The Treasure Of The Midnight Isles
6 days ago
Showing posts with label theorycrafting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label theorycrafting. Show all posts
I know. You don't come here for math. My maths, they are bad. BUT! The other way to look at this, is if even my mathtarded self can figure this out, you can too! Hurrah!
I figured the best way to settle the socket bonus debate was to simply math it out. So, I turned to BobTurkey for the source numbers (because that is definitely waaay beyond my capabilities) since I trust him, and figure his weight values are pretty good.
So I could try and explain what I did, but spreadsheets are way cooler.
Please note, these numbers are for a Discipline Priest - the numbers for a Holy Priest are different, and you should go clicky the link to BobTurkey's Theorycrafting House of Pain to figure it out (also, he does not call it House of Pain - that is merely a reference to my brain hurting).
This is what my current gem setup looks like. As you can see, Spellpower was my priority. Whenever a socket bonus required a blue socket, I used a nasty, dirty, death knight birthing Purified Dreadstone. Whenever a socket bonus required a yellow socket, I used either a Reckless Ametrine or a Potent Ametrine, depending on what boss I had just wiped on and current prices on the AH.
As a side note, if you're wondering why I choose Spirit over Mp5, the answer is simple. Both are blue gems - however, Spirit scales with Blessing of Kings, whereas Mp5 does not. In addition, though Mp5 and Spirit are roughly equal in value to a Disc Priest, Spirit is far better for a Holy Priest, and I would like to be able to use the same gear when I run Holy.
All in all, it's not bad. The total item value number thingie is approximately 454. I have no idea how BobTurkey got his numbers, because everything he wrote about that translated into "BWUH??!" in my head. Since I primarily heal the MT in ICC, I might argue that Haste has a slightly higher value to me, but I can in no way quantify that, so I don't even want to open that can of worms.
Okay, now you've seen teh maths about my current gem setup. What if I ignored all socket bonuses, and simply put a Runed Cardinal Ruby in every socket? Please note that you still need to make sure to fulfill your meta gem requirement. Since I am using Ember Skyflare Diamond, I don't even worry about it, but if you use something different (and many do), that is something you should consider.
Here is the magic spreadsheet I generated. If you want to try this method, please note that you need to check your socket bonus requirements. Unfortunately, NONE of my current gear had a socket bonus that could be satisfied purely by Red Cardinal Rubies. That is why in the (Bonus) row, every calculation is zero.
See that super yellow and red number (that hopefully matches my website)? That number cries "HAHA UR RONG NOOB" and taunts me with its additional 6 points.
The differences between these two gem setups come down to this: Ignoring socket bonuses gains me 34 spellpower, at the expense of 30 crit, 20 haste, and 20 spirit.
Unfortunately, BobTurkey has not yet provided weight numbers that quantify the amount of hair I will rip out and gold I will spend and expletives I will shriek trying to change my gems YET AGAIN. If I were a min-maxer, I would probably care more. If you are a min-maxer, maybe you DO care, so there you have it.
Does that mean that all Spellpower gems is the best solution? Not necessarily. I'm sure someone much smarter than me can come up with a formula that will tell you the best gems to pick, based on your current soft caps and raid buffs and all that jazz (I believe it's called RAWR), but now you're just being picky. I threw together an alternative gem selection that would be better than both of the previous, just to give you an example.
So here you go. If I assume that BobTurkey's numbers are ideal, the gemming for crit, spellpower, and spirit is still superior to gemming solely for spellpower. The magic number 468.594 tells me so.
It's actually a pretty simple spreadsheet to throw together if you feel so inclined, but this is the part where I give you the disclaimer.
I have the utmost faith in BobTurkey's theorycrafting abilities - but nothing changes the fact that this is theorycrafting. It assumes certain variables. If you're raiding without Replenishment for whatever reason; If you are primarily raid healing and not MT healing, and find yourself nearly always under the influence of Borrowed Time; If you don't raid and stick to 5 mans; If you raid with 24 Druids - all of these factors can change the value of these numbers for you.
If I think about all that too much, my head esplodes so I just... don't. Contrary to popular belief, I like numbers even if I am not as capable as BobTurkey and Codi in figuring out what the best numbers are. But I am also the kind of person who critiques others' research and statistics as a hobby, so I am all about encouraging people to read the numbers with a healthy dose of skepticism and realistic consideration. Dont drink and theorycraft!
ETA: One time, I made a post on the forums that some other priest disliked, so in order to pwn me hardcore, I guess he checked me out on armory in an effort to find something glaringly wrong and nooby. In the end he pointed fingers and lawled at my gem selection. At first I was insulted, and then after thinking about it, I was rather flattered. Aww, that's so cute. You couldn't find anything to criticize me for, so instead, you turned to the default criticism that you can use against anyone: YOU GEM LIKE A NOOB.
The fact is, there are several different "gemming philosophies" (though I suspect I'm one of the few people who would call it that). What people have a tendency to forget is that these gems are very small amounts. They are nice additions that you don't want to skip, but at the same time, choosing a Reckless Ametrine over a Potent Ametrine doesn't actually make that big of a difference.
The way you choose your gems will differ depending no gear level, what you are currently healing through, and whether or not you are pushing up against the hardest content available. If you are trying to conquer hard modes, you will likely have to do some min-maxing. Otherwise? It doesn't really matter, as long as you pick stats relevant to your class and spec for gemming (i.e. no strength for priests, no hit for healers).
Why am I adding this? Because I don't want you to think I am suggesting everyone should put together a spreadsheet and try to figure out the "ideal" gem selection based on stat values. My point in this little experiment was merely to show that it is completely legitimate to gem for socket bonuses - and you can even use math to back it up if you like.
I figured the best way to settle the socket bonus debate was to simply math it out. So, I turned to BobTurkey for the source numbers (because that is definitely waaay beyond my capabilities) since I trust him, and figure his weight values are pretty good.
So I could try and explain what I did, but spreadsheets are way cooler.
Please note, these numbers are for a Discipline Priest - the numbers for a Holy Priest are different, and you should go clicky the link to BobTurkey's Theorycrafting House of Pain to figure it out (also, he does not call it House of Pain - that is merely a reference to my brain hurting).This is what my current gem setup looks like. As you can see, Spellpower was my priority. Whenever a socket bonus required a blue socket, I used a nasty, dirty, death knight birthing Purified Dreadstone. Whenever a socket bonus required a yellow socket, I used either a Reckless Ametrine or a Potent Ametrine, depending on what boss I had just wiped on and current prices on the AH.
As a side note, if you're wondering why I choose Spirit over Mp5, the answer is simple. Both are blue gems - however, Spirit scales with Blessing of Kings, whereas Mp5 does not. In addition, though Mp5 and Spirit are roughly equal in value to a Disc Priest, Spirit is far better for a Holy Priest, and I would like to be able to use the same gear when I run Holy.
All in all, it's not bad. The total item value number thingie is approximately 454. I have no idea how BobTurkey got his numbers, because everything he wrote about that translated into "BWUH??!" in my head. Since I primarily heal the MT in ICC, I might argue that Haste has a slightly higher value to me, but I can in no way quantify that, so I don't even want to open that can of worms.
Okay, now you've seen teh maths about my current gem setup. What if I ignored all socket bonuses, and simply put a Runed Cardinal Ruby in every socket? Please note that you still need to make sure to fulfill your meta gem requirement. Since I am using Ember Skyflare Diamond, I don't even worry about it, but if you use something different (and many do), that is something you should consider.
Here is the magic spreadsheet I generated. If you want to try this method, please note that you need to check your socket bonus requirements. Unfortunately, NONE of my current gear had a socket bonus that could be satisfied purely by Red Cardinal Rubies. That is why in the (Bonus) row, every calculation is zero.See that super yellow and red number (that hopefully matches my website)? That number cries "HAHA UR RONG NOOB" and taunts me with its additional 6 points.
