Unholy spec comparison for 3.3.3

So, I've done a full raid (ICC25 Marrowgar - Sindragosa, some VOA or TOGC) with the two 'cookie-cutter' specs for unholy derived from Elitist Jerks' theory/simcrafting:
blood subspec 14/0/57 (with reaping)
frost subspec 0/17/54 (no reaping)
How did it look?
I've already talked about the blood subspec. It was very solid! I was able to put in a top-10 World of Logs parse worldwide, and generally had both solid single-target and aoe dps. As you can see from the Festergut screenie, I did well, and helping me was very solid raid dps (including the top-10 fury warrior and excellent lock). Overall, I'm both comfortable and happy with the spec.

Recount dps actually lower than the WOL parse (unusual!)

How about the frost subspec? I didn't practice with it much. The only 'major' difference with the spec is the absence of reaping, which means two more blood strikes, and one less scourge strike - and therefore a tiny bit more gcd constraint. So, I was surpised and dismayed when my dps seemed quite a bit lower - especially given the 5% increase in the ICC buff! The other DK was solidly beating me on most fights.... and I was actually much lower on Festergut and Rotface than the previous week. I was about to give up in disgust when I discovered my own absolutely foolish mistake! NO FREAKING BLOOD PRESENCE! So, I have to laugh at myself. I don't have a good comparison on the tank and spank fights. :( However, once I made the correction, I was able to see frost subspec in action, and it seems quite comparable - as reports have said. You can see from my parse below, it wasn't bad even though I spent 80% of the night without a presence (add about 15% to my total and I'd have been at a more respectable ~10,600 overall). I also did one tank and spank - Toravon - and I was pleased. My recount dps was 12,229, good enough for top-20 worldwide on WOL (sorry, no screenie, but you can look me up on WOL).

So, which spec is better?
From my very limited sample size, and my tremendously flawed execution, I'm still reasonably comfortable concluding Elitist Jerks are right on the money. There is very very little difference between the two specs. EJ folks are arguing that for a non-proc weapon such as Cryptmaker or my Shadow's Edge, the blood subspec is better, and with a proc-based weapon such as Bryntoll or Shadowmourne (I don't have either), frost subspec is better.

Personally, I'm going to run with the frost subspec the rest of the week, and see how comfortable I get.

But in general, you may decide to subspec either of the above. Follow the EJ suggestions, or subspec into blood simply because the additional threat reduction is handy (I did notice I was tanking more trash than usual last night - but more careful target-switching should help with that).

Either way, Unholy is looking good!

Next week I plan to go blood: I'll probably put in 5-10 armor pen gems and give it a try!

Upcoming

I've already mentioned that I was pleased with my first full raid in that 3.3.3 delivered improved raid buff management more than anything.
Frost DKs are getting their chance in the sun, as evidence by two of the three DKs in Paragon's world first heroic Lich King kill being frosties.
My guild gave it a shot and our frost DK saw big improvement.
It did not, however, get us over the normal LK 25-man hump. We're still working on the transition to Phase3 and having some problems with healing and getting all the valkyr down. Heroic 25 will have to wait another week - I sure hope we at least get to it before the buff bumps up to 10%, but we'll see. It gives me even more respect for guilds like Paragon. My guild's straight dps is actually comparable to theirs - but their execution is just astounding. Watching how they place ice orbs in heroic Anub, or how they group and kill the valkyr on Lich King, is just amazing. Kudos to them.

At any rate, I spent the whole past week as unholy with a blood subspec. I'm going to run this week with the alternative - an unholy with frost subspec. The Elitist Jerks comparisons put them very very close but I want to try it on live. If is does indeed end up being very close to the same, I'd rather be blood because of the threat reduction.

Next week I'll try blood - with a few armor pen gems thrown in for good measure (I'm at 800 arpen passive right now), and try to get at least one 264 one-hander in the meantime (I have two 251s, which won't help me make a fair comparison) so I can give frost a good trial.

What this means is I should be able to do a post later this week comparing the competing unholy specs, then a blood post next week, with frost the following. Sorry for those who are waiting/wondering what frost will really do in 3.3.3. I also need to practice enough to be proficient in the spec to give it a fair try. So far, I'm feeling good about it in dummy and 5-man situations.

Finally, wanted to just post that I appreciate the recent comments, all! My system is giving me problems replying - I get an email notification, but I can't see them or reply on the blog itself. I'll rectify that asap.

The Day After Tomorrow (3.3.3)

(note, I wrote this yesterday, but for some reason wordpress and blogspot sites were all blocked on my interwebs).

It's the Day After The Release of patch 3.3.3, which was a 'minor' patch.
So, how do we feel about it?

As I suggested it might be, it's looking like a big boon to raiding DKs!

Last night, our raid ran ICC25 through Blood Queen Lanathel and did the weekly raid and VOA. We had the infusion of a couple more ranged dps, allowing us to better arrange our comp to the fights.

We one-shot all the bosses (except for BQL when on the first attempt our first bitee d/c'd), but wiped on trash. A little lack of focus, but I still left the night both very happy and optimistic going forward.
Reasons:

1) Mangle lasting one minute. We didn't really have a 'mangle bot' as our kitty struggled to keep it up and dps, letting it drop frequently prior to 3.3.3. With the change, we had it the whole fight.

2) Icy Talons. We'd lost our enhancement shaman a few weeks back, and weren't getting the haste buff. Now we are.

