Elitist Jerks Weekly Recap 9/30/11

Every Friday Tabana brings you the latest discussions straight from the Elitist Jerks forums with a recap of what was discussed and links to the full posts so you can stay on top of the latest in hunter theorycrafting.

9/27/11

Auto Shot Timer

In the Simple Questions/Simple Answers thread, R00k!3 asked, “When does the next Auto Shot after a hard casted Aimed Shot start? I noticed there seem to be irregularities. […] When I observe my timers the Auto Attack often starts to cast 1 – 2 casts after Aimed Shot finished.”

Shadowwaltz replied: “If your Auto Shot timer is 2s, your Autos start up again 2s after the Aimed. Otherwise people could just weave their Aimed Shots in between Autos. This only happens if you finish the cast. If you stop your Aimed Shot cast halfway through, your Auto Shots go back to normal.”

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9/26/11

Tier 12 4-piece Double Proc Bug

In the Marksmanship thread, SoiiJoii asked “Anyone else noticing a bug with T12 4pc proc? It seems like it ‘double’ procs now, where you can fire off two free shots before the buff is consumed (sometimes three on bosses like Ragnaros, where your shots have a longer travel time.)”

Alveia noticed the same bug:

I just came here to post about this actually […]. Burning Adrenaline is now consuming when your shot hits the target, rather than when a shot is fired. This has the advantage now to being able to double dip on procs, and in some situations (for example on Ragnaros due to the longer than normal travel time) you can even triple dip with free shots.

Works most effectively with Aimed Shot + Chimera or Arcane, if properly maximized this is a very interesting change. The only downside to the change is that if Burning Adrenaline procs while a focus-costing shot is mid-flight it will consume the proc to no benefit when it hits the target, but I didn’t have this occur nearly as often as I was able to take advantage of a double-dip.

I was also able to take advantage of this while multi-shotting if I was at max-range.

Lilbitters added:

Just a couple more things from my testing: Hunter Tier 12 4-piece bug – YouTube. I can repeat this using Aimed Shot, Chimera Shot, or Multi-Shot first, and then immediately following it with either of those 3 again, or Kill Command or Arcane Shot. I cannot get it to trigger using Arcane Shot or Kill Command first, as they both seem [to] consume the Burning Adrenaline buff instantly upon cast.

Caltiom said that the Hunter Tier 12 4pc bug as well Tier 13 set bonuses have been included into SimulationCraft:

I assumed tier13 4pc is triggered on execute and the result is a successful hit. To test the bonuses with the latest SVN version of SimulationCraft be sure to turn on PTR (ptr=1 on the commandline version) and override the set bonuses with: tier12_2pc_melee=0 tier12_4pc_melee=0 tier13_2pc_melee=1 tier13_4pc_melee=1
and specify the trigger chance with tier13_4pc_proc_chance=x ( between 0 and 1.0 )

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9/26/11

Tier 13 Bonuses

In the Marksmanship thread, Whitefyst posted the new Tier 13 hunter set bonuses:

  • 2P — Steady Shot and Cobra Shot generate double the amount of focus.
  • 4P — Your Arcane Shot ability has a chance to grant 25% haste to you and your pet for 10 sec.

The hunter T13 tier bonuses are pretty interesting for MM. Both seem powerful, but without knowing more about the 4P (trigger mechanism, chance, etc.), it seems like the two pieces are counterproductive.

I have not checked it out in my spreadsheet yet to see the impact to the rotations, but double focus per steady shot is 36 more focus per cycle from just the minimum 4 SSs to maintain ISS. That should result in a balanced AS focus dump cycle with just the 4 SSs. When using AI as the focus dump, with normal static haste levels, 2 SSs along with the regen over the AI cast will more than make up for the AI cast’s focus cost. This makes the T13 2P more powerful than T12 4P when performing an AS focus dump rotation and pretty close to almost as powerful during an AI focus dump rotation depending on the frequency of procs. Hence, I believe we will be dumping the T12 4P as soon as we get the t13 2P.

