Phastos wrote:
Well actually the SF thing I think is a WoW error so to say. I haven't played since March of 2007, they didn't do the updates yet for focus and not having to spec for 2h weapons so when they did updated everything and I didn't have to spec into that I don't think it put the point there. Not sure, I really can't believe that I didn't spec into that when I was playing unless I misunderstood it or something.
Look, guy, I really want to help you and I am going to try my best to do so in the nicest way possible, but... C'mon. At least man up and admit when you made a mistake.
Quote:
But can you elaborate on something, what you were saying about Elemental focus and Convection vs SF and the mental Quickness vs Concussion thing. Are you saying I can take points out of those areas and apply them elsewhere as long as I get SF and full MQ and I won't lose sleep (or damage)?
Certainly. Look at it this way:
Shamanistic Focus takes 60% off the Shock cost whenever you melee crit. Have you any idea how often that happens? With a dedicated Enhancement gear set you'll easily have a 25-35% chance to crit, and with WF on both weapons you're going to be critting so often that SF might as well be a passive talent and not a proc. I almost
never have to Shock without SF up, and since it is up constantly, I can Shock every time they're off cooldown without worrying about my mana at all, so my DPS basically just gets a huge boost and I pay a mana penalty so small it's barely noticeable. And here is the key:
All of that for one point.
Convection gives you a flat 5% off of your Shock costs. Nowhere near the reward of SF, and you spent
five points to get it.
Elemental Focus only procs off of spell crits. With a full Enhancement set on you are going to be looking at anywhere between a 5-7% chance for your Shocks to crit. Not very impressive, not very rewarding, and not at all worth having to go 11 points into Elemental to get there.
Mental Quickness takes an additional 6% off of base Shock costs when maxed (again trumping Convection in the cost/reward scheme), and is already conveniently located along your path further down the Enhancement tree. Also, consider the math when compared to Concussion:
Earth Shock does an average of 675 damage base. 5% more (for five points, mind you) nets you an extra 33.75 damage.
For three points, assuming you've got 1500 AP (not at all hard for an entry-level end-game Shaman), 3/3 MQ nets you an impressive 450 bonus spell damage, which after the spell coefficient translates into 192.87 extra damage. Roughly
six times as much damage for 60% of the cost in talent points. And unlike Concussion,
it continues to scale upwards as your gear improves. If
that weren't enough, it also applies to your heals! At this point I just feel like I'm pitching a set of kitchenware on an infomercial...
*Note: Flame Shock is actually your main DPS Shock, but I chose Earth Shock for the example since it's far easier to understand. Flame Shock has two seperate coefficients for both the initial and DoT components.
Quote:
So would I be able to put more points elsewhere based on this?
By skipping all of the lackluster, expensive, bad-investment talents in Elemental, you save enough points to do the following:
Pick up Nature's Guidance in Resto, which is a
huge DPS boost by increasing both your melee hit %, allowing you to itemize for more AP and crit,
and that of your Shocks.
Max out all of your damage talents in Enhancment.
Take Shamanistic Rage, which will drastically improve your staying power--and thus, DPS--in long fights.
Pick up Unleashed Rage and all of the totem-improving talents in Enhancement, giving you lots of utility/support, making parties love you long time. (As long as, of course, you're a good player.)
Edited, May 19th 2008 1:50pm by Gaudion