The differences between these two gem setups come down to this: Ignoring socket bonuses gains me 34 spellpower, at the expense of 30 crit, 20 haste, and 20 spirit.
Unfortunately, BobTurkey has not yet provided weight numbers that quantify the amount of hair I will rip out and gold I will spend and expletives I will shriek trying to change my gems YET AGAIN. If I were a min-maxer, I would probably care more. If you are a min-maxer, maybe you DO care, so there you have it.
Does that mean that all Spellpower gems is the best solution? Not necessarily. I'm sure someone much smarter than me can come up with a formula that will tell you the best gems to pick, based on your current soft caps and raid buffs and all that jazz (I believe it's called RAWR), but now you're just being picky. I threw together an alternative gem selection that would be better than both of the previous, just to give you an example.
So here you go. If I assume that BobTurkey's numbers are ideal, the gemming for crit, spellpower, and spirit is still superior to gemming solely for spellpower. The magic number 468.594 tells me so.
It's actually a pretty simple spreadsheet to throw together if you feel so inclined, but this is the part where I give you the disclaimer.
I have the utmost faith in BobTurkey's theorycrafting abilities - but nothing changes the fact that this is theorycrafting. It assumes certain variables. If you're raiding without Replenishment for whatever reason; If you are primarily raid healing and not MT healing, and find yourself nearly always under the influence of Borrowed Time; If you don't raid and stick to 5 mans; If you raid with 24 Druids - all of these factors can change the value of these numbers for you.
If I think about all that too much, my head esplodes so I just... don't. Contrary to popular belief, I like numbers even if I am not as capable as BobTurkey and Codi in figuring out what the best numbers are. But I am also the kind of person who critiques others' research and statistics as a hobby, so I am all about encouraging people to read the numbers with a healthy dose of skepticism and realistic consideration. Dont drink and theorycraft!
ETA: One time, I made a post on the forums that some other priest disliked, so in order to pwn me hardcore, I guess he checked me out on armory in an effort to find something glaringly wrong and nooby. In the end he pointed fingers and lawled at my gem selection. At first I was insulted, and then after thinking about it, I was rather flattered. Aww, that's so cute. You couldn't find anything to criticize me for, so instead, you turned to the default criticism that you can use against anyone: YOU GEM LIKE A NOOB.
The fact is, there are several different "gemming philosophies" (though I suspect I'm one of the few people who would call it that). What people have a tendency to forget is that these gems are very small amounts. They are nice additions that you don't want to skip, but at the same time, choosing a Reckless Ametrine over a Potent Ametrine doesn't actually make that big of a difference.
The way you choose your gems will differ depending no gear level, what you are currently healing through, and whether or not you are pushing up against the hardest content available. If you are trying to conquer hard modes, you will likely have to do some min-maxing. Otherwise? It doesn't really matter, as long as you pick stats relevant to your class and spec for gemming (i.e. no strength for priests, no hit for healers).
Why am I adding this? Because I don't want you to think I am suggesting everyone should put together a spreadsheet and try to figure out the "ideal" gem selection based on stat values. My point in this little experiment was merely to show that it is completely legitimate to gem for socket bonuses - and you can even use math to back it up if you like.
(What a boring title. Seriously, I tried to think of something clever, but I'm fresh out of clever this morning, so you'll have to settle for "thorough")
In my post regarding gems for priests, I tried to make it clear what your best choices are for each color slot. Essentially, if you want a red gem, your only real choice is spellpower, whereas if you want a blue gem, you can get spirit or Mp5. These are simplifications - each color is connected to certain stats, and you choose which of the stats you want from that color in various combos.
I bring this up because I don't think people truly recognize that Blizzard has designed much of the gear in a similar way - stats compete with one another for the same slot. I see a lot of questions in forums over which stat to prioritize, when in reality, you rarely have a choice over the appearane of a stat. If you are trying to prioritize one stat over another, you will probably have to be more focused on the ratio of the stat distribution
There was a discussion over on the plusheal forums regarding stat choice that left me vaguely frustrated and inspired me to post an explanation on this topic. I see too many people Missing The Point, so I'm going to give a very basic rundown of how stats on gear are distributed:
So, let's talk about these two crafted items. The other two epic crafted tailoring items whose patterns come from ToC are Royal Moonshroud Bracers and Royal Moonshroud Robe. As a tailor myself, I can tell you right off the bat that on my server at least, the demand for Merlin's Robe and the Bejeweled Wizard's Bracers are much much higher than the Royal Moonshroud counterparts. Why? Because Merlin's Robe and the Bejeweled Wizard's Bracers break that stat distribution rule.
Merlin's Robe has both critical strike rating AND haste - two stats that normally compete with one another for a slot on gear, and therefore rarely appear together on the same item. To balance this out, it has neither spirit nor Mp5. The same thing for Bejeweled Wizard's Bracers.
Off the top of my head, I cannot list for you other items that have both haste and crit, but that does not mean I am suggesting they do not exist. On the contrary, there are a handful of items that break the stat distribution rule of thumb. And because of that, they have always been in pretty high demand. What makes Merlin's Robe and the Bejeweled Wizard's Bracers especially enticing is that from what I can see on the cloth drops from ToC, none of the other items available at this item level break that stat rule EXCEPT for these two crafted items. (if you know of any others, please point them out to me!)
So, two major points to take away from this long-winded post.
In my post regarding gems for priests, I tried to make it clear what your best choices are for each color slot. Essentially, if you want a red gem, your only real choice is spellpower, whereas if you want a blue gem, you can get spirit or Mp5. These are simplifications - each color is connected to certain stats, and you choose which of the stats you want from that color in various combos.
I bring this up because I don't think people truly recognize that Blizzard has designed much of the gear in a similar way - stats compete with one another for the same slot. I see a lot of questions in forums over which stat to prioritize, when in reality, you rarely have a choice over the appearane of a stat. If you are trying to prioritize one stat over another, you will probably have to be more focused on the ratio of the stat distribution
There was a discussion over on the plusheal forums regarding stat choice that left me vaguely frustrated and inspired me to post an explanation on this topic. I see too many people Missing The Point, so I'm going to give a very basic rundown of how stats on gear are distributed:
- Item Level is an indicator of the summation of stat value. Each item is given a certain "budget". If you are comparing two iLvl 213 items, they will have the same budget, though their stat distribution may be different. One item may have more spellpower, while the other may have more intellect. In other words, the amount of the stat may vary, and therefore the proportion of the item's budget spent on that stat may vary between items of the same item level. The same stat is on both items, just in different amounts.
- In general, all relevant caster gear will have Stamina, Intellect, and Spellpower on it. What WILL vary is the budget allotted to each of those stats in proportion to one another - i.e. the budget ratio.
- In addition to these "ratio" comparisons, certain stats "compete" with one another for even appearing on an item.
- Examples include: Spirit vs. Mp5 and Haste vs. Crit. What this means is that if you see spirit on an item, it is unlikely the item will also have Mp5. If you see an item has Haste, it will probably not have Crit.
- This is the general pattern - here are the items that drop from ToC25 regular to give you an idea. Type in "cloth" in the "search within results" box to simplify it, and if you look through these items, you will see that the rules listed above apply.
- There ARE, however, some notable exceptions. I present for your pleasure Bejeweled Wizard's Bracers and Merlin's Robe.
