Project Lore

Haste can sometimes be a hard stat to measure. Not being the mathematics whiz that some of my fellow WoW players are, I honestly couldn't tell you the difference between a spell that takes 2 seconds cast and another that takes only 1.9. Sure, I can generally assume that the latter will lead to more damage somewhere down the road, but does that make it worth gearing for as opposed to other stats that might have a more immediate or obvious effect? Like sand through an hourglass, so are the raids of lives... Well, Ghostcrawler and the rest of the Systems team has a plan to make Haste a more marketable stat than it ever has before: allowing it to effect "Heal over Time" and "Damage over Time" spells. According to a recent post on the official forums, this implementation would decrease the time between ticks on an individual cast, allowing the effects to be felt more frequently. For instance, let's say you know there's going to be some consistent damage coming in and a player is at very low health. You cast a HoT in hopes of keeping him alive, but the damage kills him in-between ticks. In this case, Haste might have saved him by ticking sooner than the damage did. Of course, this may present another problem, as GC points out:

"This means more damage or healing per time but also having to refresh those spells more often. Since there is a trade-off, we're not sure the change is a no-brainer, especially in the healing case."

So what's their solution? Instead of forcing the changes on players, toss Haste-increasing effects onto Glyphs, so they can choose whether or not it makes sense for them to make use of it:

"For 3.3 we are talking about introducing three new glyphs for Shadow Word: Pain, Corruption and Rejuvenation that would allow these spells to tick faster with the more haste you have. There are glyphs of Corruption and Rejuv already, and we're not sure how we're going to resolve those yet. For Shadow Word: Pain, we are likely to rename the current glyph to Glyph of Mind Flay, remove the old Glyph of Mind Flay, and increase Mind Flay by 10 yards in the base spell."

It should be noted that these changes are NOT guaranteed! This is just a concept that the team has been tossing around for a little while, and apparently they've stumbled across some new technology that actually allows them to do it. If they come to pass, though, they'll most likely be available for testing in an upcoming build of Patch 3.3 on the PTR. We'll be sure to keep you guys posted, but in the meantime, do you think that allowing Haste to affect HoTs and DoTs would help or hurt your performance in-game? Perhaps it should only be applied to damage-boosting glyphs so that the stakes are lower for healers?

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I'm always on the look out for new tools to use to keep track of trends in WoW. And it looks like a favorite of mine, what used to be called TalentChic, recently updated to allow users to find the most popular gear, enchants and gems, depending on a number of filters. I wrote a post a while back about how to use the same site to find talent builds and appropriate glyphs for those filters, so I'll skip over that information this time around. Now, the site is renamed WoW Popular, and has several other useful tools. Here's a refresher on how it works:

"To find the most popular talent builds, the (WoW Popular) system scans both the US and EU WoW armory sites to find the talent points, glyphs, gear, enchants, and gems chosen by characters. It then sorts those according class, spec and playstyle and collates the results."

Now I'm sure this is a debatable point, but the site asserts that the results of this search show the most accessible gear for a class.

"Because there are a limited number of choices, the collective mind of all players usually migrates to the best, most accessible option for players. What’s ‘best’ (top tier raid gear, or top arena gear) is not attainable for most players so it is usually shown a little further down the list."

Time for a little fun. Let's test out the system by taking a look at the most popular gear items among players of ALL classes. Here's the top 5, as of my writing this post!

1. Sundial of the Exiled
2. Band of Channeled Magic
3. Ward of the Violet Citadel
4. Tabard of the Kirin Tor (I guess we have a lot of raiders looking for Kirin Tor rep rewards out there!)
5. Shroud of Luminosity

Now, how about a look at the most popular main-hand weapon, again among all classes:

1. Hammer of the Astral Plane
2. The Turning Tide
3. Wraith Strike
4. Torch of Holy Fire
5. The Impossible Dream

Let's narrow it down a bit - Now a look at the most popular main-hand weapon for a fury-specced warrior:

1. The Jawbone
2. Betrayer of Humanity (I'm envious of that DPS)
3. Titansteel Destroyer
4. Armageddon (You will destroy the world with this weapon)
5. Ironsoul

As you can see, you can narrow down or broaden your search depending on what you're looking for. The search works for each armor slot, and you also can add in another search requirement based on one of five playstyles: crafted, mob, PvP, quest and raid. If it's not gear you're looking for, you can search for glyphs, gems or enchants, too. It's pretty handy and can simplify the dilemma in choosing gear - if you have faith in what other players are using. For the skeptics out there, try it out and let us know what you think. Are the results surprising? About what you expected? ...Laughable?

