5.4 Affliction Tips & Quirks

[Stunlocked 8]

If they tune things more beyond what I saw in the notes then I might see things differently, but for the lowbies like me nothing really changes.

Ghostcrawler has indicated they haven't really done an adjustment on the raw numbers that spells and talents do, so there will probably be more tuning on it's way. He said they work on mechanics first - and then after they're happy with how a class works adjusts the numbers. Warlocks, especially in PvE - havent' had many mechanic changes in this patch.

[Cruzan 71]

I've got a quick question about what to do when you realize your raid comp won't have spell haste. I raid in a casual guild and we don't exactly have a pool of guys to pick and choose from to make the best comp. Our raid starts in a couple of hours and I was wondering if I should reforge/gem down to the 3040 haste breakpoint (+1 tick to all) since the next point to hit would be 5320. I'm kind of bummed, but it shouldn't have any major effect on my performance. I just want to make sure I'm bringing the best stat setup I can to the raid.

That seems like the basic thing to do, but was wondering if there would be a better haste value to shoot for that would be optimized for when DS and BL/Hero are up?

[Morgaliel 2]

I also have a question : how does Soul Swap work regarding how it "copies" spellpower and maybe haste. If a range of dots were casted during a spellpower proc, if I SW it to another target when the proc is finished, will they keep the spellpower from the proc or not ? What about haste procs ? I know this is a long shot, but I've been using this spell on Un'Sok, removing dots from players transformed when they reach 20% life, and i've been wondering about this.

Thanks in advance.

[vladMTL 1]

hey guys

did anyone notice how the Jade Spirit Enchant seems not to reset each time you wipe ? or how should i put this it simply won't pop up along with all the rest of the procs in the beginning ... quite frustrating tbh ... i've read somewhere on curse.com that this is a flaw design ever since 5.1 hit oO ... sucks ...

100% sure im not paranoid and tried it several times on dummy and happened to me several times during raids all sorts of encounters ... it has a bad habbit of poping up when at least one of the other procs you have expires making it ... freaking crap

o/

Edited January 31, 2013 by vldsb

[Zagam 1,982]

I've got a quick question about what to do when you realize your raid comp won't have spell haste. I raid in a casual guild and we don't exactly have a pool of guys to pick and choose from to make the best comp. Our raid starts in a couple of hours and I was wondering if I should reforge/gem down to the 3040 haste breakpoint (+1 tick to all) since the next point to hit would be 5320. I'm kind of bummed, but it shouldn't have any major effect on my performance. I just want to make sure I'm bringing the best stat setup I can to the raid.

That seems like the basic thing to do, but was wondering if there would be a better haste value to shoot for that would be optimized for when DS and BL/Hero are up?

Not having raid haste will hurt you dramatically. That's a large amount of rating that will come out of your Mastery which will take your DoTs down 4-5%. If you insist on raiding without spell haste (Spriest, Boomkin, Ele, Hunter w/Sporebat), then things are just going to get bad for you and you'll never see the numbers you should. That said, the 5320 breakpoint is your additional Agony tick which is your hardest hitting DoT. I'd consider it strongly if viable.

I also have a question : how does Soul Swap work regarding how it "copies" spellpower and maybe haste. If a range of dots were casted during a spellpower proc, if I SW it to another target when the proc is finished, will they keep the spellpower from the proc or not ? What about haste procs ? I know this is a long shot, but I've been using this spell on Un'Sok, removing dots from players transformed when they reach 20% life, and i've been wondering about this.

Thanks in advance.

Regardless of how DoTs are applied, they ALWAYS snapshot your current stats. Mentioning pulling DoTs off of players at 20% to put on Un'sok or an add doesn't really matter as there is no special modifier applied to DoTs when they hit 20%.

hey guys

did anyone notice how the Jade Spirit Enchant seems not to reset each time you wipe ? or how should i put this it simply won't pop up along with all the rest of the procs in the beginning ... quite frustrating tbh ... i've read somewhere on curse.com that this is a flaw design ever since 5.1 hit oO ... sucks ...

100% sure im not paranoid and tried it several times on dummy and happened to me several times during raids all sorts of encounters ... it has a bad habbit of poping up when at least one of the other procs you have expires making it ... freaking crap

I'm not sure I really understand your issue here. Jade Spirit has a very low ICD and often procs on top of itself. Internal cooldowns do not 'reset' post wipe...they always reset after their last application. Either your team is extremely fast at running back after a death or your tracking method isn't 100% accurate. I've not experienced this issue you describe, nor is it reported anywhere else as far as I can see.

