friday, October 5, 2007
Tank Stat Priority for Feral Druids.. not what you might think!
(sorry, 10/8/07.. editting my example to something more realistic)
Well, I think every Druid knows pretty much the magic numbers for being uncritable. Basically, boss mobs should have about a 5.6% chance to crit you. So you need stats + talents to reduce that, since crits are usually GG for a tank.
Druids have -3% crit from a talent called Survival of the Fittest, which should be a staple for any druid with any intention on PvE'ing. Then you only have to make up the last 2.6% chance to crit. This can actually be achieved by either just getting your Defense Rating up to 415, or doing some hybrid setup using Resilience gear to achieve the same result.
After that... you should probably focus on tanking stats. By and large, for 25man instances especially, the limiting factor is really not how much avoidance you have, but really, how much can you survive before a heal can get to you. With the healing power these days, there should almost never be a question of how many HPS can a healer put out. I mean, if necessary 2 paladins spamming max rank HL can pretty much heal any fight in this entire game (although probably not sustainable, but still). The further you get in progression, the more evident it becomes. So then, what is the #1 cause of death to a tank? It's not the size or HPS of the heals, its the delay or reaction time until you start getting them.
Realistically speaking, can you survive maybe about 10 seconds without heals in a bad luck situation? By taking this aspect of it, for a true tank set, you really want to stress your survivability in the face of bad RNG streaks.
I mean, lets compare Player A with 15000 HP / 50% dodge / 65% armor mitigation, that's great.. versus Player B with 15000 HP / 25% dodge / 75% armor mitigation, versus Player C with 20000 HP / 25% dodge / 65% migitation.
Assuming boss will hit for 20000 unmitigated. Player A will get hit for 7000per hit, but dodge 50% of them, so overtime, you will see the player taking ~3500dmg per hit. Player B will get hit for 5000 per hit, but with the dodge, is looking at on avg about 3750dmg per hit. On paper, you're like, wow... Player A has the better stats. 50% dodge is huge... over time, that tank will be taking less dmg, so that much be the better setup.
You're wrong however. The funny thing about these fights, and about dodge in general, is that it is completely based on the RNG. Meaning for every time you dodge 5 hits in a row, you'll get hit by 5 straight hits. In which case, for that short period of time, your dodge means jack for Player A. And the healers need to work much harder for that time period than the healer on player B. If you were to theoretically plot a chart for highest % chance of death, you would see the highest point on the chart would be when you miss a string of dodges.
How do tanks die? When those bad streaks burst you, and the healers are slow to cope with the increased damage taken. In the case when you have a bad hit streak, you're looking @ 5x 7000 = 35000 dmg, vs 5x 5000 = 25000 dmg. It's much easier and more predictable for a healer to heal that 25000 dmg during the bad streak than it is for them to cope with the 35000 dmg from a high avoidance, lower mitigation tank. If you throw Player C into the mix, is it easier to keep a 20000 HP tank healed through 35000 dmg? Or is it easier to keep a 15000 HP tank healed through 35000 damage. While I'm sure over over time, its nicer to heal a target who overtime takes less damage, the fact is, overtime tanks do ok.. it's the unexpected bursts which will kill a tank. With a string of 5 hits, assuming you dodged them all, you would probably be getting a ton of overheal anyways due to failed pre-casts, so mana is going to be spent anyways (not precasting would be death when the mobs are hitting so hard).
I mean, its pretty shocking, b/c you would assume with that much avoidance, and with people completely stressing how godly dodge is for druids, that the 50% O_O dodge tank would be better, but in reality, would be a worse option. So sites like Hugehoss's tank list who over emphasize the value of dodge for tanking either assume the bear druid also has max armor and 20k hp already, or just simply aren't good metrics for true bear tanking and survival.