So, let's talk about these two crafted items. The other two epic crafted tailoring items whose patterns come from ToC are Royal Moonshroud Bracers and Royal Moonshroud Robe. As a tailor myself, I can tell you right off the bat that on my server at least, the demand for Merlin's Robe and the Bejeweled Wizard's Bracers are much much higher than the Royal Moonshroud counterparts. Why? Because Merlin's Robe and the Bejeweled Wizard's Bracers break that stat distribution rule.
Merlin's Robe has both critical strike rating AND haste - two stats that normally compete with one another for a slot on gear, and therefore rarely appear together on the same item. To balance this out, it has neither spirit nor Mp5. The same thing for Bejeweled Wizard's Bracers.
Off the top of my head, I cannot list for you other items that have both haste and crit, but that does not mean I am suggesting they do not exist. On the contrary, there are a handful of items that break the stat distribution rule of thumb. And because of that, they have always been in pretty high demand. What makes Merlin's Robe and the Bejeweled Wizard's Bracers especially enticing is that from what I can see on the cloth drops from ToC, none of the other items available at this item level break that stat rule EXCEPT for these two crafted items. (if you know of any others, please point them out to me!)
So, two major points to take away from this long-winded post.
- If you are trying to prioritize one stat over another, how you do this depends on the stat. For instance, if you want more haste, you will usually be choosing haste over crit. However, if you are trying to pick up more Intellect over spirit, it doesn't exactly work that way - Intellect will be on all items, whereas spirit competes with Mp5. This kind of fine tuning is better done through gems.
- If you want to say "screw you mana regen! I'm disc! I'VE GOT BUBBLES, gimme more haste/crit", you need to specifically seek out items that have both haste and crit on them, because they are exceptions to the rule, and not incredibly common. At current max gear level, your best (and possibly only) options are the two crafted items, Merlin's Robe and the Bejeweled Wizard's Bracers.
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In true Miss Medicina form, I started writing my piece on reflex and rotation yesterday, and it just got way too TLDR, so I tried to split it up a bit. This chunk seemed the easiest to divide from yesterday's post.
The Theorycrafting Behind it All
I've posted before about the problems with theorycrafting, and I wanted to bring it up in regards to my continuing topic of reflex and rotation, because all my pondering on the difference between these two has affected how I see theorycrafting for healers.
Of course theorycrafting is useful, but how you use it, or perhaps when you utilize it differs slightly between the rotational and the reflex healer.
Much of the theorycrafting used to prepare your character takes place outside of a raid setting - how you choose your talents, the enchants, gems, and gear you choose, the consumables you will bring to a raid. It comes down to min-maxing your gear, and choosing your talents based on what you expect you will use most during a raid. Or, perhaps you choose the talents you think are best, and intend to train yourself to use the proper spell combinations that will benefit. Either way, once you're actually in the raid, that is where your efforts come to fruition.
If you are working on a rotation, you are working the theory in as you cast... because your rotation is based on maximizing your potential. Perhaps you know the exact moment when it is best to pop your cooldowns, knowing when they will be available again. You will make the choices needed to keep the target alive while simultaneously maintaining Grace, or building stacks of Serendipity.
But when you are a reflex healer, you need to put more preparation into the theorycrafting before the raid, and the best thing you can do to improve your healing skills are to develop the proper habits. Trigger fingers need training! When you are responding to unpredictable damage, or popping a reflexive reaction to something, you may not have the time to calculate in your head what is the best spell for you to use to maximize output while minimizing mana usage. My use of Circle of Healing on one target who takes damage? Perfect example. I don't think about how wasteful it is - I respond. I have developed a bad habit, and trained my trigger finger that way.
This is not to say that Rotational healers do not have to train their fingers, or make snap decisions. Nor do I mean to suggest that Reflex healers do not come into a raid with an expectation of what spells and cooldowns will work best in combination. All healing classes have a combination of both Rotation and Reflex based methods in order to allow all of them to be effective as the sole healer in a 5 man scenario. At end game, however, each class begins to display more strength in one realm or the other.
For instance, I've used Pallies as an example of rotational healing... but all those "Hand of..." tools are indicators of different methods of "emergency response", if you will. If all you ever consider is the best rotation for healing single or dual targets, you won't know what your "extra appendages" are for (you know, like me).
If the Holy Priestess does not work some rotation into her raid healing, and intends to respond purely by reflex, then she will not be adequately prepared when massive raid damage hits everyone. If she has not built up her stacks of Serendipity, if she's already blown her Divine Hymn cooldown, then she's left scrambling to top people off before they find themselves dangling limply and lifeless from Kologarn's fists, because a Circle of Healing may not be enough, and the cast time on a non-hasted Prayer of Healing is painful.
***
Thanks for humoring me in one of my biggest rambling "philosophy of healing" segments ;) If you ever needed proof that I love theorycrafting (perhaps sans numbers), this was for you!
The Theorycrafting Behind it All
I've posted before about the problems with theorycrafting, and I wanted to bring it up in regards to my continuing topic of reflex and rotation, because all my pondering on the difference between these two has affected how I see theorycrafting for healers.
Of course theorycrafting is useful, but how you use it, or perhaps when you utilize it differs slightly between the rotational and the reflex healer.
Much of the theorycrafting used to prepare your character takes place outside of a raid setting - how you choose your talents, the enchants, gems, and gear you choose, the consumables you will bring to a raid. It comes down to min-maxing your gear, and choosing your talents based on what you expect you will use most during a raid. Or, perhaps you choose the talents you think are best, and intend to train yourself to use the proper spell combinations that will benefit. Either way, once you're actually in the raid, that is where your efforts come to fruition.
If you are working on a rotation, you are working the theory in as you cast... because your rotation is based on maximizing your potential. Perhaps you know the exact moment when it is best to pop your cooldowns, knowing when they will be available again. You will make the choices needed to keep the target alive while simultaneously maintaining Grace, or building stacks of Serendipity.
But when you are a reflex healer, you need to put more preparation into the theorycrafting before the raid, and the best thing you can do to improve your healing skills are to develop the proper habits. Trigger fingers need training! When you are responding to unpredictable damage, or popping a reflexive reaction to something, you may not have the time to calculate in your head what is the best spell for you to use to maximize output while minimizing mana usage. My use of Circle of Healing on one target who takes damage? Perfect example. I don't think about how wasteful it is - I respond. I have developed a bad habit, and trained my trigger finger that way.
This is not to say that Rotational healers do not have to train their fingers, or make snap decisions. Nor do I mean to suggest that Reflex healers do not come into a raid with an expectation of what spells and cooldowns will work best in combination. All healing classes have a combination of both Rotation and Reflex based methods in order to allow all of them to be effective as the sole healer in a 5 man scenario. At end game, however, each class begins to display more strength in one realm or the other.
For instance, I've used Pallies as an example of rotational healing... but all those "Hand of..." tools are indicators of different methods of "emergency response", if you will. If all you ever consider is the best rotation for healing single or dual targets, you won't know what your "extra appendages" are for (you know, like me).
If the Holy Priestess does not work some rotation into her raid healing, and intends to respond purely by reflex, then she will not be adequately prepared when massive raid damage hits everyone. If she has not built up her stacks of Serendipity, if she's already blown her Divine Hymn cooldown, then she's left scrambling to top people off before they find themselves dangling limply and lifeless from Kologarn's fists, because a Circle of Healing may not be enough, and the cast time on a non-hasted Prayer of Healing is painful.
***
Thanks for humoring me in one of my biggest rambling "philosophy of healing" segments ;) If you ever needed proof that I love theorycrafting (perhaps sans numbers), this was for you!
