WoW XIX: This is my Artifact. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

[The Glyphstone]

so the RNG decided today was "screw you" day

ran both lfr's..no loots

failed 2 follower missions at 95%

ran withered training...there was ONE chest in the entire place: a ten man that gave me arti power
finished up with 34 withered and nothin to do with em

the big chests in WAT are one-use only, so once you've gotten all of them, the only thing you can do is clear the place with a massive swarm of Withered for phat lewts out of the reward chest. Still good to max your score though, since it can have AP, toys, and a shot at the fox mount.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

the big chests in WAT are one-use only, so once you've gotten all of them, the only thing you can do is clear the place with a massive swarm of Withered for phat lewts out of the reward chest. Still good to max your score though, since it can have AP, toys, and a shot at the fox mount.

Huh. Never actually knew that. Thanks for the tip!

[Icewraith]

So Protection's been on an interesting ride.

Went into EN and noticed that my IP just wasn't staying up. We cleared the dragon bosses anyways and then headed over to Ursoc (we tried Ilgy last week and kept on having issues late into the second round of phase 1, but since we could see light at the tunnel, we kept going at it but never quite made it out of the tunnel, and never made it over to Ursoc).

Ursoc kicked my ass. Granted, we're learning the fight, and so we figured out the best place to put people, and we had to figure out the taunt sequence. But even then, when we were doing the mechanics correctly (and in a taunt heavy fight if you die it's usually the other tank's fault), I couldn't keep up IP for more than one hit. It was Shield Barrier all over again. I accounted for 100% of our battle rezzes learning and subsequently downing the fight (in which I died, was brezed, and then died halfway during the enrage, our other tank died at low %, and the boss died halfway through killing the raid).

Turns out there was a hotfix to IP yesterday- 33% nerf on the maximum absorb, according to Blizzard. Only they screwed it up, and also nerfed the IP per point of rage by 33%. Now they also bumped Shield Slam up to 20 rage, with is both good (more rage again) and stupid (I'm not sure if I should be using Revenge on single target anymore), but IP was hit so hard I didn't notice I had more rage.

According to the forums, rage per point got reverted this morning, and I sincerely hope it's true. Because that was bad. I've been gearing for Haste and Mastery, but what I've mostly been getting recently is Haste and Crit (and we're talking replacing 830-835 gear with 850+, so it happens regardless of secondary stats), and Crit is terrible right now. Also I need more Versatility- my Versatility is very low, and it showed last night.

Edit: Granted, the best part of my rotation is where SS crits and I get a free Focused Rage and reduction on IP.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

Huh that's what I get for not paying attention to notes. I did notice Shield Slam was back to 20, and I seemed to be taking more damage through Ignore Pain, but didn't think too much about it.

Revenge against single target isn't something I normally did. Generally I'd fish for Shield Slam resets off Devastate. Except if SS is almost off cooldown, which makes fishing pointless. Now that Shield Slam is 20 again, even more so.

[Traab]

Did they further nerf the amount of exp required to level up? I ask because I just got my latest character halfway through deepholme and hit 85. I literally dropped off the second piece of the pillar and dinged 85, then going through the portal to start the pandaria segment. It used to take me part way through uldum after completing deepholme to hit 85.

[ryuplaneswalker]

So Protection's been on an interesting ride.

Went into EN and noticed that my IP just wasn't staying up. We cleared the dragon bosses anyways and then headed over to Ursoc (we tried Ilgy last week and kept on having issues late into the second round of phase 1, but since we could see light at the tunnel, we kept going at it but never quite made it out of the tunnel, and never made it over to Ursoc).

Ursoc kicked my ass. Granted, we're learning the fight, and so we figured out the best place to put people, and we had to figure out the taunt sequence. But even then, when we were doing the mechanics correctly (and in a taunt heavy fight if you die it's usually the other tank's fault), I couldn't keep up IP for more than one hit. It was Shield Barrier all over again. I accounted for 100% of our battle rezzes learning and subsequently downing the fight (in which I died, was brezed, and then died halfway during the enrage, our other tank died at low %, and the boss died halfway through killing the raid).

Turns out there was a hotfix to IP yesterday- 33% nerf on the maximum absorb, according to Blizzard. Only they screwed it up, and also nerfed the IP per point of rage by 33%. Now they also bumped Shield Slam up to 20 rage, with is both good (more rage again) and stupid (I'm not sure if I should be using Revenge on single target anymore), but IP was hit so hard I didn't notice I had more rage.

