OK enough long winded intro…

My new project is a web-based reality series about end-game WoW raiders. It’s called Big Crits. And it’s about real people conquering a virtual world.

Read on...

The website for the show: http://bigcrits.com

The guild’s site: http://bigcrits.guildlaunch.com

The first step is the hardest: recruitment.

Like what you see?

Want to help spread the word?

I would really appreciate your help.

I’m making a full marketing push on this. WoW.com article, Podcast interviews, tweets, forum posts, Facebook pages, hell I even have $100 worth of Google Adwords credit that I’m using for this. Full on marketing blitz.

Here’s how you can help:

RT tweets if you’re on twitter

Post on your blogs, if you blog

Subscribe to the YouTube Channel

Become a fan on Facebook

Tell me what you’d like to see in the show.

And… of course, if you’re interested and can make the raid times, come and join us

And I promise, with all this content finally written and published, I’ll be back to posting about Stoney and Enhancement.

Thank you for bearing with me while I bring this vision to reality.

May all your hits be crits!

Hi again, it's Imonáboat (notice the new accent!) now that I'm settled in my new home lets talk about 3.3.3 and how it affects death knights

Blizzard sensing that frost was being ignored and wanting to make our arena lives a little more miserable has given the frost tree some changes.

The biggest jump off the page change is that Abom's Might and Imp Icy Talons are passive now and not on proc. This is an amazing change as they will now not over right each other and bug out.

Frost Changes AHOY!

This tree sees the biggest of all the changes, some good, some I'm not thrilled about.

Endless Winter now gives 2%/4% strength instead of adding frost fever to chains of ice. From an arena standpoint this annoys me as I now have to lose a glyph from a pve stand point this is great and will find 2 points to put in here.

Nerves of Cold Steel will now increase off hand damage 10% more at full capacity - that's great! It's like eating a cup cake and finding a jelly center. We were already taking this talent to full capacity and now its even better.

Unbreakable Armor is getting a 10% strength buff. Frosts only cool down has 10% more reasons to macro it to blood tap and use it every minute. hurrah!

Rune of Razorice will now stack 100% faster and the chance to proc is gone, 100% uptime and quick ta boot!

 Icy Talons and Improved Icy Talons now stack with each other granting an additional 25% melee haste that wasn't there before.

Glyph of Disease now refreshes secondary affects of diseases (i.e. icy talons)

Unholy

Scourge Strike is being modified to benefit the pvpers out there. The physical damage has been raised to 70% of weapon damage but to compensate the shadow damage is now only 12% per disease down from 25%. If you weren't grabbing everything with armor pen on it in sight you really must now.

In honor of getting back to PvP I'm presenting you with my #1 absolutely favorite PvP macro: Hex Focus.

#showtooltip Hex
/clearfocus [target=focus,dead] [target=focus,noexists] [modifier:alt]
/focus [target=focus,noexists]
/cast [target=focus] Hex

This macro is a blatant rip-off of the Mage sheep-focus macro from Wowwiki. All I've done is replace Polymorph with Hex.

The first line ensures it always shows the tooltip for Hex. The second line takes care of clearing the current focus. If your current focus is dead, doesn't exist, or if you hold down Alt then it will clear your focus. The third line works like this: if you have no focus set then it sets your focus to your current target, if you do have a focus set then it does nothing. The final line casts Hex on your focus.

Put it to work

Here's how to use it:

1. Target the enemy you want to set as your focus
2. Press the button once to set that character as the focus
3. At any point while that character is still alive (and you can be targeting anything else) just click this button and it will cast Hex as long as they are in range.

If you have a current focus set and you want to change your focus:

1. Target the enemy you want to make your new focus
2. Hold down Alt and click/press this button
3. They will now be your new focus, press the button again at any time without Alt to cast Hex

If you just want to clear your focus entirely

1. Target nothing
2. Hold down Alt and press the button

Wind Shearing

I have the same macro set up for Wind Shear. Oddly enough If I have both of these macros out and I set my focus using Hex, I can't Wind Shear my focus using the Wind Shear focus macro. Has anyone else had a problem similar to this?

Your best PvP macro

What's your best PvP macro? What is the macro in PvP you can't live without? Help a struggling Enhancer out! C'mon up to the front and share with the rest of the class.

May all your hits be crits!

The answer is as kosher as Christmas.

Seva asks:

After starting a Shaman alt recently, I have arrived in the early 50's and people are already going all AoE nutty on instances.  My question is; as Enhance what should I do? Focus on a single target at a time while they AoE them down or is there something I can contribute? I know Fire Nova and Magma Totem, plus Chain Lightning, but at that point I feel I should just respec Ele and forget it!

I keep getting the sideways glances on my DPS as I try to help the AoE fest, so I have been sticking to single target just so the meters look alright.

In the 50's and already worried about topping the meters? My kind of player: eeking out every last drop of damage from every means available to you. I respect that. If it's that important to you then glyph for Fire Nova and go BOOM! Of course your mana will go OOM from so much boom. If you're in your 50's and you're really concerned about topping the trash meters then you could look into a spec/glyph combo such as: 0/41/0.

What if you're at or near max level? How do you go about topping the trash meters? You could run a trash spec and a boss spec. But I've tried that and realized the only difference between the two is Glyph of Windfury Weapon vs. Glyph of Fire Nova. What I do now is keep a few stacks of each glyph in my bags and swap them out if I'm so inclined. As long as you include Elemental Focus in your spec, which you should anyway, then there's no major spec difference for trash vs. boss.

But let's talk about the underlying problem here: "I keep getting the sideways glances on my DPS as I try to help the AoE fest." Sideways glances because an Enhance Shaman isn't at parity with a Hunter, Mage, or other DPS class on AoE?

First of all, when was the last time that trash actually mattered? Mim's trash for about a week before it was nerfed? CoS for about a month after hitting 80 while pushing for the Brozne Drake? Azgalor's Wave 6 in the Battle for Mount Hyjal, pre 3.0? Molten Core fire giants? Trash serves a purpose, but that purpose is not to check the meters.

