It’s Still My Axe, I’m Just Going to Set it Over Here.

Holy smokes, what a weekend. So many discoveries. We’ll start with a total 180 from a prior post first. After some suspicion in running the LFR last week, I decided it was time to put rubber to the road and do some No’Kaled LFR version vs. Fear testing of my own. Also, I finally had the gold to get Fear all gemmed and enchantified. Soooo… I packed up my bags and spent some time at the training dummies/playground. I did 3 fights with each weapon equipped, no flasks, food, or extra buffs of any kind. Reforging was for No’Kaled both times. (I was a little short on gold and differences in dps looked negligible according to Shadowcraft) For each fight I went through 3 rotations of Adrenaline Rush and Killing Spree and ended right when the fourth Adrenaline Rush came off cooldown. The results were as I suspected, that Fear beat No’Kaled fairly significantly. The averages for the 3 fights had No’Kaled at about 19,250 and Fear at about 19,800 dps. Granted, there is quite a bit of room for variance here with only 3 fights, but I take away that Fear is at least as, and probably more, dps-worthy as No’Kaled. Sooo…. ok I’ll put away that axe…. for now.

Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.

The second and more significant discovery (to me) of the weekend had to do with subtlety spec. As a bit of background, I leveled as sub, to probably around 83 or 84. I loved sub, still do. It’s just such and interesting spec with odd/awesome abilities. For a dps rotation, sub has a lot of balls to juggle though. You have 4 core buffs/dots/debuffs that you need to keep up at all times Recuperate, Slice and Dice, Rupture, and a Hemorrhage bleed debuff/Hemorrhage bleed (glyphed). You also have a fifth thing (debuff), Find Weakness, that you want to have on target as many times as possible throughout a fight. Also, Find Weakness is applied with Ambush (which can only be used behind the target). Backstab is our main combo point builder and also can only be used behind the target. Then of course there are the other bits of “this boosts this” for “this much time” and “needs to be stacked and started here” and so on. All this is a bit tricky to balance, but it is do-able and fun actually. The reason I switched over to combat though, is that there are several fights where being behind the target is just not an option, Ultraxion comes to mind. So I gave combat a try, liked it as well, and went on swashbuckling.

Now then, Shadowcraft was also giving combat top numbers when comparing specs. Well, this was all well and good until after seeing sub rogues pulling BIG numbers in Dragon Soul, I thought I’d better give sub another look. So, I headed on over to the playground again to stab some wood. Now one thing to keep in mind here is that in testing on a training dummy and not in an actual party in a fight, sub rogues don’t get a very accurate outcome for numbers or timing. This is due to Honor Among Thieves, which grants sub rogues a combo point on target any time they or anyone in their party crits (heals included). This can only happen once every 2 seconds, but really you will be getting pretty much a constant flow of 1 combo point every 2 seconds. This alters timing of finishers (pooling energy and combo points) and also alters the speed at which you can perform a finisher by quite a bit, not to mention dps. So, on a training dummy without a party with you, it can be very deceiving. But… in this case it did give me a good idea of the potential. Now this was without reforging my gear from combat spec, but in general I was able to get significantly higher dps than combat with the training dummy. Several of my tests were well above 20,000.

This made me a little giggly. Not only was the spec that I love and prefer viable, but it was pulling better numbers. Of course the next step to this testing was to jump into some actual fights and see how manageable sub was. Test results here were good as well. I ran a few Twilights and put out similar to better numbers than I was getting with combat. After a few runs, I then moved into the LFR to do Morchok and Zon’ozz, both of which are pretty straightforward tank and spank in the LFR version. Here, I actually pulled about 4 or 5 thousand higher than I had been doing with combat. Done and done.