According to the forums, rage per point got reverted this morning, and I sincerely hope it's true. Because that was bad. I've been gearing for Haste and Mastery, but what I've mostly been getting recently is Haste and Crit (and we're talking replacing 830-835 gear with 850+, so it happens regardless of secondary stats), and Crit is terrible right now. Also I need more Versatility- my Versatility is very low, and it showed last night.

Edit: Granted, the best part of my rotation is where SS crits and I get a free Focused Rage and reduction on IP.

Keep your seatbelts secure and your tray tables in the upright and locked position, Legion is going to be a wild ride for Prot until they realize how stupid Rage from Damage taken really is.

[Icewraith]

Huh that's what I get for not paying attention to notes. I did notice Shield Slam was back to 20, and I seemed to be taking more damage through Ignore Pain, but didn't think too much about it.

Revenge against single target isn't something I normally did. Generally I'd fish for Shield Slam resets off Devastate. Except if SS is almost off cooldown, which makes fishing pointless. Now that Shield Slam is 20 again, even more so.

Yeah, my reflexes still seem to think Revenge is good for 15 rage. Gotta remember to hold off on single target until the last GCD before SS resets.

[Traab]

So yeah, leveling got goosed to an absurd degree. Im about to hit 90 off the first freaking zone of pandaria. Seriously? Look, I get it, everything is about the end game and getting you up there and all that, but I for one actually enjoy leveling up. I like clearing a zone as I watch the exp bar grow at a reasonable pace. I dont mind clearing outland in 3-4 zones, or the same for northrend. Even cata when it was 2.5 zones wasnt so bad, but now? Im clearing 1.5 zones to finish the cata range and ONE zone to finish pandaria! Whats next? I log into the warlords zone and instantly hit the cap there?

[TechnOkami]

Personally I see the lack of levels as more of an nuisance than something to enjoy. For me, I enjoy the questing more than the actual acquisition of power. I like to be effective from the get-go, but I also like the plot and story a lot as well. Most of all though, I like how the atmosphere of a game draws me into a world and keeps me playing, though with WoW I feel less atmosphere (than say, Dark Souls or Bloodborne for example) and find myself more invested in the story itself as well as the narrative being woven by the quest story information more than the world itself, because if we're being frank WoW doesn't take itself as seriously yet that's also part of its appeal, I suppose. And though a lot of people don't like World Quests I actually do, if only because it gives me something to do and gives me another boss to fight with the community.

I've actually been seeing what races I like both as casters and a melee oriented class, and the results are interesting to say the least. Out of all the classes I've played the one I haven't which I'm interested in is a Shadow Priest, partially because of DoT but also because of the Old Gods and an Artifact that actually talks to me. Theme and lore-wise that really intrigues me.

If anything, the one thing I'm sad about is how Marksmanship Hunters are at the bottom of the DPS boards, literally the bottom. For solo PvE this is fine, for PvP not so much, and for non-mythic dungeons I don't notice it as much but I need to get a DPS tracking add-on to really see the disparity personally.

Anyways, not much else I can think of off the top of my head as I'm thoroughly inebriated and enjoying an Octoberfest celebration atm.

[Ionbound]

Knife-Wife is amazing! She can also be a little disorienting, but SP is great! At least, for raiding. It sucks pretty hard for questing, though...You have no AoE other than Mind Sear, which is a channel, and very little self-sustain in fights.

[TechnOkami]

*clears throat* Pardon my lack of initial understanding, but, "knife-wife"? Is this in reference to the Shadow Priests' artifact being an Old God ritualistic sacrificial knife? Did I just kill a joke again? I'm sorry if I did.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

If anything, the one thing I'm sad about is how Marksmanship Hunters are at the bottom of the DPS boards, literally the bottom. For solo PvE this is fine, for PvP not so much, and for non-mythic dungeons I don't notice it as much but I need to get a DPS tracking add-on to really see the disparity personally.

...I don't know where you're getting your data, but WarcraftLogs has them at #6 highest for Emerald Nightmare Mythic, #2 for EN Heroic, and #1 for EN Normal at the 75% percentile performance level.

At 50% they're #5, #2, and #3, respectively.

In short, Marksman DPS is pretty crazy good. It's possibly your rotation or talents need work? Can I ask what your normal pattern is, what your talents are, and what Artifact Traits you have? And also what your stat distribution is.

[TechnOkami]

...I don't know where you're getting your data, but WarcraftLogs has them at #6 highest for Emerald Nightmare Mythic, #2 for EN Heroic, and #1 for EN Normal at the 75% percentile performance level.

At 50% they're #5, #2, and #3, respectively.

