On Actually Doing DPS

Posted by on Aug 25, 2009 in Commentary | 3 comments

Let’s say you have the best possible gear that’s accessible to you, all fully gemmed and enchanted and you’re ready to go. How do you go about dealing maximum DPS?

Slice and Dice

If you use WWS while raiding, you’ll see that your swing damage is where most of your DPS comes from. Swing is your default, non-ability attack. It’s what happens when you right-click on a hostile target, click on the Attack button or cast /startattack. Since it makes up a good chunk of your overall DPS, keeping Slice and Dice up should be your number one priority. Don’t let it drop.

Hunger for Blood

If you’re specced for Assassination, then this one’s a no-brainer. Keep HfB up along with SnD. Maintaining SnD is simplified thanks to Cut to the Chase, so the only thing you have to look out for is HfB. You’re not the only class capable of causing bleed damage so keep an eye out for it so you can apply cast the skill ASAP.

Rupture > Eviscerate/Envenom

The fast and flawed advice here is to cast Rupture once you have SnD (or SnD + HfB) up. However, some mobs die too fast for Rupture to finish its duration. In that case, it’s better to hit Eviscerate or Envenom, depending on your spec. Obviously, you should cast Rupture first before the other two during boss fights.

Fan of Knives

For trash pulls and multiple mobs, Fan of Knives is your best friend. Get into range and spam the hell out of it. You’ll be dealing damage that even casters will be envious of. You can combine FoK with Blade Flurry or Adrenaline Rush for mad DPS. Also, don’t forget to cast Tricks of the Trade on your tank prior to spamming it.

Yes, I know that it’s going to get nerfed in the next patch, but it was bound to happen. We’re not supposed to be an AoE class. It’s nice to finally have an AoE skill after all these years but we shouldn’t be topping damage meters because of it. Single-target fights should be our area of expertise.

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Top 10 Signs You Love Being A Rogue

Top 10 Signs You Love Being A Rogue

Posted by on May 7, 2009 in Commentary |

rogue-1024x

Following my last post, I thought about writing things I like about the class. Don’t get me wrong, folks, I still love being one. I wouldn’t write QQ about it if I didn’t care. Anyway, here’s the list of top ten signs you love about being a Rogue.

    #10 – Illidan is your favorite lore character. Or maybe Garona.

    #9 – You love stunlocking.

    #8 – You love picking pockets and then stunlocking.

    #7 – You think mana is for wusses.

    #6 – Poisons are more likely to be in your inventory than food.

    #5 – You consider unlocking doors and chests an actual skill.

    #4 – You’re a big Nightcrawler fan.

    #3 – When in doubt, vanish.

    #2 – You love doing it from behind.

    #1 – You think pain should be delivered up close and personal.

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On Bloodlust, Rogues & Raiding

Posted by on May 7, 2009 in Commentary | 6 comments

Today’s post is more on commentary (and maybe a little QQ) than anything else. This article on WoW Insider by Eliah Hecht got me thinking about Rogues and the state of the class. I already touched a bit on the subject back when dual specs came to light by saying how it has less of an impact for pure DPS classes.

First of all, the idea of giving Bloodlust to Rogues (or coming up with a new or redesigned ability that will give a similar benefit) is great, but the article itself highlights a main weakness of the class: the lack of utility. Let’s enumerate the pure DPS classes: Mages have caster buffs, tables and portals. Warlocks have soulstones, summoning stones and soul wells. At least Hunters have their aspects. They’re not the greatest utility abilities by a long shot but at least they have one. Rogues have what? Tricks of the Trade? My proposal here is to provide a new ability instead, something that’s more in line with the class: a raid-wide buff that adds poison damage (or at least a chance to add it) to physical damage. Again, it’s just an idea. I’m sure that it will upset the delicate PvP balance that Blizzard is maintaining so I don’t expect anything to come out of it.

Another thing that’s been nagging me for the past two weeks is this question: why bring a Rogue to a raid? The question came from the fight with Kel’Thuzad and how melee DPS deals with it. If you don’t know about positioning for melee for that fight, here it is: KT’s freeze spell affects its target plus anyone within ten yards. To get around this, melee classes form a triangle around KT, with the main tank taking one corner and the other melee take one of the remaining two. The idea is to split up then stack on top of each other to minimize the damage and, more importantly, the freeze’s range. Because of this mechanic, it makes it difficult to join PUGs because almost all of them look for ranged DPS. I’d imagine that for the KT fight, the maximum melee DPS that you can bring is four. Since Rogues are the only pure DPS melee class, they offer the least value in terms of flexibility. So, why bring one to a raid?

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Rogue Specs For 3.1

Posted by on Apr 16, 2009 in Commentary |

3.1 is out. To be honest, it’s still too early to determine what the optimum spec is but keep your eyes open on the Rogues section of the EJ forums. Use a spreadsheet when you can. I’m still waiting for Vulajin to update his. The quick-and-dirty response to the spec question is to take a look at your weapons. If you’ve got good swords and/or fist weapons then go with Combat. If your daggers are better, then go with Assassination. Dual specs are live, so you can go with both if you want to.

As for the actual specs themselves, here they are:

Poisons: Wound MH, Deadly OH

Note that the third major glyph is up to you. You can use Killing Spree, Adrenaline Rush, Slice and Dice or Tricks of the Trade. Also, the update to Lightning Reflexes throws the old Fist MH / Sword OH out the window because there aren’t enough points left to assign for both CQC and Sword Specialization

I should also mention that there is another Combat spec out there that’s been receiving a lot of attention, but I’ll wait until I see better confirmation about its viability.

Poisons: Instant MH, Deadly OH.

Like before, feel free to swap Fleet Footed with Murder. The jury’s still out on which one’s better: Master Poisoner or Turn the Tables. Otherwise, Assassination is relatively unchanged. As soon as I find out more information about specs, glyphs and other things, I’ll post them here.

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Playing The Name Game

Posted by on Apr 1, 2009 in Commentary |

Got tagged by Dinaer at Forever A Noob, so I here I go with the name history behind Sinlaris.

It all started in Guild Wars. I created a warrior named Maleficent Sin after a friend of mine. I found that I liked it when players I met online called me Sin so I stuck with it when I rolled my druid Sinstrider. When our guild decided to switch factions and we joined the Horde, I used Sinlaris for my rogue. That’s all there is to it.

I’m tagging Blackfury and Sera to respond to this one.

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