Saturday, May 3, 2008

Yes, I am a warlock

A question was asked of me recently why most of my posts seem "warlock centric". I play a warlock in a Tier 5-6 raiding guild. That means the majority of my interest is in that area. If you'd like to see specific analysis on any particular class, spec, gear, etc, feel free to drop a comment and I'll pull the numbers on it out.

Friday, May 2, 2008

Warlock Raid Curse assignments

an analysis of Curse use in a raid:

Curse of Doom
- at 1000 spelldamage, this does roughly 10K damage or 250-300 DPS. With Amplify curse, this is the single most potent attack a warlock has, and INCREDIBLY mana efficient. If amplify cooldown is up and at least a minute left on the boss, ALL warlocks in the raid should be casting amplify curse of doom, as this is the highest DPS curse we have. Without amplify it is strong, but may not outweigh shadows/elements/etc.
Curse of Agony- Roughly 1/4 to 1/3 of an affliction warlocks DPS. This is the default curse any affliction lock should be using when amplify is not available for an amplified curse of doom.
Curse of shadows- 10-13% buff for all shadow users. Since this means losing curse of agony, it means about a 20% drop in DPS for the warlock using it. This is only worthwhile for affliction if there are at LEAST 4 shadow users in the raid (warlocks & shadowpriests combined). Anytime there are at least 4 total warlocks+Shadowpriests, 1 warlock should have this curse up.
As a side note, curse of agony is only worth 9% of a destro lock's damage. (an optimized destro warlock will not be using it) That means that it is ALWAYS worth it for a destro lock to cast this even without malediction. Destro locks should use Curse of shadow on any bossfight, but not trashpulls. For more information on whether or not to use talented or untalented, see my previous post: http://theorycrafter.blogspot.com/2007/12/malediction.html
Curse of Elements As with Curse of shadows, only it doesnt benefit the caster, which means you need 4 fire users (fire mages usually) for this to be worth losing your curse of agony in terms of overall raid DPS.
as before, please note that a destro lock won't normally be using curses as part of his spell rotation, so it is only a minimal DPS loss for them to cast it, and easily worth it to overall raid DPS.
Curse of tongues- Most bosses are immune, so this is rarely an issue. For the few who can be, this is critical as it helps the interrupts hit correctly. The warlock to use it should EITHER be the lowest DPS warlock (least damage sacrificed) or a destro lock (he's not losing a curse, he wasnt using one)
Curse of Weakness- Reduces attack power by 350 (29 DPS). After tank mitigation this is barely 10DPS reduction on the boss' damage. Normally this amount is small enough to not justify the loss of over 150 DPS.
Curse of Recklessness- While this reduces armor by 800, the 125 increased AP on the boss can be bad idea. Should be used to turn off badly timed fears. Most guilds would agree that the armor pen is worth the increased AP, but be sure to check with your raid/tank leader before using this curse

In summary,
  • affliction locks should be rotating Amp doom/agony when amp is down.
  • if there are 10 total shadow/arcane, 1 malediction lock should have curse of shadows
  • if there are 10 total fire/frost users, 1 malediction lock should have curse of elements
  • Destro locks should pick elements or shadow and cast it
  • If the tank is geared enough that the additional attack power will not get them killed, a 3rd destro lock may cast recklessness
  • No other curses should be used unless specific boss requires it (curse of tongues for interrupts, etc)

Friday, April 11, 2008

Fire Destro vs Shadow Destro

I'm not even going to pull numbers, or show proofs for this one. There are plenty of sites that show shadow usually beats out fire, and a few that show fire can keep up if you have mages.
The critical difference, is raid utility:
Shadow destro = ISB (improved Shadow bolt), a debuff causing 20% additional shadow damage to be done. Fire provides no such DPS boost to the raid. Shadow destro will cause affliction warlocks and shadowpriests' dots to do 20% more. Even if your fire destro lock can keep up in damage, there should be no question which is more raid viable. What is good for the raid, is good for the raider. Downing bosses > winning damage meters.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Warlock Trinket Optimization

Found a website that lists exactly which trinkets do the most for which spec (for the most common raiding specs) for warlocks. Thought it might be helpful:

http://wiki.shadowpriest.com/index.php?title=SimulationCraft/Trinkets/Warlock

This website shows the optimization for warlocks for all trinkets. everything from Karazan and Tier 4 all the way through Tier 6 trinkets. It converts Trinket procs into actual DPS adjustments.