Should you use Emmerald's list? Honestly Emmerald's list isn't so bad. But the honest reality of tanking things is that most players don't really have many options. You generally take the best possible tank gear available when it comes up. The most flexibility you really have is how you gem it.... and I think its honestly not that bad an idea just to throw a bunch of 12-15stam gems in there ;)
Well, I think every Druid knows pretty much the magic numbers for being uncritable. Basically, boss mobs should have about a 5.6% chance to crit you. So you need stats + talents to reduce that, since crits are usually GG for a tank.
Druids have -3% crit from a talent called Survival of the Fittest, which should be a staple for any druid with any intention on PvE'ing. Then you only have to make up the last 2.6% chance to crit. This can actually be achieved by either just getting your Defense Rating up to 415, or doing some hybrid setup using Resilience gear to achieve the same result.
After that... you should probably focus on tanking stats. By and large, for 25man instances especially, the limiting factor is really not how much avoidance you have, but really, how much can you survive before a heal can get to you. With the healing power these days, there should almost never be a question of how many HPS can a healer put out. I mean, if necessary 2 paladins spamming max rank HL can pretty much heal any fight in this entire game (although probably not sustainable, but still). The further you get in progression, the more evident it becomes. So then, what is the #1 cause of death to a tank? It's not the size or HPS of the heals, its the delay or reaction time until you start getting them.
Realistically speaking, can you survive maybe about 10 seconds without heals in a bad luck situation? By taking this aspect of it, for a true tank set, you really want to stress your survivability in the face of bad RNG streaks.
I mean, lets compare Player A with 15000 HP / 50% dodge / 65% armor mitigation, that's great.. versus Player B with 15000 HP / 25% dodge / 75% armor mitigation, versus Player C with 20000 HP / 25% dodge / 65% migitation.
Assuming boss will hit for 20000 unmitigated. Player A will get hit for 7000per hit, but dodge 50% of them, so overtime, you will see the player taking ~3500dmg per hit. Player B will get hit for 5000 per hit, but with the dodge, is looking at on avg about 3750dmg per hit. On paper, you're like, wow... Player A has the better stats. 50% dodge is huge... over time, that tank will be taking less dmg, so that much be the better setup.
You're wrong however. The funny thing about these fights, and about dodge in general, is that it is completely based on the RNG. Meaning for every time you dodge 5 hits in a row, you'll get hit by 5 straight hits. In which case, for that short period of time, your dodge means jack for Player A. And the healers need to work much harder for that time period than the healer on player B. If you were to theoretically plot a chart for highest % chance of death, you would see the highest point on the chart would be when you miss a string of dodges.
How do tanks die? When those bad streaks burst you, and the healers are slow to cope with the increased damage taken. In the case when you have a bad hit streak, you're looking @ 5x 7000 = 35000 dmg, vs 5x 5000 = 25000 dmg. It's much easier and more predictable for a healer to heal that 25000 dmg during the bad streak than it is for them to cope with the 35000 dmg from a high avoidance, lower mitigation tank. If you throw Player C into the mix, is it easier to keep a 20000 HP tank healed through 35000 dmg? Or is it easier to keep a 15000 HP tank healed through 35000 damage. While I'm sure over over time, its nicer to heal a target who overtime takes less damage, the fact is, overtime tanks do ok.. it's the unexpected bursts which will kill a tank. With a string of 5 hits, assuming you dodged them all, you would probably be getting a ton of overheal anyways due to failed pre-casts, so mana is going to be spent anyways (not precasting would be death when the mobs are hitting so hard).
I mean, its pretty shocking, b/c you would assume with that much avoidance, and with people completely stressing how godly dodge is for druids, that the 50% O_O dodge tank would be better, but in reality, would be a worse option. So sites like Hugehoss's tank list who over emphasize the value of dodge for tanking either assume the bear druid also has max armor and 20k hp already, or just simply aren't good metrics for true bear tanking and survival.
Should you use Emmerald's list? Honestly Emmerald's list isn't so bad. But the honest reality of tanking things is that most players don't really have many options. You generally take the best possible tank gear available when it comes up. The most flexibility you really have is how you gem it.... and I think its honestly not that bad an idea just to throw a bunch of 12-15stam gems in there ;)
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