Had a brilliant Steamvaults run the other night, with a enhancement shammy, warlock, holy pally and arms warrior. However just before killing the first boss, an officer of the guild left. This started a cascade of officers and members leaving the guild until just before the third boss the guild was disbanded. But, despite that, an awesome run! Getting a bit better at this caper.
Today's maths!
Defence rating: 481 (target 490)
Prevention %: 19.4 (target 22.3%)
Hitpoints: 8000 (target: 10k +)
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Pally changes - what, me worried?
So patch 2.10 is coming out soon, and it's a big one - chock-a-block full of changes, fixes and new content. A lot of changes to many classes, but I'm mainly going to talk about the changes to the Protection Paladin. Here are the changes that will affect me:
"Ardent Defender" (Protection) now reduces damage taken by 6-30% when below 35% health.
Even though it was easily leap-frogged, 50% damage reduction when below 20% health seemed better, especially when AoE grinding (many small hits), but I can see this being of greater benefit in instances where the hits are bigger - less likely to be leapfrogged. I'll say a tentative "I likes it".
"Avenger's Shield" no longer has a minimum range. It may be used on any target within 30 yards.
"Avenger's Shield": The damage portion of this ability will now be applied even if the victim is immune to snare.
Awesome! I've been caught out a few times getting into position for AS and accidentally body-pulling, such that by the time the cast-time is finished the mobs were already in my face. And the damage portion always landing is good.
"Divine Shield": This ability no longer removes or prevents the "Weakened Soul" debuff.
It's probably the sign of a bad pally tank, but I've rarely used Divine Shield while in instances, and wasn't aware of this trick. I can see DS being useful if I engage a group of mobs early, and as long as no ones heals or buffs in that time, no one else should get beaten on. Note to self: Use DS more.
"Greater Blessing of Kings": The cost for this blessing is now twice the cost of "Blessing of Kings", instead of a fixed cost of 150.
Have to spend longer drinking after buffing everyone. Got it.
"Hammer of Wrath": Rank 4, damage increased.
Rarely use this while tanking. Let the DPS finish it off, I'll conserve mana for the next fight. Sometimes good for runners, but if I have runners and I haven't judged Justice - shame on me! Also elite runners aren't usually going to be finished off with just one Hammer of Justice.
"Improved Seal of Righteousness": The percentage increase in damage from this talent is now applied after all bonuses from items and effects which increase your spell damage.
Rock on! I use this a lot in instances. Especially for shorter fights, or when I'm trying to generate even more threat I'll chain judge this baby.
New Protection Talent added: "Improved Holy Shield", 2 ranks: Increases damage caused by "Holy Shield" by 10/20% and increases the number of charges of "Holy Shield" by 2/4.
I wonder where in the tree this will be? What do I need to lose? Plenty of points I would respend on this in a heartbeat.
"One-Handed Weapon Specialization"(Protection): Now increases all damage caused by the paladin by 1-5% while a one-handed weapon is equipped.
All damage? Including Holy? This suddenly becomes much more interesting! More damage = more threat, and more holy damage = much more threat.
"Spiritual Attunement": Mana is no longer healed if the paladin is at full health.
Seems to be a bit of concern around the traps that this is a huge nerf - in the bigger raids I guess healers would overheal the pally to top-up their mana, or with shadow priests and vampiric embrace mana regenerated back in a nice steady manner. Having not experienced anything other than 5 man PuGs, and all without a shadow priest, and where the healers aren't going to waste their precious mana on overhealing me, I haven't had experience with that.
But, if the case is you're at full health most of the time - to get the mana you need to maintain aggro, you could be a bit of a jerk and leave longer gaps between refreshing your Holy Shield to take a bit more damage. Siphon off some of your healer's mana instead ;) Perhaps a tad reckless though. More mana pots I guess - and hope the other buffs offset things a bit - give me a chance to mix in a Wisdom now and then once I have a good threat lead.
"Ardent Defender" (Protection) now reduces damage taken by 6-30% when below 35% health.
Even though it was easily leap-frogged, 50% damage reduction when below 20% health seemed better, especially when AoE grinding (many small hits), but I can see this being of greater benefit in instances where the hits are bigger - less likely to be leapfrogged. I'll say a tentative "I likes it".
