Dire Beast ticks? Icy Veins needs volunteers

[Damien 1,514]

Hey guys,

Vlad is away for the day, so I don't have access to a Hunter for testing something.

I was trying to figure out the amount of Haste Rating needed to get 10 attacks from Dire Beast. From my calculations, you need 1162 Haste Rating at level 85 and 3855 at level 90.

We managed to do a bit of testing last night, and it turned out that at Haste Rating values slightly lower than those I mentioned above, you would sometimes get 9 attacks, other times 10 attacks.

So I need help figuring this out. Could you guys do some tests and posts for Haste Rating values below the caps (like 1150 or 3805, numbers like that) whether you got a 10th tick?

I want to find out the lowest Haste Rating value at which you can still get a 10th tick.

[Stoove 347]

This sounds a lot like a "feature" of Resto Shaman's healing totems; near the haste breakpoint they sometimes gain a tick and sometimes don't. There was a thread on the WoW official forums about it, I'll dig it out later if I can find it. Dunno if it was solved.

Good luck!

[Damien 1,514]

Hey Stoove,

I've managed to get my hands on conclusive data. From our testing, what happens is that when you reach the theoretical Haste Rating value where you should be getting (let's say) a 10th attack with Dire Beast, your Dire Beast actually has 50% chance to deal 10 attacks and 50% chance to deal 9 attacks. If you lower your Haste Rating, then the chance that you deal 9 attacks increases and the chance that you deal 10 attacks decreases. Conversely, if you raise your Haste Rating, then the chance that you deal 9 attacks decreases and the chance that you deal 9 attacks increases.

When you are right between 2 theoretical caps, let's say between the cap where you'd normally get 9 attacks and the cap where you'd normally get 10 attacks, then you are guaranteed to get exactly 9 attacks.

As a result, the number of overall Dire Beast attacks increases slowly with your Haste Rating, and not suddenly each time you reach a theoretical cap. So, it looks as if there is no such thing as a Dire Beast haste cap, even though this is how SimC currently models it. This probably explains why so many guides out there mention a Dire Beast cap (that does not seem to exist, in the end).

[Stoove 347]

This is extremely interesting, since this looks exactly like the problem that was found with Healing totem ticks for Restoration Shaman. Thanks very much for explaining your problem. I might have a look see if I can dig out the Shaman topic to see if it got solved...

[Stoove 347]

... OK here is the original topic I saw, which unfortunately gathered no more interest. =[

The issue seems very similar and I think this is working in the same way as the Dire Beast issue. I should be able to test it out this week.

Finally, I just wanted to ask - what was your sample size for testing Dire Beast? =]

[Damien 1,514]

The sample isn't very big. 10 attempts at like 10 haste values. But it's enough to get a rather precise idea.