Ive entitled this post ... so where do we stand for a few reasons, hopefully they will become clear once people have read the post, but for the time being I apologise because this will no doubt be a bit all over the place rather than focused on one particular point.
Anyway for those of you out there living under a rock 3.3.3 and the subsequent 3.3.3(a) which fixed the problems caused by 3.3.3. I unofficially dubbed 3.3.3 the discipline priest patch. Im sure it did other things to other classes but IMO the major changes effected Discipline.
(a) PW:S Glyph - the heal from this can now proc Divine Aegis and Trauma this is a nice little change especially for those fights where shield spamming is prevelant.
(b) the reworked T10 (4) set bonus means that discipline priests out there now have an additional 5% absorbtion on PW:S
(c) The ICC buff which is currently sitting at 5% and which according to Boub over at MMO has found evidence that this buff could scale up to 30% at some point in the fututre.
(b) and (c) combined amount to a pretty impressive increase to PW:S I read a few other blogs by a variety of people, who tried to say that the 5% from the set was minimal and weren't really worth it but it so is. The only downside to the increase absorbtion it that those encounters where I normally bubble spam for example Lich King the infest generally doesnt break my shields anymore lol. This may seem like a good thing but it means I aint getting the mana regen I used to from Rapture. I cant believe that I am almost complainging about PW:S being too strong.
(d) There was a fourth thing but ATM I cant remember what it was :S.
So all in all it looks as though Discipline has seen a nice little increase in its effectiveness.
So what gear did I get?
In case you hadn't guessed I picked up the T10 (4) now that it has been reworked. Hell even the (2) is more impressive than I had 1st thought:
T10 (2) - the HoT from this is rather nice. As first it may appear a little underwhelming but it stacks. I have had it stacked to the extent that the HoT ends up ticked for a very substantial amount. It might be a short duration and it will drop off frequently but it is very impressive nonetheless.
T10 (4) - it ROCKS!!! read above and below if you want more info but its just superior to the old T10 (4) in so many ways.
I ended up buying Healer T10 - Head, Shoulders, Gloves, and I already had the legs. I also picked up the Shadow T10 - Chest and Shoulders (for those fights where the T10(4) might not be as strong and I would prefer to have the additional through put).
After reading a few articles from varying people and reading comments on said blogs it appears that a large number of people are choosing to avoid the T10 (4) as most Disc Priests were planning to before 3.3.3 changes were announced. The main arguement put forward is either (a) 5% isnt enough (I would like a little more but the 5% is still very impressive) and (b) I have already spent my badges so I aint spending anymore. Dont know about everyone else but I am swimming in badges. Hell I aint even doing my daily dungeons, or weekly raids anymore unless I am waisting time. I would suggest that anyone unsure about what to do should run their own calculations and tests rather, and deciding themselves what they should do rather than relying on other peoples analysis or evaluation.
Progress?
ATM Contingency have been doing reasonably well in progression. We have 30 people in the guild now who have killed Lich King on 10man and are currently progressing through ICC 10HC, unfortunately due to scheduling issues my group have only managed to clear to DS - we got 1 night on progress and Blizzard in theor infinate wisdom decided to break the log in servers which meant we had about 2h where people were unable to log in :( so far I have to say I am impressed Lord M is how he should have been from day 1 but Lady DW and Gunship have been relatively easy. Even the few attempts we had on DS were good, despite out terrible set up.
ICC 25man has seen similar progress. Last week our faces were sore after slamming them against our desks repeatedly. We just weren't syncronising together as we should have been. I am happy to report that last night everyone (well almost everyone had taken their brain medicine) and we saw some real progress last 3 - 4 tries saw us getting into PH3 without too much bother or almost getting there before one little thing threw it all away. Another week progressing like that and we should have a kill.
Side Projects
Ulduar 10 - managed to get in with a few friends this week and happy to report I am now only missing 2 achievements for my Proto Drake and those who came to help are in a similar position. ATM Yogg 1 keeper and Razorscales dwarves are all that stand between me and my drake.
ICC Alt runs - this week saw a strange turn of events where a few old guildies from New Order who are now in Excesse got in touch with me and we did a 25man and 10man alt run. Was nice to catch up with some old friends and pick up a few achievements on my alts in the progress.