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The smoke is starting to clear from all the changes in patches 3.1 and 3.1.1, and players are figuring out how all the class changes have affected preferred talent specs and accompanying glyphs. Also, with the recent addition of dual spec, there are a lot of players out there who've recently been looking into the best builds for different aspects of gameplay. So there was plenty to consider with the patches, and thankfully we have a lot of tools out there for figuring out which builds we like best. When I was trying to figure out how to spec for my foray in the arena tournament, I used the WoWWiki page for rogue builds, found the PvP spec I liked best, then figured out how to gear up based on my new talents. But there are downsides to that route - posters don't always have the best insight into which builds are best, and there's a whole array to choose from, each with slightly different tweaks. Now I'm all for personalizing your character based on your own preferences and playing style. But when thinking about completely switching your specs (or adding a dual spec), sometimes it's good to go for the tried and true specs to start off with, then figure out what changes you want to make from there. I think the best tool out there for this is TalentChic.com, and the recently added sister site, GlyphChic. Here's how it works:

"To find the most popular talent builds, the system scans both the US and EU WoW armory sites to find the talent points chosen by characters. It then sorts those according class, spec and playstyle and collates the results... We continually scan the armory and update the popularity score of the most popular builds hourly. "

Just by looking at the TalentChic home page, we can see that the overall most popular builds among "the best players" who are included in the calculation are:

1. Elemental Shaman 57/14/0
2. Restoration Shaman 0/16/55
3. Fire Mage 0/53/18
4. Combat Rogue 15/51/5 (And coincidentally, also the spec I'm working my main toward)
5. Shadow Priest 13/0/58

But the interesting part is when you use the site's filters to break down the popularity of a build according to class and find out specifics. As of my writing this, the top 10 most popular Death Knight builds are either Frost or Unholy, with Blood only making the list at number 11. You also can sort the list according to specific talent trees. The top four builds for hunters, for example, are minor variations on a survival spec.  But you also can look specifically at the beast mastery tree to see that among those specs, several different versions of a 53/11/7 build are the most prominent. And if you want to watch and see how any patch changes affect the popularity of builds, you can sign up to get updates when a specific page on the site changes. Currently, the site is updated based on how players have rebuilt their specs that were reset with patch 3.1 and again with 3.1.1. The sister web site, GlyphChic, operates very similarly. You choose your specific considerations, and the site reguritates useful stats back at you. Among players who also use my favored combat spec, for example, the most popular major glyphs are of sinister strike, rupture and slice and dice, while the favored minor glyphs are of blurred speed, vanish and safe fall. The site's been around since the talent respec that came with 3.0.2, and the WoW community continues to be a little smarter because of it. So for anyone who hasn't checked it out yet or who hasn't been back since last Tuesday, definitely take a look. You may find yourself surprised, entertained or at least more informed.

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Deeps clothing provided by Ctrl-Alt-Del.

