Wow Plugins and 3.1

I wanted to make a list of the plugins I use and where to get them. Mainly so I have a future reference for the next patch. lol. But if I put them here, maybe some other folks out there can benefit from this post.

My philosophy is to use as few plugins as possible. This way, playing on another machine isn't completely alien. And also, if someone stops updating a plugin, it does not wreck my playing experience.

Auctioneer
So popular it has its own web site on Source Forge for downloading. The only way to go if you need to buy and sell stuff in wow.


Wow Interface
Capping (3.1.001, updated for 3.1) - A really, really useful PVP mod. It displays the times it will take for a graveyard or tower to cap. By control-clicking a timer the time is inserted into BG chat. Very useful in AV and AB.


CurseForge.com
Cooldowns (1.2.5, updated for 3.1) - Displays the number of seconds until a spell is available. The genius is the seconds are displayed on the WOW toolbar for the spell. So you don't have to look someplace else or clutter your screen. Very very useful.

Druid bar (Not updated yet) - Shows your mana bar when in Bear or Cat form.

Curse.com

Cartographer - (2.5.1, updated for 3.1) - Map mod for WOW. Makes the make smaller and adds coordinates. Also provides more information about who is where in BGs I think.

Gatherer (3.1.12, updated for 3.1) - Tool for mapping herbs and ore nodes.

Recount (3.1b, updated for 3.1) - The best damage and healing meter in the game.

3.1 and PVP

A quick note on Patch 3.1 and PVP. I spent some time on my Druid and my Mage last night after the Patch came out.

Damage is even burstier now than it was before. My Druid dies much easier than before and my Mage is about the same. However, my Mage Attillla seems to be putting out some crazy DPS now. So now he has some chance against Ret Pallies and Death Knights. The Ret Pallies still seem to be the most overpowered. The Death Knights seemed much more killable than before the patch.

The Demise of Clothies in PVP

Last night I saw the future of battleground PVP, and it is bleak. The toon composition of an Arathi Basin game was (11 Paladins (mostly ret),  6 Death Knights, 5 rogues, and a smattering of other classes).  My calculator tells me that makes 73% of the toons from these overpowered melee classes that currently dominate BGs.

It makes me sad. Because I can remember the days when BGs were dominated by cloth wearers. The Warlocks, so much like the American Buffalo, used to roam these plains in the millions, cursing, corrupting, and fearing their way to death and destruction. But now they have been hunted to near extinction. Sure you see the occasional stray, cowering in the corner with his FelGuard or FelHunter, hoping to get 2 or 3 dots cast before being 3 shotted. But all the kids have given them up for the really cool new classes.

I remember when a Mage used to be able kite other toons.  Throw out a Frost Nova, or a Cone of Cold, then use the old standby Monty Python maneuver. Run Away! Run Away! Get range on the enemy, and burn him down. But alas, those days are gone. If you haven't been hit with Deadly Throw (30 yd), then its Avenger's Shield (30 yd), or a Hammer of Justice, or Repentance (20 yd), or Chains of Ice (20 yd), or Death Grip (30 yd), or Hamstring. I could go on and on. There is simply no way for the glass cannon to get away anymore, especially with the number of people playing these classes.

So alas, like so many other clothies, I must bid farewell to the old BGs. Goodbye WSG. See ya AB and EOTS. Adieu AV, I would still play ya, but since Blizz has ruined you, no one queues any more. I am down to Strand and Wintergrasp where at least I can hide in a tank, on a wall, or the sheer mayhem protects me. That will have to suffice until all clothies get an invincibility bubble or magic immunity bubble or blessing of freedom or some chance to survive more than 10 seconds.  :)

Arena Complaints on Wow Insider

I want to comment on this article on WowInsider about problems with the Arena system.

The Arena system should be a bell curve the way Blizzard has designed it. That means the vast majority of teams should be right around a 1500 rating. Since Blizz has put a rating requirement on gear in season 4, I would guess a large number of players have stopped doing arena since there is no incentive to play (especially if you suck).