Alright, alright, so maybe I have a teeny tiny obsession with debating crit and haste. But can you blame me? You usually have to choose one at the expense of another, so I'm always curious and fascinated by what people choose for their healers and why. I've gone from crit obsessed to haste obsessed to somewhere in-between and back again, never able to be completely decisive about it. I dislike crit on principle, but.... Surge of Light is all shiny and I am drawn in like Bella to a shirtless sparkly sunlit Edward. *sparkle!!*
Therefore, I've been poring through all my favorite resto druid blogs reading about thoughts on the upcoming changes in 3.3 for druids in regards to haste. I warn you ahead of time that I am by no means an expert on Druids, and I'm almost positive that my Druid readers are going to have to set me right on a lot of my thoughts... but that is exactly the sort of feedback I'm hoping to get!
ETA: If you are looking for some interesting blog posts that resto druids have been posting lately on the topic, I recommend some Rolling Hots, Dreambound, some tricksy maths from Forrestump, and Restokin has some really helpful PTR testing - for the record, the way I understand it, Haste will both decrease the time between ticks on HoTs, AS WELL AS the total time the HoT ticks - therefore, with the Rapid Rejuvenation Glyph, you will not be getting MORE ticks to your HoTs, just faster ones. If this is wrong, please correct me!
Haste vs Crit for Druids
One of the things that has always confused me is the lack of viability for Haste and Crit for Druids. Before anyone rips me apart for saying that (be gentle, I'm not a druid myself!), I don't mean that these stats are useless for Druids, but merely that they seem to be a lot less useful for Druids than they are for other healing classes. As a Holy Priest, I can completely justify stacking either one sky high, though if I were to crunch the numbers, I may come up with good reasons to put a soft cap on either one. Since a lot of Druid heals are quickie casts, if not instant, then Haste really only seemed to matter up until GCD cap. And, since HoTs can't crit (unless you've got the T9 4piece set bonus, of course), Crit seemed kinda blah as well.
Ever since the changes to Shadowform for Priests, allowing DoTs to crit while in Shadowform, I've been wondering why HoTs can't crit while in Tree form. I see Druids on the whole, more than any other healing class, stack spellpower at the expense of haste and crit, because for other healers, those two latter stats seem stronger (I'm somewhat guessing here, I'll have to ask Codi over at MoarHPS to come over and beat me over the head with her calculator in order to have any maths to back any of this theorizing up). I'm sure some balancing would be necessary if HoTs were allowed to crit, but at the same time, that would mean Druids would stack more crit than they currently do, which would inevitably mean less spellpower as well.
Broadening the Niche? Should HoTs come closer to burst healing?
Another thing that intrigues me is that it seems as though the developers don't know how to get Druids to use crit and haste, and they are trying different things, and using different tools to test it - but with the same spell, Rejuvenation. First they try tinkering with a set bonus to see if Druids would be too OP with critting HoTs, and now it looks like they will try something similar with a glyph in 3.3.
I'm not impressed with the glyph, myself. I can see why many think it's very exciting, but to me, it's a bit similar in theory to Glyph of Renew - which I've always found stupid. If I wanted more healing in a shorter period of time, i.e. more burst... why wouldn't I just cast Flash Heal? The faster HoTs tick, the less time they are buffering... I'm not sure if that really IS a great thing.
Between the T9 set bonus for Druids, and the upcoming Glyph addition, I suspect that Blizz still hasn't figured out for sure how they want to handle some of the stat streamlining they are bringing in in Cataclysm. It feels like they are using the posterkids for HoTs as a way to test out how different stats might work with HoTs. I don't think this is a bad thing, for the record - I just found it interesting enough to bring it up. I suspect that if the changes work well for Druids, without breaking class balance, we may see all HoTs and DoTs for all classes being affected by both crit and haste in Cataclysm - or at least, with certain talents.
I'm still not sure if I like that or not... by speeding up the effect of HoTs and DoTs, it just brings them closer to being burst healing or burst damage in the first place, and eventually (taken to the extreme), it may completely degrade and diminish the niche, power, and value of *-over time effects.
BUT - Perhaps I'm just thinking about it too much. What say you?
Therefore, I've been poring through all my favorite resto druid blogs reading about thoughts on the upcoming changes in 3.3 for druids in regards to haste. I warn you ahead of time that I am by no means an expert on Druids, and I'm almost positive that my Druid readers are going to have to set me right on a lot of my thoughts... but that is exactly the sort of feedback I'm hoping to get!
ETA: If you are looking for some interesting blog posts that resto druids have been posting lately on the topic, I recommend some Rolling Hots, Dreambound, some tricksy maths from Forrestump, and Restokin has some really helpful PTR testing - for the record, the way I understand it, Haste will both decrease the time between ticks on HoTs, AS WELL AS the total time the HoT ticks - therefore, with the Rapid Rejuvenation Glyph, you will not be getting MORE ticks to your HoTs, just faster ones. If this is wrong, please correct me!
Haste vs Crit for Druids
One of the things that has always confused me is the lack of viability for Haste and Crit for Druids. Before anyone rips me apart for saying that (be gentle, I'm not a druid myself!), I don't mean that these stats are useless for Druids, but merely that they seem to be a lot less useful for Druids than they are for other healing classes. As a Holy Priest, I can completely justify stacking either one sky high, though if I were to crunch the numbers, I may come up with good reasons to put a soft cap on either one. Since a lot of Druid heals are quickie casts, if not instant, then Haste really only seemed to matter up until GCD cap. And, since HoTs can't crit (unless you've got the T9 4piece set bonus, of course), Crit seemed kinda blah as well.
Ever since the changes to Shadowform for Priests, allowing DoTs to crit while in Shadowform, I've been wondering why HoTs can't crit while in Tree form. I see Druids on the whole, more than any other healing class, stack spellpower at the expense of haste and crit, because for other healers, those two latter stats seem stronger (I'm somewhat guessing here, I'll have to ask Codi over at MoarHPS to come over and beat me over the head with her calculator in order to have any maths to back any of this theorizing up). I'm sure some balancing would be necessary if HoTs were allowed to crit, but at the same time, that would mean Druids would stack more crit than they currently do, which would inevitably mean less spellpower as well.
Broadening the Niche? Should HoTs come closer to burst healing?
Another thing that intrigues me is that it seems as though the developers don't know how to get Druids to use crit and haste, and they are trying different things, and using different tools to test it - but with the same spell, Rejuvenation. First they try tinkering with a set bonus to see if Druids would be too OP with critting HoTs, and now it looks like they will try something similar with a glyph in 3.3.
I'm not impressed with the glyph, myself. I can see why many think it's very exciting, but to me, it's a bit similar in theory to Glyph of Renew - which I've always found stupid. If I wanted more healing in a shorter period of time, i.e. more burst... why wouldn't I just cast Flash Heal? The faster HoTs tick, the less time they are buffering... I'm not sure if that really IS a great thing.
Between the T9 set bonus for Druids, and the upcoming Glyph addition, I suspect that Blizz still hasn't figured out for sure how they want to handle some of the stat streamlining they are bringing in in Cataclysm. It feels like they are using the posterkids for HoTs as a way to test out how different stats might work with HoTs. I don't think this is a bad thing, for the record - I just found it interesting enough to bring it up. I suspect that if the changes work well for Druids, without breaking class balance, we may see all HoTs and DoTs for all classes being affected by both crit and haste in Cataclysm - or at least, with certain talents.
I'm still not sure if I like that or not... by speeding up the effect of HoTs and DoTs, it just brings them closer to being burst healing or burst damage in the first place, and eventually (taken to the extreme), it may completely degrade and diminish the niche, power, and value of *-over time effects.
BUT - Perhaps I'm just thinking about it too much. What say you?
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I have a love/hate relationship with ElitistJerks, the kings of theorycrafting. If you are looking for numbers on something, they provide some of the best resources. If, however, you are looking for tips on how to handle various situations better, or how to become a better healer, they are useless. They will throw numbers at you and ridicule you if your numbers are not what they consider ideal.