My new guild - can I still call it new when I get personalized greetings at sign on? - has been going through some troubles lately, and it isn't drama related.  I guess you can blame the lack of healers for causing some drama.  On top of trying to solve this ancient MMORPG problem, we have also been hit by scattershot attendance.  Our GM and Officers have done their best to recruit eager players to the raid, but for everyone four recruited, it seems that only one is willing to show up.  Showing up is only half the battle though.  Being an able bodied raider is the other half.  Apparently, they didn't get the Level 80 memo. At this stage in the game, gear is only part of one's ability to generate respectable DPS.  Don't get me wrong, having the correct gear is incredibly important, but like the global warming problem, it is only one piece of the pie chart. Gear: There is gear, and then there is correct gear.  For instance, I could have some sick 1.8 Speed Daggers equipped.  In fact I have one from Naxx but I never use it.  Why?  Because its slow speed doesn't mesh well with Mutilate spec - this may be changing come v3.1.  There are tons of ways to judge gear which can cause tough decisions.  One of the easiest, but not the best, is to let an addon like RatingBuster do the comparisons for you. Making that type of decision means you have already located and won what you need, which is often the most time consuming challenge.  Thanks to Blizzard's constant updates to the WoWArmory, your character profile can give you some tips on what to hunt for.  Take Solidsamm's rings (or trinkets) for instance.  A quick check through the Upgrade link (On mouseover, hover over the arrow that appears to the right of the item) and you are hit with a two page list of items that are side-grades or better to his Ring of Foul Mojo. If you don't have the time to sink into instances or Heroics, then perhaps player created gear is more suitable.  Crafted gear is a quick and easy way to upgrade many slots.  The catch 22 is that these items can be pretty pricey.  However, if you spend your downtime shopping around for the mats while grinding the other non-craftable slots, you should save some serious gold. Spec: A player's spec is incredibly important for everything they do.  A few misplaced points and a toon can be out of 5-20% of potential DPS, making them a poor choice for a raid or PvP partner.  I am not trying to say that we should all be cookie cutter copies of each other, but the pattern exists for a reason.  My suggestion to those trying to eek out more DPS is to look at the cookie cutter version of your spec and analyze any and all differences.  Weigh the differences to see if what you have selected is truly better for what your spec is built to accomplish.  And don't be afraid to ask guildmates for opinions and tips! Glyphs: These bad boys should be used to strengthen your main spells and abilities.  They are relatively cheap compared to other consumables and will remain viable additions to your character until you change specs or new Glyphs are released, which isn't all that often.  Again, select Major Glyphs that modify the main abilities you use.  For a Mutilate rogue like Solidsamm that would be Slice n Dice (for more poison procs), Rupture and Garrote.  Unfortunately there is no Envenom glyph. Enchants: Enchants are often over looked, and with good reason.  As mentioned in one of my first posts, it is hard to justify sinking tens to hundreds of gold into gear that will likely be replaced very soon.  To avoid emptying your coffers repeatedly, only pick-up the most suitable enchantments on gear that shouldn't be replaced in the short term, meaning most epic quality items.  For those blue items, grab the mats and have a guildmate do middle of the road buffs on the cheap.  If you still have a collection of greens, the money and time are better spent just replacing the gear entirely. Gems: Another often overlooked and easily solvable problem.  Follow the same suggestions for enchants, saving the best gems for the best gear.  Gems are also a fantastic way to boost other stats that you could be lacking, such as Hit and Expertise rating.  Once you get those stats on board with the needed numbers, you should re-gem to help your spec, where applicable. When you do get that fantastic gear that you have been working towards for weeks, be sure to gem it and enchant it ASAP.  I always try to keep a handful of gems on hand to apply to new gear on the spot.  Why would I do this?  Two reasons really.  First, I don't want the new piece of loot to look "worse" than the old piece simply because it isn't gemmed.  Second, I try to get my gems at rock bottom prices, which means I have to wait sometimes.  During the interim, I slap a middle of the road gem in the socket as a placeholder.  The trick is that when you do the on the fly gemming or enchanting, you have to remember to go back and replace it.  That is a personal tip to myself, evidenced by my recent gemming excursion to replace all the green gems I had. Don't forget to play the game the way you want to though.  Just because one spec does a little more DPS than the other, doesn't mean you should suffer through mechanics that you don't enjoy.  After all, you should still want to play the game after you make the changes to be a more productive member of your guild!

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This is known "in the biz" as the distract method.

