Gear Check/Advice Thread (All Specific Advice Requests Here)

[Jadhzia]

As for reputation items, the belt and ring from Domination Offensive seem to be very small gains, so I should probably stick to upgrading what I have.

I bought the belt. You have a very well itemised LFR belt, but even so, if you use the control/haste weighting scheme for AMR, it would be an upgrade of about 1000 points for you. Not stellar, but not "very small" either. The ring, I agree with you, the upgrade seems small.

You're right. I must have misread Mr. Robot, I thought it was a much smaller gain than that, like 50-100 points. Thanks for the pointer.

(You've been very unlucky to just have one tier piece - have you been running the Sha world boss every week?)

Any luck with sha? In my two tanks, i was able to get the t14 gloves and legs prolly within 6 resets.

Unfortunately, I've been just as unlucky as it looks. The 2-piece T14 bonus doesn't seem too great, and the 4-piece is very far on the horizon, hence my questions here about using my valor points.

Upgrading a weapon seems less of priority for us than most specs, if you read what Theck wrote on his Sacred Duty blog about VP upgrades.

Yep, because our only attack that relies on weapon dps is Crusader Strike, I remember. I thought about upgrading the weapon because I have my legendary gem inside it, so I'm probably going to keep it for quite a while. The other options would be chest, helm and legs. I'll upgrade the chest, but my helm isn't great and I'm not too sure about the legs.

So, after buying the Domination belt and upgrading the chest (which will take two weeks), what do you think I should upgrade?

[econ21]

So, after buying the Domination belt and upgrading the chest (which will take two weeks), what do you think I should upgrade?

I see your logic about the weapon. The other option is upgrading the VP stamina trinket - a big lump of stamina with a nice on use effect, I can see holding onto that for a while.

[suikoji]

Hi guys, this is the first time since im playing world of warcraft that i ask advice on my gear, i have read all guides possible from many sites and i choose to follow the control haste build (hit/expertise cap > haste > mastery = avoidance) because i love the active mitigation but the thing is that im playing since december 21th and im too much confused, and getting stressed because i feel that i dont know my character even if i know the theory/rotations etc.

Actually im 476 ilvl (as i said, i have been playing from not so long) and this is my armory: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/r ... tun/simple and as you can see i have 6/6 MSV and 2/6 HoF so thats not pretty much progression (i think), i have been raiding 10 man but now we are changing to 25 man so im getting nerveous so i hope you can help me guys

so lets get to the point, can you please give me some of ur opinions of how i am doing it?, what you could suggest i could improve?, sometimes i feel too much squeeshy (4th fight LFR HoF), dunno why so have i missed something?

[econ21]

so lets get to the point, can you please give me some of ur opinions of how i am doing it?, what you could suggest i could improve?, sometimes i feel too much squeeshy (4th fight LFR HoF), dunno why so have i missed something?

I don't see a problem with your gearing. You could try gemming stamina (following AskMrRobot's control/haste setting) but that's controversial advice. To see how you are doing, you'd probably need to link a log of your raid (check out World of Logs).

I would not be too discouraged by your progression. You are more progressed than me! Progression is a collective effort, determined by your guild. There's not much one person alone can do to change it (short of changing guild).

Also, I would not worry about being squishy on the 4th fight of LFR HoF. I doubt that's a problem with you or your gearing. I went splat there just before the reset. I think the problem was the healers did not dispel the haste buff that the menders were giving, so the healers went oom and me and the other tank just kept going splat in quick succession until there were no combat rezzes left. I ended up quitting the group (I was on a alt). Just after the reset, when the player pool is SO much better, that fight was a breeze for my main - I think because a shadow priest kept casting mass dispel.

[suikoji]

Ty for your answer i think i can relax and see what happens, if anything goes bad ill be back here again

[econ21]

At the moment here is my character: Mr. Robot and armory.

I'm wondering where to spend my valor points.

I just realised AMR has a "find upgrades" feature that tells you what's the best use of your VPs. It's a premium feature, but I am using the one week trial.

For your character, it recommends upgrading the chest, then legs, then boots, then trinket and then shield.

I was wrong to recommend the Shieldwall belt. That's highly rated in absolute term, but if you assess it relative to your gear (i.e. take account of the fact that you are hit capped without it), then it's a downgrade.