Furthermore, any trash that does matter isn't grouped up and AoE'd down anyway. In ICC there are some interesting mechanics on trash mobs that make AoE counter-productive. Val'kyr Herald's Severed Essence and pretty much everything the Darkfallen Tactician does come to mind as two excellent examples.

And finally, how difficult is it to AoE trash? Maybe it's challenging for our fellow DPS'ers to find their Volley/Blizzard/Rain of Fire/Bladestorm/Fan of Knives/whatever button and so they feel some level of sideways glancing is merited after successfully aiming the targeting circle over the tank's head. As long as you're participating in the trash clears and doing your best to clear them out as fast as possible then you're doing your part.

Where the meters really make a difference is on boss fights. Why do the combat log reporting sites separate trash from boss attempts? What do people look at when checking out others on these sites? Why does an in-game damage meter such as Skada have an option to only save boss attempts? Why shouldn't we give a damn about the meters on trash fights?

I'll tell you why:

Trash is for show, bosses for a pro.

Keep the great questions coming!

May all your hits be crits!

Tonight's macro is a simple affair but I'm willing to bet most Enhancers don't know about it or use it.

What is it?

Feed your wolves

#showtooltip
/cast Feral Spirit
/use Spiced Mammoth Treats

Put this on your action bar and when you summon your wolves, just hit the button twice if you have Spiced Mammoth Treats in your bag. It increases their strength by 30 and AP by 60. The jury is out if this affects just one wolf or both wolves. Regardless, it's shown to be a dps boost.

And if you're in a 5-man or in some situation where you don't want to waste a treat then don't hit the button twice. It's as simple as that. Twice for buffed wolves, once for normal wolves.

Farm for your feed

I hop on my druid who is a LW/skinner and head out to The Storm Peaks to roughly these two areas. In there you'll find roaming packs of Stoic Mammoths. Even if you're not a skinner, it's easy to get out there and get in the middle of the roamers, get a Magma Totem down and get off a Fire Nova as they go past.

Pull the whole pack.
Kill.
Collect meat.
Pick off any straggler mammoths.
Then move to the other area.
By the time you finish with the roamers and stragglers in one are the other area will have respawned.

Quick and easy tonight.
Just like... farming for mammoth treats. (What did you think I was going to say there?)

May all your hits be crits!

Welcome to another edition of Ask Stoneybaby. I'll be your host, Stoneybaby.

I received a lot of good questions in the last few weeks, of those I'm pulling a good one from a few weeks back for tonight's post. Reader Scott emailed me about totem management. It's a great question and even had a very catchy subject line (that I repeated below). I shot him a quick response via email but I'm going into much greater depth here, including the single greatest thing I did to improve my totem management. 

Totems Totems Everywhere, not a GCD to drink

Scott asked:

A short history. I'm a healer by nature. Raiding resto druids, raiding priest. During a PuG raid, a resto shaman suggested he swap to his enhancement spec as we were low on DPS. He did abysmally, so much so, that after the raid, I took my 80 Shaman banker, threw on what little enhancement gear and queued for dungeons. This was, I'd say, 3 weeks ago. Reading EJ, reading BigHitBox, etc has been an exceptional help to me and I feel I do pretty well as enhancement.

My current annoyance is managing totems. I use TotemTimers and drop my regular totems( Str of Earth, Windfury, Mana ) just outside of melee distance as I run it for the pull. I get my magma totem down and work through my rotation. Popping the nova after I've gotten SS, FS, and LL onto cooldown. This goes well for the first bit but, as the fight moves on, I invariably lose track of it. Having to force myself to manually check, redrop, and get my novas back into rotation. I feel like this is causing a significant drop in my DPS. How do you manage it? Any special tricks or just mental rigor?

Great question because totems are the most unique feature of playing a shaman. They will forever be a part of the class and if you need a system to manage them.

First I do believe that totem management is primarily a matter of mental rigor, as you say. Playing the other shaman specs frees up plenty of brain CPU cycles to do so, that plus the movement of Ele and Resto is significantly less than Enhance. For the most part they can just drop and forget while we have to manage our range, refresh at least one totem every 20 seconds, all while tracking of the most extensive spell rotation in the game. So yes, it does take some getting used to as I'm sure you've found out Scott.

But other than pure mental discipline, there are some ways to make totem management easier. And of course that means add-ons. 

Totem Timers

Totem Timers is a mod that helps shamans of all specs manage their buffs, shields, imbues, cooldowns, and of course totems. I just recently started using it and integrating it into my UI. As far as totems go I show the totem cooldowns just above my main action bar. In the picture below you can see a few key details

The red dots in the upper left corner mean I'm out of range of the totem. It's not a huge marker, but just enough that it makes for an easy point of reference, even while on the move with a million other things happening at once.

Next, notice the Magma Totem is completely red; that's because it is about to expire. The complete coloring makes it easier to notice passively.

Not shown here is the "tick" of Cleansing Totem. If you have a Cleansing Totem down the button will have a green progress bar that scrolls up through the button. When the progress bar completes that means the totem just ticked off a cleanse.

Finally, while there are actual timer numbers under each button I don't actively pay attention to those. I have better timers in my unit frames.

The other great aspect of Totem Timers is the fly-out totem menu from each button. I'll get into the "Call of the..." spells shortly, but for one-off totem drops or reassigning your default group configuration Totem Timers has the best functionality.

As you can see in the picture, leftclick to cast that totem or rightclick to assign it to that slot.

For example, this is my default totem configuration, but in a fight like Blood Queen I'll pull up the menu and drop a Tremor Totem before she casts her fear. Or, if I'm afraid I'll forget the Tremor and there's a Death Knight in raid to cover the SoE buff then I'll rightclick on Tremor before the fight and have it set as my default earth totem drop.

That is all a bit more on the advanced side but it is part of how I manage my totems and works very well for me.

Unit Frames

Stuf Unit Frames is my UF mod of choice. It's highly customizable and includes a great interactive totem frame. Actually, to say Stuf is highly customizable is an understatement; it's nearly infinitely customizable. But that's a post for another day.

The totem timer frame is interactive meaning you can rightclick to destroy the totem. This is how I go about destroying one totem without picking up the group.

