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.
- Mists of Pandaria
- MoP: Stats
- Rivkah’s (Zeherah’s) Hunter DPS Analyzer at FemaleDwarf
- FD: Comments and Questions
- Vial of Shadows 3/4/12
- Soloing Old Instances for Fun and Profit
- Wrath of the Lich King
Crit, Expertise, Hit, and Spell Resist 3/2/12 3/2/12
In the Mists of Pandaria thread, Adarant wrote, “According to Ghostcrawler’s most recent blog (Dev Watercooler – Mists of Pandaria Stat Changes – World of Warcraft) Hunters will be required to cap both Hit and Expertise in Mists. This is a significant change to our mechanics, as we currently benefit from a reduced requirement in capped stats.
At 85, all spell casters require 1742 Hit while melee requires 961 Hit and 781 Expertise, total 1742 capped stats. Hunters need only reach 961 Hit for the Hit cap, and our pets are automatically Expertise capped.
As somebody that has only played Hunters and Healers, I’m not entirely sure how the Expertise mechanics function. But, my gut feeling is that this is being done more to put Hunters in the same boat as everybody else than to make gear sharing easier. While I want to think that reforging will become more complicated with this change, it will still probably boil down to using a reforging website. Come to think of it, reforging and the related websites are the reason why capped stats seem particularly cumbersome and uninteresting. I suppose that they are remaining for Mists in part to provide a throttle damage output.
Another point about this change, which I saw first on WHU, was that this change might impact Hunter soloing. Due to current mechanics, our pets are never able to be dodged or parried when we are at 961 Hit. If pets inherit just our Expertise, then the changes will push dodges off of the combat table, but still leave our pet attacks prone to parries. This reduces their damage output and threat generation. That said, I find it quite hard to speculate about anything pet related until we get more news about how pets will be handled in Mists.
Other Information
All abilities will start with 2.0x modifier for critical strikes, Serpent Sting, Black Arrow, and all other abilities still on the 1.5x modifier will receive a slight buff. Additionally, it seems likely that Aspect of the Wild will be removed (perhaps replaced) because spell resists and spell penetration are being removed from the game. The spell pen change is sure to have positive PvP implications, as it means traps will no longer be able to be resisted.
Daimonie replied, “I doubt pet damage output, or hunter damage output, is affected by the change. The reason they’re adding it is, that with smaller item pools per raid tier, we get in some awkward positions. Since we, hunters, are in the pool with Enhancement shamans, who need expertise, that would make it easier. Exp/Crit boots would be somewhat decent for the shaman, while it’d be good for the hunter; and so forth.
Tracer replied, “From what Ghostcrawler said, the Expertise mechanics are going to be changing enough that any current experience with Expertise won’t be very valuable anyway.
Here’s what I take away from Ghostcrawler’s message:
- Ranged attacks will presumably have the same chances to miss and be dodged as melee attacks.
- Against boss-level targets, your base chance to (melee/ranged) miss will be 7.5%, and your base chance to be dodged will also be 7.5%. (Your base chance to be blocked will be 7.5% too, but we assume we’ll usually be attacking bosses from behind where they can’t block.)
- Just like today, it will take X amount of Hit Rating to completely negate your chance to miss.
- It will take the same X amount of Expertise Rating to completely negate your chance to be blocked.
- Finally, spell miss. I’m guessing there might be some Hunter abilities (arcane shot? serpent sting ticks? flame traps?) that use the target’s Spell Miss chance instead of its Melee Miss chance. Your base chance to miss with spells against a raid boss will be 15%. The good news is, Hit Rating reduces your Spell Miss chance, and Expertise will also reduce your Spell Miss chance. Thus, if you have X Hit Rating and X Expertise Rating, your melee/ranged miss chance will be 0, your chance to be dodged will be 0, and your Spell Miss chance will likewise be 0.
Basically, instead of just worrying about keeping your Hit Rating knife-edged balanced at X, you’ll have to worry about keeping BOTH your Hit Rating AND your Expertise Rating knife-edged balanced at X. (Melee DPSers already do this all the time, so it’s not too hard.)