The thing is, it is very rare to find yourself in a raid mix and situation that is ideal - that's why it's CALLED ideal. The numbers they provide always have basic assumptions attached to them - such as who else is in the raid with you, what buffs you have, that sort of thing.
But what if I *don't* have a resto shammy with me? What if there are no druids available for an innervate? What if we don't have a shadow priest? Surely all these things would be ideal, but it is not practical to always assume this will be the case.
The way you should gem and enchant your gear, the talents you choose, the stats you prioritize should all take your fellow raid members into account of course. As I've said before, raiding is about synergy, not about individual perfection. At the same time, the numbers and theorycrafting provided by folks like the ElitistJerks will very rarely actually properly apply - because it is very rare that the average raider will ever meet all the conditions assumed by the EJ calculations.
The problem is, people get so hung up on tiny little numbers that will potentially boost their stats by such infintesimal amounts, that they completely forget to balance themselves.
Theorycrafting and the math that goes with it gives people the impression that there is really only one "best" way to do something - the way that maximizes the numbers used in the calculation. But the average raid is a lot more dynamic than I think people like to admit. Changing things up is how people learn new fights, conquer new material. If I couldn't keep people alive with loads of crit rating, maybe I'll try it with tons of haste and see if that works better. And people heal differently. So if you don't gear yourself for how YOU heal, and instead try to gear according to how EJ insists you should heal, you are not doing yourself or your raid a favor.
Does that mean theorycrafting is stupid? Not at all - much like meters, it is a useful tool to help you improve. Use that theorycrafting to make decisions between choices you have in front of you, between items you might pick up. But don't let the theorycrafting of others dictate everything about your character, because especially for holy priests, there are a lot of flexible variables.
If you are new to a class or role, reading up on theorycrafting and scanning through the EJ priest forums is a fantastic idea. Had I not done this, I would still be stacking spirit and ignoring intellect. Until you find your niche, until you train your reflexes and trigger fingers properly, it is not a bad idea to default to the suggestions of the more experienced among your class, and those with the math skillz to explain it all.
But, once you get a handle on the basics of your class, and once you start to develop your own rotations and habits and strategies, stop depending on the way others choose to gear, and start figuring out what works best for you. There is an awesome discussion along this line of thinking from the Penance Priest for those Disc Priests who are at the stage of the game - you've got the basics down, now you are ready to personalize your style and priorities a bit.
There are still wrong answers, a la agility for Priests and all sorts of degrees of less obvious fail. Every healing priest (probably all priests period) need to pick up Meditation, for instance. It's really not optional. But just like how there are multiple wrong answers, I assure you friends, there are also multiple right ones.
From Poptisse, whom I absolutely adore, and for whom I have tauren-loads of respect:
"What people have to understand is the basics of raiding. When you gem and enchant your gear there is more then 1 aspect to look from. [...]Gems and enchants should always be decided upon a wide perspective of your raidsetup. My guide isn't a bible, neither is EJ guides."
The thing is, it is very rare to find yourself in a raid mix and situation that is ideal - that's why it's CALLED ideal. The numbers they provide always have basic assumptions attached to them - such as who else is in the raid with you, what buffs you have, that sort of thing.
But what if I *don't* have a resto shammy with me? What if there are no druids available for an innervate? What if we don't have a shadow priest? Surely all these things would be ideal, but it is not practical to always assume this will be the case.
The way you should gem and enchant your gear, the talents you choose, the stats you prioritize should all take your fellow raid members into account of course. As I've said before, raiding is about synergy, not about individual perfection. At the same time, the numbers and theorycrafting provided by folks like the ElitistJerks will very rarely actually properly apply - because it is very rare that the average raider will ever meet all the conditions assumed by the EJ calculations.
The problem is, people get so hung up on tiny little numbers that will potentially boost their stats by such infintesimal amounts, that they completely forget to balance themselves.
Theorycrafting and the math that goes with it gives people the impression that there is really only one "best" way to do something - the way that maximizes the numbers used in the calculation. But the average raid is a lot more dynamic than I think people like to admit. Changing things up is how people learn new fights, conquer new material. If I couldn't keep people alive with loads of crit rating, maybe I'll try it with tons of haste and see if that works better. And people heal differently. So if you don't gear yourself for how YOU heal, and instead try to gear according to how EJ insists you should heal, you are not doing yourself or your raid a favor.
Does that mean theorycrafting is stupid? Not at all - much like meters, it is a useful tool to help you improve. Use that theorycrafting to make decisions between choices you have in front of you, between items you might pick up. But don't let the theorycrafting of others dictate everything about your character, because especially for holy priests, there are a lot of flexible variables.
If you are new to a class or role, reading up on theorycrafting and scanning through the EJ priest forums is a fantastic idea. Had I not done this, I would still be stacking spirit and ignoring intellect. Until you find your niche, until you train your reflexes and trigger fingers properly, it is not a bad idea to default to the suggestions of the more experienced among your class, and those with the math skillz to explain it all.
But, once you get a handle on the basics of your class, and once you start to develop your own rotations and habits and strategies, stop depending on the way others choose to gear, and start figuring out what works best for you. There is an awesome discussion along this line of thinking from the Penance Priest for those Disc Priests who are at the stage of the game - you've got the basics down, now you are ready to personalize your style and priorities a bit.
There are still wrong answers, a la agility for Priests and all sorts of degrees of less obvious fail. Every healing priest (probably all priests period) need to pick up Meditation, for instance. It's really not optional. But just like how there are multiple wrong answers, I assure you friends, there are also multiple right ones.
From Poptisse, whom I absolutely adore, and for whom I have tauren-loads of respect:
"What people have to understand is the basics of raiding. When you gem and enchant your gear there is more then 1 aspect to look from. [...]Gems and enchants should always be decided upon a wide perspective of your raidsetup. My guide isn't a bible, neither is EJ guides."
Labels:
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philosophy,
raid makeup,
raiding,
stats,
talents,
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I spend a lot of time on the WoW Priest forums, trying to give advice to new priests, and just all around goofing off with other priests. The forums get a pretty bad rap because of a few bad apples, but you can meet some really nice folks over there.
There was an interesting post from a Discipline priest, wondering if Disc Priests would ever be capable of providing the kind of throughput that Pallies and Druids can put out. She ran quite a bit of math, and did remember to include the value of shields in her formluae, but the end result was that she felt that Disc Priests were just missing something to give us a bit of Ooomph in the throughput department. What concerns me is that she wasn't necessarily concerned about her throughput so much as she was concerned about the fact that other healers were "destroying" her.
I don't mean to pick on the Priest who made this post - it's simply an example of this strange phenomenon I see all over the place - of healers wanting to compete with one another. I'm not positive where it comes from, but I do have a couple of theories:
Competition for Raid Slots
The competition for raid slots is somewhat viable. But this also depends on the kind of raid mindset you are trying to get into. Harcore raiding guilds look at raid makeup for the buffs and integration each class will provide - but after that, what it really comes down to is skill. I've seen more raiding guilds looking for Priests than any other class, I must confess. For the more casual raids, it seems like there's always a welcome spot for a Priest, if there are any healer spots left (and there usually are!). Holy Priests have a versatility to them that is helpful to any raid. I won't deny that it is trickier with a Discipline Priest - but this is due more lack of knowledge about the spec than anything. A lot of people think that more than one Disc Priest in a raid is a waste - and in some ways that is true in regards to raid buffs, but Disc Priests can handle different assignments, if organized properly. Leaders may see them so low on the output meters that they think they are slacking, when we all know this is not necessarily the case. But even leaders who are aware of that particular issue make the mistake of thinking that if there are Pallies in the raid, we don't need a Discipline priest.