The 4P seems powerful as well, but I need to know more about its mechanics to say for sure how it will affect the CS cycles. My first guess is that the 4P is counterproductive. […] There seems to be some type of need to cast AS to get the bonus then focus dump with AIs while it’s up or until it’s off ICD (if any) and then use ASs to try to proc it again. How worthwhile this is to do when hasted with fast cast AIs already […] will depend on better knowledge of the mechanics of the 4P.

Alienangel replied, “Regarding the contradiction of the 2pc and 4pc, one way to look at it would be whether it’s worth pursuing 100% ISS up-time when you already have [a] 4pc proc granting you 25% haste for the next 10 seconds.”

Once you get the proc, you may be content just steadying enough to stay focus neutral/positive while using the haste to dump AI and CS – then sneaking in your 2 steadies to get ISS back up before the 4pc proc expires, and then fishing for another proc with AS. Not the most well matched pair of bonuses, but it does look like fun to play with.

We are very unlikely to be able to push our haste from gear low enough for StS to not drop below GCD while both ISS and 4pc are procced (honestly we may not be able to drop haste low enough for that even without the 4pc), so while having both up is certainly better, having just the stronger effect up would satisfy all the requirements of just ISS up, and the gains of having both up are just to auto shot/WQ/AI, not StS or chimera (and MMM procs as a 2nd order effect since we’d need more StS to keep both up).

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9/26/11

Tier 13 Two-piece bonus is better than Tier 12 Four-piece bonus

In the Marksmanship thread, Whitefyst performed preliminary analyses of the Tier 13 two-piece bonus and concluded that it will be worthwhile to replace the Tier 12 four-piece with the Tier 13 two-piece:

[…] The T13 2P is very powerful, and with not even including the DPS benefit from upgrading T12 ilevel pieces to T13 ilevel pieces, it is definitely worthwhile to replace the T12 4P with the T13 2P as soon as you can do so, especially since you get roughly the same focus benefit without having to worry about managing procs. […]

Looking at the 12.93% haste from gear and Pathing case during the Standard phase un-hasted without using the CS glyph or any tier bonuses, a 4 SS AS focus dump cycle on average (including cycles with MMM AI procs) has a net focus of about -20. With the T13 2P, it now has about a +16 net focus. This means that for a 4 SS AS focus dump cycle with the T13 2P that focus is not a concern. Since focus is not a concern, there really is no need to have a little slack in your 4 SS cycle so that you can accommodate a 5th SS when needed to balance focus. […]

Failure replied:

[…] When you compare 4pc T12 to 2pc T13, how much focus are you counting the T12 4pc to be worth? As far as I can tell from both simple math, as well as using FD, if you are sure an Aimed Shot will not be interrupted, it is always better, in both DPS and DPF than using an arcane shot. The 4pc right now allows a Chim or Arcane to follow a free Aimed, for either 72 or 94 focus (or 83 average focus per proc if you assume it goes 50/50). Is this being counted for in FD? Because as far as I understand the live version does not.

Granted, I understand there’s a lot of speculation at the moment, and these bonuses may be changed before they make it to live anyway, but I think ilvl will be the only reason to upgrade to T13 2pc […]

Whitefyst maintained that the Tier 13 two-piece will be better than the Tier 12 four-piece:

[…] Concerning the T12 4P versus T13 2P comparison, I still stand by my assertion that most players will want to get the T13 2P as soon as possible. […] For an AS focus dump cycle, the T13 2P is guaranteed to provide 36 extra focus over the 4 SSs. The T12 4P saves 33 focus with assuming that you are good enough at managing the proc to have it consumed by CS half the time. The T13 2P is slightly better here. For an AI focus dump cycle, the 5 to 6 SSs, depending on current haste level, over the CS cycle are guaranteed to gain 45 to 54 focus. The T12 4P saves 48 to 49 focus with assuming that AI consumes it 75% of the time. These two values are pretty equal. Add on top of that the benefit of not having to worry about managing the proc and the possible inefficiencies caused of doing so and the benefits of stats increases from upgrading from T12 to T13 gear, and the T13 2P is the clear winner.