[Jadhzia]

I just realised AMR has a "find upgrades" feature that tells you what's the best use of your VPs. It's a premium feature, but I am using the one week trial.

For your character, it recommends upgrading the chest, then legs, then boots, then trinket and then shield.

I was wrong to recommend the Shieldwall belt. That's highly rated in absolute term, but if you assess it relative to your gear (i.e. take account of the fact that you are hit capped without it), then it's a downgrade.

I thought that the only difference between absolute and relative ranking was a shift of the origin of the piece's ranking. The latter just became much more interesting.

Thanks again.

Edit: I'm playing with the "What's the best way to spend my valor points" tool now, it's still recommanding the Domination belt as my best way to spend valor points. Am I missing something?

[econ21]

Edit: I'm playing with the "What's the best way to spend my valor points" tool now, it's still recommanding the Domination belt as my best way to spend valor points. Am I missing something?

That's strange - it's not telling me that, reqardless of how I tweak things. If you choose mastery/control and an absolute ranking, clicking on the belt will imply that the Domination belt is an upgrade. But even then, the "what's the best way to spend my VPs" function does not.

[Foolosophy]

Dear all,


I recently got the Tier head from LFR. I was wondering.. what is the best upgrade? The ret piece or the tank piece? I'm hit & expertise capped (although I gemmed for it I guess)


http://www.askmrrobot.com/wow/gear/eu/kazzak/foolosophy

(I'm currently in my awful ret gear I guess)

[pedal2000]

Quick question:
http://www.wowhead.com/item=86894

VS

http://www.wowhead.com/item=86042

I just got Normal Haste Trinket from Will so I am wondering which to replace. Gear List is missing them in terms of ranking!

[Fetzie]

Replace the first one. The proc trinket is firstly a proc trinket, so you have no control over it, and secondly it has a 105 second ICD, so it will hardly ever match up with cooldowns for more DPS.

[samsara]

i would keep the first one

fetzie is right about that you have no control about it but it hast about 2500 haste more (which is aroud 5-6% more haste) , you probably have to look a bit closer, i took it because if it procs (easy to check with weakauras) i'm >50% haste and i can renew sacred shield -> 1 tick more.

if you use it to do more dps it's probably the 2nd one you want to keep as you can use it with other raid cooldowns to push it a bit more or with HA (depending if you don't need the cooldown for some serious dmg income later).

[Gab]

i would keep the first one

fetzie is right about that you have no control about it but it hast about 2500 haste more (which is aroud 5-6% more haste) , you probably have to look a bit closer, i took it because if it procs (easy to check with weakauras) i'm >50% haste and i can renew sacred shield -> 1 tick more.

The Figurine is 3595 haste with a 25% uptime which is worth about 900 static rating. The Vortex is 6121 haste with close to 18% uptime which is worth around 1100 rating. Having the ability to choose when you get the benefit, especially for a tank, is worth more than less than a gem's worth of additional stats. Quite often you'll get procs at the worst possible time, such as transitions, tank swaps etc..., and very rarely will you get a proc right when you actually need it.

I'd go with the Figurine, the regular/heroic version of Vortex might make more compelling arguments. Even then I'd probably still go with the Figurine in most circumstances.

[pedal2000]

Thanks a ton! I'll replace Vortex then

[Thels]

Personally, I'm not sure about spending VPs on the upgrade system until the picture for 5.2 becomes clearer (will VPs be reset? will new VP gear be accessible to "behind the curve" raiders?) so I am probably going to hoard VPs until I reach the 3000 cap.

I actually recommend upgrading whatever you still can, and try to hit 5.2 with as least Valor as you can.

It's not likely that your valor will be converted to justice as 5.2 hits (the valor items still cost valor), but still. The new valor pieces are locked behind raid reputation, so you won't be able to spend your valor during the first two weeks, except on buying old pieces at cheaper prices. And since the upgrade NPCs are gone, that'll be your only option, until you achieve enough raid reputation to buy the new gear.

You don't want to enter 5.2 with close to 3000 valor, and then waste valor because you have nothing to spend it on.

You currently can spend valor on upgrading items, or buying valor pieces. If you're at a level where the valor pieces are still useful to you, then you're not likely going to rocket through the new raid instance, so picking up the items for cheap post-patch would be a good option.