[vladMTL 1]

I am fairly sure they do reset, you can test it at a dummy and see ... everything resets at a dummy and i don't see why it wouldn't in a raid; just give it a try and see everything will reset for you at a dummy but the damn weapon enchant ... simply do a ss:sb a few MGs and you will see what i am talking about ... your tailoring enchant will proc, your both trinkets will proc everything BUT the weapon enchant will proc in the beginning .. I do have something to track all my SP at any given time and all that misses in the beginning sometimes is the damn jade spirit

this is not a 100% chance to happen but happens quite damn often as i see i always miss the jade spirit since i can see what i have tracked and what i miss from all the spells cd, icd of trinkets and enchants etc etc

on the other hand I've noticed you proly simed your toon Zagam and figured is best for you not to go with the 6637 haste cap and go for more mastery according maybe to your current ilvl ?

I am asking this because I'm wondering if I should keep my current haste cap 6637 or go for more mastery which would be tremendous more according to what i see on wowreforge.com for my toon http://eu.battle.net...ictive/advanced ...

thanks !

Edited February 1, 2013 by vldsb

[vladMTL 1]

so I've reforged for 4417 haste cap and gained over 10% mastery and simcrafted my toon before and after this changed and i cannot believe that even with a gain of over 10% mastery my dps with a default options simcraft in both patchwerk style and light movement style fight is -1k DPS loss ... dafuq man ...

strange are and always will be the ways of math for me

Edited February 1, 2013 by vldsb

[JvChequer 43]

so I've reforged for 4417 haste cap and gained over 10% mastery and simcrafted my toon before and after this changed and i cannot believe that even with a gain of over 10% mastery my dps with a default options simcraft in both patchwerk style and light movement style fight is -1k DPS loss ... dafuq man ...

strange are and always will be the ways of math for me

You Lost -1 Ticket of Corruption, -1 chance of generate Soul Shards, -10% of dmg increase of 2tp

[vladMTL 1]

yes i know but 1 extra tick even with the possibility of getting a shard to make up for ~ 11% more mastery is ... damn :)

[Zagam 1,982]

While I still don't think Simcraft is a good model for actual DPS, I prefer actual testing. I have old parses where my gear is relatively the same as it is now, so I'm testing a deep Mastery build. I have over 11000 Mastery rating in raids which gives me upwards of 88% Mastery. I'm doing better damage, but it is too soon for me to rewrite guides and thresholds as I may have just seen a statistical outlier. I'll continue to test it. If I'm accurate and correct, then I think that stats don't matter for much and me bypassing that Corruption and UA threshold doesn't really mean anything except maybe a 300-500 DPS swing either way.

[vladMTL 1]

dunno ... think i'll try reverting to fewer haste and more mastery and see how it goes. Yes i can figure out simcraft is pure theory at its best and cannot possibly take into consideration even with the tone of options it has all the things that can or cannot happen within an actual encounter but i always like to also listen to big brothers like theorycrafters such as yourselves guys :)

thanks !

[Zagam 1,982]

Going to be doing a lot of theory work today. I know that Simcraft is the least accurate with Affliction because of stat snapshotting, but I'll do my best to model the differences.

My hypothesis: haste thresholds are meaningless due to Pandemic and having addons like Affdots that update you to know where you stand in terms of current and applied spell power

Method: 10 different 10000 iterations of the following:

1) Hit cap, full Mastery where possible

2) Hit cap, full Haste where possible

3) Hit cap, 4717 Haste, rest Mastery

4) Hit cap, 6637 Haste, rest Mastery

5) Hit cap, Haste = Mastery

6) No hit cap, Mastery > Haste

7) No hit cap, Haste > Mastery

8) No hit cap, Haste = Mastery

9) No hit cap, 4717 Haste, rest Mastery

10) No hit cap, 6637 Haste, rest Mastery

Results will be today, before I close shop.

[JvChequer 43]

IF it's possible, try 9778 Haste.

Sorry for ask you two more iterations.I feel totally guilt.