Also, The visual of the bar plus the time display helps with both passive and active monitoring.

Bar Mod

Here is where my totem management probably varies the most from other shamans. Most people probably manage their Call of the Ancestors, Elements, and Spirits through a bar mod. Or if you don't you probably use the default UI for setting up the grouped drops.

The default UI actually has the best management system of all the bar mod's I've seen so far. If you're using the default UI you've got one of the best totem management tools around.

However I use a Razer Naga so I'm kind of tied into their bar mod. I could use my mouse with any bar mod or even the default UI, but I choose to use their because it does suit my purposes for the most part. And I have their totem bars disabled.

I've set my standard totem drops from the default UI, keybound each group, and memorized them. If I need to make a one-off adjustment I do so from the Totem Timers bar. From there it's all about...

Key Bindings

This is my killer secret and number one suggestion for totem management: assign each Call to a specific key. I use F2-F5. For PvE I have:

F2 - Call of the Ancestors: my standard offensive grouping (SoE, MT, HS, WF)
F3 - Call of the Elements: CC-safe (the standard group less MT)
F4 - Call of the Spirits: defensive group (Tremor, FrR, Cleansing, NR)
F5 - Totemic Recall

And PvP:

F2 - Call of the Ancestors: standard group, I only use for bursting
F3 - Call of the Elements: Grounding & Earthbind only, both on the same CD making it easy to reapply
F4 - Call of the Spirits: defensive PvP group (Tremor, FrR, Cleansing, WF) and is my default for PvP
F5 - Totemic Recall

I have the same concept behind each keybind and can go right to them for whatever I need. It makes it easier to remember and keybinds easy to hit on the go.

I tried using F1-F4 but I found that I relied on F1 (default is to target yourself) very often and the strangest circumstances. Therefore I prefer the F2-F5 setup. Also, with the F5 key separate from the pack it's easy to go for recall without accidentally dropping anothe group.

Conclusion

The keybinding may not seem like that big of a deal but in the heat of battle, especially in PvP, you can't take the time to shuffle through a fly-out menu to get the totem configuration you need. You need to press a keybind and get on with your next priority.

My mods help by having multiple ways to see the timing and a quick alert if I'm out of range.

But ultimately it does come down to mental rigor. You have to get a feel for your totems. After all, you're a shaman and without your totems you're toast.

What tips, tricks, and tools do you use to manage your totems?

May all your hits be crits!

Welcome to the inaugural issue of Monday Night Macro. Zaltu used to do a Monday Morning Macro and while the alliteration was much better, naming it as Zaltu did would require me posting on Monday morning. I don't want to post on Monday morning. Heck, I don't even want there to be a Monday morning, let alone be blogging during it.

Thus the Enhancement Shaman macro post is henceforth known as the Monday Night Macro.

Today I'm tackling the Shock rotation. As an Enhancement Shamans we need to use both Flame Shock and Earth Shock. We need to let the Flame Shock run its complete duration in order to get the full effect. Clipping more than 1 tick per FS will sink your DPS. Using a macro for shock management means and we don't have to worry about clipping and frees up some valuable bar space.

I've seen two variations on the shock macro, reset by target and reset by time. First what I've been using: reset by time:

#showtooltip
/castsequence reset=target/combat Flame Shock, Earth Shock, Earth Shock

The upside to this macro is that in a fight requiring target switches for sustained periods of dps you can lead with a Flame Shock at all times thus getting the most out of the FS duration. A perfect example would be the slimes on Professor Putricide. The other advantage is that you can tab target and DoT up mobs (every 6 seconds) but that assumes they'll be up long enough to feel the pain of the full duration.

The problem I'm discovering with this macro are fights with burst damage required on target switches. A perfect example is a Bone Spike on Lord Marrowgar; we hard switch to the spike and the macro resets to FS, whereas an ES would be ideal in this situation. Then after only a few seconds of attacking a spike we switch back to the boss and FS is back up in the rotation, regardless of how many ticks are left on the boss. We run the risk of clipping FS and thus reducing our output slightly.

The next macro will most likely alleviate that problem:

#showtooltip
/castsequence reset=18/combat Flame Shock, Earth Shock, Earth Shock

Here the macro resets after 18 seconds (the full duration of FS) or when leaving combat. Now you have a two-thirds chance of ES being up for hard target switches. And no matter how many target switches you make, that reset counter just keeps ticking on the boss. When you switch back to the boss either your FS is already off it or you're right back in the rotation.

The downside here is that if you turn back to the boss after 18 seconds, you're going to be in the middle of this macro's sequence and thus more lost dps. Wouldn't it be great to have the best of both worlds? All the good with none of the bad? Just like... well that would be unlike anything. Ever.

Until now.

I present to you the Stoneybaby Sexytime Super Shocking Sequence:

#showtooltip
/castsequence [nomodifier] reset=target/combat Flame Shock, Earth Shock, Earth Shock; [modifier:alt] Earth Shock

The macro reset sequences on target changes so you can get a full FS-ES-ES rotation if you're on a target. Plus it has the burst flexibility to apply ES to the likes of Bone Spikes but holding down Alt. Likewise, if you switch back to the boss the macro resets the sequence, but if there is already FS up you can apply one or two ES by holding down Alt.

Alt happens to be my modifier of choice, replace as you see fit. This works like a charm for my target switches and gives me complete control if I want it, or auto-pilot when I'm not switching

I hope this edition of Monday Night Macro was as good for you as it was for me.

May all your hits be crits!

ITS GUNNA BLOW!!!

Welcome back fellow Death Knights, I'm Imonaboat and with the impending release of Arthas let's talk about the ICC experience as a DK so far.

TRASH! How I have missed you - let me count the ways 1 pestilence 2 pestilence.....

The biggest downfall to ToC was the lack of trash 2nd only to the fact that we were in the same boring room for the entire instance. Trash returns in a big big way and I know I can't be the only person that is happy to see this. Time to relocate our pestilence, death and decay, and blood boil buttons!