I've been guilty of it myself. And then I started playing around with the different uses and assignments for a Disc Priest in a raid, and I've been happily surprised. Strong single target healing does not equate to Main Tank healing only. There are so many bombs and gimmicks in raids these days, that you almost always have to have someone designated for the Slag Pot or Kologarn fist heals. Disc Priests are great for this.
Sure, you need to have enough reflex and skill and knowledge of your spells to do this well - but the fact of the matter is that more than any other healing class, Disc Priests have strong tools to react to random damage.
Meter Addiction
Oh those damn meters. Many a Disc priest has wept at the damage to Discipline reputation given by those meters. Meters can be very helpful tools, and they shouldn't be abandoned. But comparing a Disc priest to a Druid or a Pally healer is like comparing apples to oranges. If you want to use the meter as an effective tool, here are some tips.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's bad for a DPS to switch over to healing. But healing is very different - you are looking at different things and considering different situations. You are reacting to events and mechanics moreso than even a DPS role does.
But the biggest problem I see is that it is a lot more common for players who are accustomed to DPS roles to become obsessed with that meter, and competeing with one another. If you're DPS, you want to have the highest amount of damage - if you are healing, that should NOT be your main goal. Your goal is to keep everyone alive - and it doesn't require you to have the largest healing output to keep people alive - it takes reflex, perception, and situational awareness.
All these issues boil down to the main point that I have. Raiding is different than leveling, or PvP, or even five mans. Moreso than any of these other activities, a raid needs to be the strongest it can be on a group level, not on an individual level. Balance is key. Discipline Priests may not appear by numbers to be the best option for a healing slot in a raid, but they complement the other healers very well. Disc priests help other healers by protecting a player long enough for the big heals from another healer to land. A disc priest, coupled with a pally or a druid, makes a very strong Main Tank healer team. 5 pallies as your healers will not make a strong healing team for a 25 man raid - even though they may have the highest healing output. It's about smart healing, not large healing.
This also goes for DPS. 15 Mages do not a strong raid make, even if every single one of them has amazing dps. There are a lot of spec combinations for dps players that may seem to gimp their damage output on an individual level, but because of the buffs and debuffs they provide, they make the rest of the dps in the raid stronger.
I've pointed out before the problems with theorycrafting, and this is especially the case when raiders apply it to an individual layer. One thing I will say for ElitistJerks, they always try to include various expected raid buffs when suggesting stat numbers to players - and this is how it should be for a raider. We get so caught up in the numbers, because we can actually run them, that we don't consider how crucial overall raid synergy is to the success of the entire raid. It's a team effort, and a team built of 5 strong independent and individual players does not necessarily equate to a strong 5 man group.
There was an interesting post from a Discipline priest, wondering if Disc Priests would ever be capable of providing the kind of throughput that Pallies and Druids can put out. She ran quite a bit of math, and did remember to include the value of shields in her formluae, but the end result was that she felt that Disc Priests were just missing something to give us a bit of Ooomph in the throughput department. What concerns me is that she wasn't necessarily concerned about her throughput so much as she was concerned about the fact that other healers were "destroying" her.
I don't mean to pick on the Priest who made this post - it's simply an example of this strange phenomenon I see all over the place - of healers wanting to compete with one another. I'm not positive where it comes from, but I do have a couple of theories:
- Competition for Raid Slots
- PvP survivability
- Meter Addiction
- Former DPS switching to Healing roles
Competition for Raid Slots
The competition for raid slots is somewhat viable. But this also depends on the kind of raid mindset you are trying to get into. Harcore raiding guilds look at raid makeup for the buffs and integration each class will provide - but after that, what it really comes down to is skill. I've seen more raiding guilds looking for Priests than any other class, I must confess. For the more casual raids, it seems like there's always a welcome spot for a Priest, if there are any healer spots left (and there usually are!). Holy Priests have a versatility to them that is helpful to any raid. I won't deny that it is trickier with a Discipline Priest - but this is due more lack of knowledge about the spec than anything. A lot of people think that more than one Disc Priest in a raid is a waste - and in some ways that is true in regards to raid buffs, but Disc Priests can handle different assignments, if organized properly. Leaders may see them so low on the output meters that they think they are slacking, when we all know this is not necessarily the case. But even leaders who are aware of that particular issue make the mistake of thinking that if there are Pallies in the raid, we don't need a Discipline priest.
I've been guilty of it myself. And then I started playing around with the different uses and assignments for a Disc Priest in a raid, and I've been happily surprised. Strong single target healing does not equate to Main Tank healing only. There are so many bombs and gimmicks in raids these days, that you almost always have to have someone designated for the Slag Pot or Kologarn fist heals. Disc Priests are great for this.
Sure, you need to have enough reflex and skill and knowledge of your spells to do this well - but the fact of the matter is that more than any other healing class, Disc Priests have strong tools to react to random damage.
Meter Addiction
Oh those damn meters. Many a Disc priest has wept at the damage to Discipline reputation given by those meters. Meters can be very helpful tools, and they shouldn't be abandoned. But comparing a Disc priest to a Druid or a Pally healer is like comparing apples to oranges. If you want to use the meter as an effective tool, here are some tips.
- Know the class you are evaluating with a meter. Get something like Recount Guessed Absorbs for evaluating your Disc Priests. Druid overheals don't show up on a meter, because they stop ticking when the target is at full health - but the mana was spent, and therefore possibly wasted. This is why Druids have high output, and low overheals. Pallies have very high output, and lots of overhealing.
- If you are going to compare healers, compare them against another healer of the same class/spec. Comparing a Holy Priest against a Disc Priest will not be accurate, nor will comparing a Disc Priest against a Pally.
- Do not just check healing output. Check Overheals, Absorbs, HPS, and all the healing numbers. Consider if you asked a healer to switch to DPS. Consider how long a healer was dead or CCed in a particular fight.
- You also need to consider healing assignments. Someone assigned to a main tank is likely to be spamming heals, and is therefore expected to have high healing output, and high overheal amount.
- Remember that if a healer knows you are using simply a healing meter to evaluate them, they can just sit there and spam heals on one person, and not be helping the raid out at all.
- There are certain addons, like Achelon (I think) that can tell you about the last few moments before a player died. Consider time between heals. If you have a Pally that is solely designated as Main Tank healer, and the MT goes down, check the combatlog - did your tank go down because they went a full ten seconds without any healing? This is something to use for evaluation - it's not uncommon for people to get bored with their healing assignments, and start healing others, but it can be devastating if they aren't focusing their attention.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's bad for a DPS to switch over to healing. But healing is very different - you are looking at different things and considering different situations. You are reacting to events and mechanics moreso than even a DPS role does.
But the biggest problem I see is that it is a lot more common for players who are accustomed to DPS roles to become obsessed with that meter, and competeing with one another. If you're DPS, you want to have the highest amount of damage - if you are healing, that should NOT be your main goal. Your goal is to keep everyone alive - and it doesn't require you to have the largest healing output to keep people alive - it takes reflex, perception, and situational awareness.
All these issues boil down to the main point that I have. Raiding is different than leveling, or PvP, or even five mans. Moreso than any of these other activities, a raid needs to be the strongest it can be on a group level, not on an individual level. Balance is key. Discipline Priests may not appear by numbers to be the best option for a healing slot in a raid, but they complement the other healers very well. Disc priests help other healers by protecting a player long enough for the big heals from another healer to land. A disc priest, coupled with a pally or a druid, makes a very strong Main Tank healer team. 5 pallies as your healers will not make a strong healing team for a 25 man raid - even though they may have the highest healing output. It's about smart healing, not large healing.
