Ask Mr. Robot - What are you doing?

I love Ask Mr. Robot.  I really do.  It doesn’t matter that I’ve spent thousands in reforgeing my gear, or that I’ve swapped out gems/chants just to please that little optimize button.  No, where I scratch my head is how the stat weights actually are computed.  Now normally I have one simple rule for doing my reforge.  Hit to 17% > Haste > Mastery > Crit.  That’s it.  It’s really similar to my standard Paladin reforging.  Haste > Mastery > Crit.  Sure, I’ve played with heavy Mastery builds, or looked at high crit builds, but once I find something that works, I usually stick with it.

Mr. Robot throws that right into the frigging blender.

Now I will admit that it’s a bit more of a challenge with a DPS than the Pally.  Keeping that 17% hit mark is a fine dancing game, and I’ve probably reforged my Darkmoon card two dozen times since starting in Firelands.  It’s just so much mastery that can be swapped out, it’s a big bump.  With the Pally it’s generally look at a piece of gear.  If Haste = 0, reforge something to haste, otherwise, leave it alone. 

Here’s where I run into the /headbang moments with my lock. 

See, I regularly raid with two specs, Demo and Affliction.  Personally I like the feel of Affliction better, but some fights (H-Rhy and Rag right now) require that I be Demo for one reason or another.  For Rhy it’s the awesome AoE, and for Rag it’s the fact that without being Demo, I have exactly zero stuns for the sons.  OK, so that’s fine, but where Mr. Robot throws me a wrench is that even though both builds value Haste > Mastery > Crit (according to Mr. Robot), they value them at different rates.  So in one build I might be told to reforge 3 pieces, then I’ll log out as Demo and be told that 9 pieces need to be swapped.  I “KNOW” that the plus/minus is minimal at best between the two, but I often forget that I’m logged out as Demo instead of Aff.  It’s just mind boggling that there is such a difference, when ranking wise the stats are the same – they just have different values.

After more than one trip to the loan sharks to pay for my reforge, I pay a bit closer attention to how I’m logged out before getting the Robot’s opinion.  Personally I find the tool to be invaluable for getting me as close to the hit cap without going over – and completely irritating when I’m not paying 100% attention.

A band of fire

Rag, is a fiery being

And he casts, a fiery ring

Voss, with his tanking ire

He stepped into the band of fire

Voss stepped in to a burning band of fire

The tank went down, and the sons went wild

The raid burned, burned, burned, in a band of fire

A band of fire

Voss stepped in to a burning band of fire

The tank went down, and the sons went wild

The raid burned, burned, burned, in a band of fire

A band of fire

The traps, they burn your feet

Your heals, they must be leet

Smash, lands on your head

Move, or you’ll be dead

Voss stepped in to a burning band of fire

The tank went down, and the sons went wild

The raid burned burned burned, in a band of fire

A band of fire

My Raiding UI

This isn't the post I was planning, but it's what I've got available today.  This is a fairly basic UI layout I think, and it does have some double information, specifically ICE HUD and the standard portrait info.  I use ForteXorcist for multi-mob DOT tracking, and Power Auras to track DOTs on my current target.  I added scrolling damage text so I could get an idea of how hard I'm hitting, but I'm pretty sure that's going to be coming off soon - it's just too confusing.

There's really no need as far as I can tell to keep scrolling damage on my screen.  Maybe if it was BWL and I needed to see if a mob was resistant/immune to a certain type of damage, but that's not the case with anything really.  Plus, I think I'd figure it out after a few seconds.  IceHUD is probably going to be following it pretty quickly as well, though I have gotten pretty used to having that up there.  I think if I add an aura for < 35% mana, boss < 25% HP, and no Soul Link - I can completely remove that.

I'd also like to get rid of Recount, or just set it to only show after combat - it's just one more thing taking up space, and it's not like I'm going to change my rotation mid through the fight.  Omen is already disabled, thanks to the change in tank threat.  Since I open CoE>BoD>Corr - it takes a few seconds before I'm even dealing damage - more than enough time for the tank to secure agro. 

So there you go - my delicious, overcrowded, needs some work UI.

The Transmorgify opinion I haven't seen yet

Note - this isn't how I feel, but the post/opinion I'm just waiting to see.

OMG BLIZZARD, this is such a huge slap in the face to well, pretty much everyone.  New players who have never gotten this gear will have to go try and get terrible groups full of ninjas to try and have a shot at filling out their sets.  Players who have been here (like me, since Alpha you know) have had to discard entire sets of gear that I would LOVE to have, just becuase there wasn't enough bank space.  Now I have to try that all over agian, and compete on a /roll with some new player who picked up the game in 4.2! WTF.  I DEMAND YOU FIX THIS.

