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-Bellasaer-

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I know/assume that the majority of all y'all casters probably frequent EJ or whatever reference site you use, but I thought it would be cool to get an idea of any optimization tips/strategies that anyone uses in general terms of being a ranger. Like a power ranger, only without the gay.

What sort of general addons do people use?
I personally like the Quartz castbar...lets me be able to get a sense of my latency between casts. Basically it is just a frustrating reminder that I really need a new computer/more reliable internet, but it does help.

Class timers- Squawk and Awe...awesome addon for boomkins in general.

I know its pretty difficult to just lump all casters into a general category because so much shit is played differently from class to class, especially the timing of movements and what to do before/during a move, but thought I'd throw something out there.

Go.


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It would be a huge waste of everyone's time for me to post add-on links and SS posts because my UI makes absolutely no sense at all to anyone but me Happy

I still maintain that the quickest way to improve your DPS is to improve your awareness and knowledge of fight mechanics and timing. I think everyone would agree that the longer you can stand in one spot the higher your overall damage will be. Once you can master a fight well enough to where you're moving very small distances while keeping alive, your performance will dramatically increase. On that same note, being able to weave your class specific cooldowns in accordance with the fight mechanics is key as well. I use Shadowfiend as often as possible, or if it can only be used once, I save it to use during blood lust. Learning all of these mechanics since i've been doing ICC more lately has improved my DPS more than just simply equiping better gear.

That's probably all common knowledge, but I think it's more important than any add-on.

EDIT: I almost forgot. Learn to ABC (Always Be Casting)
-Bellasaer-

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Yeah I guess I didn't realize that I basically only talked about my addons... x.x

Didn't mean for this to be a thread about addons, but I guess they are still important in terms of making things as smooth and easy as possible.

When I first starting playing boomkin...I was trying to be elitist and cool and thought I would train myself in order to react extremely quickly to certain procs...I.E., if I was chain casting wrath I would wait a split second after every third cast in order to try and anticipate an eclipse proc. Turns out, the tiny amount of casting time you lose by doing that is actually a dps loss, whereas just continuing to cast and react as soon as you can without losing a cast is the best way.


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Once you can master a fight well enough to where you're moving very small distances while keeping alive, your performance will dramatically increase.


This. I think one of the most underrated aspects of doing good dps is good positioning and planning your movement ahead of time. While having good reaction time is also important, it usually takes longer to recover from a boss mechanic you've had to react to than one you've planned for and decided on where to move beforehand.

I also think it's important to know when to deviate from your basic rotation when the situation calls for it. Refreshing dots early on sindragosa/lk phase changes ijs one example. Another thing I try to keep in mind when doing new bosses is if any of my less used spells can help me on a fight (I went a few weeks on BQL without even considering fear ward so that became a much higher priority for me). Finally, I'd say knowing when to take risks to maximize dps and when to focus on surviving and taking as little damage as possible will help when working on a fight.

As far as addons go, there are probably a few I couldn't live without by now. Gnosis cast bar (does the same thing as Quartz) for mind flays is great. Fortexorcist for dot tracking on multiple targets is also very beneficial (not to mention very customizable). Tiptac as a mouse over tool tip has been great on fights with adds. It gives information whenever I mouse over something on what it's targeting, how much threat I have on it, and a nice, compact dot timer so I know which target has a certain set of dots.
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I used Quartz looooooooooong ago....i had read something in some patch notes that they fixed the latency issue that quartz benefited so it wasn't necessary anymore. (i think it might have been the BT or Sunwell patch) Does anyone know for certain if it's still necessary?

If it is, I think it's a must. It goes to show you how casual I am that I don't have it anymore :D
Lydecker Lies
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I'm not sure boomkins, shadow priests or any other caster with refreshable dots has the same... "issue" as affliction locks do, but I'll share something about us here, if anyone is interested and doesn't yet know about it. If you do, just skip to the the next post.

It's called rolling crits. In theory, I only cast corruption (my main dot) once per fight. Unstable Affliction then takes care of it for me for the rest of the encounter, refreshing it whenever I cast SB, haunt, drain life or drain soul.

Thing is, when it's refreshed, the crit % of the original spell cast remains. To explain myself:
My Improved Shadow Bolt talent gives a 5% spell crit chance debuff to the target (I'm pretty sure I'm the only one that brings this debuff in our raids?). Nevermelting Ice Crystal gives me 20% crit for 20 seconds or 5 crits.

So, if the target has ISB and I use my NIC, I'll have 25% more critical than base when I cast the first corruption.
Thing is, when NIC wears off (and if by any reason ISB does too), the extra 25% will still be applied to corruption as it's refreshed over and over again, granting me that bonus % for the entire encounter.