This also goes for DPS. 15 Mages do not a strong raid make, even if every single one of them has amazing dps. There are a lot of spec combinations for dps players that may seem to gimp their damage output on an individual level, but because of the buffs and debuffs they provide, they make the rest of the dps in the raid stronger.
I've pointed out before the problems with theorycrafting, and this is especially the case when raiders apply it to an individual layer. One thing I will say for ElitistJerks, they always try to include various expected raid buffs when suggesting stat numbers to players - and this is how it should be for a raider. We get so caught up in the numbers, because we can actually run them, that we don't consider how crucial overall raid synergy is to the success of the entire raid. It's a team effort, and a team built of 5 strong independent and individual players does not necessarily equate to a strong 5 man group.
Okay I spent an hour trying to write up a post about finding a balance between haste and crit. It didn’t work for me. My every effort at theorycrafting ended with LOLWUT. Here, I’ll cop out and give you the skinny from ElitistJerks about stats for priests:
Holy: “Rough goals for the start of Ulduar.25 are to have 2800 spellpower, 26-28% crit, and 12% haste, along with ~ 500 Mp5 I5SR fully raid-buffed”
Disc: “Rough goals for the start of Ulduar.25 are to have 2500 spellpower, 35% crit, and 8% haste, along with ~ 500 Mp5 I5SR fully raid-buffed.”
Look at all that work I did. Now that THAT’S done, let’s talk about something really fun. Let’s go beyond the stat streamlining Blizz will be bringing us in Cataclysm and talk a bit about Path of the Titans… and I’m gonna get all fun and creative.
Path of the Titans Brainstorming
The long and the short is this – Blizzard will be redesigning talent trees to be more “fun”, i.e. focusing on bringing you fun spells like Guardian Spirit and Pain Suppression. Path of the Titans will work with the new secondary profession, Archaeology, and will be how you get all those little bonuses, like +3% damage, +5% crit, etc etc etc,
I want to see the crit vs haste debate take a whole new meaning with this change to talent trees. Whether it be via Path of the Titans or the talent tree, I want to see two different paths for healers of all classes. One path for haste, one for crit. Maybe you can choose to balance between the two, or maybe you would pick one over the other.
For instance, for the Poker Player Priest, we have the crit path. Do you like high risk, high reward situations? Then stack crit, and with this chosen direction, you get special bonuses based on crit. Are you more of a Conservative Caster, and prefer predictable, steady bonuses and improvements to your casting style? Stack haste, and take the haste path.
Not so long ago for Priests, Serendipity was completely different, and actually gave you a percentage of mana back when you overhealed. Overhealing is a problem for every healer, though less so for Druids. However, even if your heal isn’t marked as overheal, if you spend your mana, and the heal you cast, or the hot, gives less healing than was intended, it’s a problem. I think this is a great opportunity for some interesting procs.
The Poker Player Priest versus the Conservative Caster
Let’s say you’re a Poker Player Priest (stacking crit), and your heal crits, and ov
erheals your target. I’d love to see some fun procs based on this – whether it be a return of some mana (only on overheals that are crits), or perhaps a short term boost to your crit rating. Or, if you overheal due to a crit, the target gets a damage absorbing shield that absorbs the amount for which they were overhealed. Everytime you crit, you could get a stacking buff that will increase your crit rating by a small amount, up to, say, 5 stacks. Or everytime you crit you have a chance to proc some regen mechanic, like with Holy Concentration. For raid buffs, maybe everytime you crit you could proc a raid buff for a few seconds that would increase crit rating by 5%.
For the Conservative Caster (stacking haste), we could have a serendipity like effect with a smaller boost each stack, but more stacks. So, 5 casts of Flash Heal could give you an instant Greater Heal, or maybe just a very speedy Greater Heal. An overheal could either return some of your mana to you, or give you a small haste boost to your next cast. There could be some ability or proc called “Just in the Nick of Time”, and if you get a heal off on someone who is at less than 5% health, that target gets a double heal, or a HoT effect, a shield effect, a decrease in threat, or maybe all heals on that target are boosted by a certain percentage. For raid buffs, everytime you peel off a Greater Heal of a Prayer of Healing, the entire raid could receive a 10% haste buff.
I use holy priests as an example here, but the same theory could apply for all healers, and really all casters. I really hope that Blizzard gets creative with the new talent trees and Path of the Titans, because I see room for lots of fun stuff in the direction they are heading. I am also pleading for a resolution to the crit vs haste debate.
Holy: “Rough goals for the start of Ulduar.25 are to have 2800 spellpower, 26-28% crit, and 12% haste, along with ~ 500 Mp5 I5SR fully raid-buffed”
Disc: “Rough goals for the start of Ulduar.25 are to have 2500 spellpower, 35% crit, and 8% haste, along with ~ 500 Mp5 I5SR fully raid-buffed.”
Look at all that work I did. Now that THAT’S done, let’s talk about something really fun. Let’s go beyond the stat streamlining Blizz will be bringing us in Cataclysm and talk a bit about Path of the Titans… and I’m gonna get all fun and creative.
Path of the Titans Brainstorming
The long and the short is this – Blizzard will be redesigning talent trees to be more “fun”, i.e. focusing on bringing you fun spells like Guardian Spirit and Pain Suppression. Path of the Titans will work with the new secondary profession, Archaeology, and will be how you get all those little bonuses, like +3% damage, +5% crit, etc etc etc,
I want to see the crit vs haste debate take a whole new meaning with this change to talent trees. Whether it be via Path of the Titans or the talent tree, I want to see two different paths for healers of all classes. One path for haste, one for crit. Maybe you can choose to balance between the two, or maybe you would pick one over the other.
For instance, for the Poker Player Priest, we have the crit path. Do you like high risk, high reward situations? Then stack crit, and with this chosen direction, you get special bonuses based on crit. Are you more of a Conservative Caster, and prefer predictable, steady bonuses and improvements to your casting style? Stack haste, and take the haste path.
Not so long ago for Priests, Serendipity was completely different, and actually gave you a percentage of mana back when you overhealed. Overhealing is a problem for every healer, though less so for Druids. However, even if your heal isn’t marked as overheal, if you spend your mana, and the heal you cast, or the hot, gives less healing than was intended, it’s a problem. I think this is a great opportunity for some interesting procs.
The Poker Player Priest versus the Conservative Caster
Let’s say you’re a Poker Player Priest (stacking crit), and your heal crits, and ov
erheals your target. I’d love to see some fun procs based on this – whether it be a return of some mana (only on overheals that are crits), or perhaps a short term boost to your crit rating. Or, if you overheal due to a crit, the target gets a damage absorbing shield that absorbs the amount for which they were overhealed. Everytime you crit, you could get a stacking buff that will increase your crit rating by a small amount, up to, say, 5 stacks. Or everytime you crit you have a chance to proc some regen mechanic, like with Holy Concentration. For raid buffs, maybe everytime you crit you could proc a raid buff for a few seconds that would increase crit rating by 5%.
For the Conservative Caster (stacking haste), we could have a serendipity like effect with a smaller boost each stack, but more stacks. So, 5 casts of Flash Heal could give you an instant Greater Heal, or maybe just a very speedy Greater Heal. An overheal could either return some of your mana to you, or give you a small haste boost to your next cast. There could be some ability or proc called “Just in the Nick of Time”, and if you get a heal off on someone who is at less than 5% health, that target gets a double heal, or a HoT effect, a shield effect, a decrease in threat, or maybe all heals on that target are boosted by a certain percentage. For raid buffs, everytime you peel off a Greater Heal of a Prayer of Healing, the entire raid could receive a 10% haste buff.I use holy priests as an example here, but the same theory could apply for all healers, and really all casters. I really hope that Blizzard gets creative with the new talent trees and Path of the Titans, because I see room for lots of fun stuff in the direction they are heading. I am also pleading for a resolution to the crit vs haste debate.