One of the reasons I originally rolled a Rogue is because they can pickpocket.  I knew that you couldn't PP other playable characters (more on that later), but that little button suckered me into the class regardless.  For those of you who never rolled a rogue, the pickpocketing ability - especially with the new Pick pocket minor glyph - can be pretty handy. For starters, the D&D-inspired spell is usable on almost any mob, especially anything that was humanoid at one point in time.  Creatures, such as wolves, spiders, and the like, is the only mob class that cannot be pickpocketed.  Essentially, if it is a sentient being, and not a named mob, then the thief comes out in me.  The amount of applicable mobs means that thieving in Azeroth is, like the Internet, serious business. At the very least, every successful pickpocket will net the evildoer a handful of silver.  I say successful because you can "fail," which means the mob saw you before you got the dastardly deed done.  Or after, forcing you to kill him instead of sneaking away.  Had Blizzard implemented player housing, Solidsamm's humble abode would no doubt be filled of books, effigies and other junk.  Once he opened that closet door and became buried in a mountain of gray items and forced to live on his mother's preserves, he would think twice about his storage and let the vendors deal with it. It isn't all junk and silver though.  Pickpocketing is incredibly useful while you are leveling up, since it becomes an easy way to level your Lockpicking skill as well.  If you can pickpocket a mob, then you can also score yourself junkboxes.  Although they are highly unusual and likely clumsy items to steal, they allow us to skill up, and even drop some rogue-centric goodies such as poisons, potions and more vendor trash.   Then there is the item class that actually perked this whole discussion, food. I was chatting with my GM during my dailies this morning and found out that he was hard at work on acquiring his Everlasting Underspore Frond, an incredibly awesome item given out during the leveling period in TBC.  For me, the item was cast aside once I started needing far more than the 4500 HP it recovers.  Rather than sitting for 90 seconds to fill up, I just ate better food.  His reasoning?  He was sick of having to pay for food, something that I don't think my rogue has ever done.  By pickpocketing every mob that I come across, Solidsamm often ends up way ahead of his food consumption by the end of the day, and it isn't crappy food.  This stuff often fills me up well before the timer runs out.  It seems to have taken me 4+ years to realize just how awesome pickpocketing is, not that I ever doubted its usefulness. Here are two useful things you may not have realized about the ability:

• If you pickpocket a mob before you attack him, you can estimate how much money he will drop.  I discovered this during my Tyr's Hand farming days, an invaluable finding that allowed me to maximize my monetary income during those hard times.  Elite mobs drop 3-4 times the amount you pick from their soon to be empty pockets.  If you pick a small amount, then simply move on.  With the advent of dailies, this is far less useful.
• Screwing with other citizens is always fun.  Most players know this isn't possible, but it still gets some player's panties in a bunch.  Just run around your favorite city with the following macro:   /me pickpockets %t for 3g4s6c.

If you ever wonder why the rogue in your party is taking so long to sap a mob, now you know.  My fellow rogues, have you done your unfair share of looting lately?

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In this interview with Nethaera, Ghostcrawler has revealed a lot of the specifics about the upcoming dual spec system. Up to this point we've been given hints about how the system will work and what will be included, but this time GC has unveiled much more specific information. Some of the key points from the interview:

• Only level 80 characters will be able to purchase a second spec. This may be changed based on feedback.
• The Lexicons of Power located in major towns are required to switch specs. Additionally, scribes can create an item that allows a group of players to summon a temporary lexicon of power. The only other restriction (so far) is that specs cannot be swapped in combat or in arenas.
• Paying for a respec will only clear talents from a character's active spec.
• A Gear Manager is going to be added into World of Warcraft. This will not automatically change the character's equipment after a spec change, but will be configurable to quickly change weapons, trinkets, or entire outfits. Sounds like an integrated Outfitter or Itemrack.
• Hunters will no longer have to pay a trainer to respec their pets. Blizzard didn't want an extraneous step for hunters to have to go through to change their pets' talents. Hunters will also be given a new spell (on a long cooldown) that will allow remote access to the stables.
• As we've heard before, glyphs and action bars will both be tied to the talent spec, changing along with the talent switch.
• Talent points will be configurable before the get saved. This allows players who are respeccing to allocate talents with the ability to double check and avoid having to respec again just to move a couple of points.
• It is indeed Dual Spec, not Tri or Quad spec, for now. In the future, they may allow for more than two specs to be used in the system.