State of the Class

From my experiences in ICC we are in an excellent position. So you all know where I am coming from, I an unholy specc'd death knight and I am currently rocking 2pc t10 and 2pc t9 - only 1 more piece away from the 4 set! A lot of the early boss fights play to the biggest strength of Unholy and that is AoE damage. Whether it's bone spikes on Marrowgar, cultists on Deathwhisper, or the entire Boat battle, there are adds everywhere and they need your diseases! Unholy is also competitive in single target fights like Saurfang, Rotface, and Festergut. We aren't competing with the rogues yet but we aren't Ele shamans either, I feel we are in a position to be top 5 every fight. That is a great place to be.

Hey Boat what about Blood or DW Frost?

Blood is still a solid spec, you will see it fall behind on any fight that has an multiple target but is on par with unholy for single target fights. DW frost is really far behind and for the most part unless your guild is not raiding with an ehance shammy you should probably not be playing frost.

 How do I spec? What is my rotation?

Here ya go!

Anything else I should know?

2 piece t10 should be your first priority, the badge trinket is terrible, and keep grinding ToGC for your heroic DV/DC as it's still BiS! Besides that if you use a 2h weapon armor pen is your friend. Happy Hacking!

Hello again, it's Imonaboat and I am back from my hiatus. Let's catch up on the legendary and where I am and where you might be in your quest chain.

I was honored by my guild with the privilege of receiving the 1st Shadow's Edge and subsequently the 1st Shadowmourne. I have gotten countless questions about it so I thought that I would take the time to answer them all as well as fix some misconceptions.

1st and Foremost There is No Rogue Version!

I have gotten this question over and over with the obligatory response "That's ghey" from every single one when I tel them that its only a 2H weapon. Really? You guys need better weapons? /facepalm

Now that that is out of the way:

25 Primordial Saronite, 1 Light's Vengeance, 2 Bloods, and a Pinch of Force Shock?

The most taxing part of putting this weapon together is the Primordial Saronite I was lucky enough that my guild provided 13 of the required 25 and I ran my alts through 10 man ICC till I was able to get 12 more. So the moral of the story is gear out 3 alts and you get to keep your badges on your main.

After that you need to complete a side quest in the Frostmourne Cavern in Dragon's Blight and you get a lovely bag space filler in Light's Vengeance - it is beyond me why we need a mace to craft an axe but I just nodded and smiled at Mr Mograin and went off to get my bloods.

The last part of this quest requires you to kill Festergut and Rotface in a 25 man setting. So if you do not raid with a 25 man team I would suggest you put the primordial saronite back as you wont be able to craft this weapon. Completing this chain in a 25 man setting is a continuing trend through out the quest chain to the legendary. So I wouldn't suggest you drop 50-100k gold on saronites unless you are sure you will be able to complete the quest chain.

After you have all your mats you return to Mograin where it's only logical that he throws them all in a Runeforge and

Force shock's them? I never knew that Mo was a sith. Wonder how many innocents I have to kill to get that spell. There are a certain whiney npcs that I wouldn't mind using that on.

After that your axe floats out of the forge and Mograin hands it to you upon quest completion. It was pretty cool to watch the 1st time - so much that I forgot to take screen shots and had to pull these from a fellow guildmate, thanks for the help Alidin, on a side note if you see him in game /rofl at him for forgetting to take Juggernaught in his arms spec - he'll appreciate it.

I Always Feel Like Someone is Watching MEEEeeeee

Arthas is lonely, very very lonely. You will discover this quickly as you work on the 2nd step of the quest chain which is to kill 1000 mobs in ICC. Every so often Mr. Lich King will whisper you about how you two are kindred spirits and that you should hang out this Saturday and have a picnic in his throne room, or something along those lines. It's pretty funny he gets more and more desperate for companionship as you rack up the kills. This part of the quest is tedious but should tide you over until your raid group is ready to complete the boss quests.

I am currently working on the Putricide part of the quest chain. I will come back to update on the chain after I  have completed it. Until then keep your rotations tight and remember that even though they bounce the slimes that putricide throw are not fun to play with.

I've been waiting for a Shaman spot to open up and was both excited and terrified when the spot opened as Resto/Enhance. Vhat ez dees Resto you speak of?

To my previous knowledge Resto was a great restaurant/bar I frequent in midtown, but what does it have to do with being a Shaman? Ohh it's a spec! Why didn't someone tell me?! OK so that's what it will take to blog for Wow.com? No problem! Stoney goes to Resto to have a beer to get up the nerve to spec into resto.

Here's what I wrote as part of my application to Wow.com regarding my lack of resto knowledge:

The downside here is that as of Thursday 1/7 my knowledge of Resto Shamanism consisted entirely of: they have Jesus Beamz and Earth Shields. That was about it. In fact my signatures on EJ and the official forums for a while was "Enhance for life."

But because you're looking for a Resto/Enhance columnist this shortcoming of mine presents an opportunity: the preeminent Enhancement blogger goes Resto for off-spec! I've started picking up gear through emblems, off-spec rolls, and craftables. I spoke with some of our Resto Shamans in Unorthodox to get pointers on Resto 101, and even threw down Stoney's first ever Resto spec.

I haven't healed since MC, and that was on my Druid. I've long identified with being Enhance and Enhance alone. But for the opportunity to blog for Wow.com I'll make the leap. Sign me up as heals!
/gulp

And then I turned my off-spec from Enhance AoE into that aforementioned healing spec. I started collecting healing gear. I read about healing. I talked to guild mates about healing. Eventually I even had glyphs made for said healing spec. CRAZY!

My application was in.
My mind was set.
I'm going to heal something.
Really.
I swear.

Good and Gooder News

I waited for a response. And waited. You know how it is: when you're anticipating something, something that you're so totally excited about, and every day that goes by without a response just builds up the anticipation that much more. I don't want to be a total geek about this, but I really did want this spot. So I waited what ended up only being 5 days but definitely felt much longer.

Then the response came: We want you to write for us, and we want you to write only about Enhance.

Good news and gooder news! I get to write for Wow.com AND I don't have to go resto! (Though I still plan to go to Resto to have a celebratory burger and Belgian beer.)