In short, Marksman DPS is pretty crazy good. It's possibly your rotation or talents need work? Can I ask what your normal pattern is, what your talents are, and what Artifact Traits you have? And also what your stat distribution is.

This website is where I got my numbers from.

If they're actually not doing that poorly as you're suggesting, then I'm curious as to where you're getting your numbers from, to be honest.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

This website is where I got my numbers from.

If they're actually not doing that poorly as you're suggesting, then I'm curious as to where you're getting your numbers from, to be honest.

Noxxic, to my knowledge, is theoretical simulations. WarcraftLogs, which I was citing above, is actual game data on every raid group using the service: as such, it's a MUCH better representation of the actual numbers a class is bringing to the table, because every single point of damage in WarcraftLogs analysis was damage that an actual Hunter dealt to an actual target.

I've also been told by MANY people not to trust Noxxic for...well, anything. A further indication it's wrong is that Marksman were nerfed slightly in the recent hotfix...something you would not inflict on an underperforming spec.

[Alent]

Noxxic, to my knowledge, is theoretical simulations. WarcraftLogs, which I was citing above, is actual game data on every raid group using the service: as such, it's a MUCH better representation of the actual numbers a class is bringing to the table, because every single point of damage in WarcraftLogs analysis was damage that an actual Hunter dealt to an actual target.

I've also been told by MANY people not to trust Noxxic for...well, anything. A further indication it's wrong is that Marksman were nerfed slightly in the recent hotfix...something you would not inflict on an underperforming spec.

Another point to be aware of is that a simulation is only as good as its data. Most of the MM hunter tooltips for skills and talents were flat out bogus the last time I looked at them. Nothing matched its actual effect and damage, and all the theorycrafting I saw during launch week appeared to be based on tooltip data rather than actual results parsed during the invasions. (My own parsings were wildly different, especially in energy generation. A single Sidewinders triggered the Steady Focus skill rather than needing the 2 the tooltip claimed, etc.)

It may have been fixed by now, I haven't played the hunter since launch week, so I wouldn't know.

[ryuplaneswalker]

This website is where I got my numbers from.

If they're actually not doing that poorly as you're suggesting, then I'm curious as to where you're getting your numbers from, to be honest.

Their sims are completely worthless they use only Single Target patchwerk (Single Target, no DPS mechanics) Sims. Of course Marksman being mechanically what it is means its single target rotation is the same as it's AOE so the more targets you get the more DPS you automatically do without changing your playstyle a bit or losing DPS on priority targets, Marksman also gets lots of free crit, during Execute and True Shot with the artifact traits you can have 80% free crit.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

Their sims are completely worthless they use only Single Target patchwerk (Single Target, no DPS mechanics) Sims. Of course Marksman being mechanically what it is means its single target rotation is the same as it's AOE so the more targets you get the more DPS you automatically do without changing your playstyle a bit or losing DPS on priority targets, Marksman also gets lots of free crit, during Execute and True Shot with the artifact traits you can have 80% free crit.

Marksman are actually solid SINGLE target damage as well, amusingly.

Given that their Sim has SHADOW PRIEST at the bottom in single target fights when Priest is setting the DPS bar in most Mythic fights, I bet it's just their sims are wrong to an absurd degree.

With Marksman, it may not be set up to use Vulnerable windows effectively, and may also not be properly pooling focus for said windows.

[Ionbound]

*clears throat* Pardon my lack of initial understanding, but, "knife-wife"? Is this in reference to the Shadow Priests' artifact being an Old God ritualistic sacrificial knife? Did I just kill a joke again? I'm sorry if I did.

*coughs* Yes, basically. It also has a soothing female voice. Hence, Knife-wife.

[Traab]

Can someone explain to me why they force you to hit 90 before letting you fly in pandaria still? I mean, in every other expansion they lower the level requirement (and often the cost) after the next expansion comes out because noone is going to spend 2500 gold just to fly in an area they are leaving by then.

[Kish]

Because they hate flying and want to restrict it as much as they can without having a revolution on their hands? I thought that was explicit (and had the support of some posters here, including the one who just asked the question).

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

Because they hate flying and want to restrict it as much as they can without having a revolution on their hands? I thought that was explicit (and had the support of some posters here, including the one who just asked the question).

And I'm so glad they do. It trivializes content, limits interesting zone design, and removes interaction with the world. Additionally, the Suramar teleporters, Rockfeather Kite, Demon Hunter glide, class hall special features (Warrior and Hunter unique "flight paths," for example), and Flight Master's Whistle show how you can have high world mobility in a way that doesn't remove gameplay or world interaction.