Trinkets+ Rankings for warlock_0_21_40

+damage Trinket / Proc / Effect
106.3 Skull of Guldan (below 14% +hit)
86.0 Hex Shrunken Head
85.0 Mark of the Champion (vs Undead/Demon)
77.1 Darkmoon Crusade
75.3 Eye of Magtheridon (exactly 12% +hit)
75.1 Skull of Guldan (above 16% +hit)
74.7 Tier 6 4-Piece Set Bonus
69.6 Eye of Magtheridon (exactly 14% +hit)
64.0 Scryers Bloodgem (below 13.4% +hit)
63.2 Icon of the Silver Crescent
62.4 Neltharions Tear (below 14.7% +hit)
61.1 Quagmirrans Eye
60.1 Ashtongue Talisman
59.0 Essence of Sapphiron
56.8 Eye of Magtheridon (above 16% +hit)
56.7 Starkillers Bauble (below 14% +hit)
56.6 Arcanist Stone (below 14% +hit)
49.3 Band of the Eternal Sage (10sec proc, 35sec silent cooldown)
48.0 Rune of the Dawn (vs Undead)
46.2 Sextant of Unstable Currents
42.7 Ancient Crystal Talisman
40.6 Lightning Capacitor
39.8 Neltharions Tear (above 16% +hit)
38.9 Darkmoon Wrath
37.7 Glowing Crystal Insignia
36.5 Shiffars Nexus Horn
36.3 Terrokar Tablet of Vim (below 14.3% +hit)
35.5 Chaotic Skyfire Diamond (12 crit rating, 3% bigger crits)
35.4 Xiris Gift
32.4 Tier 5 4-Piece Set Bonus
32.3 Tier 4 4-Piece Set Bonus
32.0 Mark of Defiance
31.5 Vengeance of the Illidari
30.8 Arcanist Stone (above 16% +hit)
29.0 Briarwood Reed
26.5 Talisman of Ephemeral Power
25.7 Zandalarian Hero Charm
23.7 Scryers Bloodgem (above 16% +hit)
22.0 Tier 4 2-Piece Set Bonus
18.6 Spellstrike Set Bonus
18.6 Mystical Skyfire Diamond (consumed by channeled spells, 45sec cooldown)
17.5 Starkillers Bauble (above 16% +hit)
15.7 Talisman of Ascendance
11.8 Terrokar Tablet of Vim (above 16% +hit)
9.0 Bracing Earthstorm Diamond
0.0 Tier 6 2-Piece Set Bonus
0.0 Tier 5 2-Piece Set Bonus
-11.1 16% +hit reduced to 15% +hit
-36.2 16% +hit reduced to 14% +hit
-51.5 16% +hit reduced to 13% +hit
-67.8 16% +hit reduced to 12% +hit
  • Quagmirrans Eye goes up in value depending on your haste, but at certain intervals.
      -The first is at ~79 haste with 0 cast delay. The value it goes up for me was ~4 so value of          
65.1.
-The second is at 139 haste w/ a bloodlust. This made the value go up ~8 from the initial value,
but only during bloodlusted proc, to 69.1. If you are not bloodlusted, the value remains at 65.1.
So w/ proper haste it can be worth more than Icon of the Silver Crescent.

Please note all credit for these numbers and compiling them goes to the folks
at the link

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Away for a time

As i get heavily involved in school I will have a few fewer posts for a time. Bear with me

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

even more new stuff

Added the following during server downtime:
FuBar_AssistFu- Main assist targetting functionsFubar_emotefu2- No clue what it does, I'll find out
Fubar_performancefu- Tracks system performance
Fubar_Usage - Gives addon usage details
Fubar_Whisperfu- keeps track of whispers
Jumpcounter- displays the number of times you have jumped
Killingspree- Counts consecutive kills
Killingspree_UT2K4Female voice pack- errr, your a moron if you have to ask
LittleBlackBook- automatically discover's people's alts and logs them
MementoMori- Automatically takes screenshots when bosses die
PingPong- tells you who pinged the minimap
Prat- Chat stuff
Ratkiller- Tracks number of rats you've killed
RPhelper2- Automatically Roleplays
Gladiator- Provides info in arena
Talentshow 1.0- displays talents
Tattle- Displays armory dataTattle LFM- puts tattle data into LFG

