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

[Klaudandus]

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/f ... dus/simple

Could use a quick check-up.

[Jackinthegreen]

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/feathermoon/Klaudandus/simple

Could use a quick check-up.

How often do you use Prism? I think I recall some tests showing it could end up lowering HoPo generation if used on CD or close to on CD. Do you ever find yourself using it when you'll shortly have a HoPo generator up? You might want to take an inventory of that if you haven't been paying attention to it and see whether it does cause clashes or otherwise slow you down. Going for Light's Hammer instead might be better since it's done once a minute instead of 3 times a minute.

How are your pulls using DP? Not being able to start a pull with HA or SW means you're taking bigger hits at the start, but you do get good returns for the rest of the fight. If you're not the tank doing the initial pull then DP can be awesome, but if you're at all worried about getting gibbed on the pull (or later on if you use other CDs to compensate) then you might want to look at HA or SW to smooth out the start.

[Klaudandus]

I really don't have problems in the sense I'm dying, but for some reason, I do seem to generate less threat than other tanks. The prism allows to get extra threat on adds. That's really why I use it.

[Jackinthegreen]

What class is your usual cotank? If you're tanking with a monk then chances are you're almost certainly going to be screwed on tanking adds. Keg Smash is still a monster from what I've read. If you aren't tanking with a monk then you'd likely have a decent shot.

[Kaena]

The 50% is a cap, not a goal. Haste is nice, and up to the 50% cap, more haste is nicer, as long as it doesn't cost us too much other stats. If you do reach the cap, start reforging to other stats, but don't go out of your way to reach it.

I'm a little confused about your gemming tactic. You actually go for the strength bonuses on your helm and weapon, while ignoring the stamina bonus on your chest. You use hit gems, but reforge hit to expertise (with mastery in between).

Why not instead use full haste gems in your helm and weapon, and gem Expertise/Haste in your chest. Then reforge the excess expertise back to Hit and Mastery?

Thanks for the reply, yeah, I was trying to find any way to maximize haste because about a week ago I was at 32% while trying to get stam up.

I wasn't putting those sockets in to get the bonus, just put the gems there because they gave me the bonus and got me the highest haste. So your suggestion is just go straight haste and get the chest socket.

Also, I just took eternal flame talent, is m 38% haste high enough to be using it regularly? or do I need more? My buffed HP is 808k atm so how beneficial is the increased stam over just getting the highest haste (which will change this week when we raid)

Thanks for the help and sorry for my late reply

[Thels]

Using 2 haste gems in helm and weapon is only slightly less than 3 haste gems in chest. 160 Haste to be exact, which is definitely worth 270 stamina, considering those reforges might end up in a little more mastery as well.

To calculate your BoG stacks, let's first check how much HoPo a character generates with 0% Haste. CS is used 6.66 times during 30 seconds, and J is used 4.44 times, for a total of 11.11 HoPo. (The Tier 5 talent and Grand Crusader might provide additional HoPo, as would the T15 4pc bones and perhaps smart play when the other tank's tanking.)

Simply increase that 11.11 HoPo with your haste, so in your case we'll multiply it by 1.38, and we get 15.333 HoPo per 30 seconds. That would allow us to use 5 3HoPo moves every 30 seconds. If you have the T16 4 piece, it means 5 SotRs and a free EF (thus 5 BoGs). If you do not have the T16 4 piece, it means 4 SotRs and one EF (thus 4 BoGs). Even at 4 BoGs, EF is a clear winner over SS.

[Korendir13]

Hey all,

Just wondering if I'm doing this right. This is my tank.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/s ... r/advanced

Also, concerning trinkets. I got the Spark of Zandalar a few days ago (yeah it finally dropped for me). I'm not sure if I should use that instead of Alacrity of Xuen or not. I actually need my Brutal Talisman of tSPA for the expertise, so I cannot switch that out. Any advice would be welcome.

Thanks in advance.

Korendir

Edit: Forgot to mention, the Spark of Zandalar is from LFR.

[Kal]

For reference here, we talked trinkets, and I think the two you have are great going into Flex, but I also advise getting Lao Chin's and upgrading it to have a Stamina option on hand, especially for magic heavy fights. Consider upgrading all three while you're at it, or at least Xuen, since the only better options will be Vial, Rook's, or Curse, Flex or LFR.

As for nitpicking, I've got nothing, honestly.

