06.24
So those fantastic little data-mining goblins have provided for our greedy little eyes. What’s that? Pics or it did not happen? OK, here you:
No, my friends, your eyes do not deceive you. You will, in fact, be able to get T9 from the 5-man dungeon. So does this mean that the new 5-man is going to on par in difficultly with Ulduar? Will you need Ulduar level gear to be successful? I sure hope so, I’d hate to see Blizzard just giving away T9 to anyone who can finish a Heroic. I’m going to have some faith that the 5-man will be sufficiently difficult but I am still not really a fan of this choice.
Edit: There is no confirmation that T9 is dropping from the 5-man. These are just three different sets of T9. Sorry, I jumped the gun on that one. More information when I know for sure.
So how about those set bonuses?
(4) Set: Increases the critical strike chance of your Hemorrhage, Sinister Strike, Backstab and Mutilate abilities by 5%
Absolute first impression: they feel backwards. 2 should be 4 and 4 should be 2. That aside, let’s talk about them individually.
The 4-piece. This is not a terrible bonus. I’ll state again, this is a not a bad bonus. However, it is a bit…underwhelming. Not only is it boring but it is significantly weaker than the ability for Rupture to crit (the T8 4-piece). A lot of the 4-piece bonuses are currently increases X-ability’s critical strike chance by 5% so I’m going to cross my fingers and hope this is a place holder.
The 2-piece. This bonus sounds like it could be absolutely amazing. This all rests on what the proc rate is and what the internal cooldown is. If the proc rate is too low and/or the internal cooldown too high this could be next to useless and you’ll continue to see rogue’s with our critting rupture until Icecrown and a hopefully better T10. On the other hand, if the proc rate is too high and/or the internal cooldown too low this could be an amazingly overpowered ability (particularly for a 2-piece bonus).
Well, it’s still too early to tell but the T9 2-piece seems pretty sexy while the 4-piece gets a strong “meh” from me. In fact, a strong “meh” is the general attitude I’m feeling about this patch overall. I don’t know why, it’s just not clicking with me yet.
How about you? Excited for 3.2?
i agree zaltu…meh
As a player whose available playtime has decreased steadily since the days of 40 man raiding, to the point where I basically get to play one night a week with a couple of RL friends, and maybe one other night if I’m lucky, 3.2 is one of the most exciting things to come along in ages. Our little Friday group jumps in on some 10 and 25 man raiding (through about half of Ulduar), and while it can be enjoyable, we don’t play often enough to justify a presence in an uberguild, and when you’ve got limited playtime, the standing around and waiting that goes along with being in a so-so guild is all the more painful. The incentive to run heroics, along with new 5-man content, is terribly exciting to someone in my position. I realize that a few years ago, when I was raiding 5 nights a week, 3.2 wouldn’t have been all that exciting. But for me, right now, I’m thrilled to have something that fits my profile coming along.
I like the *idea* of the Rupture bonus… but seeing it in practical application is going to either sell me or not. And c’mon… VanCleef sets? Makes me feel level 15 again, but not in a good way.
Zaltu, quick question for u…
as a mutilate rogue…should i be stacking Agi gems vs AP gems? Ive been doing AP since I thought the EP value was slightly higher and it would make my mutilates hit harder…but whats ur take on this?
thanks!
I pay $15 a month to have the designers come up with more interesting set designs. I remember t1 to t2 was a radical jump in not only stats, but appearance. Thumbs down on effort.
Tedoubledy,
AP for Rogues, from my sheets seems to increase offhand damage stability while minimizing critical strike potential.
The reverse is true for stacking Agility.
I prefer to stack Agility, because its simply harder to get from raid buffs. There are more buffs available to AP then there are to Agility.
Grain of salt: You’ll see the best results when you have a solid mix of both. Too much AGI, you’ll crit for truck and swing for pillow. Too much AP, you’ll swing for truck and crit for…well…you get the metaphor.
Sharadin,
thanks for the reply!! I heard that agility also makes a whopping difference when u have the t8 4 piece as ur crit chance on rupture follows that of ur regular crit chance, hence agility would increase that chance.
I also see that you are gemmed for expertise as well, is that a personal choice or was there a deeper thought process behind it? and which spreadsheets do you use if you don’t mind me asking?
there are no models yet, they are just using t8 models as a placeholder
I wish blizzard would stop giving us so many damn blue slots
I am NOT looking forward to 2s being obsolete, they are the most fun for me so I will hate to see my and my Mage partner not be really feeling like playing. Going to try to run rogue/rogue/druid in 3s ;P. Rogues with axes… wtf?? Its just gonna be stupid. Set bonuses look good but I don’t want this patch to come tbh.