I just wish they hadn't nerfed the kite so much. I get that gliding is DH's thing, but it's so universally useful in the Broken Isles that I'm saddened they couldn't at least let everyone else do it on a 3-5 minute cooldown.

[Traab]

Because they hate flying and want to restrict it as much as they can without having a revolution on their hands? I thought that was explicit (and had the support of some posters here, including the one who just asked the question).

I am against flying through new content, it trivializes a lot and removes much of the atmosphere from the game, but by the time the next expansion comes out the old content is precisely that. Old. Its been experienced, usually multiple times. Pandaria is now two expansions old, and you can level out of it in one frigging zone. There is no reason to restrict flight anymore in that old content.

[Kish]

Yes, well, when they said they regretted ever adding flying, that--and the implied "and we'll restrict it as much as we can get away with in the future"--was what they meant. When they said it would never be available in WoD areas, they meant it until they were forced to semi-eat it--and what they meant was never, not "until Traab thinks it should be available."

[Traab]

Yes, well, when they said they regretted ever adding flying, that--and the implied "and we'll restrict it as much as we can get away with in the future"--was what they meant. When they said it would never be available in WoD areas, they meant it until they were forced to semi-eat it--and what they meant was never, not "until Traab thinks it should be available."

Aww gee, really?! I never would have guessed that the devs wouldnt bow to my random whims. Thank you so much for informing me. It sure is a good thing I have such a knowledgeable person to point out these little facts to me as I never would have guessed that a random gripe on a random nonblizzard affiliated board would have no effect on the game itself. Also, Pandaria, not WoD. If you are going to be a snarky git at least double check that your smartassery is aimed properly.

[Kish]

Well, if you didn't catch that I was puzzled that you were asking the question: I was puzzled that you were asking the question.

And no, it was Draenor they said they were never going to allow flying in (and then, when the playerbase was overwhelmingly outraged, grudgingly changed it to "you need to finish the Draenor Pathfinder achievement, then you can fly there"). It was sometime between patch 6.1 and patch 6.2. People could already fly in Pandaria.

[ryuplaneswalker]

And I'm so glad they do. It trivializes content,

No it doesn't, not in any meaningful way. GEAR trivializes content not being able to get from point A to point B.

[Traab]

People could already fly in Pandaria.

Yes. At 90. In other words, people can fly in pandaria, when they are finished with pandaria and no sooner. Tbc? Used to be 68 and in shadowmoon to buy the training. Now its 60 and at honor hold/thrallmar. Wrath? I think it was 77-78? Now you can fly as soon as you get to dalaran. Cata? You are flying as soon as you start there. Pandaria is the only expansion where flight was something you got at or towards the end of the expansion that hasnt had its level lowered after new expansions got released. That was my only point. When combined with the absurd leveling speed, there is no reason to NOT toss a flight trainer in pawdon village or something. Or just include the flightpath to the vale like they did for dalaran in wrath, whatever. If, as seems obvious, their goal is to make people level up as fast as possible to get to the end game sooner, this would make sense for them to do.

[Kish]

Okay, first you asked a question, now you seem to be trying to convince me of something, using premises that I fundamentally don't share which guarantees the futility of the attempt. I doubt there is any point in our attempting to come to a meeting of the minds on the purpose or justification for Blizzard's current negative attitude toward flying. If "Can someone explain to me [etc.]" was always supposed to be an obvious rhetorical question, okay then.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

No it doesn't, not in any meaningful way. GEAR trivializes content not being able to get from point A to point B.

I mean, I'd argue the ability to simply bypass everything between destination A and destination B does indeed trivialize content, yes. Suramar quests, for example, would be simplicity if you could fly from point A to point B.

[Guancyto]

If, as seems obvious, their goal is to make people level up as fast as possible to get to the end game sooner, this would make sense for them to do.

I think I can bring the viewpoints together!

When BC flying was made easier, it was the Lich King team that did it (because BC became outdated). When Lich King flying was made easier, it was the Cata team that did it (because Lich King became outdated).

To make Pandaria flying easier, it would have to be the Draenor team what did it. The Draenor team hated flying and was/is categorically opposed to doing anything nice for flying ever, not even when it would make sense to do something nice for flying (their eventual caving probably owed less to the player revolt and more to a nosedive in microtransations; no flying ever means nobody buying flying mounts in the cash shop!). Thus, no easier flying in Pandaria, not even when it would make sense to do something nice for flying.

That's the sting of karma, princess.