Soloing Efficiency

[Karock]

So I was wondering how good or bad Soloing Efficiency for 1-3 mobs as prot so far in wotlk for any of you lucky sobs who got beta invites.

How is kill time?
Mana issues?
- number of mobs/waves before running into mana problems
- amount of downtime drinking/eating

Also I'd be interested in hearing how the differences between those using the current tanking gear and those using more strength oriented WotlK gear are playing out in this respect (or even TBC ret or WotLK melee damage items).

[Zx]

On this note have folks who are in the beta been able to kill things faster/more efficiently as prot or ret?

[Chevalier]

As Ret, I rarely have to drink...if I get in a big crit by Avenging Wrath+Hammer of Justice+Judge Command I've restored 2300 mana.

Ret really kills things fast so it's better for leveling atm.
Prot is alot better than it is now on single-targets though, much more damage. (due to guarded by the light)

[Zx]

so should I begin finishing out my ret set for the Xpac?

[Worldie]

Stay prot and learn to tank, since there are be completely different mechanics at the moment.

[Fridmarr]

On this note have folks who are in the beta been able to kill things faster/more efficiently as prot or ret?

Ret is ridiculous. Judgement of Light + Judgements of the Wise + Divine Storm keeps me a full mana and health, and stuff dies really really fast. To compete at all as prot I have to wear my ret gear, so I actually end up being a bit squishier, because I don't heal myself passively while killing mobs.

[Zx]

so tempting to go ret and blow through mobs but if there are tight packs of stuff that i can AoE easily then i'll probably stay prot to grind out that stuff.

[Chevalier]

Well with the two spec thing thats going be available you can do both.

[Zx]

Yes but that requires that blizz can put that functionality into the game. While it seems pretty straight forward I would think that it is actually fairly involved.

The way I would work it is something similar to the stable master. Go to a class respective NPC with your current spec and tell him to save it thus giving you one saved spec. After respeccing to spec #2 talk to the same NPC and save that one. Voila!

swap at will between the two by changing which is active or save a new spec over one of the old ones.

[Domodios]

I think I am pretty set on prot to level myself with this build unless thing change quite a bit

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/cla ... 0000000000

It has heavy single weapon damage and and still good to AoE grind quests for the mass kill type of quests. At first I was iffy about doing it this way due to at the time small amount of changes overall, but with the mechanics changes I think I am going to need to "feel out" at least for myself the difference in all things tanking, so I can not miss a beat. If I went Ret for leveling I risk losing the feel of things and wondering what's not going right if my first tanking experience is not flawless. That and I might be tempted to switch since I hear it's sweet but Iv'e never wanted to try it.

[Dorvan]

Yes but that requires that blizz can put that functionality into the game. While it seems pretty straight forward I would think that it is actually fairly involved.

The way I would work it is something similar to the stable master. Go to a class respective NPC with your current spec and tell him to save it thus giving you one saved spec. After respeccing to spec #2 talk to the same NPC and save that one. Voila!

swap at will between the two by changing which is active or save a new spec over one of the old ones.

From a coding perspective it shouldn't be that complicated...just change the variable storing your talent spec into an array of 2 (or more) of those variables, along with an integer saying which is the active one (for example).

I dunno, there's certainly more to it than that, but "fairly involved" is adding something like destructible buildings or passenger mounts in my book....this is just a little data structure modification plus a couple of NPCs to serve as an interface.

[Fridmarr]

so tempting to go ret and blow through mobs but if there are tight packs of stuff that i can AoE easily then i'll probably stay prot to grind out that stuff.

It hasn't changed much really, if you want to kill stuff faster go ret. Even if you find good AoE packs, ret can easily blow through 3 mobs in no time. Prot will probably make it a lot easier to get groups for instances though.

[Nikachelle]

Stay prot and learn to tank, since there are be completely different mechanics at the moment.

100% agree. I rolled a pally to tank with... not to level up at faster speeds and then respec.

[Karock]

=P while ret's killing power is nice I was really more interested in our mana efficiency while Soloing 1-3 mobs as well as our damage output with spellpower gear and with strength gear.

[fiorina]

Definitely go ret if you have decent retri gear. You just one shot mobs and be on full HP and mana all the time. As prot you can solo many mobs indeed, but it will take ages to gather them and mana efficiency is crappy compared with retri.

It seems bugged to me, stun + JoC = over 6k hits without vengeance and wings. So why not use it for leveling.

For instances you can respec prot, it costs 1 copper afterall...