Quick update

For what it's worth, Tip buddy doesn't play nice with pitbull

Sunday, January 6, 2008

addons

I am a modding addict, and probably run more mods than is healthy. I will list below all the mods I have installed, and what they do:


ActionButtonColors- Reds Out of range skills, Blues OOM skills
Aloft- Customizes Nameplates of mobs
Alphamap- Semitransparent map alternative
Altinvite- lets you alt click a name to groupinvite
Aecheologist- Unitframes used by other programs
Arena Calculator- lets me see current rating in points, points per week, etc
Ash_communication - used by DoTimer
Ash_communication- DoTimer bars
Ash_core- used by Dotimer
Ash_Dotimer- privides bar timers for cooldowns/dot durations
Ash_notifications- used by Dotimer
Ash_PlayerAuras - Dotimer for buffs
Ash_prominence- prioritizes Dotimer bars
Atlas- Instance map browser
Atlas[Battlegrounds]- Atlas modular plugin
Atlas[Dungeon locs]-Atlas modular plugin
Atlas[Entrances]- Atlas modular plugin
Atlas[Flight Paths]- Atlas modular plugin
Atlas[Outdoor Raids]- Atlas modular plugin
Atlasloot Enhanced- Loot browser for instances, PvP rewards, etc
AtlasLoot_BCInstances- AtlasLoot Modular Plugin
AtlasLoot_OldInstances- AtlasLoot Modular Plugin
AtlasLoot_RepFactions- AtlasLoot Modular Plugin
AtlasLoot_SetsAndPVP- AtlasLoot Modular Plugin
AtlasLoot_WorldLoot- AtlasLoot Modular Plugin
Auc-Advanced (Core) - Auctioneer modular plugin
Auc:Filter:Basic- Auctioneer modular plugin
Auc:ScanData- Auctioneer modular plugin
Auc:stat:purchased stats- Auctioneer modular plugin
Auc:stat:simple- Auctioneer modular plugin
Auc:Stat:std deviation- Auctioneer modular plugin
Auctioneer- Ultimate Auctionhouse tool
Autoprofit V4.5- vendors grey stuff
ArcaneBar- Adds casting bar to playerframe
Bartender3 - Button manager. Replacing the spell buttons in game
BeanCounter- - Auctioneer modular plugin
Better Item Count - displays #s for items in stacks of over 99/999
BigBrother- tells me who broke CC(sheep/etc) and who is not flasked/fooded/etc
Bigwigs - Tons of boss info, timers, counters, warnings, etc
Bigwigs [Zul'Gurub] - Old world stuff isnt included in bigwigs. Had to manually add
BonusScanner- adds cumulative item bonuses to item tooltips
Bottom Scanner- - Auctioneer modular plugin
Cartographer- Lets your maps do SO much more
Cartographer [cleanup] - removes duplicate notes
Cartographer_fishing- adds fishing nodes to map
Cartographer_treasure- Adds treasurespawn points to map
Cast Time- adds text timer to casting bars
CensusPlus- takes an hour to get the name/guild/level of everyone on server, then let you sort/search. Nice mod, but memory HOG.
cgprofiler- Sends info to curse.com, and lets you profile other users
Characters Viwer 2.88- lets you check inventory/bank of any of your characters from anywhere
ChatEdit- lets you highlight/copy/paste to chat window
ChatScroll- lets you scroll chat with mousewheel
ChatTimeStamps- Adds timestamp to chat window
Chronos- Lets addons find out time and schedule things
Clock- Changes in game sun to a clock
CombatStats - Shows combat numbers extended. not all that useful.
ConsisTint- Channel colors saved by name
Critline 4.3- displays each time you crit, and what your all time records were for both crits and non-crits
CT_buffmod - CT_RaidAssist modular plugin
CT_Core - CT_Raid has a boatton of features for raiding. Too many to list. Some overlap between CT_Raid, DBM, and Bigwigs.
CT_MailMod- CT_RaidAssist modular plugin
CT_Mapmod- CT_RaidAssist modular plugin
CT_raBossmods- CT_RaidAssist modular plugin
CT_Timer- CT_RaidAssist modular plugin
CT_Unitframes- CT_RaidAssist modular plugin
CT_Viewport- CT_RaidAssist modular plugin
DebuffCount- shows a number over me for how many debuffs are on a mob. Remember the 40 debuff cap...
DetachedMiniButtons- removes the mapbuttons from the map and lets you move them anywhere! Requires some Customizeing work by you, i recommend for advanced users.
DurabilityStatus- gives me a tiny box with my durability on items as % and total repaircost
Earth- library used by other addons
EasyMail- lets me open 100s of mail at a time
eePanels2- lets me customize my UI. Purely cosmetic
Enchantrix- Auctioneer plugin to do a LOT with enchanting, numbers on values, etc.
EnchantrixBarker- used by enchantrix
EnhancedLFG- Lets me see spec on some people in the LFG channel
EnhTooltip- helps other addons play nice when changing tooltips
EquipCompare- anytime i check an item, it shows what i have equipped next to it
Equipment Evaluator- Calculate total stat gains/losses from items
Examiner- advanced tools when inspecting other players
FeatureFrame- no idea what it does, but needed for 3 other addons i have
Fire- Helps evaluate bugs
FireTree- XML library
FishingBuddy- Fishing trade helper.
FishingBuddy outfit frame- lets you make a fishing outfit
Fishingbuddy Tracking Frame - Tracks fishing catches
Fishingbuddy Merge Databases - Lets fishing buddy track fish cross-character
FluidFrames- lets you resize/move almost anything
FreeBagSlots- displays total # of empty bag slots
FriendsFacts- lets you store notes about other players
Fubar- addonspamfu- tracks memory usage of addons and their bandwidth use
fubar- Charmsfu- gives me raidicons to 1click a raidicon on mobs
Fubar - CTraidfu- move CT_raid to fubar instead of minimap