Stoney's off-spec is back to PvP in preparation for Season 8, and I don't plan on sitting on the sidelines this season. The healing gear is disenchanted. And I never had to heal a thing. Everyone was telling me: it's easy just Earth Shield the tank and Chain Heal your way to victory.That's all well and good, but I'm just as happy being Enhance for life.

Questions Answered

You're probably wondering what's going to happen with Big Hit Box. Will I blog to both BHB & Wow.com? Will it be the same? Should you read both? Let's make a little FAQ, shall we?

What will happen with Big Hit Box?
BHB will still be alive and kicking. I will continue to blog here about all things Enhance, Stoney-related, and my general rants & raves about the game and the life and times of melee.

Will my posts to BHB & Wow.com be the same?
No they will not.

Should you read both?
Yes absolutely! Us Enhancers are afterall the most under-represented spec in the game.

What will the difference be between the two?
BHB will be a bit more Stoney-focused, though only slightly. I'll also do more Q&A here and continue to rant on about anything game, guild, or melee related.

What will the column be called on Wow.com?
The column will still be called Totem Talk, with each Shaman writer contributing their unique aspect to Shamanism. If I had my choice I'd call the Enhance section: Enhance for Life. But the decision is not up to me so there you have it: I am now proudly 1/3 of Totem Talk.

Big Hit Box

Big Hit Box has not yet achieved the vision I have for it, though largely due to my lack of time to put into it. All the bloggers I started blogging with have since retired and I need to reach out to new ones. That is in the works. In the meantime if you are a melee player and you want to contribute to BHB, whether or not you have your own blog, then please contact me and let me know.

I will continue to be here at BHB for a long time to come and I look forward to your comments and thank you for keeping me on your blogroll.

May all your hits be crits!

Shortly after this pull, and while busy pondering his love for trash mobs, Stoney got one-shot

Once upon a time, and for quite a long time, trash mobs were an integral part of every raid. From the gear-check guardians at the entrance to MC to the three-Mages-required SSC and TK packs, trash took up a significant portion of raid time, energy and mana. We bitched about it in classic WoW. We bitched more about it in BC. Then we AoE power-cleared it in Naxx and did the same in Ulduar for the most part (after nerfs to Mim’s trash). There was even a mob called Trash in Ulduar.

And then came Trial of the Crusader. Here was the first multi-boss raid in the history of the world (of Warcraft) to have absolutely no trash mobs. (And no I'm not counting Eye of Eternity.) It was another reason why ToC is my least favorite raid or instance in five years of gameplay: multiple bosses, zero trash. Even Gruul’s Lair had mobs, if only 10 of them. The lack of trash was like a finished puzzle missing half a dozen pieces: you still got the overall effect but there was just something lacking leaving it less than complete.

The distinct absence of trash in ToC got me thinking about the purpose it serves. We go to the raid for the bosses, but we need the trash for three key reasons: aesthetics, lore, and pacing.

Aesthetics

In my opinion the aesthetic appeal trash mobs bring to an instance is the least important, but is still a key reason for its existence. If every wing was filled with either zombies or spiders then we’d be playing an FPS. But having varied packs relevant to each wing contributes to the overall aesthetic.

You know you’re out of the sewers of Black Temple and into the main halls when you face off against packs of demons instead of poisonous elementals. In the cramped space of TK you move from blood elves to dragon hawks to mechanized baddies depending on the boss. Naxx is the clearest example where each wing has completely different classifications types mobs relevant to that that wing, making it all feel very different even within the same instance. Trash completes the feel of each wing and each raid instance.

Lore

Though I’m not fanatical about lore, I do truly appreciate its depth and how our actions are woven into the living storyline. Anyone who quested in Zangarmarsh and spent their time trying to unravel the mysteries of the draining of the marsh is vindicated to destroy the Naga, Broken, and Murlocs behind that engineering scheme. The courtyard of BT features the staging grounds for the air and ground assault troops of Illidan. How great is it to come up through the sewers with your elite team and completely annihilate the demon’s main army? Ulduar’s Formation Grounds are similar, though have a less personal feel due to the vehicle-mounted combat.

Also, what’s the point of being a boss if you’ve got no troops to command. A boss without trash is like me stomping around my apartment screaming “I’m the boss of this apartment! Obey me, minions!” to no one in particular. Bosses need subordinates otherwise they’re not technically bosses, are they? 

Trash is a binding agent that ties zone questing content into the raid instance. They’re the minions and prized troops of bosses (anyone who’s killed Stinky and Precious know this) who stand defiantly between you and their masters.

Pacing

Finally, trash provides pacing to instances. This is the most subtle aspect but I would argue is the most important.

Bosses are the true challenges that require our full attention to run out of fires, dance around whirlwinds, hard switch to secondary targets, and jump through whatever hurdle in order to successfully complete the encounter. The harder the boss the more attention required. Even with bosses on farm, there is a required level of concentration. How quiet does your vent get during Patchwerk? Silence, right? Healers are spamming the hell outta the tanks; DPS is concentrating on getting the perfect rotation; and tanks are timing their cooldowns. It’s hands-down the easiest boss in this expansion and it’s always guaranteed 3 minutes of utter silence. After which we all exhale.

That exhaling is why we need trash. We cannot and should not spend every raid moment in the heightened state of mind needed for boss fights. We’re gamers not fighter pilots; if we spend too much time in that state we face mental exhaustion and distraction which leads to mistakes, wipes, and frustration.  Trash provides a great mental cooldown period between bosses.

Trash is not an outright mental stop either. It’s more like staying loose on the sidelines: you keep moving, keep pressing buttons, and relax just enough between boss pulls. In our guild we have a lively vent and trash mobs are when most of the joking around happens. We make fun of one another, say horribly inappropriate (and unbelievably hilarious) things, and gossip about whatever is going on in the world, the realm or our crazy minds.

The next time you’re bemoaning trash for slowing you down, take a second and consider how it impacts the raid and your guild. How do these mobs tie into the storyline? What would the place be without it? And how would you get an emergency afk (with /follow) if it wasn’t for trash mobs?!

What do you think? What was the best trash? The worst?

May all your hits be crits!

