DPS questions for seasoned ret palliesFollow

This is my armory.I'm not looking for what pieces are crap, or what upgrades I should get. What I want to know is if my DPS is where it should be in relation to my gear.
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Caelestrasz&n=Onmiyoji

I do about 1800-2200 DPS in 5 mans and heroics, depending on the group makeup. I thought my DPS was allright, but I've been doing groups consistently with the same people. Out of those 12 or so people I group with constantly, 3 of them are unholy DK's and have nearly all blue gear, yet vastly outdps me. The lowest they do is about 2300ish, and they sometimes go up to 3k. Are they just playing their class right and I'm not? I'm not looking for suggestions on how to increase my DPS by getting better gear/enchants/talent builds. I'm looking for suggestions on how to get the DPS I should be getting for what I have and how I'm specced. If I figure that out, better gear and whatnot will only improve it anyway.

Edited, Dec 22nd 2008 7:02am by Walkwithmeinhell

Edited, Dec 22nd 2008 7:03am by Walkwithmeinhell

I couldn't care less if I do less DPS than a lesser geared unholy DK, if I'm doing the DPS I should be doing. What I'm asking is, am I doing the DPS I should be doing? Melee wise, I'm usually with an unholy DK, so I'm trying to compare my DPS to theirs. They usually do 200-800 more DPS than me and have 5-10% more overall dmg done. Some of this can be acconted for me using my insta heals on ppl that are extremely low, since when I do that, I reset my swing timer.

I wouldn't really consider it pugging, since its the same group of ppl every time.

Also, with the ease of heroics, I could be downing bosses with 800 DPS, but that doesn't mean I want to. I'd prefer to do my job as well as I can.

Edited, Dec 22nd 2008 11:08am by Walkwithmeinhell

i've completed heroics and raids @ 3500 dps and completed some @ 1500 dps, and everywhere in between. the point is they were completed. usually by the end you hear something to the effect of "That was a great run guys, thx."

so if you are asking what your max dps *could* be then D/L a spreadsheet from ElitistJerk. it will tell you what your dps on a targeting dummy is.

however, since all fights are a little more dynamic than that, you need to consider ALL factors before you decide where your dmg output should lie. you haven't given any additional info besides 'you like to cast insta heals sometimes'.

examples of other factors:
-are you too taxing on the healers?
-are you mana inefficient?
-is your normal rotation appropriate?
-can you control your threat?
-are you often dead?
-do you judge appropriately?
-do you spend too much time healing?
-do you spend too little time healing?
-do you self-cleanse?
-do you use CDs?
-do you use DVDs?
-do you make the run easier for everybody?
-are you using your stuns correctly?

these can't be easily answered. they are based per fight and will change.

for runs i have healed as my Priest i have found DKs to be very selfish in regard to topping the charts. with WotLK being on easy mode for most 5mans its easy for a plate wearer to be reckless and get away with it. but its a PITA when a Blood DK decides he can pwn everything and drops an aoe then proceeds to tank everything he aggros.

if you still want to post your rotation for a certain fight i'd be happy to pick it apart for you and tell you how i think you can improve it.

Thats what I wanted to know, thanks. It was really a simple question, but people were making it seem more complex than it is. Basically, I'm more geared than the unholy DK's I roll with, yet they do around 2800-2900 DPS and I do 1800-2200. Are they doing so much more than me because I'm not doing something right on my end, or is it game mechanics/abilities/class related issues that allow DK's to just be able to do more DPS? That was it.



As far as rotations go, I actually CS first instead of Judgement as the opener, because for me, I notice less clashing with multiple abilities. After that, it's FCFS, with higher priority abilities used in favor of lower ones it both come up at the same time.Other than that, I go all out, and I'm stuck at 2200ish max. If I run through abilities as soon as the GCD is up, then wait a while and autoattack till they start to come off CD, my DPS is low. Around 1500ish usually. But if I use abilities when my swing timer says I'm halfway into my next swing, I usually do higher.

It seems like some of you think I'm asking for ways to top meters, but I'm not. Well, not exactly. If I'm going as DPS, I want to be able to do my job as best I can. Settling for being average because you don't care so long as the job still gets done doesn't sit right with me, and people that believe in this philosophy **** me off. Back in vanilla WoW, you could raid MC and BWL 40 man raids and clear them with some people not doing much of anything, but despite the job still getting done, that doesn't mean the ones that didn't really contribute are ok...it means they got the job done because others pulled their weight for them. I'm here first of all to find out if the difference in my DPS and an unholy DK's is normal, and secondly, looking for ways to improve if the reason is because I suck.

As far as the big picture, yes, sometimes my DPS suffers because I always cleanse people if the entire group gets hit at once, to help out the healer. I go for the healer first of course. I also burn my insta heals on the healer if he/she needs it, and the tank if he's taking too much dmg for the healer to keep up. Sometimes our healer goes down and I take over healing as well. If I have vigilance on, I throw on righteous fury while healing so the tank doesn't have to waste time putting it on someone else, and I can still help with threat( I'm not sure if that works or not. I've never been told it does, but the way vigilance reads, it seems like it would, so I do it).There's also the occasional freedom/sacrifice/salv that I throw when someone needs it, or pulling threat on an add to pull them away and repentance if needed. Generally, I know when to do these things without being told, and that's why I'm taken into the same group consistently. But still, I'd like to be better at the role I'm taken for(DPS), and those times that I get the chance to just DPS, I'm only at 2200ish max..

I hope that helps explain the situation a little better

Edited, Dec 24th 2008 12:17am by Walkwithmeinhell

I totally agree, however the RNG hasn't been good to me. I know that there is better gear out there that will increase my damage, however, I'm concerned with whether I'm doing the dmg I should with the gear I currently have.