Fubar- fishinbuddyfu - move fishingbuddy to fubar instead of minimap
fubar- omenfu- move omen options to fubar instead of minimap
fubar- recountfu- move recount options to fubar instead of minimap
fubar - RLAassistfu- few options for use in raids on your fubar
fubar - SWSTATSfu- move swstats button to fubar instead of minimap
fubar - xperlfu - move xperl options to your fubar instead of minimap
fubar2.0 ace2 - lets ace2 use fubar stuff
fubar 3.0 A panel that other mods can plug into
gemcount- adds a gem counter to your character view screen, by color
Improved Error Frame- More info on errors, trackable
Informant- displays auctioneer data in tooltips
Khaos- HUGE addon package and helps sort/manage addons. Name of the Cosmos addon package
Lib:Ace2 - used by LOTS of addons. tool library
Lib:Chatthrottlelib- keeps addons from fighting for bandwidth
Lib:FubarPlugin-2.0 used by fubar
Localization- lets you used other languages, and their addons
manufac - ace2 - Makes your tradeskills a dropdown menu instead of a screen. has tools too
Mapnotes- lets you add notes to worldmap
Mcom- tools for making new addons
Metahud- a HeadsUpDisplay in screen center to let you see additional information on you/mobs health/mana/etc
MetaHudOptions- used by metahud
Minigames- TictacToe, othello, connect4, and more. Ingame
Minimap Zoom- lets you zoom minimap with mousewheel
MobHealth3- Estimats mobs healths, so you get #, not just a %
Mobile Minimap Buttons - Lets you move minimap buttons around the minimap to any location. Detached minimap is better, but this is still useful
MobInfo - adds tooltips on mob health/mana
Monitor Status- Shows additional situational information for fights
MyAddons- an addon manager
Notepad- exactly what it sounds like
Notes'U'Need- tracks friend notes cross character
Notes'U'Need backup- used by notesuneed
Ogri'lazy- makes the apexis crystal simon game easy
omen- Tracks your current threat. Superb addon
Opium- Tracks kills for PVP stuff
PartyQuests- lets me see how party members are coming on quests
PartyCastingBars- Adds party member casting bars to their unit frames
PopBar- configurable action bars
Proximo- shows name/health of enemies during arena matches
Quartz ace2- Ultimate casting bar. Helps determine latency, etc
Questlog Level Patch - adds level of quests to quests
Ratingbuster ace2- Item stats breakdown, analysis, and comparison
ReagentHelper- tells you in tooltip what profession uses it
Recount- HIGHLY informing damage meter
ReloadUI- makes reloading UI easier/faster
ReURL- Click URLs to paste them in editbox
RPGO CharacterProfiler- exports toon data to a few websites
Satelite- Tool to add slash commands
Scrolling Combat Text (aka SCT) - lets combat info scroll over you same way damage scrolls over mobs
Scrub- ElitistJerks analysis of anyone's spec, and things that are BAD(in red) or might be good/not depending on gearetc in yellow
SCT Options- Scrolling Combat Text Options
Sea- used by other addons, a library
Social Mods - makes it easier to send messages/pages to people
Solarian Alarm- prevents you from fucking up solarian. mostly
Stubby- library used by other addons
SW fixlogstrings- SWstats modular plugin
SW_Stats - Damage meter than synchronizes with other's to be more accurate in raids
Sw_Stats_profiles- exports SWstats info
SW_Unilog- exports swstats info
Swatter- Helps Debug addons
TasteTheNamebow- color coordinates names to make it easy to follow chat
Telepathy- interprets some languages in game
Telepathy Versions- helps telepathy
Telltrack - keeps separate track of all tells, and lets you browse them
Theorycraft 2 - Translates stats (1 str = 2 ap on warr. so item with 8 str = 16 str, etc)
Thottbot- sends info to thottbot to update their database
Tipbuddy- Helps adjust tooltips
Tooltips: Complete- Customizes tooltip prioritization
TradeJunkie V2.15.2 - Shows which tradeskill recipes you are missing and where to get them
UIPanel Options- Makes roll frame stacking easier
Wardrobe- AL - keeps track of outfits for quickswitches
Weapon Quickswap - quickswitch weapons during combat
Wearme- assists wardrobe
World Map Info- Adds player and cursor coordinates to worldmap
Xperl-customizes player, pet, target, focus, and party frames.
X-perl arcane bars- X-perl Grim Reaper- Helps diagnose what killed you
X-perl Options - options for Xperl
Xperl Party - Xperl Modular Plugin
Xperl Pet - Xperl Modular Plugin
Xperl playerbuffs - Xperl Modular Plugin
Xperl Player - Xperl Modular Plugin
Xperl Raid admin - Xperl Modular Plugin
Xperl Raid Helper - Xperl Modular Plugin
Xperl Raid pets - Xperl Modular Plugin
Xperl Raidframes - Xperl Modular Plugin
Xperl Target by - Xperl Modular Plugin
Xperl Tutorial - Xperl Modular Plugin
Xperl Unitframes core - Xperl Modular Plugin
Xloot- Changes builtin lootframe
XraidStatus- Small configurable window with raid status
DeadlyBossmods- (aka DBM) Helps with Timers, warnings, etc on bosses
Deadly Battleground mods - DBM modular plugin
Deadly Black Temple Bossmods- DBM modular plugin
Deadly boss mod api- DBM modular plugin
Deadly boss mod gui- DBM modular plugin
Deadly hyjal boss mod- DBM modular plugin
Deadly Karazhan boss mod- DBM modular plugin
Deadly serpentshrine cavern boss mod- DBM modular plugin
Deadly the eye boss mod- DBM modular plugin
Deadly Zul Aman Boss mod- DBM modular plugin
Misc Deadly boss mods- DBM modular plugin