[daishan]

Valo will be converted to JP come 5.2.
I'm still trying to delay upgrading as much as possible so I can upgrade the pieces that I'm least likely to upgrade early on in 5.2

Edit http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/blog/7189123

Also probably not worth saving any greater charms as the 5.2 raid will use Mogu runes for extra rolls.

[Nooska]

I've stopped turning in for greater charms and am at 0 with Nooska, I think I'll do 3 more with Morosin if I get my act together, so I have a greater chance of having the ilvl for the new LFR as soon as it hits (as I'm sadly not raiding anymore).
The dailies could be a good "waste of time" even with rep capped for more lesser charms if needed, as they will be the ones being turned in for mogu runes next patch.

[econ21]

I've stopped turning in for greater charms ...

That's a good idea, thanks! (Why didn't I think of that?!) For my main, I'll spend any valor on upgrading my best gear and try to have zero on conversion (JP capped now due to trading in honor).

I agree getting to ilevel 480 should be a priority for alts. I actually find LFR 5.0 fine now, but it could be awful (queues, player ability and behaviour) when all the geared people move on to LFR 5.2.

[Snkmad]

Hi there,

http://us.battle.net/wow/pt/character/n ... ier/simple
(please don't consider glyphs and talents, I'm changing them a little bit)

I've been following Ask Mr. Robot with the PVE: Avoidance Build.

I started raiding this week at MSV normal, but got stuck on Feng the Accursed. Partially because of dps not being able to react fast enough.
But partially because I was taking some huge spikes from Draw Flame stacks on boss.

What can I do to improve my build? Exchange stam into avoidance? Or go for hit/exp cap and then mastery?

Any hint will be welcome since I've a lot to learn...

Ty.

[econ21]

Opinions on this may vary, but I think for Elegon's dragonbreath, you should not get rid of your stamina gems. Stamina is the best stat for coping with that kind of burst damage.

Generally, I would recommend you go for one of the Ask Mr Robot "control" gearing strategies. Avoidance will minimise your total melee damage, but it leaves you most exposed to burst damage and does nothing against magic damage like dragon breath. If I can translate your armory, you have very little hit and expertise - those are the top priority stats of a control build (I would not sacrifice stamina for them on Elegon though). You want 7.5% hit and as much expertise as you can get, eventually stopping at 15%. Thereafter you could go for haste or mastery; haste is probably a bit better in general.

Getting more hit/expertise will give you more holy power, allowing you more shotr's and wogs, and specifically reducing the likelihood of bad luck leaving you without holy power for a nasty burst. This should help you a bit with Elegon but might not be the key thing. More important might be your healers and to some extent, you using some CDs if necessary.

In the final burst phase, you should be chaining CDs. If you use SoI and glyph of battle healer, you will be a big help to your healers, who will be stretched. Before that, I guess not glyphing divine protection might help with some breaths. (I like glyph of holy wrath to stun the sparks.)

I died a couple of times on Elegon last night - I think it was largely because I was slow to react to the other tank's taunts and ended up eating a breath when I should have been going to reset my stacks.

[Jadhzia]

I've been following Ask Mr. Robot with the PVE: Avoidance Build.

I started raiding this week at MSV normal, but got stuck on Feng the Accursed. Partially because of dps not being able to react fast enough.
But partially because I was taking some huge spikes from Draw Flame stacks on boss.

What can I do to improve my build? Exchange stam into avoidance? Or go for hit/exp cap and then mastery?

Several things...

First, your survivability is closely linked to your Hit and Expertise caps. You're severely gimping yourself without them, as the previous poster explained. Be careful, tanking doesn't work as in previous expansions.

Once you have your 7,5% Hit cap and 15% Expertise cap, you can choose to go for Avoidance, Mastery or Haste. As Theck explained on the forum, all three give acceptable results, with Avoidance giving the best total damage reduction (not very useful) and Haste the best smoothing effect (this is subject to change in patch 5.2) as well as a dps and healing boost.

As for the Feng encounter: do you take spike damage when the boss is drawing the flames to him or when he spits them out?

If it's really during the first half of the phase, it isn't a gear problem. Simply make sure everyone is going to an isolated place to drop their flames. For example, in my raid the stairs at the entrance are forbidden to everyone except to drop a flame. This way, when the flames crawl back to the boss, they don't touch anyone (=no damage).