Needless to say, based on my prior love of the spec, I am now back to mainly sub. Combat must be there for certain fights though and sub is still much trickier to keep on top of everything. I do find that I have to focus more on my own rotation and position at the expense of certain fight mechanics, which is not so good. But… I think with more use of the spec, more of it will become somewhat habitual and will require less utter focus. So the question was and still kind of is, where to keep my reforging. Right now it’s at sub. Shadowcraft shows combat benefiting more from appropriate reforges than sub, but in all of this I’ve learned not to blindly rely on Shadowcraft or any sim engine for that matter. On EJ there is quite a bit of talk that it has some issues with No’Kaled and especially with sub in general. Does this mean that I would abandon Shadowcraft entirely? No way, but I do think practical testing is something that I should have and should do more of. It’s entirely possible that in comparing specs that some of my findings are a result of not quite playing a spec to its potential, but for the way that I’m playing the specs, I’m getting better results out of sub for certain fights. Duh.

Stupid-fast hourglass flippin. Apparently, Muro's big toe is a vulnerable area.

I also imagine fight mechanics (not just in regards to positioning) will boost a certain spec as well. For instance, just before I did all this testing/time wasting I ran End Time. Normally as combat on Murozond I was finishing fights maybe 36,000 to 39,000 dps. In this run, however, whoever was flippin that hourglass was doing it scary often. I was barely able to get through an Adrenaline Rush and Killing Spree with each reset. So, it was constant cranking and I actually ended up laughing at my final 42,000 dps. Now when I did sub with that same fight, the hourglass was flipped at a more normal rate, pretty much as needed, and I ended up doing just over 38,000 (fairly normal). Also, the snapshot was taken when I was about 100 yds away from Murozond which made me miss out on some uptime while running, so I was still pretty happy to get that much.  In the end though with speedy resets of cooldowns I can’t help but wonder if combat would do better with massive Adrenaline Rush uptime and many Killing Sprees. I’m not sure with sub I could appropriately or effectively get through the three/four key cooldowns (shadowdance, vanish, preparation, vanish) if the hourglass was being flipped quickly. Anyway, different specs for different fights and styles/strats of course.

I still haven’t done any testing with assassination at this point. This is something else that I should do. Combat tends to spreadsheet higher than assassination at the moment, but again I’m not going to 100% believe that without practical testing. I suspect it’s pretty on par with sub and combat, which is really nice in the end. It gives us rogues more options for funs, and I have a lot of fun as subtlety.

Mount Day

Ok, so the night before last I got my 10th mount and the Stable Keeper achievement.  Upon getting the achievement, a guildie said grats and then something similar to, “40 more and you get a mount.”  I had not looked at the general achievements in a while so this came as somewhat of a surprise and got me thinking,  “I am exalted with the main city factions.  I wonder how close I can get to 50.”  Well, very close in fact.  The next morning I flew around spending gold, buying any mount I could and was able to acquire 39 more mounts bringing me to 49.  At that point, however, I was pretty much out of easy and affordable options.  So the curse of “one short” had struck and that night I spent time questing, running Twilights, and the LFR and was able to come up with enough gold for one final mount.  So, I was broke again, but now have some new mounts to play with.  It’s amazing how many things I overlook in the game by focusing on one thing or another.  It’s kind of fun though to remember yesterday as the day I acquired 40 mounts.

Revlo’s UI

Can you find me? 'Cause I sure can't!

Thought I’d throw up a screenshot of my UI for down the road.  In looking at this outside of being in combat though, I see quite a few things that I would change.  Some things I didn’t even know were there. (oops) Some things just aren’t where I’d like them.  Also, my button bars are a mess.  Sure pretty much everything is bound or macro’d, but now looking at them, it’s time for some tidying.

A Bear There Was, a Bear, a Bear!

All cute and brown, and covered with hair!

This is My Axe. There Are Many Like it, But This One is Mine.

Before I get to the axe part, I thought I’d take a second to give a report on the state of things.  As you can probably see from my last few picture posts, Revlo‘s been working out a few max level things.  He’s run the LFR several times, having good luck with drops.  He’s focused on making some of the more fun engineering toys.  He’s focused on making gold through engineering, which really isn’t all as bad as you may hear.  He’s focused on the Molten Front dailies. You know, he’s focused on quite a few things. Not all the things, but a good number of them.  He’s gotten a lot done and I am pleased.

Apparently, my World Destroyer (Steve) also works security for Auctioneer Hesse.