Ok this is where things get a little strange, or crazy, or insane ... heard all of these things this week. I have decided to roll another priest on Haomarush Horde side. See told you it was crazy. The reasoning behind it ... however faulty it may be is sound to me. I have many many healers but after I have taken Panzee through his lockouts and someone asks me to help them with some run they are putting together I tend to either do on my Druid and Heal or Warlock and DPS, my shaman I no longer feel a connection to and my healing on him is no where near as fun or impressive as it once was. The result is during these other runs I always find myself thinking ... "Damn I wish I was on my Priest for this" while working out at the Gym at the weekend it hit me ... make another priest - I love both holy and disc, the variety and effectiveness of Priests is impressive and I love to play them. The next hour at the gym involved me going through everything in my head planning progression, professions, going through names etc etc . So I am pleased to announce the creation of my 2nd priest on Haomarush - Panzeemktwo (Basically Pansee MKII unfortunately Blizzard dont let you put spaces, or capitals in names :( )
Well thats all for now. I hope all the Priests out there dont think im too crazy and have decided themselves what gear they are going for.
Peace
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
Thursday, 4 March 2010
A tier bonus aimed at Discipline Priests? Is this a trick?
Well where to begin? When I started my blog a few weeks ago I had planned what my 1st few posts would be about.
Background in WoW .... check!
Loot and the new LFG .... check!
Loot in raids .... check!
My next few posts had intended to be about the Priest T10 set bonuses. I had planned to lay out all the different conclusions I had come to and evaluate the sets bonuses for both Holy and Disc. I had then planned in the following post to set out what my "ideal" gear would be .... but looks like this wont be happening.
The recent PTR patch notes show that Blizzard have changed the T10(4) bonus. FINALLY!!!!
I have never been a fan of the T10(4) sure it was interesting but IMO it was just too RNG based to be considered usefull or for that matter reliable. I had posted a HUGE post on my guilds website laying out all my calculations and theories behind the bonuses in a hope of convincing my guilds priests that they should try and avoid the T10(4) but apparently people dont like numbers? Who would have thought it? As a result of this my guilds Priests aimlessly picked up their T10 pieces. I actually compared them to sheep ... "But its the Healer Set" ... use your heads people.
Anyway incase you didnt know the new bonus is:
"Zarhym -- PTR Patch 3.3.3 Notes
Priest Tier-10 4-Piece Healing Set Bonus: Redesigned. This bonus now increases the effectiveness of the caster's Power Word: Shield and Renew spells by 5%." - 2nd March 2010
Now in order to see whether this proposed set bonus is useful I had to get out my calculator.
Bit O' Math:
Taking Contingency's latest Prof P kill into consideration - I was MT healing pretty much constantly so I think that will be more useful to consider rather than the likes of Queen where I am just bubble spamming people, although I will put that down as well because the amount of DMG that can be absorbed on that fight by PW:S is just impressive.
So on the Prof my absorbtions from PW:S totalled 942,495 DMG so the added 5% would mean that my absorbtions from PW:S would have been 989,619.75.
On Queen my absorbtions on one fight were around the 1.5million mark meaning .... quick math ....would result in an extra 75,000 dmg absorbed.
(Clearly these numbers arent exactly mind blowing but the extra 5% soon adds up.)
OOooooooo I am a moron .... unlike the previous set bonus I can use both these spells in my rotation / healing. I am speced into IMP Renew aswell so this set bonus would as Disc increase PW:S and Renew by 5%. Obviously, the increase in PW:S is the main thing but I always have a few Renews rolling around aswell so this will also be a nice little buff.
For the forst time ever I am glad that I have only recieved the 1 token to upgrade my gear so far lol. If I had been able to upgrade my gear more I would deffo have picked up the T10 shadow gear. I think my best bet now will be to pick up the T10(4) Healer Bonus and still pick up the Shadow chest or shoulders.
I must do more research ......