I think the horde rogue T9 will be labelled Garona not Van Cleef
Hey Zaltu, To start with I can say I been reading you blog for a wile and enjoy very much, helped me getting a hang of the rogue class^^
Now for a question. I have seen some rogues stacking Expertise as “@!%, to me it seems wierd to be over capped with it. Can you ask me why? or are they just stupid?
And yes. The designers who disign this sets to ALL classes SHOULD be thrown in a pit with snakes. And I cross my fingers that they will change the Set bonuses…meh
Where did you get the info that the lower set drops in 5 mans? I can’t find that anywhere.
Tedoubledy,
According the Elitist Jerks, for Mutilate, Expertise has one of the highest EP values because if you’re missing a target because it’s dodge/parry/blocking you, then you’re more likely to miss that vital Envenom to refresh your SnD.
The idea is to maximize the amount of times that you hit a target to raise your baseline DPS. If you’re spending those 4-5 pts on an Envenom that refreshes your SnD while doing good damage, then your DPS raises. If that Envenom misses, you’re not cashing in the 2-for-1 value that Cut to the Chase gives you.
Expertise “cap” is 26/26. Do whatever you can get it.
Sharadrin,
I was under the same impression too until someone pointed out that while expertise and hit cap are extremely valuable stats that as stats scale with each other the only real way to find out the optimal setting is to use a spreadsheet. Based on my spreadsheet I have always found that gemming for expertise did not raise my dps above that of gemming for Agility or AP. I was reluctant to give up my expertise cap but it seems that all the high end rogues that I see also gem for agi now rather than expertise. I think zaltu pointed out before too that its a personal choice. Which spreadsheets do u use?
Most top end Rogues do not GEM for Expertise because their gear simply provides all the expertise you need. The chance for a boss to block/parry/dodge is static. Stacking more than you need is simply redundant.
I use multiple sheets. Aldriana’s and Mavana’s Sheet as suggested by the Rogue Guide to WotLK. http://elitistjerks.com/f78/t37183-pocket_guide_wotlk_updated_3_1_a/
The choice between expertise-cap gemming and agility gemming is a choice I’ve been having mixed feelings about too.
What Sharadrin says about enough expertise being on top-gear seems only true for Combat rogues in my experience (Weapon Expertise). I have been endgame-raiding as Mutilate for a few months now, and even with best-in-slot gear I’d still be far away from the expertise cap.
My spreadsheets tell me Agility is the way to gem, and so I do, but you WILL get unlucky every now and then, and you will curse your gem-choice for it ^^ However, I want to gear for comon situations, not exceptions, so I just swallow it and keep on destroying the nasty bugger
One hint though: if you are not Expertise-capped as Mutilate rogue, Envenom when you have about 3 seconds of SnD left. Even if you get dodged, you still have time to do it again if you managed your energy. If you get dodged AGAIN…well…RNG is a bitch my friend!
I’ve been mulling this over for a few days now and I decided to go with the expertise gemming. Like Nim said, all the spreadsheets state that AP gemming gives the higest results pre 4 piece t8 bonus and agi being slightlly higher after t8 bonus, but I think a lot of it comes down to personal choice/play style. I mean the diff in dps in gemming for expertise is only a difference of like 20 dps for my current gear so its not that much of a waste and with my playstyle I feel that expertise gives me more of a sense of ease, especially in Ulduar where you spend half the time chasing the damn bosses around (razor, ignis, hordir, etc) So while i might fall behind a bit on fights like XT, i’ve already seen a huge improvement on fights like emalon. Maybe i’ll go back to Agi though when i get my 4 t8 bonus.
@ Tedoubledy – Regemming to Agility after you gain the 4 piece is really the only viable option after you actually get the 4 piece. The gear itself provides the necessary Expertise. As well, spec CAN play a major factor in your expertise gem choices, as the Combat tree provides the extra expertise via a talent. As for myself, I find myself able to keep both the hit and expertise cap in Mutilate spec, but… That’s just me. Both the hit and expertise cap are EXTREMELY important to hit, mostly because even a 100k crit that misses or gets dodged causes 0 damage.
Point:
Expertise until the 4 piece is viable. This should help MOST with dps.
Expertise after the 4 piece is viable, but not needed; you should already have it. If you don’t, gem for it.
I think the 4 pc. bonus is going to work will with the popular glyph for combat rogues which is sinister strike. Your sinister strike crits have a chance to give 2 combo pts. which is great. making that proc happen 5% more of the time is good i think