Patch 5.2 interview with Dave Kosak
Inside an old alt's vault
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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsThe Queue: Soul man
by Adam Holisky 
Jun 5th 2009 at 2:30PM
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky will be your host today.
Yesterday Alex featured Cab Calloway blasting out Minnie the Moocher, a song that while was around for a long time was truly made epic by his performance with the Blues Brothers. And this lets me tie in perfectly to wish my brother Logan a happy graduation from high school next week. Logan and many of his friends were in their jazz band, and he often dressed up as the Blues Brothers when appropriate. And in lieu of that, today's reading music is the Blues Brothers' "Soul Man" performance from the 1978 SNL season. The good old days. 5 years before I was born.Hokiebuddy asked...
"With the revamp of the bear and cat forms for Druids will there be any more Druid revamps in design such as the travel, swimming, or flying forms? Also will this spill over into other races and classes i.e. Warlock and Paladin mounts, Warlock minions, Shadow Priest shadow form, etc..."
There will be revamps to tree and oomkin forms. We already know that. Will travel and swimming be included in the form artwork updates? They haven't said anything specific about those, but part of me says no, since as Eros pointed out , they're just utility forms. Nothing terribly special.
Kyo asked...
"Is there a more PvP-focused version of wow.com?"
Check out http://wow.joystiq.com/category/pvp. You can find all our PvP news categorized there.
Joozu asked...
"In 25 man OS last night my Recount (most recent version on curse) was telling me I was doing overall about 4000 dps, give or take 50-100 at most. However, some of the other raid members using other damage counters had me at about 3200 dps overall. Which would be considered a good accurate damage counter, so I can know if I have to improve more or not?"
Be sure your copy of Recount and your friend's copy of Recount are configured the same. I've used Recount for a long time now, and while it has some glitches occasionally, it's by far the best out there. I would check the following things specifically:
- Which boss fight you're viewing
- Combined pets
- Version of the Add-On
Osirus asked...
"How many people use Linux for playing WoW? What software do they use? Wine, Codeweavers or Cedega?"
I'm not sure how many people play WoW on Linux. I know that I have it installed on there. While I don't play for long hours on my WoW Linux, I do log in and mess around for short periods of time while I'm working in my Linux environment for whatever reason.
Wine is your friend. Although I know that other solutions work too. Still, Wine is just your friend.
Kabshiel asked...
"When a raid leader asks for your unbuffed stats, should you give them your stats completely unbuffed or are self-only buffs (Moonkin Form, Fel Armor, Flametongue Weapon, etc) fair game to include in the total?"
I've never minded when someone included both. However, I do mind when they automatically and only give me the self buffed numbers. That's not what I'm after. Giving me both also lets me know they're thinking about such things. And if you're a Draenei, say something smart like "I'm hit capped with my racial." You don't want to count on me to remember you're a Draenei, and I might just get cranky and spend the day thinking of ways tell you to "l2hitcapnoob."
A few people commented...
"The Cautious person you wrote about last night and said never died on her way to 80 actually died once! It says so in the armory!"
From the article:
"It should also be noted that the armory reflects one death, that occurred sometime within the last 24 hours since we got this tip. That death happened after reaching level 80. Cautious posted in the forums that this happened via use of Nitro Boost."
Have questions about the World of Warcraft? The WoW Insider crew is here with The Queue, our daily Q&A column! Leave your questions in the comments and we'll do our best to answer 'em!Filed under: The Queue
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 5)
Hotball Jun 5th 2009 3:35PM
I think there are two reasons why hit capped is important: 1. hit rating is the most economical stat. That is, you need less points in hit rating to achieve 1% increase compared to crit or haste. Considering that each point of hit, crit, and haste costs the same in terms of itemization, it's the most economical to be hit capped first. 2. A miss can disrupt your rotation. That's annoying and can reduce your efficiency.
Ralph Jun 6th 2009 12:31AM
Hitting harder and missing once in a while is okay; the real criterion is DPS output. (There are a few cases where having an ability be absolutely reliable is essential for success in a raid. For those cases, being hit capped is the way to make the ability reliable.)
However, hit rating is one of the cheapest ways to boost DPS for most classes. So being hit capped (at least to the point that your special abilities never miss) usually goes hand in hand with maximizing DPS.
Hit rating still provides a damage boost for leveling or simple 5 man content. However, it's less important to maximize your DPS for that content.
Clevins Jun 5th 2009 9:07PM
Hit isn't infinitely valuable. It's just that, for most dps class/spec combos, adding 1 hit will do more for your dps than anything else over the course of a boss fight. However, once capped the value of further hit is zero - you have 100% chance to hit the boss, you can't do better than that. Note that dodge/parry are reduced by expertise, so for melee, that's another stat to worry about.
And for rogues, you can't really hitcap all white damage - the cap value is so high you'd gimp yourself. However you can cap poisons and specials and should.
Kards Jun 5th 2009 3:20PM
WoWinsider, what should I be? Tell me who to believe?
Song idea: Idiot Box - Incubus
eric_barbaric Jun 5th 2009 3:34PM
I have what may seem to be an idiotic question to some, but I honestly don't know. I am a fury warrior with TG. When I want to get hit capped, do I go by 2h hitcap numbers, or dual wield numbers?
Also I'd like to know:
What would you do if I sang out of tune? Would you stand up and walk out on me?
Robert M Jun 5th 2009 3:44PM
Shamantics had a good post on dw hit caps, and though it doens't specifically address TG warriors, he does link to the softcaps on EJ.
You may want to check it out
http://shamantics.blogspot.com/2009/05/dual-wielding-and-hit.html
Namus Jun 6th 2009 2:53PM
I would tell you to Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song
And I'll try not to sing out of key.