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In the real world, I am a professional student. That basically means I get paid (not much, mind you) to sit around and think, and then write papers about what I think, and then tell everyone else how smart I am because of all the things I think. It's a pretty sweet gig for lazy bums such as myself.
As a graduate student in a field that is constantly beset with identity crises and inner political squabbles, there is a lot of debate regarding theory versus application. On one side you have the supporters of applied science who think theory is for those people sitting in an ivory tower who just want to make a living sitting around thinking. On the other side you have the critical theorists in their posh armchairs who think that applied scientists are not asking the right questions, and because they do not reflexively consider their research, they are not actually contributing to the field of knowledge.
I fall somewhere in the middle. I believe theory is important to understanding a lot of what we do, why we do it, and the best way to do it. At the same time, if we rely completely on theory, it will never match the reality of what we do.
Why have I rambled about academia in a blog focused on healing in WoW? I assure you, I have my reasons. Anyone who spends any time over at the ElitistJerks forum knows that there are plenty of WoW players out there who love the mathematical side of playing this game. They can come up with an equation for anything, and tell you exactly how you should spec, exactly what gear you should be wearing, the precise rotation for your spells, and every single enchant and gem you should use. With greek symbols and wws reports as their weapons, they will easily strike down any n00b who insists that lolsmite is a viable spec. That is why they are unabashedly Elitist Jerks.
Somewhere along the line, "playing a game" transformed from doing what you enjoy for the pure fun of it, and applying for another job, where you beef up a resume that includes every talent point, gem, enchant, and your specific spell rotation. We've been told exactly how we should play this game, and if we don't do it the way the math and theorycrafting says we should, then we obviously need to learn2play.
The problem with theory is that behind the healer, or the DPSer, or the tank in the raid is an actual, real-life, human being. You can't bot everything. Sometimes my index finger gets itchy, and I hit Circle of Healing, when I know damn well that the tree over there just cast Rejuvenation. Talent points were intended to take basic classes and give the players flexibility to match their playstyle. Sometimes when you get so bogged down by how you should be playing, what spell the math tells you you should cast at this exact moment, you forget all about the fact that the character you are playing is a representative of you. You can come up with all kinds of ideal stats and situations in which you should use and do such and such. But, in the heat of the moment, you may do something different, and all that math you so meticulously researched is pointless. It is based upon you using the exactly proper sequence in an ideal situation.
The Value of Theory
All that having been said, theorycrafting is incredibly helpful in many situations. I used to be so concerned about having the exact amount of haste, crit, and spellpower that EJ insisted was necessary. I spent so much time doing the math, I forgot the entire point - to be a better player. So, now, I don't worry about the exact numbers. I read up on the theory, get an idea about what works best in different situations, and try to get in the general vicinity. I have a rough goal of around 2k spellpower, a certain amount of haste, and a certain amount of crit. I used to gem everything for spirit, but now with the changes to mana regen and other facets of class changes, EJ tells me I should gem for intellect instead. As much as it pains me to loosen my grasp on that spirit stat, I now gem and enchant for intellect when it makes sense. And if I hadn't read so much theory about what stats are best for priests, I would have always stacked mp5. I would still be gemming for stamina like I did with my Primal Mooncloth set back in BC.
Understanding concepts is more important than memorizing numbers. Knowing that spirit is a decent stat for mages and warlocks in addition to priests and druids makes me not hate my lockly friends for rolling on gear I want. It reminds me to keep divine spirit on them as well. Knowing that a good balance of SP, mana regen, haste and crit is more important that memorizing the number I "should" achieve before progressing past Naxx25.
I wouldn't understand the concepts if I didn't read the theory. But I'm still going to keep my Lightwell. And I'm still going to forget to cast Guardian Spirit a lot of the time. Even before the changes to downranked heals, I never bothered downranking. I'm still in the habit of bunching my heals and then taking breaks in an effort to regen my mana - even though, in theory, I know that isn't very useful anymore.
As a graduate student in a field that is constantly beset with identity crises and inner political squabbles, there is a lot of debate regarding theory versus application. On one side you have the supporters of applied science who think theory is for those people sitting in an ivory tower who just want to make a living sitting around thinking. On the other side you have the critical theorists in their posh armchairs who think that applied scientists are not asking the right questions, and because they do not reflexively consider their research, they are not actually contributing to the field of knowledge.
I fall somewhere in the middle. I believe theory is important to understanding a lot of what we do, why we do it, and the best way to do it. At the same time, if we rely completely on theory, it will never match the reality of what we do.
Why have I rambled about academia in a blog focused on healing in WoW? I assure you, I have my reasons. Anyone who spends any time over at the ElitistJerks forum knows that there are plenty of WoW players out there who love the mathematical side of playing this game. They can come up with an equation for anything, and tell you exactly how you should spec, exactly what gear you should be wearing, the precise rotation for your spells, and every single enchant and gem you should use. With greek symbols and wws reports as their weapons, they will easily strike down any n00b who insists that lolsmite is a viable spec. That is why they are unabashedly Elitist Jerks.
Somewhere along the line, "playing a game" transformed from doing what you enjoy for the pure fun of it, and applying for another job, where you beef up a resume that includes every talent point, gem, enchant, and your specific spell rotation. We've been told exactly how we should play this game, and if we don't do it the way the math and theorycrafting says we should, then we obviously need to learn2play.
The problem with theory is that behind the healer, or the DPSer, or the tank in the raid is an actual, real-life, human being. You can't bot everything. Sometimes my index finger gets itchy, and I hit Circle of Healing, when I know damn well that the tree over there just cast Rejuvenation. Talent points were intended to take basic classes and give the players flexibility to match their playstyle. Sometimes when you get so bogged down by how you should be playing, what spell the math tells you you should cast at this exact moment, you forget all about the fact that the character you are playing is a representative of you. You can come up with all kinds of ideal stats and situations in which you should use and do such and such. But, in the heat of the moment, you may do something different, and all that math you so meticulously researched is pointless. It is based upon you using the exactly proper sequence in an ideal situation.
The Value of Theory
All that having been said, theorycrafting is incredibly helpful in many situations. I used to be so concerned about having the exact amount of haste, crit, and spellpower that EJ insisted was necessary. I spent so much time doing the math, I forgot the entire point - to be a better player. So, now, I don't worry about the exact numbers. I read up on the theory, get an idea about what works best in different situations, and try to get in the general vicinity. I have a rough goal of around 2k spellpower, a certain amount of haste, and a certain amount of crit. I used to gem everything for spirit, but now with the changes to mana regen and other facets of class changes, EJ tells me I should gem for intellect instead. As much as it pains me to loosen my grasp on that spirit stat, I now gem and enchant for intellect when it makes sense. And if I hadn't read so much theory about what stats are best for priests, I would have always stacked mp5. I would still be gemming for stamina like I did with my Primal Mooncloth set back in BC.
Understanding concepts is more important than memorizing numbers. Knowing that spirit is a decent stat for mages and warlocks in addition to priests and druids makes me not hate my lockly friends for rolling on gear I want. It reminds me to keep divine spirit on them as well. Knowing that a good balance of SP, mana regen, haste and crit is more important that memorizing the number I "should" achieve before progressing past Naxx25.
I wouldn't understand the concepts if I didn't read the theory. But I'm still going to keep my Lightwell. And I'm still going to forget to cast Guardian Spirit a lot of the time. Even before the changes to downranked heals, I never bothered downranking. I'm still in the habit of bunching my heals and then taking breaks in an effort to regen my mana - even though, in theory, I know that isn't very useful anymore.