In the Hunter DPS Analyzer thread, Goldengiff wrote, “Was taking a look at Vial of Shadows on FD and the proc is still listed for the pre-patch damage. Wondering if it’s been updated.
Rivkah replied, “I don’t actually have the trinket so I can’t test it myself, and I’ve not had much luck finding the updated data on it (i.e. the new ICD and if the AP scaling has changed). If you know what it is I can update. Since they had said they were trying to keep the total damage the same but just changing the frequency of proc I’m assuming the current calculations aren’t far off, but obviously it’d be better to update it if I can get those values.
Anub’arak Heroic (10) and Twin Val’kyr Heroic (10) Soloed 3/5/12
In the Soloing Old Instances for Fun and Profit thread, Durendil announced, “Twin Val’kyr and Anub’arak heroic were solo’d, guide at: Durendil : Hunter soloing: Twin Val’kyrs and Anub’arak Heroic solo’d”
Jaraxxus still has the nasty habit of casting incinerate flesh just when you want to dps a nether portal or a shivarra.
In the Soloing Old Instances for Fun and Profit thread, Caribald wrote, “Gluth 25 down… although rather illegitimately. I managed to stop zombies from spawning (and as a result, no decimates either).
How? I’m not entirely sure, but I basically reset the encounter by dismissing pet and then Feigning. The encounter doesn’t completely reset right away; on the way back to his spawn point, he charged a zombie, and that’s when I stood up and resummoned pet. I then got back in combat before a complete reset happened (or so I believe). It’s basically similar to how you reset Naj’entus or Archavon 25, except I’m not sure if Gluth actually resets hp (he gets full by eating that zombie anyway though, so not like it matters). Then it’s just a tank and spank really, once the -healing debuff gets too high you either wanna overaggro or dismiss -> summon new pet though, as it can’t survive for long enough for the stack to go to 10 and then reset.
Actually, after rewatching it, he did go back to his spawn point completely and chilled there for a bit, but 4 zombies remained for a while. Three of them disappeared, and Gluth charged the last one, and just then I went up. I’m pretty sure it’s possible to do this consistently, because I’ve tried the same thing happening on 10 man when I tried to kill him as Survival. video: World first solo (hunter): Caribald vs Gluth (25 man) – YouTube
Durendil replied, “Actually, it’s the bug I use every time I farm Naxxramas for gold.”
Step 1: aggro Gluth, and damage him. Wait for 3-4 zombies to spawn.
Step 2: dismiss pet and FD
Step 3: wait for his health to reset. Then wait until “Gluth spots a zombie to devour”. Jump up, summon pet, loot.
Ignis the Furnace Master (25)3/8/12
In the Soloing Old Instances for Fun and Profit thread, Durendil wrote, “Had a bit of fun with Ignis 25: managed, with good positioning, to get rid of the 20 iron constructs without being taken in the slag pot! Then I could have soloed him. The funny thing about soloing, is that you discover new things. Like the fact that once the last construct is dead, he enrages (11 minutes).”
Lord Jaraxxus Heroic (10) and Northrend Beasts Heroic (10) Soloed 3/7/12
In the Soloing Old Instances for Fun and Profit thread, Caribald announced, “I wrote a blogpost with in-depth tactic on heroic Jaraxxus: Caribald, the hunter soloist: How to: Solo Lord Jaraxxus (heroic) as a hunter and uploaded heroic Northrend Beasts video: World first hunter solo: Caribald vs Northrend beasts (heroic) – YouTube […]”
XT002 Deconstructor (25) Soloed 3/8/12
In the Soloing Old Instances for Fun and Profit thread, Caribald wrote, “I killed XT-002 Deconstructor on 25 man normal by half-resetting, similar to the Gluth kill, but I didn’t record it. I don’t think I’ll bother recording and uploading next reset, it took 21 minutes, who’d want to watch that? :/
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.
Loading...