I see you don't have the legendary cape, so if you are not on that quest, I encourage you to go ahead with it, since the catch-up changes make it worth it, even this far in. Other than Blacksmithing's Haunted Steel Greathelm, there aren't any more pre-SoO upgrades, unless you use more Burdens.

[Korendir13]

Hey there Kal,

Thanks for the reply and help. I plan on upgrading them seeing as how there really isn't much we could actually get more of with valor points besides upgrading of T16 gear.

As for the Legendary Cloak, I am actually on the "A Test of Valor" part of the chain. I'm not really looking forward to the PvP part.

If I use the BS helmet, then I would lose the 2pT15 bonus. Is that okay to do?

Thanks again for your help, Kal.

Korendir

[Kal]

It's a 20 ilevel upgrade, so yes. Helms are dropping off later bosses, so it would probably be worth the investment. I payed 30k (being generous to a new guild) for mine early on, and I'm still using it. it's probably a lot less now.

[Thels]

I wouldn't upgrade those stamina trinkets right away. You're probably doing at least both world bosses every week, and then there's LFR and Flex and what not, which are all way higher in ilvl. I'd really recommend saving your VP for upgrading 522 and higher items, and don't bother with the lower ilvl items, unless you're capping 3000.

[Schadret]

Hey all, got a few new upgrades yesterday and threw in what I had lying around. Figured I'd ask some advice before we raid on Friday.

We're a 2-night (3hr each night) casual 10m raiding guild, currently 6/14. Also done both wings of flex a few times. No problems tanking with how I'm set up, but figured it couldn't hurt to ask. We typically 3 heal stuff. Wondering if going for a few of the +str socket bonuses to help with DPS would be worth it, or just stay as I am since it's working.. Thanks!

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/area-52/Schadret/advanced

[econ21]

I wouldn't upgrade those stamina trinkets right away.

That was my initial reaction too, but then I remembered that Lao Chin's stamina trinket now costs JP, not VP. JP are pretty easy to get while grinding valor and there's very little else worth buying with them (except heirlooms).

[Thels]

JP to buy, so yes, go out and buy them.

However, if I understood correctly, they're still VP to upgrade.

If they are actually JP to upgrade, then yes, you should upgrade them ASAP.

[Kaena]

ALright, you guys have given be some great advice so far and I have been following suit.

My characters armory is linked in my signature but I am having what I feel to be a tanking problem.

Here is siegecrafter logs from last night
http://worldoflogs.com/reports/rt-oe6cn ... 365&e=2640

As you can see my DTPS is ridiculously high. I was however doing 55% of my own healing that fight but I feel like that is way to high. I have also just switched to eternal flame, is this just a result of losing sacred shield?

My uptime for EF was about 70% and was 40% for shield of the righteous. 9 ef's and 20 odd SoTR.

My CD's are being used to reduce the big damaging abilities e.g. electrostatic charge third stack, the frenzy when the shredder dies and then when the shredder is nearing the end of its life and is hitting like a truck.

Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks for any help you can give me.

[Winkle]

Here's a comparison to my last Siegecrafter kill: http://worldoflogs.com/reports/5jknlvjs ... 297&e=5538

You do seem to be taking approximately 135% of my damage.

Here's your CD usage: http://worldoflogs.com/reports/rt-oe6cn ... 365&e=2640

and here's mine: http://worldoflogs.com/reports/5jknlvjs ... 297&e=5538

Our CD/buffs gained looks relatively similar, the only large discrepancy is the use of HA. Since you start the pull it strikes me as strange that you wouldn't use HA on the pull. With HA on the pull not only do you get an immediate Shield of the righeous up but also you can quickly build up 5 bastion stacks for a nice EF.

[Kaena]

I tend to save HA for when the frenzy pops up after killing the Ad and I have to tank the boss, IT seemed to make that part easier to heal, maybe it is better at the start? I am not sure.

Unusual that I am using the cooldowns similarly but so much higher on damage taken

[Schroom]

the on thing I noticed by comparing your logs to mine.

you take to much unnecessary damage.

Superheated
Death From Above
Detonate!
Shockwave Missile

ar ALL things that should never hit you, and can be avoided.

it would reduce your Total damage received by about 1.5 Million.

[Kaena]

Mm yeah, that was a messy attempt, we had a new tank that night and dps were running superheated on top of me and blocking me from the shredder.