ReceiptBox - Standalone program that lets me view my Auctioneer data offline, daily profits, who buys what, etc.

Installed but turned off:
BetterKeyBinding- A replacement interface for keybinding
CombatrCaller- tells nearby players when you OOM or low health
CT_ExpenseHistory- tracks spending. Came with CT_raid, i dont like it
CT_ Barmod- generic barmod. Not that great. Came with CT_raid
CT_BottomBar- part of CT Barmod
DamageMeters- Comes with the Cosmos pack, worst of the many damage meters out there. Also the most common. This is the one that often duplicates people.
groupcalendar- helps plan raids. our guild doesnt use it tho
guild event manager v2- helps plan raids. our guild doesnt use it though.
Gymnast- tooltip mod. I replaced it
Necrosis- Superb warlock addon. Used it for ages. Finally replaced it, but highly recommend for any lock.
Recap- a damage meter comparable to Recount.
Titanpanel- I had BUNCHES of titanpanel stuff, i decided i like fubar better and they don't play nice with each other. I had titan panel ammo, bag, clock, coords, fishing buddy, item bonuses, loottype, money, performance, regen, repair, rider, stancesets, and xp plugins.
Tinity- core mod for trinity bars
Trinity Bars- Highly customizible barmod comparable to bartender. I eventually went with bartender because it lets you resize buttons. Trinity has better keybind support though.