Scales of life, WTF am I missing here?

[BlackNet]

Ok I got the scales of life yesterday from trash farming and have been looking over it. http://www.wowhead.com/item=68915 Seems to me that this is like the doll from archaeology where we have to manage the stored pool but I have not scoured over the logs yet to see if it is indeed that way or if it just gives you a straight up 17k.

Anyone done any research into this item I have this gut feeling that it's not as simple and dumb down as we think that there is much much more to it.

[BlackNet]

Ok I did some playing around with this today. Here is what I learned.


It shows up as a buff, there are 3 buff ID's to watch for, 96879, 96881 and 97117, each called "Weight of a Feather". Buff duration is 19 seconds.

The amount it 'stores' is not 17k by no means, it's a 1 to 1 link to the over healed amount, so you get over healed for 2k then guess what, it stores 2k of health.

What procs it is well everything, holy radiance, totems, healing rain, etc.

ONLY OVER HEALING WILL RESET THE COUNT DOWN TIMER. Normal healing will allow the stored health to drop unless it's used.


From this I would have to think the best use for this is at the start of a fight considering you have 19 seconds to use it from the last over heal you received or you loose it entirely. I would also think to use it effectively you would want to keep it on cooldown as well. Use it when it is available.

[Volitaire]

I don't think it is going to be as good as having the Symbiotic Worm as your stam trinket until you get full CTC. I think once we can have full CTC @ 100% of the time without the procs it will probably be a keep it on CD all the time trinket but until then I just don't find a ton of use for it myself. I actually got it the other day but still using the symbiotic worm.

[Digren]

If you are topped off and you use it, does it refresh itself?

[Volitaire]

Don't know, I haven't done any sort of testing with it myself yet. Been too busy actually working on rep and such for FL.

[BlackNet]

If you are topped off and you use it then the buff is gone.

I think the best location for this trinket is on Chim in BWD. Fights like that where you need 10k or above would be very good. Otherwise I would have to say stick with the worm trinket from magmaw.

[Newsom]

I played with it a bit tonight on Majordomo and Ragnaros (killed both) and it's actually not as horrible as I thought. The "buff" you need to get to use the trinket seemed to stack up immediately and it always healed me for over 20k (seems to work with +heal modifiers such as those from our talents). I ended up macroing it to Word of Glory to push me up quickly after taking big hits. Still not sure if it's worth using over the Vial (I like that clicky better), even upgraded to 391.

[Raeli]

I didn't double check, so don't quote me on it, but it can crit too.

[Volitaire]

I like the idea of throwing it on WoG macro.

[BlackNet]

Indeed so! Would you mind posting your macro for this please?

[BlackNet]

The healing spell is called "Tipping of the Scales" spell id 96880

This is a parse of the effects.

http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/rt-69akpauxe2z97h94/xe/?x=spell%3D%22Tipping+of+the+Scales%22

[Jaitee]

it can crit as well i popped it on ryolith and got an almost 40k heal from memory

the buff stacks up pretty fast too and i normally have it full before the fight even starts

im thinking of macroing it to word of glory but my WoG usage usually involves using it when im full on health just before a boss does a big hit to get the absorb

[Volitaire]

I ended up macroing it to my WoG and it is really nice. I do tend to hit my WoG before a big hit as well so I do end up losing some of that functionality but I still really like it as do my healers when I need a big heal because something hit really bad or they are falling a little behind.

[boombeef]

I was the Decimation tank on Baleroc and I did not macro it to WoG. Instead I used WoG after first Decimate hit and trinket heal after the second hit. Helped somewhat in getting topped up since you don't build up as huge a health pool as the other tank. Of course lucky crits on either heal was appreciated by healers.

[Ciksi]

I was the Decimation tank on Baleroc and I did not macro it to WoG. Instead I used WoG after first Decimate hit and trinket heal after the second hit. Helped somewhat in getting topped up since you don't build up as huge a health pool as the other tank. Of course lucky crits on either heal was appreciated by healers.

After you got hit by decimation blade, your self heal are reduced by 90%, aren't they ?
So there is no use for this (perhaps except in 10 mode because the debuff is shorter than baleroc swing's time).

[RedAces]

@Ciksi: no you're right. It's almost useless there, but there is a really small gap between the next swing and the end of the debuff where you might heal yourself for full. At least thats what my cotank said and I haven't tried it because he always tanks that fight.

[Yelena]

The self-healing debuff lasts 4 seconds, and Baleroc's swing timer during Decimation Blade is approximately 5 seconds, so you have a window of typically less than 1 second (after factoring in latency & reaction time) to use any self-healing to meaningful effect. I've been known to bomb myself with 1+ million LoH's late in the encounter during Decimation Blade.

Besides, when you're pushing 800k+ health (solo tanking Baleroc), unless you're sitting just under 90% at the point that 1-second window of opportunity presents itself, the use of WoG/Scales isn't likely to change the outcome of the next Decimating Strike very much. Ardent Defender or a properly timed Lay on Hands will go further, in the event avoidance fails. I generally run Mirror + Stay of Execution on that encounter anyway, so the Scales aren't even an option for myself that I consider.

The usefulness of the Scales also depends on the playstyle of your healers*. Are you constantly being topped off? If so, then the Scales can be useful. If your healers are trying to get as much mileage out of their mana as they can, and minimizing overhealing, the usefulness of the Scales declines sharply. Either way, I tend to prefer the heroic Vial over the Scales.

*Many healers also adapt their playstyle to the encounter, which isn't too much different from how many tanks will carry extra pieces of gear to tailor their set to the encounter.

[Treck]

The self-healing debuff lasts 4 seconds, and Baleroc's swing timer during Decimation Blade is approximately 5 seconds, so you have a window of typically less than 1 second (after factoring in latency & reaction time) to use any self-healing to meaningful effect. I've been known to bomb myself with 1+ million LoH's late in the encounter during Decimation Blade.

His swing timer is NOT 5 seconds during Decimation blade.
Pretty sure its eather 2.5sec, or 3.
There is NO way you can time a heal between 2 decimationblades (that hit) and get the heal off without having the debuff.
Its not hard to time should you dodge one in between, but its not possible between 2 normal hits if they arnt avoided.

Its always been more trouble than its worth to solotank, now even more than before.

On the note about the trinket, its prolly one of the worst trinkets for Baleroc, as the heal is VERY minimal compared to your hp (even if your only taking Decimationblades, its not much) Sta trinkets are pretty badish aswell there anyway, mitigation is king.

[Creepy]

afaik (and according to our logs) the normal swing timer of Baleroc is exactly 1 (one) second.
with debuffs (like "judegments of the justs" for example.) it's then a swing timer of 1.2 seconds, but while he is casting decimation blade, the swing timer is 2.4 seconds, because it's doubled (this is even mentioned in the encounter journal of Baleroc).

Best Regards, Creepy

[Loras]

4 seconds on 10 man
2 seconds on 25 man
undebuffed

[rodos]

4 seconds on 10 man
2 seconds on 25 man
undebuffed

Can confirm this for 10 man. From our logs from last week, over 7 casts of Decimation Blade (21 individual Decimating Strikes):

Ave: 4.882s
Min: 4.353s
Max: 5.386s

(timer) x (debuff) = 4 x 1.2 = 4.8 = close enough for me

Note: Decimation Blade has a cast time and thus resets his swing timer. The first strike comes ~4.8s after the cast.