I don't know if you guys are aware of the issue at hand but, right now, our 4-T8 set proc is "bugged". It can be consumed with an starfire that was already being cast. GC got into more details in this thread, if you guys wanna read about. If not, stick with me here:
First of all, it seens the "buff" we got on out T8 set was kind of a band-aid fix. GC words:
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The reason we increased the proc chance from 5% to 15% is because of the issue where you can lose the proc on an existing Starfire. For a number of technical reasons, we can't apply the proc to a spell already being cast.
I know, you are kinda pissed off with this. I was too, at first. But after giving more thinking to it, I thought: "Why would they think that a buff to 15% would counter-balance a bug?". And I didnt thought it in a "wtf" manner. It was more just out of curiosity. What kind of numbers they have to run to take in consideration a bug and come up with "10% more will counter-balance it". Was this something like "I think if we give 10% more we will achieve what we want. It will still not work the way we like, it will still be consumed when it shouldnt, but giving another 10% they will see their dps increase just like if it was working correctly."
Anyway, GC, on the same thread said other interesting stuffs. I will quote some:
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The problem is that you can't modify a spell's cast time while the spell is already being cast. The tooltip is accurate... if frustrating.
We just talked about it and we might have a solution. It might not be hotfixable, but it shouldn't take until 3.2. We might lower the proc rate if we got it to work however. I'll try and update when we work it out.
We just talked about it and we might have a solution. It might not be hotfixable, but it shouldn't take until 3.2. We might lower the proc rate if we got it to work however. I'll try and update when we work it out.
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But that isn't your next Starfire. That's the one after the next one. The cast time is determined when the cast begins but the spell itself exists when the casting ends. Like I said, we might have a solution. The Nightfall one is a little complicated, but that may be what we do.
These two posts show 2 different things:
1 - The way they programmed the combat code, the spell is take in account only after it lands. That means, if you are still casting something, for the majority of combat purpose, that spell doesnt exist.
2 - There is someway to work this out and they already came up with a solution. To me, it seens the solution was always there, but they had to change a lot of peoples mind to implement it. For some reason, that I'll get in to it later, they decided this solution wasnt good before, but its better now.
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We knew if the proc-happened mid cast that you might lose the proc. We tried to design the bonus so that wouldn’t happen often. Unfortunately with the way all of the other numbers work out, Moonkin are still chaining Starfire together a lot. We increased the proc rate to compensate, but that may not be enough, which is why we are looking into a technical solution to make the bonus apply to the next Starfire you start casting instead of the next Starfire that does damage.
This answer my first question. They thought that, althought still bugged, the buff would compensate.
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We can rewrite the combat code. Is that a wise expenditure of our time? Probably not. We think we have a work around however that will produce the intended result.
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I know exactly how Nightfall works and how the new set bonus works. They work differently. The reason they work differently is that Nightfall is a talent so it is okay, in our minds, to muck up the spell with a lot of special cases since those cases will largely exist forever. Messing with Starfire to make the tier set work better is unattractive because then the spell is laden with this special-case stuff that will only be relevant for a few months in 2009. Yet we will have to live with the risk of that code breaking or falling out of date forever.
There you are. They already had the solution in hands, but it wasnt affordable to implement it. As GC said, they'll implement a solution kinda like Nightfall. The reason they didnt it before? Lets think like this:
you have a problem in your work. This problem is actually quite simillar to what happened 4 months before. And, at that time, you came up with a solution. That solution took you a lot of time to get it done and made you change a lot of process on your company and/or your own job. You just did that because if you didnt, you would have to stick with that problem for several years. But, the problem you have now, although quite similar, would require for you to redo a lot of other process. Would require you to spend your time, your money, other people time, your company money, just like the other solution did. But, now, this problem will stick with you for only....3 or so months. Then, one of your coworkers say "hey, I know this isnt solving the problem, but what if we do tis-and-tat so we can actually live with this problem for this 3 months and actually have it working kinda of the way we want? I know it isnt the best solution, but it reaches the same common denominator than the other solution".
And I bet they took that road. A bad road, but they took anyway. At least, now, they realize it is a bad road. I dont like the way we were treated, just like every other moonkin didnt. But at least I can understand it. In the end, we'll have to wait and see the solution they came up with anyway, since I doubt it's exactly the same and Nightfall.