Now I did not include the T12 4P proc bug for the main reason that it is a bug that may not even be present in 4.3. If we do include it, it provides either 22 or 44 focus (depending on whether CS is on CD) per proc if you are able to execute it properly. This does benefit the T12 4P, but not enough to make up for proc management and upgrades to T13 gear. In addition, this situation can often result in over-capping focus, reducing the benefit of the bug. Furthermore, if you include the positive benefits of the bug, then you also need to include the more rare negative impacts where the proc is consumed by an instant cast shot in travel after its focus cost has already been deducted resulting in 0 focus benefit from the proc. […]

Failure replied:

[…] I do think the 2pc T13 is good, and worth switching to, but I think it’s a little less clear-cut than you’re saying, because I feel like it’s going to rot more focus than T12-4pc, and you’re vastly undervaluing T12-4pc with the bug (which, is a fair premise to make if you think it’s fixed, or want to compare both ways in case it is). […]

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9/27/11

Aimed Shot vs. Arcane Shot with the Tier 13 Four-piece bonus

In the Marksmanship thread, Pallysrcool suggested that with T13 gear, it would be better to use Arcane Shot as focus dump to try and proc the T13 four-piece bonus:

[…] While reading through this last page […] concerning T13 set bonuses, you seem to state, even with the the T13 4P, that hard-casting Aimed Shot happens to be better. Currently I understand why this is so with T12 set bonuses while under 1.8 cast time as well, but when we reach our T13 gear it seems that a regular AS focus dump rotation would be better because […] it procs the T13 4P.

For instance, in a 10s cycle, CS > ASx3 > SSx4 seems like a viable rotation to be playing with outside the CA phase because of 1) With 36 focus being gained by a SS pair, this allows us to creep in an extra AS which leads to 2) AS is what procs the T13 4P and allows us to hard-cast Aimed Shot.

Not stating that even with new Haste proc trinkets, RF, Heroism, casting AS would be better, but when you’re out of CA phase and do not obtain a Haste increase, the CS > ASx3 > SSx4 allows us to maintain the ISS buff and gives us a chance to gather the haste from the T13 4P which can be followed by hard-casting Aimed Shot. 25% + the average 26-27 and haste raid buffed with no large CDs popped is enough to easily cast Aimed Shot then, if RNG favors you, your Haste trinket or something may come up allowing you the ability to continue the hard-cast, but if not so lucky, casting a quick SS pair to keep the ISS buff up before the T13 4P falls off and easing your way into the regular, outside CA Phase, rotation. […]

Whitfyst replied that when hasted we should cast Aimed Shot:

[…] When hasted, we should definitely cast AI. With the T13 4P proccing off AS and then providing a considerable amount of haste, my current assumption is that when otherwise un-hasted that we will want to use AS as the focus dump, not only because it is a good option then, but also because it will proc the 25% haste, which we can then use to cast more hasted AIs. I really do not see a flaw in this logic.

This approach assumes that it takes several ASs on average to proc the T13 4P. If that is the case, then it probably is not worthwhile to cast ASs when already hasted to try to get the proc with it being better to just concentrate on casting as many hasted AIs as possible during the haste period.

If it only takes 1 or 2 ASs to proc the T13 4P, then it is possible that we may want to fire an AS every cycle, even when otherwise hasted, to try to have higher T13 4P up-time. I do not know if this would actually work out as a positive action, but it is an option to investigate if the T13 4P mechanism procs easily.

