Gear Score=DPS?

Have you noticed that any 80 running around Dalaran, from any non recognizable guild can have a pretty awesome gear score? Well I definitely have, and I love to inspect them and see what all they have equipped. Awesome gear from ICC? No, not even close, not even gear from ToC. Just gear you can buy from the vendors. Although I was annoyed when Blizzard made awesome gear available to everyone, I have come to realize, just because the gear in Dalaran has an awesome gear score, does not mean it is better gear and equals more dps. I think mostly, it is not people's fault that they don't understand, you would think if it is a higher ilvl it is an upgrade.

When I run with people who don't typically raid, but have high gear scores, I can definitely tell in their dps. Why is it that this person has 245 items and mine are only 232, but my dps is much higher? Probably the stats are better on the gear I choose. The 245 gear from vendors is not as good as getting your tier 9 set, on most classes. (I don't play all classes so not sure for all) And just because the cloak for frost badges is the cheapest thing available does not mean you should buy it. I mean I am talking about dpsers here, and the cloak has Mp5 on it! Why not get your tier gear first? Or at least the belt which is super awesome? Ya I know, the tier gear is only 251 ilvl, instead of 264, but many of the 2 piece set bonuses on tier are awesome. I only dps on a shaman, mage, and feral druid, but I know these are all worth it. I know that a boomkin is worth it as well. So research and find out what people of your class are saying about t10 set bonuses. O and btw, the triumph badge trinkets suck! Ok, I have one on my shammy because I had absolutely nothing else from raiding, and I hate using it, but if you have something else you should definitely be using it. Equip/Equip trinkets are almost always better than Equip/Use.

I have a great story that illustrates my point. There is a mage in my guild, who is a decent player who could not for her life figure out why her dps was lower, much lower, than mine when my gear score was much lower than hers. Well I inspected her, and freaked out! Her haste was really low, her gear was all bought, and her trinket was the hit trinket, when she was waaay over hit cap! So I proceeded to ask her if she had any other trinkets. She did, but they were both ilvl 200. She had in her bags Embrace of the Spider and Abyssal Rune. So I told her to switch out her awesome ilvl trinket, and switch out most of her gems. There were a few pieces of gear I told her to go grab. Including finishing off her t9 set bonus, instead of those juicy 245 helms, and shoulders, etc. from the Dalaran badge vendor. We had done a test on the IF dummy, and yes I realize how this isn't the best way to gauge dps. Her dps before switching out gear, was around 3k. Her gear score was well over 5k at this point. After she did the recommended upgrades/ilvl downgrades, we did a re-test. Her gear score was then 4700. Yep I forced her to lower her gear score. So the re-test. The conditions were the same, her dps was over 5k. WHAT!? But doesn't gear score mean everything? As any skilled raider will tell you, no! Also, to further my point, she went from doing 4k on tank and spank fights to doing up to 7k!!! Pre- heroism! I mean wow, what an improvement.

This doesn't come from people being stupid about the game, it would just seem like a better gear score equals higher dps, and maybe it should. But it absolutely does not. If you are serious about improving your dps you really need to learn what stats are good for your class. If you are unsure about gear there are so many people willing to help you, so ask them. People ask me all the time and I am happy to help. It doesn't help that people in Dalaran are requiring a certain gear score to go to a certain raid. I realize there has to be a cut off, but gear score does not equal dps.

Patch 3.3.2- Thank you Blizzard

So the patch notes, as always are found here. It is a small patch, except for the release of the Lich King of course! Also a new VoA boss to get extra loot chances, awesome. But the change I was looking forward to the most, and the only one that affects the toons I play?

• Shamans
• Talents
• Elemental Combat
• Shamanism: This talent now provides 4/8/12/16/20% extra spell damage to Lightning Bolt/Chain Lightning, up from 3/6/9/12/15%, and 5/10/15/20/25% to Lava Burst, up from 4/8/12/16/20%.
• Tier-10 Elemental Shaman 4-Piece Set Bonus: Redesigned. Successful Lava Burst casts now increase the duration of Flame Shock on the target by 6 seconds.