I will need to run a few senarios to see how useful this bonus will be for Holy Priests. IMO it is more beneficial to Disc. As Holy players tend to have their general rotations ... if you can call it that .... with either Renew or FH as their filler spell. IMO Renew has always been the stronger spec but I do realise that FH it good and a compentent spec to choose. The issue I see is that many / most priests seem to choose the FH option leaving the HoT rolling to the druids. Similarly, since the current T10(2) some have changed to FH filler (I was considering it) since the T10(2) has a 33% chance to add a HoT to the target of your FH which would heal for 33% of the original heal.
I think the T10(4) on the PTR at the moment although not mind blowing will definately be worth picking up. I read a post my someone on some forum somewhere (sorry I didnt take a note of name or place otherwise I would deffo give you props) who said that:
"the 5% might not seem amazing but its similar in many respects to Blessed Resilience in the Holy tree. If it were a level 1 talent choice in the Disc Tree or Holy Tree would you pick it up?"
I think this is probally the best way to look at it. Hell just think of it as an extra 2 or 3 talent points which are being put into a talent that you would probaly have taken if it had been an option.
This is more or less just a first look / analysis of the proposed changes and once I get a bit more data I will run a few more simulations and evaluate its usefulness for both Disc and Holy.
Fingers crossed this change makes it to live. Hell if Blizzard wanna make it a little stronger im ok with that ;)
Panzee :)
Background in WoW .... check!
Loot and the new LFG .... check!
Loot in raids .... check!
My next few posts had intended to be about the Priest T10 set bonuses. I had planned to lay out all the different conclusions I had come to and evaluate the sets bonuses for both Holy and Disc. I had then planned in the following post to set out what my "ideal" gear would be .... but looks like this wont be happening.
The recent PTR patch notes show that Blizzard have changed the T10(4) bonus. FINALLY!!!!
I have never been a fan of the T10(4) sure it was interesting but IMO it was just too RNG based to be considered usefull or for that matter reliable. I had posted a HUGE post on my guilds website laying out all my calculations and theories behind the bonuses in a hope of convincing my guilds priests that they should try and avoid the T10(4) but apparently people dont like numbers? Who would have thought it? As a result of this my guilds Priests aimlessly picked up their T10 pieces. I actually compared them to sheep ... "But its the Healer Set" ... use your heads people.
Anyway incase you didnt know the new bonus is:
"Zarhym -- PTR Patch 3.3.3 Notes
Priest Tier-10 4-Piece Healing Set Bonus: Redesigned. This bonus now increases the effectiveness of the caster's Power Word: Shield and Renew spells by 5%." - 2nd March 2010
Now in order to see whether this proposed set bonus is useful I had to get out my calculator.
Bit O' Math:
Taking Contingency's latest Prof P kill into consideration - I was MT healing pretty much constantly so I think that will be more useful to consider rather than the likes of Queen where I am just bubble spamming people, although I will put that down as well because the amount of DMG that can be absorbed on that fight by PW:S is just impressive.
So on the Prof my absorbtions from PW:S totalled 942,495 DMG so the added 5% would mean that my absorbtions from PW:S would have been 989,619.75.
On Queen my absorbtions on one fight were around the 1.5million mark meaning .... quick math ....would result in an extra 75,000 dmg absorbed.
(Clearly these numbers arent exactly mind blowing but the extra 5% soon adds up.)
OOooooooo I am a moron .... unlike the previous set bonus I can use both these spells in my rotation / healing. I am speced into IMP Renew aswell so this set bonus would as Disc increase PW:S and Renew by 5%. Obviously, the increase in PW:S is the main thing but I always have a few Renews rolling around aswell so this will also be a nice little buff.
For the forst time ever I am glad that I have only recieved the 1 token to upgrade my gear so far lol. If I had been able to upgrade my gear more I would deffo have picked up the T10 shadow gear. I think my best bet now will be to pick up the T10(4) Healer Bonus and still pick up the Shadow chest or shoulders.
I must do more research ......
I will need to run a few senarios to see how useful this bonus will be for Holy Priests. IMO it is more beneficial to Disc. As Holy players tend to have their general rotations ... if you can call it that .... with either Renew or FH as their filler spell. IMO Renew has always been the stronger spec but I do realise that FH it good and a compentent spec to choose. The issue I see is that many / most priests seem to choose the FH option leaving the HoT rolling to the druids. Similarly, since the current T10(2) some have changed to FH filler (I was considering it) since the T10(2) has a 33% chance to add a HoT to the target of your FH which would heal for 33% of the original heal.