Consequently, a lot of teams that were 1600 or 1700 are gonna see their rating drop because without the suckage below them, they will become the sucky 1400 and 1300 teams of the future.

All Blizzards moves seem to have the goal of limiting the number of people that get Epic PVP gear. Dropping players ratings, making them angry enough to quit Arena seems to further that goal. Why they are wasting so much effort on such a small specialized segment of the player population is a mystery to me.

Hit, Expertise, Dodge

Great article on the Big Bear blog on hit, expertise and dodge.

Stats for Tanking

A reader asked about stats for druid tanks, so here is my answer.

Back in the day, your main focus was to make sure your tank was uncrittable in melee. This was achieved through either a high defense rating or a high resilience rating. With Wrath, you get the 6% crit reduction by putting 3 points in the Survival of the Fittest talent. So of course, this talent would be your first requirement.

Armor
You want to try and get gear with high armor values as this probably provides the most mitigation for a druid tank. Once again, things have changed. As of Tuesday, the armor multiplier for bear form (this is what makes tanking possible) only affects leather or cloth armor.  So high armor value rings and trinkets are no longer all that important. So focus on getting the basics, a good chest, leg, shoulder, and helm. When starting out at 80, there are two good options.  Check out the Eviscerator items made through leatherworking. They are usually reasonably priced and are good blue starter items if you have been unable to find anything better at 80. The other good options for tanks is the Savage Gladiator's Sactuary PVP set. This can be obtained through arena or battlegrounds only. Very good armor, agility, and stamina values on all this gear.

Before patch 3.0.8 my armor value was coming in around 22k to 25k depending on the gear I had on. After the patch, my armor is value in bear form is 30k.

Stamina

This stat goes hand in hand with armor. Usually high stamina gear has high armor and vice versa. High stamina protects you against bosses that use a lot of magic. Basically it gives your healers a buffer against those high damage attacks. In Wrath I'm guessing a well geared druid tank will have around 30k health with just Mark of the Wild in bear form.  Right now my health is at 27k in bear form with just Mark.

Agility

This is the next most important stat. It increases your dodge rating which of course increases your mitigation as any damage not taken is mitigated 100%. It also increases your chance to crit which increases your DPS. The more damage you can do, the better you can hold aggro against mobs. On most feral druid gear, you are gonna see high stamina and high agility values.

Dodge Rating

Sometimes instead of agility you will see dodge on gear. Since druids can't block or parry, dodging is the only way for us to avoid damage. I wouldn't say it is better than agility gear. But if an item has no agility but does have dodge, it may be very useful for a druid tank. 

Attack Power (AP)

Attack power is one of the main determining factors in DPS. Generally, if gear has the other stats mentioned, it will also have attack power.  When considering an item, AP should be secondary to damage mitigation.

Haste

Still looking into this. Probably more useful for cat druids. Will post on this as I learn more about it for druids.

 

Gear in General

The best gear for non hard core raiders can be attained by running heroics. Do your homework on what drops where and run those instances.  Remember the PVP set is another option to get you started if you like PVP. Either method should get you ready for 10 man runs and the tiered raid gear.

Bear Tanking in Wrath

Wow Insider has this great post on Bear Tanking in Wrath of the Lich King. If you are a Bear tank you must read it. Lots of good information.

I had kind of guessed that the buff to Survival of the Fittest would make us uncrittable. So there is no need to get Defense or Resilience gear any more. That will be nice.

The big change will be to leather armor. No more leather items with extra armor. When patch 3.0 comes out, this will be a retroactive change. Yep, that's right retroactive. So all the gear you have now, it get its armor value reduced. This means that rings, staffs, trinkets, necklaces, anything with extra armor on it is gonna be much more important.

So if you don't have those items get em now. You have been warned. lol.