YAY! I was starting to really worry about my poor little shaman, when all I read is that ele shamans were among the lowest dpsers in game. It seemed as though I was doing okay in ICC, but my mage was doing much much better, so I could definitely tell what people were talking about. My shaman was main spec resto, but since my guild has so many awesome healers, it was more useful for me to go dps as main spec. Since I am starting ICC 25 soon, this change comes as a big relief. At least Blizzard is recognizing the problem and trying to fix it. So for once, I am really excited that my class received a buff and looking forward to seeing how it affects me in ICC. So thanks Blizz!

OP Mages: Really?

Ok, so I love how people like to throw around the fact that other classes are so overpowered. I mean what does that even really mean? Does it mean awesome players excel at this class more so than normal powered classes, or does it mean that even a moron can excel at this class? I am not really sure which one is the correct definition but I would like to go through both scenarios.

So, when someone who is an A mazing player plays multiple classes and one class does 10k dps, and the other does 7k. Does that mean that this class is overpowered? It likely does, I mean I have a kitty druid, ele shammy, and arcane mage, and all are around the same gear level. Who wins in a boss fight? Arcane mage, cmon obviously. Right now my arcane mage beats out. I now how to play all three toons. But my arcane mage just has awesome dps right now. I think when looking at overpowered classes in this sense, we have to realize that this type of overpowered is just a phase, it changes all the time. In Ulduar my druid kicked my mages ass. This type of OP, when individuals are balanced in skill level, and gear, changes frequently, no one stays overpowered for too long, (except ret pallys of course but they don't count). People like to complain about OP classes, but the argument is useless, because class make up changes all the time. Don't be one of those people who plays the class who is OP at the moment. Play what you enjoy, and realize you can't always be on top.

If people think of overpowered in the terms, that this class can be played by a monkey, then people are definitely wrong about arcane mages. If mages are so easy to play, what is with all the low dps and deaths? Being a mage isn't complicated rotation wise, but staying alive is the biggest challenge for a mage. They are the biggest wimps of any class. Think about it! The locks with all of their hp, and the SP with their ability to heal. Don't tell me that isn't a way to keep yourself alive, I heal myself as an ele all the time when healers seem stressed. Using the things in a mages arsenal to keep themselves alive requires thought and skill. Ice block timing, using frost ward, and fire ward, thinking about helping the raid with amp magic (what people use that?), blink!!! Again it isn't that difficult if you are a skilled player. But being quick about moving out of crap, and picking up dps again is essential as being a mage. I have seen many mages just be fail. If OP is this, then mages are not OP. I don't play a ret pally, but everyone I know who does, tells me that they literally hit whatever button is shiny. So ya, mages are doing awesome dps right now, but it still takes skill to play one so don't get caught up in what is "OP" right now. Every class has times when they are excelling over others. I have experienced it myself within my own toons. But play what you enjoy, and don't worry about what other classes are doing. You know you didn't mind when you were OP =P

Caster vs. Melee: The Battle of the DPS

Of the raids I have experienced I have done them as both melee dps and caster dps. I love to hear people say, oh well everything is so much easier for melee and others say that ranged dps have it much easier. It seems as to me that I have a distinct advantage of experience this game in the eyes of both, not by my own choosing but chance of the toons I chose when I began playing this game.

I would like to argue that both types of dps have problems in some fights while the other side excels. Neither is distinctly easier or has a better dpsing life than the other. The game is well balanced and many fights cater to one or the other, or neither in particular.

RANGED- Ranged dps generally have to worry about cast times, and all have a mana pool that they must work with. You would think that since you are ranged and don't really have to move that you can just stand there happily and spam cast spells. In many fights this is the opposite of true. Melee need to understand, when they are running around all of their attacks or spells are instant casts, they only have to think about the global cooldown, not long cast times when they are forced to move. Many times when I am on my mage I have to interrupt a 2-3 second cast in order to blink out of some fire or ice, or poison, etc. Trust me this weighs heavily on my dps because most of my long spells hit/crit anywhere from 8-13k so interrupting one is not favorable, but this happens many times in one boss fight. Even my elemental shaman has to interrupt a spell in order to quickly get off an interrupt. It goes for AOE damage as well. For my mage it is channeled for my shaman it is a cast. For both it is interrupted when something appears that I have to move out of.