I think the T10(4) on the PTR at the moment although not mind blowing will definately be worth picking up. I read a post my someone on some forum somewhere (sorry I didnt take a note of name or place otherwise I would deffo give you props) who said that:
"the 5% might not seem amazing but its similar in many respects to Blessed Resilience in the Holy tree. If it were a level 1 talent choice in the Disc Tree or Holy Tree would you pick it up?"
I think this is probally the best way to look at it. Hell just think of it as an extra 2 or 3 talent points which are being put into a talent that you would probaly have taken if it had been an option.
This is more or less just a first look / analysis of the proposed changes and once I get a bit more data I will run a few more simulations and evaluate its usefulness for both Disc and Holy.
Fingers crossed this change makes it to live. Hell if Blizzard wanna make it a little stronger im ok with that ;)
Panzee :)
Monday, 1 March 2010
So perhaps my last post is a little more relevant now ;-)
Well it would appear that my last post actually has a little more relevance than I had forst thought.
With the upcoming changes in Patch 3.3.3 regarding the use and value of Frosen Orbs perhaps we will be seeing a bit more drama relating to them. I cant speak for other servers but on Haomarush they had been selling on the AH for vendor prices and now they are up to over 35g each. Thats quite the increase.
Ok so I had said previously that I wanted to talk a little about raid loot. Different players and for that matter guilds view loot in different ways. In Contingency we use a Loot Council system, and for the most part this works, there are always exceptions though and people who bitch and moan about not getting something but that has to be expected.
I was wondering how the majority view loot? Recently, with the prominence of the GearScore addon players seem to be obsesed with item level. I have always tried to ensure that if I am needing on an item that I actually "need" it and that the stats are geared towards me ... as a disc priest this often proves quite difficult as gear is never really geared towards me. I have a general idea of what my total "ideal" gear will be (something I shall touch on in a future post) and I take upgrades that get me as close as possible to that set up. If something drops which I consider OS ... I tend to only roll greed on it, or say that I want for OS if no one else wants. If there is anyone else that could have any use out of the item who wants it I always pass. My reasoning behind this is OS is OS and my MS gear although perhaps not optimal is still more than sufficient for healing as holy.
Example:
A few months ago now I was running ICC 10man with a good guild group (i.e. members who tend to have the same mentality and view towards loot as myself). On the on Lord M the cloth belt dropped which contained Spirit. Lupucu (Mage) and I both said it wasnt ideal for us but either of us would take it. I said I would pass for him but he managed to convince me that it would be more beneficial for me it would for him. After a few /w back and forth we both realised that ideally we would both have prefered to have lost the Spirit on the item and had a throughput stat such as Haste instead. Later that run a belt with Crit and Haste dropped and we both rolled MS. I was lucky enough to win ... I felt bad since I had taken both belts but Lupucu seemed unphased by it all. My guilt was relieved a little the following week when running ICC25man a Crit/Haste 25man belt dropped. I knew Lupucu would need it and although it were an upgrade for me I knew it would be a bigger upgrade for him ... so I passed for him.
As I said I try to only roll for loot which is an actual upgrade for me and which I see myself using for some time. Is this the minority view? I have been in a few "discussions" ... ah who the hell am I kidding they were arguements with people recently regarding this issue. I have seen an abundance of people rolling on everything often items which arent actually all that good for them, or which arent "ideal" but which have a higher ilvl than others.
I got into an arguement with a priest recently who was using 2x mana regen trinkets (a straight MP5 one and a big +int one - which given his other items was not needed) I tried to reason with him that this amount of mana regen was unnecessary and that a nice SP trinket with some proc or use effect would be more beneficial to him. The response I got was quite shocking. The Priest tried to argue that the only useful trinkets for any priest is Solace HC (TotGC25man) and possibly Purified Lunar Dust (Frost Badges)and that all the rest are "useless pieces of crap". I tried to argue that these trinkets are more or less BiS and that other lower ilvl items although not as powerful would still be useful. This priest together will many other players I have come across seem to focus on ilvl, far too much.