Didn't realise I got hit by shockwave or death from above though, bad tank, but would that equate to the difference ?

[Tiburse]

This it where im at, stuck in LFR as my work schedule prevents me from finding a full time raiding guild. (sat-wed 2pm-11pm EST) If anyone needs a tankadin let me know. ;p

Just wondering where I should go from here going to be getting the Brutal Talisman of the Shado-Pan Assault to replace my Resolve of Niuzao next week. Just wondering where else I should be heading at this point (legendary cloak is in works as well)

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/d ... e/advanced

[Halide]

I recently hit level 90 and started tanking my guilds heroic progress/normal farm raids, before last week i'd never even played a paladin in any capacity so it's all rather quick for me. I'v tanked nearly a full SOO clear now with logs, but felt extremely squishy + spiky on a lot of the fights, to the point where i ended up tunnel vision cooldowns/AM rather than focus on the fight, but that's probably just inexperience.
http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/rt-jbnoqvlbi06jmtny/
http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/rt-sf43iqrjvr6yyt3w/
These are the reports, would absolutely love any advice at all, glancing at them myself i can see EF uptime is extremely low on some fights and i took a fair bit of avoidable damage, but i really have no clue what sort of sotr uptime i should be hitting with my gear though, or if my gearing is correct, perhaps more stamina would be a good idea for now?
http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/character/a ... e/advanced (First log i was ~ 528, second ~ 535)
Professions are being leveled as i find the gold to, BS made good sense as can swap between haste/stam, but JC doesn't have the same amount of haste, should i just go LW for the extra stam over other professions, or is there something i'v missed that's great for prot, some use of engi?
Finally if anyone could clarify how i should use wog/EF, put it up at the very start, wait for 5 stacks bog? Should i cast it on other people for the hot or only if they're really low? Refresh with more vengeance, if so, what's a good benchmark for how much more.
Sorry for the mass of questions, i really don't like being the one who holds back progression or makes the fight harder, so any reply is greatly appreciated.

[Jackinthegreen]

First of all, do you know the priority system that generates the most HoPo? If not, it's CS>J>AS(with or without GC)>HW>Cons. HoW is above Cons I believe but might also be above HW. It's definitely not above AS though, with or without a GC proc. That'll lead into a rotation looking like CS-J-X-CS-X-J-CS-X-X and repeat, with X as filler. As you can see from that there are 3 CS for every 2 J, which doesn't seem to be fully reflected in your ability use. You've got closer to 1:1 CS:J there, which might be improved.

If you're still getting used to tanking you might want to try going with Sacred Shield first simply because it doesn't mess up your HoPo generation which you'll want to nail before going into EF so you can get the most from it and get a feel for when healing instead of SotR is best used.

If you find you're getting spike damage on the pull then Holy Avenger might be better for you so you can get a SotR out right from the start. It can likewise help minimize damage during heavy periods or times where your healers might be able to get to you as quickly as they otherwise might. DP is going to give the highest uptime but if you're still working on HoPo generation then it's not gonig to be as good.

Upgrading your shield is the biggest gain to armor you can get. The one from Sha of Pride is probably your easiest option, but Nazgrim has the best itemized one.

[Klaudandus]

Is it ok to break T15 2-set bonus in order to get the T16 2-set bonus? I've had terrible luck with drops and all I've gotten so far is T16 Flex chest and hands, but I got T-15 LFR shoulders and T15 Gloves.

[Kal]

@Halide, about professions, LW is the largest stamina gain, and BS is the largest haste gain, so the two together are pretty good. I have a blog post that summarizes profession bonuses, if you're interested.

About Eternal Flame, I usually use it preventatively as a cooldown with at least 80% or more vengeance and 3 or more Bastion of Glory. The initial heal is pretty big, so it's also something I like to use. I'll sometimes maintain 5 stacks of Bastion while pooling Holy Power, then use Eternal Flame to heal myself up after a spike I know is coming.

@Klaundandus, your Flex gear is high enough of an ilevel upgrade that the difference between the set bonuses is fairly irrelevant. Go with the upgrades.

[Klaudandus]

@Klaundandus, your Flex gear is high enough of an ilevel upgrade that the difference between the set bonuses is fairly irrelevant. Go with the upgrades.

Should have mentioned it's actually for this toon
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/f ... dus/simple