[Zagam 1,982]

No guilt needed, but the only way to reach that Haste threshold, even in full BiS, is to sacrifice Hit AND Mastery. We'll see how high we can get on the iteration where I forgo the hit cap and push all stats into Haste.

I'll likely end up doing 20 iterations, one at my ilvl (498) and one at full BiS. These will take a while because I'm doing them at work, so I can't import my character...I have to manually type out the language with my gear, do my own spreadsheet reforging, and retype things in. It's...a chore. ALL IN THE NAME OF SCIENCE!

[vladMTL 1]

see ? this is why we come to you, because .... we love you *cough* you're the math geek who knows it all *cough* :)

Edited February 1, 2013 by vldsb

[Cruzan 71]

Zagam at work tomorrow:

[Zagam 1,982]

Wish I could put all this crap on my resume. Industrial Engineer by day, Math/DPS Simulator/Theorycrafter by night...and day. Want to know the best part about that picture? Today was 'clean-up' day so everyone else is wearing jeans and t-shirt and I still put a tie on...want to know why? Because I mean business all the time. But, in lieu of that picture, I may shut my door, find a cape, strip down, and go to town on these sims. Now that I've handled all the office requests for the day, time to get started.

[vladMTL 1]

so how's them tests ?

[Zagam 1,982]

I posted them in the Simulation forum post I made (also taught people how to use Simulationcraft).

TL;DR version: Haste and Mastery are equal and should stay together. Not hit capping gives a theoretical 2k dps gain but with some higher variance. Hit cap, make Haste = Mastery, manage DoT spell power.

[vladMTL 1]

dumb question, how much is 1 intellect point in terms of spell power ? is it 1 to 1 the conversion ?

[Zagam 1,982]

Yes. Spell power = Intellect from gear + spell power from weapon.

[Sifon 25]

Hello everyone, I'm new around here. I'm a warlock who tries to maximize his dps as much as possible but still has lots to learn. My question is; should I cancel my malefic grasp after 3rd tick. I was checking some videos and I saw Evrelia always cancels mg after 3rd tick but Sparkuggz doesn't cancel. That was 2 opposite example I saw and I wondered which one is better. I play around 70-120 ms.

Edit: Our guild's logs if it helps http://www.worldoflogs.com/guilds/235342/

Edited February 11, 2013 by Sifon

[Zagam 1,982]

Cancelling, or "clipping," Malefic Grasp has no penalty so long as you do not do it between ticks or worse, right before a tick. Clipping can be used to update a proc, switch targets, or keep Haunt up. Latency wise, if you're running 70-120, there is a calibrate option in the gameplay menu to where you can slide a bar to compensate for your personal latency. If you run 70-120, slide your bar to 70ms. The game will pre-queue your spells if you hit them before it needs to happen so you have very little lag. Now if your MS spikes to 120, you'll only ever feel about 50 which is just slightly higher than can possibly be perceived by human perception.

[Serafijn 0]

Hello there fellow locks,

I've recently been re-using the warlock after a long spell of tanking. Do not know what I was thinking there. I've been reading a lot on E.J. and here and Noxxic. Everyone has a different approach. So nothing much has changed there. Back in the "good old days" I was a destruction warlock and I've always enjoyed that immensely. Now I've tried affliction for the first time and I've been wondering about a few things.

1. Haunt. How to use it. Found that in the posts above. Thanks for that.

2. Hit vs Haste/Mastery.

About the 2nd issue. I read that hit isn't as important for affli warlocks. But I get overly frustrated if my dots miss. Not the dots itself but the application of them. That alone is enough to send my keyboard flying through the living room. I was wondering: I've seen warlock with as low a hit-percentage as 5-7%. Personally I am much more comfortable with 10-11% hit. But my question is this: isn't it a huge dps loss if you try to reapply a dot and it fails? Isnt that a worse loss than, for instance, losing some haste and putting it into hit/exp?

Another question that popped to mind while writing this. When reforging: is it wise to check if you can get to the next haste-threshold or not. And if not, reforge into something else? Like Hit or Mastery?

Thanks in advance,

Armory link: getting back to you on that. My first link didnt work.

Attempt two: http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/character/ragnaros/Bearlock/advanced

Edited February 11, 2013 by Serafijn

[Zagam 1,982]

I've also addressed your other issues in the very first post of this thread. Take a look at what to worry about with thresholds and whether or not you should hit cap.