Cross posted on Caer Morrighan on 17 January 2010

Updated for patch 3.3:

Specs and Glyphs

• 5/9/57
• Use Major Glyph of Judgement and Major Glyph of Consecration.
• Use Minor Glyph of Sense Undead, Minor Glyph of Lay on Hands, Minor Glyph of Blessing of Might.
• For your last Major slot use Glyph of Seal of Vengeance if you are NOT expertise capped from gear.  If you ARE expertise capped from gear use Seal of Exorcism.

Abilities: DPS

• Your ‘rotation is FCFS or First Come First Served.  Hit the best of the abilities that is available to you at any given time.
• Priority order without 2P t9 set bonus from best to worst: HoW, CS, Judgment, DS, Cons., Exorcism, Holy Wrath.
• Priority order with 2P t9 set bonus from best to worst: Judgment, HoW, CS, DS, Cons., Exorcism, Holy Wrath.
• Priority order with 2P t9 and 2P t10 set bonus from best to worst: Judgement, DS, HoW, CS, Cons., Exorcism, Holy Wrath.
• Priority order with 4P t10 set bonus from best to worst: DS, CS, Judgement, HoW, Cons., Exorcism, Holy Wrath.
• Only use Exorcism with a 2 point Art of War proc.
• You can only use Holy Wrath on Undead.
• You can only use Hammer of Wrath after the mob is below 20%.
• Always stand behind the mob if possible.  This means it cannot parry you.  But only if standing behind the mob won’t cause you or your tank to die horribly.

Abilities: Utility

• You can dispel magic, disease and poison and you should.  I use Vuhdo to allow me to do this quickly without changing target.
• Spare CDs and Art of War procs can be used for Flash Heal.  So can non-spare ones.  You can’t dps if you die.
• Use your Sacred Shield to reduce the damage you take.
• Lay on hands is good.  So are bubbles, Hand of Salvation, Hand of Sacrifice, Repentance, etc.  Learn how to use all your utility in a fight.

Gear

• Your hit cap is 8% hit (263 or 230 for Drenai).  You should ensure you are always capped.
• Your expertise cap is 26 or 214 rating (lower for Humans and Dwarves with certain weapons).  You should strive for this.
• After those stack strength, followed by crit.  Haste and  Armor Pen are meh - don't stack them but don't avoid them.  The same is true of Agility and Attack Power.  Spellpower and Intellect are bad.
• To see how your item rates against possible drops check out the Retribution Paladin Gear List for 3.3.

Gems and Enhancements

• Use the Relentless Earthsiege Diamond meta gem.
• Use one Nightmare Tear +10 stats gem to activate it (this gem is prismatic and so counts as 1 red, yellow and blue).
• Use any hit/expertise gems to help you reach the cap.
• Use Bold Cardinal Ruby +20 strength gems in all slots, unless you have a yellow gem slot that will give you a +6 strength socket bonus or more.  Then use an Inscribed Ametrine +10 strength/+10 crit.
• Unless you have a profession that provides a better enchant, or are enchanting for caps, enchants and enhancements are:
  • Head: Arcanum of Torment (Knights of the Ebon Blade - Revered)
  • Shoulder: Greater Inscription of the Axe (Sons of Hodir - Exalted)
  • Chest: Enchant Chest - Powerful Stats (+10 stats)
  • Wrist: Enchant Bracer - Greater Assault (+50 AP)
  • Hands: Enchant Gloves - Crusher (+44 AP)
  • Waist: Eternal Belt Buckle (Made by BS, BoE)
  • Legs: Icescale Leg Armor (Made by LW, BoE)
  • Feet: Enchant Boots - Greater Assualt (+32 AP)
  • Weapon: Enchant Weapon - Beserking

The spec is the Enhancement template du jour: 19/52/0. Even if you don’t take 1/1 Elemental Focus in your normal setup, you need it here to help offset the excessive use of Fire Nova. It’s a mana-saver, believe me. I went with the glyphs of Fire Nova, Fire Elemental, and Spirit Wolves for starters. That’s right folks, no SS glyph. I wanted to try out AE and pet damage.

The rotation priority I recommend is:

• SR
• SW
• FE
• MT
• MW5_LB
• FN
• SS
• ES
• LL
• LS

I dropped Flame Shock off the rotation for two reasons. First it’s highly likely your target will die during a Flame Shock duration and even if you get 1 full FS cycle you’ll be lucky to get another. Second, I end up tab-targeting when my threat gets too high on any one target so starting a new FS on a half-dead target is a waste compared to consistent ES.

Fire Elemental Totem placement is a tricky thing. As we’re moving through the halls clearing trash the ele quickly becomes a non-factor, which then also takes FN off the table because the totem is 40 yards behind you. One place where dropping a FE totem works out well is at the intersection heading up to the Plagueworks bosses where Stinky & Precious path. We pull the trash around the corner and fight them on the stairs, and let’s face it: these trash mobs are like mini-bosses. Other than setting up shop in that corner I’m quick to pull the plug on the FE totem and replace it with MT, because the key to making this spec rip out the damage is to spam Fire Nova over and over and over.

If you LoS trash around this corner it's a great place to set up shop for your Fire EleMana is not usually a problem, it will be low but replenishable even in 5s so long as you use Shammy Rage at every opportunity. And by every opportunity I mean, on every cooldown unless the pack is below 25% health. It’s a judgment call. You will tear through mana so be ready to drink when you can and use SR on nearly every cooldown.

After toying with two specs one night I decided to roll back to my main spec and just change out glyphs as needed. Going with just one PvE Enhance spec means the FE Glyph gets voted off the island. What I do is keep SS & Feral Spirit glyphed and just swap out Windfury and Fire Nova. I had half a dozen of each glyph made for me and make a swap about once per day. Yes, I did go back to the SS glyph. And no I’m not sure whether I’d get more from WF or SW but I go with replacing WF. Just remember to replace your glyphs before bosses!

Here’s what I do:

ICC
Ground floor trash: FN
Lord Marrow through Saurfang: WF
Plagueworks trash: FN
Plagueworks bosses: WF

ToGC
First four bosses: WF
Anub: FN

ToC
All of it: WF

5-mans
meh. FN if I feel like it.