[…] I mention the AS focus dump cycle a lot since it is part of doing the full analysis of how the T13 set bonuses affect our possible rotations. And as I said previously, it is a preferential situation on whether to use AS or hard-cast AI when un-hasted. Sure you can time movement situations well usually and can adjust if you know an interruption mechanism is happening soon.

However, when your AI hard-cast is relatively slow, like > 2s, then it does not really provide much of a DPS benefit if any over using AS when you factor in that you can perform 2 ASs for 1 AI, the auto shot blockage by AI hard-cast, the extra WQ chances from the extra focus dump attack and possible auto shot, and the additional chance for Sic’Em or GftT to proc to provide more pet focus to increase its WH up-time. Furthermore, long AI hard-casts are more vulnerable to interruptions from having to move or interruption/push-back mechanics. One interruption can make the AI focus dump choice when un-hasted be a DPS loss. Sure it has the potential to be a little better DPS, but it also has the potential for all but the most skilled players to be a DPS loss. […]

When your AI hard-cast is below 1.8s, then I feel that it is sufficiently hasted where it clearly the better DPS option, but safeguards to avoid interruptions and push-back are still necessary to maintain the higher DPS potential. Between 1.8s and 2s AI cast time, I believe the choice to use AS or hard-cast AI is purely a preferential decision currently for what you feel more comfortable with performing. Personally when un-hasted at my current static haste level, if I know that I am standing still for a while and am safe to cast AI, I will do so; otherwise, I choose to cast AS to be safe.

[…] It is possible that once we see the actual proc mechanism that it may be best when otherwise un-hasted to use AS focus dump cycle to maintain the T13 4P buff as much as possible and to utilize that haste on AS. This is definitely an option that I plan to investigate and partly why I included it in the quick analysis above.

However, my current assumption is that that will not be the best option to perform. This is partly due to the fact that when hasted by an additional 25% over our static haste (this is almost a BL), AI is by far the better DPS option. Furthermore, an AS focus dump rotation is very limited at being able to utilize haste. The only shot affected by that haste is the 4 SSs.

Also this is a proc with possible limited control on when it randomly occurs depending on the actual proc mechanism. If the T13 4P proc is up and then we get trinkets procs or BL cast on top of it or need to cast RF on top of it, the AS focus dump cycle really wastes all of that combined haste, such that it is probably better to forgo T13 4P haste benefit for a bit and cast as many very hasted AIs as possible. Then once haste effects wear off to use AS to regain the T13 4P again.

My current assumption is that when we get any dynamic haste effect that sufficiently lowers our AI cast time that we want to use that and forgo casting ASs to get the T13 4P proc, unless it procs very easily.

Anyway, its all speculation at this point, but I plan to come up with and evaluate all of the options that myself and the hunter community can think of to try to best utilize these new tier bonuses. […]

Failure noted that, relative to Aimed Shot, Arcane Shot scales poorly with crit and haste but better with mastery:

As for AiS at 2.0sec+, I’m not sure how you’re getting those numbers. Any AiS dump build should be ignoring mastery as much as possible. […] When we’re talking about having 4pc T13, I don’t see how a 2.0 AiS will be possible unless you’re reforging into mastery basically. If they follow the T11>T12 pattern, T13 will be starting at ilvl396-398. I think normal mode T13 gear will be pushing 1.8 easily.

Anyway, there are times that Arcane Shot is definitely better to use (like Rag P1 when a Wrath is coming up, Sons, WiF, etc), and I support keeping it glyphed because it’s a much bigger impact during those times than the alternative, but barring class changes, the simple fact of the matter is Arcane Shot scales worse with both crit and haste than Aimed does, but better with mastery (this is counting for WH uptime w/ Sic Em…which btw, gets wasted on back-to-back arcane crits, which occurs quite frequently in an AS dump scenario). Also, from all the math I’ve done looking over my personal WoL files, 1 AiS completely destroys 2 AS+1 auto, even if you give the WH benefit to every single AS.