Ok for this post I would like readers to consider and comment on Trauma. This is a healing mace from ICC25man. I would appreicate it if ... the few who read this blog, or who come across it would take a look at the item. Consider who the item is geared towards, consider the usefullness to them, and other healers, and then using their own guild loot systems (i.e. DKP, EPGP, Loot Council, Rolling etc. etc. say what they would do if the item dropped, and where possible provide some reasoning).
Wow who would have thought a I would be giving out Homework on my Blog lol.
Unitl next time.
Panzee :)
With the upcoming changes in Patch 3.3.3 regarding the use and value of Frosen Orbs perhaps we will be seeing a bit more drama relating to them. I cant speak for other servers but on Haomarush they had been selling on the AH for vendor prices and now they are up to over 35g each. Thats quite the increase.
Ok so I had said previously that I wanted to talk a little about raid loot. Different players and for that matter guilds view loot in different ways. In Contingency we use a Loot Council system, and for the most part this works, there are always exceptions though and people who bitch and moan about not getting something but that has to be expected.
I was wondering how the majority view loot? Recently, with the prominence of the GearScore addon players seem to be obsesed with item level. I have always tried to ensure that if I am needing on an item that I actually "need" it and that the stats are geared towards me ... as a disc priest this often proves quite difficult as gear is never really geared towards me. I have a general idea of what my total "ideal" gear will be (something I shall touch on in a future post) and I take upgrades that get me as close as possible to that set up. If something drops which I consider OS ... I tend to only roll greed on it, or say that I want for OS if no one else wants. If there is anyone else that could have any use out of the item who wants it I always pass. My reasoning behind this is OS is OS and my MS gear although perhaps not optimal is still more than sufficient for healing as holy.
Example:
A few months ago now I was running ICC 10man with a good guild group (i.e. members who tend to have the same mentality and view towards loot as myself). On the on Lord M the cloth belt dropped which contained Spirit. Lupucu (Mage) and I both said it wasnt ideal for us but either of us would take it. I said I would pass for him but he managed to convince me that it would be more beneficial for me it would for him. After a few /w back and forth we both realised that ideally we would both have prefered to have lost the Spirit on the item and had a throughput stat such as Haste instead. Later that run a belt with Crit and Haste dropped and we both rolled MS. I was lucky enough to win ... I felt bad since I had taken both belts but Lupucu seemed unphased by it all. My guilt was relieved a little the following week when running ICC25man a Crit/Haste 25man belt dropped. I knew Lupucu would need it and although it were an upgrade for me I knew it would be a bigger upgrade for him ... so I passed for him.
As I said I try to only roll for loot which is an actual upgrade for me and which I see myself using for some time. Is this the minority view? I have been in a few "discussions" ... ah who the hell am I kidding they were arguements with people recently regarding this issue. I have seen an abundance of people rolling on everything often items which arent actually all that good for them, or which arent "ideal" but which have a higher ilvl than others.
I got into an arguement with a priest recently who was using 2x mana regen trinkets (a straight MP5 one and a big +int one - which given his other items was not needed) I tried to reason with him that this amount of mana regen was unnecessary and that a nice SP trinket with some proc or use effect would be more beneficial to him. The response I got was quite shocking. The Priest tried to argue that the only useful trinkets for any priest is Solace HC (TotGC25man) and possibly Purified Lunar Dust (Frost Badges)and that all the rest are "useless pieces of crap". I tried to argue that these trinkets are more or less BiS and that other lower ilvl items although not as powerful would still be useful. This priest together will many other players I have come across seem to focus on ilvl, far too much.
Ok for this post I would like readers to consider and comment on Trauma. This is a healing mace from ICC25man. I would appreicate it if ... the few who read this blog, or who come across it would take a look at the item. Consider who the item is geared towards, consider the usefullness to them, and other healers, and then using their own guild loot systems (i.e. DKP, EPGP, Loot Council, Rolling etc. etc. say what they would do if the item dropped, and where possible provide some reasoning).
Wow who would have thought a I would be giving out Homework on my Blog lol.
Unitl next time.
Panzee :)
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