Also, many ranged have more jobs than melee that they must worry about. As a mage, at least, I have to worry about counter-spelling in many fights, many times spell stealing buffs that could increase damage on a tank, and sometimes crowd control is needed in a boss fight. if I'm playing on a melee dps I don't have to stop casting a possible lengthy spell to get an interrupt off, melee simply interrupt after an attack and before another attack. It does not weigh as heavily on melee dps.

Another downfall of being a ranged dps is a mana pool to worry about. Sure in most boss fights it is no problem and we don't have to worry about it, since most ranged are geared when they start to raid. But what about those long fights? Or when we die and recieve a brez and begin with hardly any mana? Well this can make a huge difference trying to take the time to build back mana, for a mage by evocating or a mana gem. While melee can just pop up and dps away.
On top of all that, us ranged dps are generally wimps! Most ranged dps wears cloth, and are considered squishy. We have to be much more aware of standing in fire, or poison clouds, because we die much quicker. Ranged have to be a little more aware of their surroundings as far as AOE damage goes.

Please Note: None of this really applies to hunters, are they like the ultimate mix? I don't know too much about them so I can't argue what trials they face during a boss fight.

MELEE- So clearly after all of that the melee have the true advantage? Not so much... So many people complain about melee dps, saying that they just get to dps and don't have to worry about their surroundings because they just follow the tank. LOL. Sorry but this cracks me up. Yes as a melee one distinct advantage is that you have instant attacks and you don't ever have to worry about interrupted cast times in order to move. Think about this one large disadvantage of being melee: In many fights the boss moves around, all the while the melee should be expected to just keep right behind him no matter where he goes. Well guess what, this game has lag, which means sometimes you think you are there but you are out of range, and many times the tank moves the target and you have no idea what the tank is thinking so you can only attempt to keep up and continue attacking. Although you aren't facing cast times, you are facing keeping up with the boss, and for sure going out of range at some point if you are not very aware of where the boss is at all times. It is even worse when the ranged pull aggro. Should I run, should I wait? All the time the ranged are happily dpsing away. Oh and guess what shocking thing I have noticed when I am a kitty, sometimes the tank is not aware that you, all the melee dps, is taking damage and the tank should really move the boss. Instead it is up to you to notice and move your own ass out of there.

Think about this fight: In XT my kitty has to run out when she gets a gravity or light bomb. My mage one blink and dps away, or the group is already spread out so no worries just keep dpsing. While my poor kitty is doing nothing but running back and forth not accomplishing any damage. Oh yeah and don't forget about those wonderful boss fights that the boss does a knock back/stun. For melee this interrupts their dps, and forces them to run back losing dps time, lucky kittys with their feral kitty pounce don't have to worry about this one as much as those poor death knights. One more fight I would like to mention that melee is at a distinct disadvantage is Emalon in VoA, I mean really we have to run out of Nova run over to the add on the other side of the room, when do we get a break? My mage... umm rotate and dps away.

Another rule to melee dps, ALWAYS stand behind the boss. In many cases this is impossible. Not only does this test your expertise rating, which should be capped but tests your dps. Ok so many melee don't have to be behind the boss to do their maximum damage but druids definitely do, and some specs of rogues. And I would be pretty confident in saying that most dps will go down when melee is forced to stay in front of the boss, due to the wide amount of different stats you require to do maximum dps in front of the boss, expertise and armor penetration, who even knows what that is? Also many times there is a debuff placed behind the boss, like a fire from those stupid snobolds in ToC, ok so now where do I stand? Another melee dilemma which decreases dps.

I have noticed that some fights such as XT and the Twins in ToC are awesome for my mage, my dps is wonderful. Fights such as Malygos and Hodir seem to be great for my druid. So let's stop arguing about how the other side has it so much better. Each class has its own difficulties they must learn to overcome to compete as a dps. From my own experience, it is well balanced in a dungeon overall, and my dps equals out to about the same on both toons. If you are a good player you can achieve amazing dps no matter what class you play.