"Avenger's Shield" no longer has a minimum range. It may be used on any target within 30 yards.
"Avenger's Shield": The damage portion of this ability will now be applied even if the victim is immune to snare.
Awesome! I've been caught out a few times getting into position for AS and accidentally body-pulling, such that by the time the cast-time is finished the mobs were already in my face. And the damage portion always landing is good.
"Divine Shield": This ability no longer removes or prevents the "Weakened Soul" debuff.
It's probably the sign of a bad pally tank, but I've rarely used Divine Shield while in instances, and wasn't aware of this trick. I can see DS being useful if I engage a group of mobs early, and as long as no ones heals or buffs in that time, no one else should get beaten on. Note to self: Use DS more.
"Greater Blessing of Kings": The cost for this blessing is now twice the cost of "Blessing of Kings", instead of a fixed cost of 150.
Have to spend longer drinking after buffing everyone. Got it.
"Hammer of Wrath": Rank 4, damage increased.
Rarely use this while tanking. Let the DPS finish it off, I'll conserve mana for the next fight. Sometimes good for runners, but if I have runners and I haven't judged Justice - shame on me! Also elite runners aren't usually going to be finished off with just one Hammer of Justice.
"Improved Seal of Righteousness": The percentage increase in damage from this talent is now applied after all bonuses from items and effects which increase your spell damage.
Rock on! I use this a lot in instances. Especially for shorter fights, or when I'm trying to generate even more threat I'll chain judge this baby.
New Protection Talent added: "Improved Holy Shield", 2 ranks: Increases damage caused by "Holy Shield" by 10/20% and increases the number of charges of "Holy Shield" by 2/4.
I wonder where in the tree this will be? What do I need to lose? Plenty of points I would respend on this in a heartbeat.
"One-Handed Weapon Specialization"(Protection): Now increases all damage caused by the paladin by 1-5% while a one-handed weapon is equipped.
All damage? Including Holy? This suddenly becomes much more interesting! More damage = more threat, and more holy damage = much more threat.
"Spiritual Attunement": Mana is no longer healed if the paladin is at full health.
Seems to be a bit of concern around the traps that this is a huge nerf - in the bigger raids I guess healers would overheal the pally to top-up their mana, or with shadow priests and vampiric embrace mana regenerated back in a nice steady manner. Having not experienced anything other than 5 man PuGs, and all without a shadow priest, and where the healers aren't going to waste their precious mana on overhealing me, I haven't had experience with that.
But, if the case is you're at full health most of the time - to get the mana you need to maintain aggro, you could be a bit of a jerk and leave longer gaps between refreshing your Holy Shield to take a bit more damage. Siphon off some of your healer's mana instead ;) Perhaps a tad reckless though. More mana pots I guess - and hope the other buffs offset things a bit - give me a chance to mix in a Wisdom now and then once I have a good threat lead.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Undergeared and Folorn
Well, in an attempt to get speed attuned to Karazhan in the week it's been since Tetja turned 70, I had a go tanking the Black Morass instance in the Caverns of Time. Kicked out of a guild group for not being able to hold aggro, then got another group with an awesome Holy Pally and Balance Druid from the guild, another BM newbie rogue, and a PUG Mage (who was also very good).
It was really fun actually. 18 waves of mobs spawn from portals, with bosses at wave 6, 12, and 18. The mobs are trying to get to Medivh to stop him opening the Dark Portal. He has a cool shield that the mobs try to hit and get down so as to kill Medivh. I tank the elite or boss at each portal, the mage dealt with the crappy trash dragonkins and whelpings that flung themselves at the shield, the healer heals, and the other two (druid and rogue) DPS my target as much as my threat generation allows. Very little time to rebuff or mana up - it's all go go go!
We did really well up until the last boss, Aeonus. He hits really hard, and time-stops the whole party for 4 seconds at times while he continued to pound on me. That's 4 seconds with no healing, and I just didn't have enough hitpoints to withstand that kind of beating until the healer can begin casting again. We wiped, but because the shield was still close to 100%, we managed to graveyard zerg, rebuff, and have another go (shield was at 20% by the time we engaged him again), but with the same result - I just don't have the staying power yet.