Whitefyst predicted that with Tier 13 gear it will be most beneficial to stack crit:

You will get no argument from me that AI scales better than AS. As ilevel has increased, I have been performing more and more AIs. If the T13 4P was not a factor, then I am sure that I would at some point be recommending AI hardcasts as the focus dump all the time, except when moving or cannot safely cast it. Keep in mind though that I try to provide recommendations that apply to a wide range of players, so I would still feel compelled to leave the AS focus dump as an option for lower geared or skilled players.

My AI versus AS unhasted is from current tier of gear since that is all for which I currently have the data. As I do with each new tier, I will update the analysis in the guide using pieces from that new tier once those pieces are available and stable for analysis.

The current data is the guide is not from a mastery build. A mastery build is really only useful for MMs for heavy AoE fights, where WQs are plentiful off of the MSs. For single target fights, having mastery is useful, but it is the lowest priority secondary stat. The tradeoff is really between haste and crit. Do you go higher haste so that you can cast more AIs more often, or do you go higher crit so that every shot you make hits harder on average and so that we take better advantage of all of our skills and talents that benefit from crit.

From my observations, the 378 ilevel seems to be a rough tipping point between the two, especially when you factor in the haste trinkets. Prior to 378 ilevel, I recommended a crit build with just enough haste to have a tight AS cycle when unhasted. With higher than 378 ilevel, I lean more towards a haste build to increase the situations where casting AI is the better option. My belief is that stats on T13 gear will provide sufficient haste to be able to perform AIs more often and reliably such that we can start stacking crit again.

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9/28/11

Tier 13 Four-piece bonus is called Chronohunter and has a 40% proc rate on the PTR

In the Marksmanship thread, Lilbitters posted links to new hunter weapons and gear, including the Tier 13 pieces:

Currently on the PTR, the Hunter T13 4P Bonus procs the buff named Chronohunter which has an amazing 40% proc chance which leads me to assume it will have an ICD.

As an aside, stats for the Tier 13 Wrymstalker’s set can be found at the following links:
Wrymstalker’s Tunic
Wrymstalker’s Gloves
Wrymstalker’s Headguard
Wrymstalker’s Legguards
Wrymstalker’s Spaulders

More interesting finds
Horrific Polearm probably with a proc for Dragon Soul – Proc – Agi Melee Polearm
Horrific Gun probably with a proc for Dragon Soul – Proc – Agi Ranged Gun

Whitefyst stated that the “40% proc rate is very good.”

Using a binomial distribution, we can expect on average to get a proc every 2 ASs (64% chance for at least one proc) and are pretty much assured of a proc in 5 ASs (92%).

The fact that it can take more than 1 AS to get the proc probably precludes trying to get it at the start of the fight during the CA phase; however, that also depends on how long the CA phase is. However, with having a 40% chance to proc with a single AS, it may be worthwhile at the start of the fight when we have a full focus bar to cast 1 AS just for the chance for the proc and then start performing the CA cycle as normal. If you have haste trinkets, you are probably already sufficiently hasted at the start of the CA phase where this option really is not worthwhile (30s of glyphed RF and Matrix Restabilizer is probably enough haste already with AI casttime below 1.2s).

It also probably precludes worrying about it anytime we already have other sources of dynamic haste and would normally be casting AI.

For MMs, this 4-set really only seems applicable in situations where we have no other source of dynamic haste and could be using AS as the focus dump or when we are on the move and using AS. Then ideally as soon as we get the proc we use AI as the focus dump (if not moving) until the proc clears and then go back to business as usual (using either AI or AS as our focus dump unhasted depending on preferences and setup) until the proc is off ICD, at which point we cast ASs again to get it.

Failure said that it would probably not be worthwhile to try and proc the 4-piece bonus during the Careful Aim phase:

Assuming it has to have a long ICD, I don’t see it worth using during CA, just use the RF like you mentioned, and as soon as you’re out of other haste effects, try to proc it.

