BenchmarksFollow

Ok so I know this has been asked before (and will be asked again...and again...and again...) but as I don't have premium I can't use the search function (yay Alla) so here it is:

What kind of benchmarks should I be looking at under the following conditions:

Ele spec
-- Entry into heroics
-- Entry into low raids (VoA, OS10)
-- Entry into Naxx

Resto spec
-- Heroics
-- Low raids
-- Naxx

I'm looking for spellpower/healing numbers, mana, mp5.. Maybe some dps estimates on the ele build though dps measurements tend to be somewhat unreliable

As it stands now I'm specced ele (because I got sick of questing as resto and taking 10 minutes to kill things) and intend to return to resto at 80, though possibly after gearing up a bit first.. Which is why I'm looking for what you all think of as the benchmark for starting to do those things up there.

Thanks for your help and opinions

1500 dps is usually considered the bare minimum for naxx.... but seriously? it's the same standard for heroics? that seems unlikely

Also as I said before, dps numbers are notoriously unreliable as they're completely dependent on what it is your group is fighting (as an example my mage puts out 3300 dps on Loatheb and something like 2100 dps on Anub'Rekhan these numbers aren't even sort of similar)

How much spellpower/crit is involved in that dps estimate for an ele shaman? I'll go ahead and assume spell hit cap is a requirement there as well because hitting things is good.

It is the same standard.

A great many people if asked will say that heroics are more difficult than raids. You have to understand, while the encounters themselves get "harder" as you move from heriocs to raids, and raids to heroic raids, that difficulty is counteracted by the addition of extra players, increasing your acceptable margin for error in all but the most demanding encounters (such as Saph). The resulting net increase in difficulty is more like a shallow curve than a straight line.

In any case, it is not the luxery of DPS to waltz into heroics with a 1k output and throw all of the responsibility on the tank and the healer, expecting them to just keep everyone alive until things die. Just as it's their responsibility to keep people alive, it is your responsibility to make the encounters more efficient by killing things fast. 1500 is also not an unreasonable expectation considering that it can be easily achieved for any spec of any class by questing and instancing from 75-80.


You can and should take meters with a grain of salt, but that also doesn't mean you should disregard them completely. Anyone with half a brain in their skull understands that you're getting a huge crit buff from the spores on Loatheb, and you have to switch DPS to the adds in Anub, and your Warlock isn't really putting out 30k DPS, the Arachnid trash just happens to be very friendly to SoC spam.

The trick is filtering the meter through what you know about the encounters to come up with a reasonable understanding of the damage being done. If nothing else, turn the meter off and just gauge it manually. I don't need a meter to tell me the DPS is low when Trollgore stacks Consume too high, but regardless of fight mechanics, any time I feel like the DPS is struggling Recount will almost certainly confirm it by telling me that they're clocking in under 4500 collectively, while parties with 4500-6000 collective DPS displayed will move quickly and smoothly.

Edited, Feb 5th 2009 9:33am by Gaudion

Agreed, 1500 DPS is my bare minimum for both Naxx and Heroics. The only exception I make to this is a guild Heroic being done specifically to gear up a single guild member. In this situation though the other 2 DPS will be running 2500+ to balance this out.

The fact is if you are running heroics doing less than 1500 you are making other people carry you. And honestly 1500 dps is not hard to do. My shammy could put out those kind of numbers in the mid 70's.