So, a sobering experience. I do need better gear. I'm made a little dent since my last post too. Started running instances the last couple of days to get my some of the Righteous Set. So far just the helm. A long way to go, and after the race to 70 and then to get to Kara with the rest of the guild, well, I'm a bit burnt out and don't feel like playing WoW for the next few days.
Anyway, today's maths!
Currently, defence at: 473 (target: 490)
Prevention %: 18.8% (target: 22.3%)
It was really fun actually. 18 waves of mobs spawn from portals, with bosses at wave 6, 12, and 18. The mobs are trying to get to Medivh to stop him opening the Dark Portal. He has a cool shield that the mobs try to hit and get down so as to kill Medivh. I tank the elite or boss at each portal, the mage dealt with the crappy trash dragonkins and whelpings that flung themselves at the shield, the healer heals, and the other two (druid and rogue) DPS my target as much as my threat generation allows. Very little time to rebuff or mana up - it's all go go go!
We did really well up until the last boss, Aeonus. He hits really hard, and time-stops the whole party for 4 seconds at times while he continued to pound on me. That's 4 seconds with no healing, and I just didn't have enough hitpoints to withstand that kind of beating until the healer can begin casting again. We wiped, but because the shield was still close to 100%, we managed to graveyard zerg, rebuff, and have another go (shield was at 20% by the time we engaged him again), but with the same result - I just don't have the staying power yet.
So, a sobering experience. I do need better gear. I'm made a little dent since my last post too. Started running instances the last couple of days to get my some of the Righteous Set. So far just the helm. A long way to go, and after the race to 70 and then to get to Kara with the rest of the guild, well, I'm a bit burnt out and don't feel like playing WoW for the next few days.
Anyway, today's maths!
Currently, defence at: 473 (target: 490)
Prevention %: 18.8% (target: 22.3%)
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Mitigation and Me
Hello!
Been doing a lot of reading on what I need to be a better tank. Well first off, my defence rating needs to be 490 to avoid Crushing Blows entirely. That's another 39 defence rating please!
(btw, getting this info from this thread.)
To reach 100% prevention of Crushing Blow and Regular hit while remaining immune to Critical Hits, I need the following formula to add up to 21.33%:
(Block Rating / 7.9)% + (Defense Rating beyond 288 / 15)% + (Dodge Rating / 18.9)% + (Agility Bonus / 25)% + (Parry Rating / 31.5)%
So, currently I have:
Block Rating: 17
Defence Rating: 451
Dodge Rating: 0
Agility Bonus: 67
Parry Rating: 16
Formula total: 16.2% - bugger. BUT, when I proc my Charm of Alacrity once every 2 minutes for 10 seconds, that leaps up to 26.3%. Will have to rely on that trinket until I can get my passive stats/ratings to meet the totals. Maybe towards the end of fights when I've generated heaps of threat and healing mana is getting low. I do require a lot of healing until I get better gear. WOE!
Been doing a lot of reading on what I need to be a better tank. Well first off, my defence rating needs to be 490 to avoid Crushing Blows entirely. That's another 39 defence rating please!
(btw, getting this info from this thread.)
To reach 100% prevention of Crushing Blow and Regular hit while remaining immune to Critical Hits, I need the following formula to add up to 21.33%:
(Block Rating / 7.9)% + (Defense Rating beyond 288 / 15)% + (Dodge Rating / 18.9)% + (Agility Bonus / 25)% + (Parry Rating / 31.5)%
So, currently I have:
Block Rating: 17
Defence Rating: 451
Dodge Rating: 0
Agility Bonus: 67
Parry Rating: 16
Formula total: 16.2% - bugger. BUT, when I proc my Charm of Alacrity once every 2 minutes for 10 seconds, that leaps up to 26.3%. Will have to rely on that trinket until I can get my passive stats/ratings to meet the totals. Maybe towards the end of fights when I've generated heaps of threat and healing mana is getting low. I do require a lot of healing until I get better gear. WOE!
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