The more interesting thing to me is how this is going to affect DPS on movement heavy fights. If it’s that high of a proc rate (or higher), on something like World in Flames, it may be better DPS to sit in fox and spam steady even at cap focus if the set bonus is off GCD, then just Arcane the last 2-3 GCDs of World in Flames. I’m not sure Arcane Shot is worth using over steady early in a WiF where you can’t even make good use of the haste buff. […] It will definitely be worth at least tracking the ICD, and using Arcane Shot assuming it’s off ICD and you are not hasted from some other source.

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9/28/11

Shot Cast Times Shorter on the PTR

In the Marksmanship thread, Kerchoff  noted that “on the PTR the tooltips for Steady and Cobra Shot now list a 1.5s cast time and 2.4s for Aimed, where as live they are 2s and 2.9s. I tested the shots without any gear other than a bow with no stats, and there does seem to be an actual reduction in cast time.”

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9/26/11

Effects of Latency Part II

In the Best Possible DPS thread, Eurytos replied to Neith’s previous post concerning the adverse effects of latency on the best possible dps templates:

If your latency [is] around 300ms then go into your Interface > Combat settings in WoW and change “Custom Lag Tolerance” to around 400ms. This will largely negate most adverse effects of latency as far as your rotation goes.

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9/26/11

The ‘Save Focus for’ Option

In the Best Possible DPS thread, Shnuggles had a question regarding the “Save Focus for” option in Rivkah’s DPS Analyzer:

My current curiosity is the “Save Focus For: (Explosive, CS, KC)” drop down menu under shot prioritiy. In my current gear, with the same priority, saving focus for nothing (not selected) is a 2189 dps loss, whereas in the test profile, it’s a 586 dps GAIN. Is this all as a direct function of my current setup being on the lower end of haste? I’m just looking to understand the mechanic a bit more soundly before I take on any major changes.

Rivkah replied:

The “save focus for” option basically exists to get around the fact that the simulation can’t accurately predict your future focus regen (since it can vary based on what shots you use as well as other factors). By enabling it, it makes sure that you don’t use focus consuming shots unless you have enough spare afterwards that you’ll be able to use your key shot when you need it.

Since this feature doesn’t fully reflect how we make quick judgements on shot usage, the effectiveness of it will vary depending on the scenario. Sometimes using the feature will lead to you wasting focus because you end up overpooling when you would have normally regenned enough focus in time to use your good shot. Sometimes turning off the save focus will lead to you delaying your special shots. So you really just have to look and see what the effect is in your case (you can turn on the debug option to see how your shots are actually affected by your settings).

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9/23/11

Shot Priority

In the Best Possible DPS thread, Dafft said that if the shot priority for the MM (Aimed) template is changed to Chimera Shot > Kill Shot > Rapid Fire > Readiness > Serpent Sting > Aimed Shot > Steady Shot it will increase the combined DPS to 40670.13, an increase of 130.32 DPS.

Ðaddy replied, “The same is true for survival. Moving RF down to a lower priority than SpS and BA will increase the DPS slightly […]. This means Warper’s template will end up at 36066.96 DPS.

Eurytos said:

Updated OP with the rotation changes. It’s kind of odd actually. It causes RF to be used at the end of the Chimera GCD instead of the beginning of it even though it’s off CD at the start. Possibly an unintended but positive behavior.

Kushana replied: “My Survival DPS of 36202 (post 26) is still better than Daddy’s. However, it does not respond well to his fix, losing 250dps in the process.”

Ðaddy said: “True, interestingly enough giving Serpent Sting a higher prio than RF will yield the same result but when you give Black Arrow a higher prio than RF it’s a DPS loss. Not that any of this matters but still.”