The great thing about Enhancement AoE setup is that we can single-target DPS while AEing. It makes for some fun trash clearing and especially lively 5-man run when my top three damage spells overall are: Swing, Fire Nova, and Magma Totem. Not to mention getting 5k Fire Nova crits in 25s! BOOM!

What say you, Shaman the new Mage? Fire Nova the new Blizzard?

May all your hits be crits!

--------------

bob | December 20, 2009
stoney, do you still use flame shock without the flame shock glyph? just wondering if that's a good idea or not.

regardless, i'll be very happy to get rid of flame shock in my rotation, i end up clipping it far too much, and i get angry at myself when i do, thus i forget other things, then it all snowballs from there. will probably be a dps increase for me.

I do not use the Glyph of Flame Shock any more. With higher weapon damages I found it more beneficial to use Glyph of Windfury. I do still use FS in my rotation. This macro makes a big difference

#showtooltip
/castsequence reset=combat/target Flame Shock, Earth Shock, Earth Shock

There were some good replies with macros with a reset of 18 seconds. I prefer the one above because it resets on target change or on combat. The timer reset then becomes redundant with a cast sequence.

--------------

Kyuubi | December 21, 2009
Mind sharing your keybindings? I'd be interested in seeing how other enhancers bind their keyes. 

I got a new Razer Naga mouse for Christmas and I’m working on my keybindings. I have not yet come up with a setup that satisfies me. What I’m trying to do is use ~ to 5 on the keyboard and 6 to = on the mouse. I’m still not 100% comfortable with the setup. Here’s where mine stands right now:

• ~ – Wind Shear
• 1 – LL
• 2 – FS/ES macro
• 3 – SS
• 4 – LB
• 5 – CL

Then controlling from my mouse:

• 6 – SW
• 7 – FE
• 8 – FN
• 9 – MT
• 0 – Purge
• - – SR
• = - HW

With the recent changes to the Razer Naga mouse where you can now map any key including Shift, Alt, and Ctrl I’m considering vastly simplifying my bars and only use ~ through 5 but with variations for Shift and Alt (Ctrl controls pets by default). I don’t know, I’m constantly tweaking my tweaking my keybindings. The real test for any keybind setup in Lord Jaraxxus. Nothing like keeping a full rotation, hard switches, and purges while tyring to memorize your latest keybinds!

There were some answers from some other commenters:

Jake |  December 21, 2009
1= LB, 2=SS, 3=LL, 4=ES, 5=nova, 6=ChainLT
Mousewheel Up=Winsheer
Mousewheel Down= magma totem
mousescrool button=vent
mouse4=Lightning shield
Mouse 5= Sham rage
R=Purge
i click everything else. except lesser heal, thats bound to Page up and page down so i can just slap at it when i need it

Cataclysmic |  December 22, 2009
1= SS
2= ES
3= LL
4= LB (Alt ChL)
5= HWave
Shift 1= SRage
Shift 2= FSpirit
Shift 3= Lshield (Alt Wshield)
Shift 4= Can't remember
`= GWolf
F= Wind Shear (Alt Hex)
C= FShock
X= Purge
V= Grounding
\= Can't remember

I do quite alot of PvP, thats why Frost Shock and the like are keybinded and where I say "(Alt Ability)" I macro a second ability for when holding Alt.    

--------------

Jim | December 23, 2009
If I am in a caster-heavy group in particular wouldn't it be better for the group if I went with a flametongue totem? Spell power = better heals, better Warlock/Mage DPS, and it isn't as if my own DPS isn't enhanced by greater spellpower. Magma and FE might be better for my personal DPS but is it really best for the group?

Also, I'm kind of lazy . . . dropping a flametongue is set-it-and-forget-it. I can cast Nova if I want to, but I don't have to worry about the FE cooldown (as a matter of fact, it is more likely that I'll have FE if I really need it) or pulling a pat or an add.

I am just getting into 10-man and 25-man content, but I have never had anyone complain that I went with Flametongue as my fire totem, but I don't even see it mentioned on this page. Is it really that bad?    

Jim, I’m sure there is a definite break-even point for Flametongue Totem vs. Magma Totem for but to be honest I don’t know what it is. I’ll say this: if I’m the only Shaman in the raid and we’re doing some challenging content I always put down Flametongue Totem because as you noted it supports both casters and healers. If there is a Resto or Ele Shaman then you know they’ll be dropping FT or Wrath so you can go on your merry Magma way. On trash pulls I don’t think FT is going to have an appreciable impact so I’d use MT for all trash. I also always use MT in 5s because it’s rare you’re in a group that doesn’t vastly outgear the instance, and if you don’t the random group buff makes up for it.

The thing with theorycrafters is that most are running 25-man content and so they tune gear, specs, and rotations to a full raid with the expectation that there will be at least a Resto Shaman included. And since all totems (except Cleanse, Tremor, and Grounding?) are raid-wide the assumption is we Enhancers are free to go with whatever fire totem we want.

Jake had a great followup as well:

Jake | December 23, 2009
if your not pulling the numbers you need to, then just use what keeps you in the raid, once you get to a gear level where you don't Need your totems to keep your place then do what is best for the group, but as far as healing goes, if you make... oh say 2 interrupts you already made up for any SP boost you can give a healer

--------------

Olly | December 31, 2009
so what glyphs are everyone rocking atm?
I glyphed from FE to FN, and I'm not sure if I like it... it's great for trash and heroics, but for raid, I much preferred the FE.
I'm rocking WF and Wolves in the other two slots.
opinions?

Baelor answered this before I had a chance to:

Baelor | January 4, 2010
Stormstrike should be your #1 glyph
Ferel spirits is #2

#3 can be played around with a bit I'm using WF atm. I've also had Lightning Shiled and Flame shock there. If a fight will last 7 minutes then Fire Elemental is worth it. otherwise its a waste.

I go with Glyph of SS and Feral Spirit. I had an inscriptionist whip up half a dozen glyphs of WF and Fire Nova so I can alternate between them. I use FN for running 5s and on the trash up to Lord Marrowgar. Then at ol' boneyface I put in WF and leave it on for the rest of the instance.

