Leaps and Bounds
Still finding a renewed excitement raiding as I have now been fortunate enough to complete BWD on Heroic, Almost all of BOT on Heroic (Still need Heroic Valiona & Theralion which is a simple formality) and I am currently working on Heroic Sinestra (Most likely another formality as the guild has already done and knows the fight) and Heroic Ragnaros.
Hopefully we find some time for Heroic Throne of the Four Winds, which sounds possible as the RL and Co GM makes it sound like the last thing we want to do is spend too much time on Heroic Rags.
I have been fortunate with gear and all I have left outside of Heroic Rag drops…
- Widow’s Kiss
- Obsidian Arborweave Grips
- Choker of the Vanquished Lord
- Flickering Wristbands
- Upgrading Idol and Belt to Heroic.
Basically right now I am running a 4T12 set with non Heroic gloves and using Heroic Helm offset item. Because of running 4T12 I am reforging into Hit/Expertise to the cap and Haste above all else. Technically this is the way to go running 4T12, if you are not in 4T12 it’s best to maximize Mastery in reforge wherever possible and ignore Hit/Expertise caps just like the old days.
Already having fun in Requiem!
So I faction transferred on Friday to Horde and Raided on Sunday…. We worked on Heroic Baleroc and Heroic Beth’tilac for a little bit before closing out the week with some normal 25′s which was a TON of fun for me having been raiding only 10′s since downing the Lick King on Heroic late in Wrath.
We also got in a Heroic Majordomo Staghelm kill which has ended up on Video…
It has the ability to watch full screen in 1080p no less where you can see my name in the raid frame and my flaming kitty butt jumping around.
We also downed Ragnaros in Regular 25′s
Supposedly the nerfs have really made it all a lot easier though but since I have not raided with these folks or in 25′s it was hard for me to really know since they are all very good to begin with. We one shot Heroic Domo and Normal Rags and the Raid leader sounded pretty happy with that considering a bunch of new raiders in the raid.
I was lucky and scored some new upgrades… Sandals of Leaping Coals, Widow’s Kiss, and Shoulderpads of the Forgotten Gate.
I didn’t die to anything stupid and managed not to wipe the raid so hopefully I get to see some more action this evening, will update as my new adventure as a Horde player unfolds.
On that note, just an FYI…. If you transfer to Horde you have to go and get your portals to Vash and Twilight Highlands again…. was kinda a pain in the arse.
Finally!
Fire Kitty!
So after weeks of trying…
GM: Hey Jace, could you come in for Majordomo? We will be bringing in another healer for Rags, so just the one fight.
Jace: Uh, Yeah! I just want that dang staff!
One shot Domo and Boom, finally, on my 8th kill (I really thought I had killed him more than this) I finally recieved Fandral’s Flamescythe.
My lack of posting is due to not playing much or being at the edge of progression like I have in the past. My 10 man raid team broke up, again, geesh. So I am now basically just raiding when one of our 2 10 man groups need a fill.
I most likely will get re-invigorated when T13 raiding releases as well as finally getting to bank my old Tier sets.
Back in the Tanking Game
So…. Last night in Vent I committed to becoming my 10 man raid teams OT/MT (Depends on the fight of course)
I have to say I am actually pretty excited about this.
I tanked quite a bit back in BC… most of it actually.
I tanked at the beginning of Wrath (Did all of Naxx and most of Ulduar).
I shifted to Kitty DPS for the end of Wrath (That is what my 10 man team at the time needed).
I have obviously started Cata as Kitty/Boom DPS.
But now it is time for my game face and reading every last detail of how to tank in Cata.
Hopefully going to lead off tonight against Beth’tilac, most likely up top while the pally tank controls adds down low.
Then off to Shannox, probably tanking Rip.
Both fights sound relatively easy and fun…. a good way to break back into being a full time bear.
Last night I used RAWR and Mr. Robot to try and get my gear, chants, gems up to speed. These 2 don’t always agree…
Questions for you bears out there….
- Tsanga’s Helm or Membrane of C’Thun
- How important is 2T11 and/or 4T11? Neither RAWR or Mr. Robot seem to care much about the bonus.
- Depending on #2 is my answer for #3… Do I use T11 gloves, shoulders, pants, and chest or do I use offset where it is better?
- Delicate Inferno Ruby or Solid Ocean Sapphire
- Reforge Mastery or Dodge? Obviously when I can’t reforge mastery I do dodge but what about when I have the choice?
Just looking for some opinions as all the reading I have done sounds like people are split on a lot of these. Doesn’t seem like the community has a clear cut strategy for gemming/chanting/gearing that I had grown accustomed too in the past.
I look forward to updating everyone tomorrow on my experience in the tanking seat tonight.
A quick unscientific post on 4T11
So I did finally try out 4T11 for the bonus.
Here is my personal opinion based on feel and watching the meters.
I didn’t like it.
Here are the following setups I tested…
- 4T11 (no helm) – Reforging to mastery where possible, then haste where possible, crit when haste and mastery unavailable. – It felt fine but damage looked lower.
- 4T11 (no helm) – Reforging to mastery where possible, then crit where possible, haste when crit and mastery unavailable. – I instantly missed the energy from the high haste from a feel standpoint.
- 4T11 (no helm) – Reforging to mastery where possible, trying to hit a balance between haste and crit. – Felt better but damage still looked lower.
- 2T11 (gloves and pants only) – Reforging to mastery where possible, then haste where possible, crit when haste and mastery unavailable. – It felt fine but damage looked lower.
- 2T11 (gloves and pants only) – Reforging to mastery where possible, then crit where possible, haste when crit and mastery unavailable. – I instantly missed the energy from the high haste from a feel standpoint.
- 2T11 (gloves and pants only) – Reforging to mastery where possible, trying to hit a balance between haste and crit (basically I do this by not reforging gear unless I can reforge into mastery. This leaves me with some gear with haste and some with crit. Basically if I could get mastery I would give up haste first. If an item has mastery already I just leave the Crit and Haste alone on the item – Felt better than the reforging all haste to either mastery or crit strategy or the reforging all crit to haste or mastery strategy.
To me the 4T11 bonus once you factor in having to maintain it using mangle (x3) and watching something like power aura’s timer (and choosing where to clip it for a refresh which ends up necessary when you sacrifice all your expertise and hit.) just isn’t worth it. It’s a complete hassle and if it provides any gain it is too slim to want to mess with another thing to watch. Maybe if I was hit capped and expertise capped and could risk refreshing in the few seconds before it’s expiration I could see it but when sacrificing those 2 secondary stats I only felt safe refreshing it with around 10 seconds left on the buff.
The best thing to do, as I have said in the past, is try these different configurations for yourself and see how they feel and perform in your particular situation and play style.
IMHO with Firelands this close buy T11 for an offspec before worrying about filling the 4T11 bonus for feral DPS.