Same principle applies to % damage modifiers, such as my t10 4pc and my execution phase.

It's been adressed and it's perfectly legal.

Thought I'd share this with you guys, in case you can apply this to your rotations or lock alts.


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Jaede

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/lurk

Shadow Word:Pain works the same way- I like Shadow Green Light; lets you know when all possible buffs (based on raid comp) are up on the target so you maximize SW:P on the initial cast and then it's refreshed with MF with all the tasty buffs on it.


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Lydecker Lies wrote:

My Improved Shadow Bolt talent gives a 5% spell crit chance debuff to the target (I'm pretty sure I'm the only one that brings this debuff in our raids?). Nevermelting Ice Crystal gives me 20% crit for 20 seconds or 5 crits.


Mages bring this as well with scorch and another frost talent.

Lydecker Lies wrote:


So, if the target has ISB and I use my NIC, I'll have 25% more critical than base when I cast the first corruption.
Thing is, when NIC wears off (and if by any reason ISB does too), the extra 25% will still be applied to corruption as it's refreshed over and over again, granting me that bonus % for the entire encounter.


Shadow priests have this type of mechanic with SW: pain being refreshed with Mind Flay. I did some extensive research on this and im about 85% sure the above statement isn't entirely correct. The crit and/or haste buff that you apply to the dot does count for every single tick of the duration of that DoT. The DoT that gets refreshed takes whatever buffs/debuffs that you currently possess. So once your potion or trinket wears off and your DoT gets refreshed, you lose this advantage. I'll usually pop a Potion before i refresh DP/VT, but the SWP just gets it regardless.

HOWEVER, In fights like Iron Council or Malygos where there are elements of the fight that increase your overall damage by x%, then it's a benefit to refresh your DoT manually since it will pick up that damage modifier as long as you refresh that dot in the element.
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Nisou wrote:
Mages bring this as well with scorch and another frost talent.


*our raids*

Nisou wrote:

Shadow priests have this type of mechanic with SW: pain being refreshed with Mind Flay. I did some extensive research on this and im about 85% sure the above statement isn't entirely correct. The crit and/or haste buff that you apply to the dot does count for every single tick of the duration of that DoT. The DoT that gets refreshed takes whatever buffs/debuffs that you currently possess. So once your potion or trinket wears off and your DoT gets refreshed, you lose this advantage. I'll usually pop a Potion before i refresh DP/VT, but the SWP just gets it regardless.

HOWEVER, In fights like Iron Council or Malygos where there are elements of the fight that increase your overall damage by x%, then it's a benefit to refresh your DoT manually since it will pick up that damage modifier as long as you refresh that dot in the element.


I'd like to see where you got this from, please. I don't think I just made the rolling crit thing up, though I might have.


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Lydecker Lies wrote:

I'd like to see where you got this from, please. I don't think I just made the rolling crit thing up, though I might have.


That's why I didn't say 100%...i'll see if i can look it up.
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I think lydecker is right, and I'm 99% sure that they are changing it in cataclysm. Dots and such will be more like totems, as in their effects will vary in power based on what buffs you currently have.

Roll a shaman, level it, then toss down an unbuffed healing stream. Watch it tick, then cast Earthliving weapon, and watch it tick again. It's more powerful, and that's what dots will be like in cata.

I think. I'm no developer.


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Yeah, this sorta goes along the same lines.

There are certain things that scale and those that don't scale with my active spellpower/crit. Like when I pop my treants, they scale with whatever is going on, like trinket procs, heroism, whatever.

However, my moonfire and IS work differently; their base SP is set at the moment I cast them. Which is why, on occasion, you might see someone cast GotW mid-encounter...it forces a clearcasting proc, which gives me 15% increased damage for 6 seconds. So if I get my dots going then...which is usually right before/during a move, they will scale with the 15% increased damage until they drop off.


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Nisou wrote:
Lydecker Lies wrote:

I'd like to see where you got this from, please. I don't think I just made the rolling crit thing up, though I might have.


That's why I didn't say 100%...i'll see if i can look it up.


My bad if I was a little rude there, it's just my rotation is based on this atm Happy


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http://shadowpriest.com/viewtopic.php?f=61&t=23642

I imagine the mechanics on corruption are the same but this is what I've been going off of for shadow word: pain. When mind flay refreshes shadow word: pain, it updates its damage based on spellpower and % damage taken debuffs on the boss but not changes to crit from any source so rolling crit does work. I'm glad it's changing though. I never liked that mechanic.
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