--------------

Edge | December 23, 2009
Just wondering how I would spec a 2/2 Imp SS because I need 1/1 SF to be able to get to the next tier. So you either have to take it or waste a point in something else and not have enough to get everything you want in Elemental. I guess you could add to Imp Shields and lose a point in something over in Elemental.

Yes I would do something like this: 18/53/0 and take 2/3 Improved Shields + 2/2 Improved SS while sacrificing Shamanistic Focus and Elemental Focus. It's definitely less mana efficient if you are casting a lot of Fire Novas. But for the amount of Fire Novaing I do, I go with 1/2 ISS and 1/1 EF.

--------------

There were a lot of questions and comments about stacking haste

nutiket | December 24, 2009
I was wondering if its still optimal to stack haste? i'm stacking haste now i have about 594 and lead my guild in dps ranging from 4-7k in 10 mans, but i see you going AP

Vukajin | January 6, 2010
Just on a note: Haste Stacking may still be king. EJ has the BiS list with haste gems, and my own experience is that socketing haste is a higher EnhSim DPS.

Jake |  January 6, 2010
i still stack haste. their is the question, hit more, or hit harder. the idea behind staking haste is its the one stat that effects both your spells and melee hits via MS procs. im thinking stacking AP might be the more mana efficiant stat

Vukajin |  January 6, 2010
Of course AP is more mana efficient. But if you don't run OOM, and I don't anymore, then why does efficiency matter?

Haste directly affects your weapon damage (white and Flametongue Weapon), it increases procs for Maelstrom Weapon and gives a greater chance of getting Windfury procs when that’s off cooldown. So one could argue Haste positively impacts roughly 2/3 of your damage. AP on the other hand affects everything: physical damage and magical damage (through Mental Dexterity) are increased across the board.

I haven’t had a chance to sim it out to compare for myself. While "sim it" is the ultimate answer as to what’s best for you and your gear right now, it’s a cop out for me to just say "sim it" and be done with it.

So I’ll say this:  I lean towards AP. I’m not a haste hater. I was a haste junkie in BC and I’ll put haste in yellow sockets that provide a decent benefit, but given a choice between haste and AP, I go for AP. It’s especially beneficial for trash clear packs with massive Fire Nova crits!

Email or post your questions! 

May all your hits be crits!

Have you seen these blue posts:

and

I understand that blizzard is big on BTPNTC, which is a great initiative. It makes creating groups for 10s that much easier and doesn’t hold raids hostage to any one class or spec. (Shadow Priest mana regen in BC anyone? C’mon you know you were fighting for the SPriest in your group on your caster or healer!) But at what point does BTPNTC wash us all into homogeny, or in this case, with buffs replaceable by craftables?

The biggest thing to understand is that every fight is tuned to be accomplished without Heroism/Bloodlust. This is evidenced by Eyonix' statement "One is we’re unsure the buff is as mandatory as some players think it is." I also recall reading somewhere a direct quote that boss fights are tuned without Heroism, but I can't find it right now (fail blogger is me).

Pure Win

Let’s not downplay Hero/BL: it’s friggin awesome. 45 seconds of pure speed-burning, enemy-crushing, face-ripping, unadulterated power. Scientific experiments on the recipients of Heroism/Bloodlust have reported a 32.33% repeating of course increase to Win and rumors around the internet say you can actually taste a little win on your tongue during those 45 seconds (tastes like Guinness to me).

So heroism is Pure Win. But it’s not necessary to win. In my opinion that is a crucial point.

There was some interesting discussion on Twitter today about it. @outdps (from Outdps.com) had this to say today:

@ActiveNick @Warcraft I would support drums of hero causing a much longer exhaustion debuff- would ensure same demand for shammies :)

While a longer debuff would be a minimum requirement in my opinion, I must say often times the debuff is cleared immediately after a spectacularly epic wipe. I know I blow Hero in dire situations or if we pull too much trash by accident. The debuff is only part of the equation, the crux of the question is: do you want to provide that sort of a buff via craftable items?

But let’s say they do give Drums of Heroism with a reduced effect and a longer cooldown, shouldn’t all fights now be tuned to expect Drums of Heroism? I thought having fights tuned to be beatable without Heroism was a good thing.

@ActiveNick (who blogs at The Shapeshifter) had two great tweets about it today, both of which do well to summarize my thoughts on the matter:

@Warcraft If you put Bloodlust/Heroism on drums, I want a drum to summon a felguard, tame a pet, dual-wield 2-handers, Army of the dead, etc

and

@synae It's not a raid buff like Kings, GotW, etc, it's an ability that is triggered and has a CD, I object to this vehemently

Well said. Though I think a more accurate analogy instead of Army, Titan's Grip, etc would be Drums of... Moonkin Aura, Leader of the Pack, or Tree of Life. If they make a Drums of Hero then I want a Drums of BOOMKIN! for those raids where our lovely Boomkin can't make raid.

Conclusion

I think creating Drums of Forgotten Kings, Drums of the Wild, and Runescrolls of Fortitude was a great thing. I’m not going to exclude a Paladin just because I have Drums of Forgotten Kings, and likewise I'm not going to take a Paladin just to have another buff. I’m going to bring the best group I can put together with my available resources. To quote Ghostcrawler again, "You should get invited because you're not annoying and because you contribute to progress."

A raid should no more take a crappy Shaman for their Hero/BL than they should take a crappy (and quite possibly filthy) Rogue just because it's a pure dps class and theoretically should do more damage. Both cases are absurd.

It's reassuring to read Ghostcrawler state they're aware of the dangers of homogenization. I truly hope that Blizzard does not create a Drums of Heroism. Not because I'm afraid of Shamans being replaced, but because it's a unique Shaman ability that should remain with Shamans.

Oh yeah...

I'm back (not that I ever left) but the holidays always come with a lot of downtime and offline time for me. I've been reading your emails and posts and have many more posts coming. In fact I had a big one I was going to post today, but after reading this blue post today I had to respond!

What do you think about Drums of Heroism?

May all your hits be crits!