On the second half of Draw flame, the damage is magical, so your tools are:

- Yes, stacking Stamina will give your a bigger buffer to survive and give healers time to react. Avoidance is useless here.

- Thanks to Hit and Expertise caps, you generate enough Holy power to stack Bastion of glory to 5, so you can heal yourself with a big World of glory. So make sure you have those 5 stacks before Draw flames, heal yourself, and build new stacks as quickly as possible (Haste helps a lot here).

- You can alternate between stopping Draw flame with the nullification crystal and some personal cooldowns like unglyphed Divine Protection.

- If you're the main tank on this fight, you probably have a fire dot on you when Draw flame occurs. The Hand of purity talent works wonders to remove some pressure from your healers.

- Cast Light's Hammer on the raid when the boss starts spitting the flames out. If you aren't the main tank, wait enough to have high Vengeance (so the Hammer heals for more).

To answer your last question: more Avoidance won't help you, Parry and Dodge are disappointing stats for paladins in 5.1 on all fights. On the Feng encounter, Mastery won't do much better, since the damage that troubles you is magical. So you should probably go for Stamina and/or Haste. A similar setup will also be appropriate for the next boss, Elegon.

[Thels]

I finally managed to get the Tier Shoulders from Lei Shi. Together with gloves and legs from the world boss, that brings me at 3 496 tier pieces.

I was using Giantfoot Headguard from Galleon up to now, but I have White Tiger Faceguard as well. Would the 4 set bonus be considered worth it to downgrade? I don't feel so sure, since whenever I have SotR up, I'm nowhere close to dying anyhow, so I don't really think 10% more reduction will help much.

[econ21]

I started raiding this week at MSV normal, but got stuck on Feng the Accursed. Partially because of dps not being able to react fast enough. But partially because I was taking some huge spikes from Draw Flame stacks on boss.

Oops, for some reason, I read Feng as Elegon in my reply, sorry! Regardless, like Elegon, I think don't Feng is a fight where avoidance is that useful but meeting your hit/exp caps would be wise as you'd have more power for shotrs. Stamina gems and trinkets are fine as a cushion against the spikes.

On Feng tactics, timing the nullification barrier was trickiest thing for me as a tank (my co-tank handled the other crystal). If you are standing close to the boss, using the barrier will wipe his Draw Flame stacks. The key thing was to have it available on the last Draw Flame before he transitions into phase 3 to stop the initial damage in that phase being scarey. But that requires some thought, as you can only use it every other Draw Flame and might not be able to gauge how many Draw Flames there will be in phase 2. For example, when we started, we had 4 Draw Flames (so I would skip, barrier, skip, barrier them) - now we are down to 2 (skip, barrier). But I get caught out if dps is a little slack and we have 3 Draw Flames.

Remember to tank swap on 2 stacks of your debuff, use your CDs when things get hairy and it should not be that bad.

[Tandors]

Hey I just got back into WoW a few weeks ago after barely playing during Cata and I just want to make sure that I am doing the right thing with my gear and such. My guild is pretty much getting started again. We can clear MSV10 but its pretty rough for us and have only gotten 4/6 in HoF10. I know to go with Hit/Exp and then haste but I was wondering how much haste should I go for? My co-tank says screw all stam stuff and just gem all hit/exp and haste but then others are telling me to balance it out. Can someone take a look at my character and give some feedback? Thanks.

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/a ... ina/simple

[Jadhzia]

We can clear MSV10 but its pretty rough for us and have only gotten 4/6 in HoF10. I know to go with Hit/Exp and then haste but I was wondering how much haste should I go for? My co-tank says screw all stam stuff and just gem all hit/exp and haste but then others are telling me to balance it out. Can someone take a look at my character and give some feedback? Thanks.

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/a ... ina/simple

In 10-man normal mode, I'd say that it's up to you. Theck advocates Stamina, while others go full Haste (above 8k). Me, I aim for a middle-ground, thanks to green Stamina / Haste gems, since we seem to often come close to the enrage timer. So my 5k Haste helps quite a bit with dps (and healing).

I had a quick look at your character. Try to get at least one Stamina trinket (the Valor one for example) and get the boots from the Sha of anger (quest item, drops automatically the first time). And take the mastery/haste boots, not the dodge/parry ones.