All of this is pretty exciting news. With a lot more of the details hammered out, it seems like this may be coming even sooner than I had thought. We'll still have to see how the whole dual spec system has shaped up when it comes up on the PTR, but I am very enthused about the idea of having more than one talent build available.

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Every time I read something new about Wrath of the Lich King, I can't help but get a little more excited for it. I recently came across a list of Shaman glyphs from the current beta build. What are glyphs? They are customizations for your character that will alter the way certain abilities work in some way. The example I like to give is that druids will be able to make their bear form look like a polar bear. Fun, right? Well, looking good is one thing, but check out what glyphs have been uncovered for the best class (shaman for those of you who don't know).

• Glyph - Water Shield - Your Water Shield has 3 additional charges.
• Glyph - Chain Heal - Your Chain Heal heals 1 additional target.
• Glyph - Lesser Healing Wave - Your Lesser Healing Wave heals for 20% more if the target is also affected by your Earth Shield.
• Glyph - Earthliving Weapon - Increases the chance for your Earthliving weapon to trigger by 5%.
• Glyph - Healing Wave - Your Healing Wave also heals you for 20% of the healing effect when you heal someone else.
• Glyph - Mana Tide - Your Mana Tide Totem grants an additional 1% of each target's maximum mana each time it pulses.
• Glyph - Earth Shock - Reduces the global cooldown triggered by your Earth Shock ability by 1 sec.
• Glyph - Frost Shock - Increases the duration of your Frost Shock by 2 sec.
• Glyph - Strength of Earth - Your Strength of Earth Totem also grants 1% melee and ranged critical strike chance.
• Glyph - Windfury Weapon - The attack power bonus on the additional attacks granted by Windfury Weapon is increased by 40%.
• Glyph - Stormstrike - Increases the nature damage bonus from your Stormstrike ability by an additional 8%.
• Glyph - Flame Shock - Increases the range on your Flame Shock ability by 10 yards.
• Glyph - Lightning Shield - Increases the damage from Lightning Shield by 20%.
• Glyph - Chain Lightning - Your Chain Lightning strikes 1 additional target.
• Glyph - Fire Nova Totem - Increases the radius of Fire Nova Totem's effect by 2 yards.
• Glyph - Flametongue Weapon - Increases spell critical strike chance by 2% while Flametongue Weapon is active.
• Glyph - Totem of Wrath - Your Totem of Wrath also grants 1% spell haste.
• Glyph - Lightning Bolt - Reduces the cost of your Lightning Bolt ability by -10%.
• Glyph - Earth Elemental Totem - Reduces the cooldown of your Earth Elemental Totem by 3 min.
• Glyph - Fire Elemental Totem - Reduces the cooldown of your Fire Elemental Totem by 3 min.
• Glyph - Healing Stream Totem - Your Healing Stream Totem heals for an additional 20%.

Now, all of those are pretty awesome, and it will be hard to choose which six to have inscribed (you can have two of each type: minor, lesser and major). I'll leave the theorycrafting to those smarter than myself and just look at the ones that jump out at me. Resto shaman always get love, but adding a fourth target to chain heal would be awesome. Healing wave healing myself while I heal others? Another win. My current love, enhancement, should see huge boosts from an additional 40% AP bonus on Windfury, and strength of earth totem becomes even more buffed by adding an additional 1% physical crit chance. That's on top of the agility it's already getting in WotLK! And of course my rekindled love in Wrath, elemental, is not forgotten. An additional target for chain lighting is situational, but will be fun! A 2% spell crit bonus with flametongue, the new elemental imbue of choice, is much appreciated, as is the extra 1% spell haste for Totem of Wrath. Stacked with the Wrath of Air totem haste, casters will love shaman. It will be difficult to pick glyphs for Juggynaut, but I can't wait!

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