Eurytos replied:

I updated the OP with your setup. That being said, it is loaded with inefficiencies so I know it can be improved upon. Right off the bat I can see that you’re 4 over the hit cap, using Bloodlust at 50%, using crit+hit shoulders, and have +20 Agi/+20 Hit gem in your belt for only a +10 Agi socket bonus. All of these can be tweaked to gain more DPS, I just don’t have the time to work on it at the moment.

Kushana added, “I fixed a couple of things you indicated (belt gem and over hit cap), and got it up to 36,214.06.”

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9/27/11

Unexpected Results with the Glyph of Arcane Shot

In the Hunter DPS Analyzer thread, ankah noted an unexpected result when using the Glyph of Arcane Shot:

Playing around it today, as a MM, if you remove Arcane shot from the rotation, but add the Arcane Glyph over Aimed results in a dps loss, when I would imagine it would be a draw. I looked into the auto shot damage totals and while the frequency, total shots, non crit average and crit average remains the same, the DPS drops.

Another strange thing is if you drop termination to 1 and place a point into resistance is futile, its a dps gain, despite zero instances of kill command as per the shot rotation.

I just wanted to point it out. It is all very minor difference (between the two issues, is 2.11 dps ) but it could be hiding something larger.

Rivkah replied:

Without a setting link I can only speculate, but both cases you mention involve an ability which affects your focus gains (the aimed shot glyph will regen focus on crits, and termination gives you extra focus from your steadies late in the fight). Usually what causes this is that the extra focus is actually shifting your shot counts in such a way that it produces a slightly inferior damage total. If you take the 2 settings side by side and look at the shot counts, you’ll probably be able to spot exactly what’s happening (and you can turn on debug data to see the simulated rotation).

Unfortunately the simulation can only follow simple rules to determine what to fire and in some cases those rules aren’t fully descriptive of how we would actually make shooting decisions, so sometimes the extra focus can create this problem. It’s not related to the arcane shot glyph or resistance is futile, it’s just that removing the aimed shot glyph or termination talent is removing the extra focus and changing the behavior of the shots.

Ankah posted links to the setups:

Zeherah’s Hunter DPS Analyzer with aimed glyph
Zeherah’s Hunter DPS Analyzer with arcane.

I took a peek at the number of shots, and it seems the same. So are the haste numbers. I initially thought there might have been less auto shots, but it does not seem to be the case. So what you are saying, for example, is that because I have more focus from time to time, I may push an aimed earlier, and there for move an auto shot back, for example, and that would possibly be simulated in a lower dps output?

Rivkah studied the setups and concluded that the case was unusual:

I looked at them closely and I see what’s going on now- it’s a bit of a weird case. Your shots are identical until almost the end of the fight, then the order of a few of them switches up slightly (at 283.634). This is because you’re casting an extra steady shot for focus gain which is causing a free aimed shot to proc earlier than it does in the aimed shot case. You get the same number of shots, but the change in the order causes your Sic’Em proc to occur slightly earlier in the arcane glyph case. This is causing one of your bites to be in wild hunt range that isn’t in the aimed shot glyph case, and that’s causing the dps discrepancy (if you look the hunter dps is exactly the same, only the pet dps is different).

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9/29/11

New PTR Items and T13 Bonuses

In the Hunter DPS Analyzer thread, Rivkah announced that new items from the PTR had been imported and that the T13 set bonuses had been enabled:

I’ve imported a bunch of new PTR items into the site now for folks to play around with. I’ve also enabled the T13 bonuses so folks can play around with those (you have to equip the Wrymstalker set gear to trigger them, I assume those are the set pieces). For now the 2pc bonus is modeled as not affecting termination. The 4pc bonus is currently modeled as a 40% proc chance with a 45 sec ICD. I have no idea if this is correct, but I did receive some reports of it being a 40% proc chance, and since I can’t imagine that they’d do that without an ICD, I guessed at 45 seconds. When we know more I’ll update it.

I included the new trinkets but made guesses as to proc rates/ICDs based on similar in game trinkets.

