Yes, yes, I’m a complete slacker. 3.3 has been out for weeks, the second wing of Icecrown is about to open and I just now got around to updating the gear posts.
Better late than never?
Anyway, all four posts have been updated/tweaked with the latest in Shammy goodness so peruse and use to your heart’s content.
PS – Found out today I’m having a girl… Gamer girls rule!
What is the name, class, and spec of your primary dps?
Ailisbraeden, Shaman, Enhancement
What is your primary dpsing environment? (i.e. raids, pvp, 5 mans)
10 Man Raids
What is your favorite dps spell/ability for your class and why?
Stormstrike. It’s a 12 second debuff that increases all subsequent nature damage done on the target. All of my shocks are nature damage. Yum.
What dps spell do you use least for your class and why?
Flame Shock. It’s more of an elemental spell since its damage is increased off of Lava Burst which is a 2 second casting spell. As melee, casting times significantly decrease my DPS.
What do you feel is the biggest strength of your dps class and why?
Raid buffs via totems. I guess that would be said of all three shaman specs but the ability to switch out and drop a variety of totems that provide raid buffs and enemy debuffs and cleansing is really key to the appeal of my class.
What do you feel is the biggest weakness of your dps class and why?
Movement fights. I excel when I can just stand there and wail on something. I can keep a steady rotation up and really get some high damage rolling. If I have to move around with a boss, however, the DPS tends to suffer a little.
In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel, in general, is the best dps assignment for you?
Single target killing or interrupts/purges.
What dps class do you enjoy dpsing with most and why?
Definitely my shaman. I’ve played a mage, a DK and a Druid and, by far, the Shaman was the most fun because of the variety of things I can do.
What dps class do you enjoy dpsing with least and why?
My Death Knight. I honestly can’t put my finger on it but I just don’t get a big thrill out of killing things with her.
What is your worst habit as a dps?
Trying to tank.
What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while dpsing?
Assuming I’m a caster and buffing me with wisdom. I actually had a paladin ask me once if I was caster or melee. I just about kissed him.
Do you feel that your class/spec is well balanced with other dps?
For a hybrid, yes. I’ll never do as high of DPS as the “pure” classes like Rogues or Death Knights but I’m fine with that since I can bring the added balance of spot-healing if necessary.
What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a dps’er?
Recount, my guildmates, my husband (plays an SV hunter) and constant research into the evolution of my class.
What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your class?
That we’re casters. I actually had a conversation with someone who was surprised to learn I value attack power over spell power and I wear “hunter mail” as opposed to caster cloth. It made me realize that being the melee sibling in a family of casters (ele and resto) creates some confusion.
What do you feel is the most difficult thing for new dpsers of your class to learn?
Skill priority versus skill rotation. I don’t have a set rotation – I have more of a priority depending on what debuffs are still active on my target and what skills have finished their CD. I always recommend ShockandAwe for new Enhance Shammies because it helps you get into the priority groove instead of having a set sequence of keys to push.
What dps class do you feel you understand least?
Rogues. Energy and combo points baffles me.
What add-ons or macros do you use, if any, to aid you in dps?
I have macros for my “use” trinkets and I use ShockandAwe for my skill priority. Everything else is key bindings.
What stat to stack, and why?
After you are hit and expertise capped, go after Attack Power and Haste. Our Mental Quickness talent will convert raw AP into SP which helps with shocks. Haste makes everything go a lot faster. Since you want to wield two slow weapons, the more haste you have, the higher damage you will do with high damage slow weapons hitting faster. Plus, the damage from the Flametongue weapon imbue scales the slower the weapon is. It all adds up to a lot of damage.
And my own question: what’s your offspec (if you have one) and why?
Resto. Originally, it was to fill in as an extra healer if my old guild needed it. Now, it’s to help in 5mans in my new little 10 man guild I help run.
I, like many other WoW players, read Elitist Jerks obsessively. I’m not the number cruncher that most of them are and some of their formulas and theories go way over my head but I like finding the nuggets of information and using their information (what of it I can actually understand) to help hone my character(s) as they progress to and through the end-game.
One post I’m deliciously addicted to is their Enhancement Shaman BiS thread, in which they talk about The Wishlist (as I like to call it). Every tier that is released, they put together a list of the absolute Best-In-Slot (BiS) gear/gems/enchants/glyphs and build for your enhancement shaman. I call it my Wishlist because this list is only available if you have access to every possible option of raiding – including hard modes.
With Tier 9, in case you didn’t know, all the loot is faction-specific. Stats are identical but names and skins are different depending on your faction affiliation. EJ wrote up their list from a Horde’s perspective so I thought I’d give some of you guys a hand and rewrite the basic gear list from an Alliance perspective. I’m also going to write this without any profession buffs so keep in mind you’ll have an extra boost to one of your stats with Jewelcrafting, Leatherworking, Enchanting, Inscription or Blacksmithing.
To make this easy to follow we’ll do item slot followed by name of piece, the gems in order of slots available, and proper enchant (similar to EJ’s table but without the table).
You will notice that the vast majority of these items come from places like the 25-man Tribute Chest, 25-man Algalon and other hard modes. Like I said, wishlist and only available if you have access to (and succeed at) every possible level of raiding.
It will still be my wishlist because you never know but I will try over the next week to put together a 10-man version of this for those of you in 10-man guilds (as I know there are a lot) for your BiS given what you have available to you.
Happy hunting!
Happy Patch Day!
As promised, I’ve updated the Gear Post for 3.2. In it, I’ve included all purcheaseable items from every quartermaster, as well as any BoE epics available, and all crafted items.
I’ll be updating the links throughout the day as WoWhead updates their database so don’t freak out at the unlinked items. If you want to know their stats now, head over to MMO-Champion and look it up.
This next part is at the end of the post so you can read it here or there or both if you feel like reading it twice.
Now, some points to consider before you look at the list and go “Holy crap! I’m 80 and it’s Christmas!”
Now, how much longer will they extend maintenance, you think?
Ailis in Hunterland by Ailis is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
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