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I assume you mean something like this?
www.wowhead.com/?talent=IiMrMRfkVzZcxzZtx0xr0z
No, I would mean something like 41/0/20 or 43/0/18. Any points in demo beyond iHS are mostly wasted compared to other available talents (though I wouldn't ridicule a lock for taking a few extra in Demonic Embrace if they PvP heavily, though I would encourage them to respec between raids and arenas if possible).
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By having an overly large mana pool:
- no dangerous life-taps
- constant dot refresh
- recast for resists
- ability to spread multiple dots (idots) to many targets
You need to life tap no matter what, and they're not dangerous if you're smart about it. Just don't tap right before predictable damage (ground slam), and watch carefully for less-predictable damage afterwards (orbs).
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By having a "large" health pool and mana pool (above)
- reduces stress on your healer
- no need to drain-life for dps loss
Your healers shouldn't be stressed unless the fight's going badly. You have raid healers to heal the raid, who don't have to try and heal the tank. If you're life tapping correctly, then there's no stress placed on them because you should be life tapping during a lull in damage.
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By having low crit, but high spell damage:
- more dps for multiple dot spread (sb is for 1 target)
- long-term damage over burst damage
- easy recast for resist ("fire and forget")
By having low crit, you don't contribute to ISB uptime. Crit doesn't determine what spells you cast, you'll be throwing out the same DoTs and sbolts whether you have 10% crit or 30%. You seem to think it does.
Another thing about your build is that you claim it's based on DoT's, but then leave out UA. Erm...?
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Think about it this way: assuming low crit, you're going to have about a 15% chance of crit - which means you'll get that 1500 damage once every 35 seconds or so - which is about what you'd make up with the increased spell damage from dem. aegis. I can show you based on spell rotation, if you wish.
I've yet to find a gear level where DA outdoes either UA or Ruin. I'm getting a 50-75dps loss at Kara-level, and worse and worse as the gear gets better. You also have to take into consideration that you're eating other people's charges of ISB by not having it, and as I said, 1500 was worst-case with 4 not-crit sbolts and no DoT ticks. More realistically, it'll be 2-3 sbolts, 1-2 spriest spells, and probably at least 2-4 DoT ticks.
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*shrugs* I'd love to see your damage output equation and range of crit. that produces more dps (with a 95% confidence interval); I'm assuming crit as the independent variable. Now, I know this will only be comparable through a damage over time graph, but I currently don't know the equilibrium point myself - I'm leaving that to you. Wait.. I think it's a three dimensional graph, which means intersecting planes... aiks, hard to figure out *headache* T_T
I have no idea what you said or what a crit versus damage graph would prove. Plug the numbers into a damage spreadsheet, that's easier.
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As for +spell hit, saying you need +200 hit is ridiculous - you shouldn't need above 150 until you start running for tier 5. Remember - this is for *initial* entry into kara - you should be raising your +hit as soon as it's possible.
It's not overkill by any means. Hit cap is one of the first priorities for any caster, just behind enough health to survive raid-wide damage. Should an Kara-level lock be expected to have 202 rating? No. Should it be a goal as soon as possible? Yes.
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The reason why I'll take another lock over you, is that you don't take the time to understand the reason behind choosing specific talents - you look for one thing and then explain why it's the ultimate truth. Moreover, you're too narrow minded to see how one thing can compensate for the other.
I'm a raid leader, theorycrafter, and minmaxer, thanks. I think about specs and gear in insane detail. I scour EJ and other sites regularly, and make avid use of DPS spreadsheets and simulations in order to try and maximize my priest and help others in my guild.
There is no way DA outdoes Ruin or UA. There is no solid reason for needing that much health in raids (if you can get it, great, but it's not *needed,* at least not until well into Tier 5).
Edited, Oct 30th 2007 4:33pm by lsfreak