Tonight, (actually at this point I’ve finished it) I’m planning on the little bugger finishing off his Jaws of Retribution quests for the Fear/Vengeance dagger combo.  Now today, I had the chance to read Chase Christian’s post on No’Kaled, the Elements of Death vs. the rogue legendary quest chain daggers.  In short, for those who aren’t obsessively familiar with these (like me), there are 3 levels of No’Kaleds; the LFR version, normal raid version, and heroic raid version.  There are also 3 sets of daggers in the legendary quest chain, depending on how far along you are.  Anyway, the current spreadsheets and calculations, according to Chase, show that when comparing the lower two tiers (at least) of No’Kaleds and daggers, that No’Kaled is a better option dps-wise for combat spec.  Shadowcraft has shown this for a while, but on EJ there is also a disclaimer that the No’Kaled proc is pretty overvalued with Shadowcraft. In reading that, I had always planned on just equipping the Fear/Vengeance combo and rolling combat with them.  Well, in light of Chase’s post and other rogues’ comments, I’ll be wielding the odd combo of No’Kaled/Vengeance instead as I am at the first stage of daggers vs. the LFR No’Kaled.

Oops! Wrong toon entirely. Hey there Tyr!

Some people might be a little let down by the notion of working some tough rogue-specific quests and dropping 10K gold on Fear/Vengeance only to not use the main-hand weapon, Fear.  I, oddly enough, was actually a little excited when I read Chase’s post.  I really can’t say exactly why this makes me happy and relieved.  The feeling is definitely rooted in my playing combat.  I used to hate the idea of being a combat rogue.  It always felt to me to be the most un-rogue like spec of the three, but after switching to combat somewhere around level 84, I just like it.  I loved sub and still do, but the positional requirements are tough.  Assassination is great, but I don’t know.  Maybe it’s the simplicity of combat.  Positional requirements just aren’t a big deal and the rotation is very managable.  Right now, according to Shadowcraft, combat is the top dps spec for me given current gear, including using Fear and Vengeance.  Granted Shadowcraft is not infallible I’m sure.  So why am I happy to keep using that big glowing axe? I’m not sure on that.  I think in some ways, I feel a little dirty using a dagger as combat.  It just feels wrong.  Maybe in the same vein I would feel wrong using an axe/mace/sword for assassination or subtlety.  I’ve also grown quite attached to that axe.  I was excited to get into Dragon Soul, even the LFR version, and get a shiny weapon drop on madness.  I always feel bad putting away significant gear that I’ve been using, but such is the way.  I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I cheered up a bit when I saw some confirmation to the notion of rolling with No’Kaled/Vengeance. I dunno. It’s just my reaction. Of course the daggers will rock for when I wanna go sub or mut, so that is also exciting.  Getting them really opens up all the spec possibilities for me.

Preparing to do the /wave.

Other things…  hmmm…. I’ve been gettin my flame on in the Molten Front.  Finished unlocking all the vendors and got the big red and yellow bird.  I would like to get the flamebreaker title achievement, so I will continue working on at least a portion of the dailies.  I also think I will also have to buy a bear cub.  Throwing those little guys has been pretty fun, but dog gone it they’re cute.  It’s a chunk of gold to buy one, but man they’re just so fuzzy and adorable.  I want a buddy.

I’d like to get the tier 13 shoulders and complete the LFR set if I can, so LFR every week.  If I can make it to some normal raids, I’d love to, but scheduling is pretty tricky for me, which brings me to my next topic.  My wife and I found out a month or so ago, that she is expecting, and we are thrilled.  Speaking realistically though, I’m not sure I will be playing much longer.  In reality, there are a ton of things I’d like and need to do in preparation for the little Revlet, Revling, what have you.  So, wow playing will probably be going away for a while at least.  In writing this, I just re-upped my subscription, so I imagine I will be around on and off for the next few weeks finishing up some goals, but that may be all.  Who knows though, I might still be around in a few months.  Sad to be winding down, but very, very happy times ahead with the family.  I love the wow community and I’ll be around, lurking, sneaking, rogue-ing, ready to pounce and bite knees.  We’ll see how many goals I can get crammed in here in the next few weeks.   Hmmm… I’d better start taking more screenshots too.

My New Hippo

Jeeves!