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9/26/11

Teron Gorefiend, Gurtogg Bloodboil, Reliquary of the Lost, and Mother Shahraz in Black Temple

In the Soloing Old Instances for Fun and Profit thread, Celestianna announced soloing Teron GorefiendGurtogg Bloodboil, Reliquary of the Lost, and Mother Shahraz in the Black Temple raid instance.

From the bosses on Durendil’s list, I killed Reliquary, Teron (world firsts?), Gurtog and Mother.

Teron Gorefiend

Did as BM with spirit beast (and does not seem to be possible without). He has a 10 min enrage timer. 9 minutes you spend lying in FD, 10th minute you do damage.Since FD has 6 minute duration, you will need to let your pet die. If you do the logical thing – attempt to reset the boss like Jider did with Patchwerk, Teron will get stuck on 1 HP and refuse to die. Because of this, you cannot allow the boss to reset and you cannot allow him the 2-3 seconds he needs to start casting Shadow of Death on you. Therefore, you need to get up and shoot him just as he finishes your pet, resurrect the pet, and continue. It is possible that you will be able to reset without the bug I experienced. Doing so will make the boss much easier.The actual hard part is making the enrage timer. With my ~375 gear, I had to use all consumables, 2 potions, and I still had around 1 second on my Shadow of Death when Teron was killed. Screenshot

Gurtogg Bloodboil

Did as MM. With my ~180k HP it was very easy, but you may have trouble if you have a lot less. The only real “tactic” here is to FD and do as much damage as possible during Fel Rage. I did it with 1 pet, you may need to switch pets (again, if you have much less HP).

Reliquary of the Lost

Did as MM. Grab as much stamina gear as you can. Prismatic Elixir is highly recommended (though I did without). For me the fight lasted 29 minutes, during which the 2nd phase boss did around 7 million damage. The tactic for phase 2 is simple, use all tools you have to survive, dispel the shield, interrupt and of course heal yourself and pet. Phase 1, simply FD, wait until pet is almost dead, dismiss, re-summon, repeat. Phase 3 is face-roll. Screenshot

Mother Shahraz

Again MM. Very simple, but potentially also very deadly due to fall damage. The “hanging wall” we used on 70 to avoid it seems to not work, but disengage of course does.

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9/26/11

Lord Jaraxxus, the Twin Val’kyr, and Anub’arak in Trial of the Crusader

In the Soloing Old Instances for Fun and Profit thread, Goldschakal stated that Lord Jaraxxus, the Twin Val’kyr, and Anub’arak in the Trial of the Crusader raid instance had been soloed.

Lord Jaraxxus

Interrupt his Fel Fireball when he has Nether Power active. You can ignore Incinerate Flesh. First, he will summon a Mistress of Pain. Misdirect her to your pet and kill her as fast as possible. Otherwise she will cast Spinning Pain Spike and you will take 50% from your health as damage. As second he will summon Felflame Infernal x3. Simple misdirect them to your pet and kill them. Prismatic Elixir helps alot.

See a screenshot of the Lord Jaraxxus kill.

The Twin Val’kyr

Really easy. Just don’t over-aggro. You can ignore the rest.

See a screenshot of the Twin Val’kyr kill.

Anub’arak

Use Feign Death to de-spawn Nerubian Burrower. When he is Submerged, kite him. Don’t let Swarm Scarabs attack you or your pet. At around 40% I stopped doing damage and let [myself] drop to around 40% hit points to decrease his healing in p2. When the boss was around 10% hit points I had to use a health pot. Don’t use Aspect of the [Wild]. You only take damage from Penetrating Cold. Again Prismatic Elixir helps a lot.

See a screenshot of the Anub’arak kill.

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A full index of all Elitist Jerks posts recapped at the Wow Hunter’s Hall is maintained in the Index of Elitist Jerks Hunter Forum Posts.

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