Warlock - What I like, don't like, and don't understand

I think I talked about my frustration (and yet, approval) of the fact that each spec available to the Warlock is both different, and requires different emphasis on secondary stats.  Affliction loves haste, Demo wants mastery, and Destro favors crit.  Even without helping to finance the reforger's vacation home in the Isles, you can still be fairly competitive with any setup as long as you're hit capped.

Which spec do I prefer, and why?

Right now I've been playing a lot of Affliction, both in PvP and PvE.  I really like Demo, but I don't like that either a) I'm completely missing something, b) I have to be in melee range to get the full benefit of my Metamorph, or c) that the tanks keep dragging my target out of the Hand of Gul'dan.  Seriously, that is a shadow patch you CAN stand in - though I do admire your survival instincts.  Destro really feels complicated and clunky.  So much of your DPS depends on keeping up a buff that 'should' be proccing from your demon, but I've found I have to hard-cast more often than not.  I'm actually pretty sure that my obsession with getting my three hasted casts off is what's killing my DPS as Destro, but who konws.

For whatever reason though, Affliction just feels more like a Warlock spec than the other two.  In all honesty though they are so very similar that it's kind of funny.  You have three DoTs you want to keep up at all times (Corruption, your Bane, and either Unstable Affliction or Immolate), a Curse (usually Elements), one or two spells with CDs, and a filler.  In this regard, I'd rate the specs (in terms of difficulty) as Demo>Aff>Destro - but that's just me.

I am glad though that they aren't just different versions of each other, and that there are slightly different aspects to each spec.  I guess the one thing I don't understand though, is why does Haunt refresh Corruption instead of UA?  Goes back to that slightly different feel again.

A new home, a new role, and a missed guild first

Over the last three weeks I've made some indication that I was currently trialing with another guild as a Warlock - pretty much a 180 degree shift from healing on a Paladin.  I went from being at the top of the game to being just another guy fighting for a raid spot and guild invite.  It's been a pretty crazy three weeks, especially when you consider that I started as a fresh 85 wearing greens and am now rocking 4 or 5 pieces of BiS Firelands gear.  I'm sure that at the very least this is a reflection on how the game has changed over the last seven years, and I will still say that it's for the best.

I'm still settling into my new home though, and there's that growing period where you're learning the new jokes, and the other members are trying to figure out why you keep offering them watercolors.  I even did a complete quote segment from Bull Durham, and the only person who got it was Ed.  /sadface

Learning the Warlock has been crazy fun, though I will say that if there's one thing that really irritates me it's that each spec focuses on a different secondary stat.  WTF is that about?  Now to be fair, I'd probably be bitching the other way if every Warlock spec was the same except for the spells you cast (though they aren't far off now).    No, it's just the fact that Affliction needs haste to the point where I'm trying to find a Meth dealer in the dwarven district (I miss the Belves and their crazy drugs).  Demo abuses mastery to no end, and Destro wants crit like the fire mages they are.  While your basic gear is enough to get you through most spec changes, a reforge is really in order to eek out those last few points.

Of course I've put that reforger guy's kids though braces, perp school, college, and even set up a substantial dowry for them at this point.  Of course Night Elves don't reproduce that often, but have you seen their teeth?  Good lord, no wonder he's so happy to see me every other day.  Now I really wish I had that old screenshot of Psycho's teeth - enough to make a baby cry.  Seriously.  Worst.  Teeth.  Ever.  Even worse than Jaws in Moonraker (no Mr. Bond, I expect you to die [yeah, I know that wasn't Jaws] ), Psycho's teeth were terrible.

Of course, I don't NEED to reforge every fifteen seconds, but damn if it doesn't hurt when I don't have enough crit as Destro.  Hard casting Soulfire sucks.

Missing a guild first


Since I started raiding in Vanilla, I've missed only one guild first kill - and that was the original Ragnaros in Molten Core.  Every other guild first, when I've been a "raider" in a guild, I was there for.  My pedigree is long and distinguished (just like Iceman's johnson), and while my guild first kills were rarely server firsts (and never, ever world firsts, they were still GUILD firsts.

Monday was the first time that I'd missed a guild first kill, and ironically enough, it was Ragnaros again.  What a bastard.  Monday night happened to be my night on standby, and the guild got an awesome kill after an especially heartbreaking .4% wipe.  Those are the worst.  I think it's especially bad on a fight like this where you know you only have to hit 10% (like the Lich King fight).  Obviously the fight is tuned to the point that the 10% mark is really where it needs to end, but it's still a ball breaker.