And I think it's the same for dual wield, don't know for sure, I don't play a warrior.
Taytayflan Jun 5th 2009 3:35PM
Why did the person who leveled 1-80 without dying pick ENGINEERING? I've died at least 100 times because of backfires, misfires, underestimation, overestimation, and general experimenting with the profession. I just think it's a huge risk.
Jp Jun 5th 2009 3:36PM
they're just utility forms. Nothing terribly special.
So was flight, but when they added epic flight form, they didn't just re-use the flight form skin, they gave us new artwork. Artwork, which they have said before, they would like to be the standard for druid forms. I do think travel and swim will be looked at - after tree and boomkin, and probably only just night elves get one, tauren get one, instead of 5 different colors like with bear/cat, and presumably, tree/boomkin.
Naix Jun 5th 2009 3:45PM
"However, I do mind when they automatically and only give me the self buffed numbers. That's not what I'm after. Giving me both also lets me know they're thinking about such things."
Hold on a second. There is not a Warlock alive that would NOT be using fel armor 100% of the time. So because the self buff is ALWAYS there you SHOULD include fel armor as spell power. Not including a self buff is the same as removing all gems, items buffs, and gem color bonuses when telling a raid leader your spell power. After all those gems, enchants, and set bonuses are buffs.
Matt J Jun 5th 2009 4:07PM
I disagree.
Including self buffs (such as Fel Armor) make it harder for a raid leader to easily compare potential raid members. For instance if the raid leader wanted to compare a lock and a mage, does the self-buffed spell power number that each player gave indicate equal damage potential?
In general I tend to think that self-buffs are used by blizzard to help equalize between classes, the intent is for classes at identical gear level to have the potential to preform equal. If you are including self-buffs you are artifically inflating your "potential".
2k self buffed warlock =/= 2k self buffed mage.
Aykwa Jun 5th 2009 4:57PM
I diagree with you Matt.
Any raid leader who is worth his salt already knows exactly what you just said. Asking for spec and stats isn't for them to be able to compare them to another class, but rather to use their knowlege to compare them to others of their own class. If they simply wanted a truly comparable number across classes, they would simply ask for something as simple as boss dps. But instead, since they should know all the classes, they may know that a destro lock with 2000 self-buffed sp and hit capped might be expected to put out a specific dps. Only a raid leader who doesn't know his stuff asks for stats and then uses them to compare different classes. And if that's the case, he's probably not smart enough to know the difference between what someone will do self buffed or non buffed. The point is to allow apples to apples comparison within a class, so as long as he's getting the same type of response from everyone he asks, he's fine with whichever he chooses to ask for. And if self buffs really are an equalizing method used by Blizz, as you believe, then why in the world wouldn't you want them included? After all, aren't they there to try and equalize the classes so to speak?
Of course, the easiest way to avoid all the confusion is just to ask for something consistent from everyone. Like Patchwork dps or something.
kabshiel Jun 6th 2009 3:30AM
@ Matt J
Would you expect a shadow priest to tell you their spellpower minus the extra amount they get from Twisted Faith or an Arcane Mage to subtract their extra spellpower gained from Mind Mastery? Some classes and specs get bonuses from their talents, others from self-buffs.
I personally think that self-ONLY buffs (Fel Armor, Flametongue, etc) are fair game, but that raid buffs (MotW, Kings, etc) should not be included in the total. So a moonkin should count the extra spellpower they get from moonkin form, but not from their own MotW as well.
Jed Burgess Jun 5th 2009 6:07PM
The level of difference will often come from someone else's Recount not including pet data. When I'm on my boomkin my recount always gives me credit for my treants' damage but often others' Recounts will not.
Kayri Jun 5th 2009 4:04PM
can i has rubber biscuit?
Potato Jun 5th 2009 4:11PM
I have a question about DPS vs Damage done.
I was 2-manning regular magister's terrace with a hunter friend at 80 (i play a mage).
According to Recount, we both had nearly identical DPS (2470 vs 2440) yet our damage done was very different for Kael'thas. The hunter had done about 65% of the damage while i had only done about 35%.
The fight itself was extremely short. A phoenix was never spawned and Kael died just a couple of seconds into the first gravity lapse.
With such a short duration fight, how could our DPS be so close, yet our damage done be so different?
I've seen it happen with longer boss fights as well, but with longer fights, there are always factors at play that skew your DPS/Damage Done numbers (needing to move out of fires, adds, etc...).
Ice Jun 5th 2009 6:30PM
Recount lags a bit and its bit different how it records it as far as I know.
You might have 1.2k dps middle of fight doing average damage but then suddenly at end you pop trinkets, cooldowns etc at the end when you burst and recount gets your dps to 1.9k (or otherway that you go oom at the end and dps drops) then the fight ends and it records the last dps seconds of the fight and shows it on the list.
Thats the impression i've got. Therefore dps readings are worse than damage done.
Setesh Jun 5th 2009 4:13PM
I consider my unbuffed stats to be my base stats plus ONLY those self buffs i can cast on myself and nobody else, as a priest, basically just inner fire is included, though i'd probably mention the sp boost i get from spirit buff
Anaughtybear Jun 5th 2009 4:26PM
Druid forms still suck, but now they suck in different colors.
pfoooti Jun 5th 2009 4:33PM
This will get lost in the shuffle, I'm sure. But the recount situation almost always occurs because people don't actually look at the fight data. Half of the time, people just look at "overall data", which includes the trash fights. When using recount (or spamming it to show off your peen), you should only ever use the bossfight segment. Click on the little icon that looks like a piece of paper in the recount window frame and select the appropriate piece.