The good thing is that I know I'll get in on the next kill, it's not like he's going anywhere.  And I'm sure I'll be in on a guild first heroic kill that someone else has to miss.  It's just the nature of the game and the guild.  I certainly don't regret that I have one night off every week, and that I have the flexibility to miss a night if needed.

Where I landed


So if you're looking for me, you can still catch me from time to time on Pistonhondo, and I'll still be putting in my 2 cents on the state of the Healadin (Holy Radience is fine - seriously - we do NOT want a channeled heal), as well as my thoughts on being a Warlock.  You can find Apokalyptiko hanging out on Moonrunner with Vidalya of Manalicious.  And seriously, she hates the onion jokes.  They're old.  

Thoughts for Rookies

I've never tried to make it a secret that in my opinion, WoW Insider, while a decent read, is pretty much useless for anyone playing beyond the base 85.  This isn't a knock against the writers or the site itself, there are just better sites for getting the nitty gritty info that you might need for raiding or serious theory-crafting.  I will admit that I've picked up a few tidbits for UI tweaking and the like, and for news they're pretty good - but I've also come to the following realization.

I am not their target audience.

Now, where WoW Insider does do a great job is with their WoW Rookie series.  Sure, it's tough to get everything you need in a couple of blog posts, but they try to give you at least a sample of what to expect and where to go for more.  After all, you shouldn't get the entire game spoon fed to you.  Believe it or not though, there are actually new players picking up the game.  While it's easy to dismiss the 45th hunter wearing spirit cloth off as a complete noobcake, it's very possible that they simply don't know any better.  Like I mentioned before, I currently have a guildmate that didn't know what a TABARD was for - how can I expect him to grasp the intricacies involving haste and mastery?  Should I REALLY be surprised when he's wearing Spirit cloth as a non-Spirit user?

Helping someone in the LFD


I'm fairly certain that the LFD has passed the random BG in terms of being a complete cesspool of humanity.  At least in a RBG you can get away with turning off BGchat and you'll still do fairly well if you keep your eyes open.  While I'm not advocating the Lone Ranger type play, it's easier to pull off than in a LFD group.   Of course given the average communication in a random is maybe a "hey" or "go faster", it's not surprising when the first real sentence to escape someone's mouth is nothing more than a string of profanity and insults.

I'm getting off track though, which just goes to show you the power of the LFD idiots.  What I wanted to talk about today was how taking five minutes might actually help someone enjoy their game, instead of logging off in a fit of frustration, or tears.  While I know it's tough to imagine, all of us were new to WoW at one point - even the elite players in Paragon and Stars.  While past experiences might give you an edge, everyone has a first time, and that first time will set the stage for future play.

The hunter in Spirit gear


We've all seen at least one, admit it.  While catching one at 85 in a heroic is grand cause for a /facepalm, what about one at level 20?  While I've recently been spending all my time grinding Ramkahen rep with my Lock (yes - I still need rep, and the boots are better till I get a pattern or Shannox coughs some up), every once in a while I need to do something different, so I work on my baby Druid.  Now the LFD is a pretty quick way to level to 60, even if I am queueing as DPS, and it saves me the stress of having to heal the retarded tank of the day.

Back to the hunter.

So this morning I get in a group with a nasty mouthed tank, a healing priest, warrior, and this hunter.  I'm the only one rocking full BoAs, and we all know that it's really easy to just decimate an instance when you're geared that way.  So I'm watching the group while learning how Eclipse works, and I see this hunter - in cloth - keeps pulling mobs.  Now, he's not pulling and then FDing on the group, he's either a bot or just used to being able to kill non-elite trash.  Immediately calls of Huntard, "Stop pulling noob", and much worse go out.  I felt bad for the guy, so I took a minute to actually talk to him.

It turned out that this WAS their first toon (or they were just acting), and they simply didn't know what they were about.  They were wearing a dress because it was enchanted, and they had no idea why they should be looking for any kind of special gear.  Instead of belittling them, I pointed out a few quick tips, directed them to WoW Rookie (sending someone like that to EJ is just cruel), and the rest of the run went smoothly.  Well, as smoothly as that type of run can go.

Even Ed has feelings


While I do have some difficulty  beliving this statement, it's true.  Behind the keyboard (usually) is another person, and that person probably has feelings that they'd like to keep intact.  Even that hunter doing 4k in your 85 heroic might not just be a turd, but someone who has never had anything explained to them.  As easy as WoW has become over the years, there's still nothing in game that tells you "Get some AGI and skip the INT gear hunter boy".  Despite the new information about available talents, stat bars, and ease of leveling - it's tough to really max out your characters without going for external information.

So instead of opening up with hostility, maybe take a moment to try and help someone on the other end.  While I don't advocate holding their hands all the way through, at the very least you can point them to a good resource, or offer a nugget or two of information.