I ran unholy last night (pre 3.3.3 spec as I didn't have time to change it), and as far as I can tell, unholy really hasn't been buffed. I did benefit from the above changes however, and it showed in our WOL parse.
In fact, it was surprising how well we did!
Granted, World Of Logs only ranks parses that guilds post, we have the (fairly recent) 5% buff, and many/most of the top guilds are exclusively in heroic now, but we had raiders ranked in the top 200 worldwide for their class over 20 times. Our Boomkin was #4 on Koralon, our Arms Warrior was 6th and 8th on Rotface and Festergut, and I was 9th and 53rd on Festergut and Rotface, respectively.
That 'perfect storm' of hitting the rotation/priority spot on, good group comp, overall high raid dps, and solid gear came together to deliver VERY solid and pleasing results.

Our somewhat undergeared frost DK did see a big improvement in his performance as well.

I did some live dummy-testing (I know, I know, dummies suck) of frost main spec/unholy subspec with my unholy gear and a fast OH almost matched my unholy dps output. Very promising. I think I'll hold off trying this in a full raid until I have a decent offhand weapon, though.
Now, if we can only put it together on Lich King (normal), we can join the heroic cool kids club. :)

All in all, I'm pleased with what I've seen from 3.3.3, and I hope going forward DKs of all specs will find success in Icecrown and beyond!

Waiting for Vizzini

On the eve of 3.3, I find myself waiting.....
waiting....
We know about the changes coming tomorrow, so today, I find myself just reflecting on where my DK (and other toons) are at.

Hinenuitepo is ready.

Unfortunately, my guild has banged it's head collectively on P2 of the Lich King encounter for a few weeks now and hasn't gotten him down. Partially this has been poor execution and repeated mistakes by a few people (handling the valkyr and defile - along with infest - on 25-man is no joke), and part of it for us has been the natural attrition that takes place in guilds. We've struggled to field 25 players and often have had to settle for non-ideal comps for the LK encounter. We'll get there soon, I'm confident. We'll recruit who we need, and we do have good people. And there is, of course, that zonewide bufflolol.

In any case, My DK has been able to acquire every item pre-heroic/LK that she needed. She is essentially in best-in-slot gear until we kill the Lich King. In addition, my stocks of consumeables/gems/etc is ready to go: (have well over a 100 fish feasts/spiced mammoth/speed pot/armor pot/strength elixir, 50+flasks, etc).

I'm waiting..... for Vizzini..... (catch the reference?).

Back to the beginning..... Heroic Icecrown represents a fresh start, along with the coming final raid encounters of the Lich King expansion. Looking forward to it!

This weekend I also spent a little more time on my hunter, Hinemanu, burning through her rested experience points. She'll sit on level 38 until next weekend. Here's a shot of her recent progress:

Ding!

In any case, while there's not a lot of excitement going on, there's always things to be done in wow, like a fisherman mending his/her nets after the last trip to sea, and before heading out into rough waters again.

Happy fishing tomorrow!

How many hours Should one play Wow?

I'm afraid I'm not enough of a pot-stirrer to write the type of post that would generate dozens of angry comments with shouts of "CASUAL!!!" on the one hand, followed by "NO LIFER!!!" on the other.

I'm afraid that how many hours one defines as 'too much Wow' boils down to the old adage about driving: People who drive slower than you are idiots, and people who drive faster are maniacs, and anyone driving the same speed is 'normal.'

What is 'normal' for playing Wow? What is 'too much' Wow-playing?

There are a few clear dividing lines, actually.
Reports of seizures or even death from playing 'too much Wow' are sprinkled through cyberspace. A few examples are this 2005 report of two Wow-related deaths, a boy who reportedly had seizures after extended play, and the many many forum posts about "how Wow ruined my life."

One can, objectively, play too much. While the question of whether or not Wow can can actually be addicting is open to debate, there is no question that excessive gaming can be unhealthy.

In the American Psychiatric Association's DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV), a mental disorder is conceptualized as a "clinically significant behavioral or psychological syndrome or pattern that occurs in an individual and that is associated with present distress (e.g., a painful symptom) or disability (i.e., impairment in one or more important areas of functioning) or with a significantly increased risk of suffering death, pain, disability, or an important loss of freedom)."

It seems rather obvious to me that people's gaming can lead, if nothing else, to neglect of social or occupational commitments.
So yes, one can play too much.

Of course, few would suggest that merely playing the game is unhealthy, and millions can attest to the enjoyment derived from a few hours of participating in the world's most popular MMORPG. In fact, a fairly large body of evidence exists to support the benefits of playing video games (including this report regarding our favorite game).

Ah, so Wow isn't inherently evil?

Back to square one.
How much is too much?

It boils down to an individualized cost-benefit analysis.
Playing Wow has 'benefits' - fun/enjoyment of achievements, the rush of killing a raid boss, the pleasure in winning a battleground, social interaction with guildies, equipping that shiny new piece of gear, and so on.
On the other hand, besides the obvious medical problems possible from excessive play, dedicated Wow play can disrupt one's personal social life, and interfere with work or school (I know many a friend or guildie that has neglected/lost a relationship or left a degree uncompleted due to Wow).

_______________
Story time.
During my first 18 months of playing Wow I was living on a small island in the middle of the Atlantic. I started playing when a friend came to visit and introduced me to the game. I am a night owl by nature anyway, and in order to play with my friends, I had to stay up late - I often played from 11pm to 3am my time. I also don't need much sleep, so 4 hours a night was fine with me. Of course, as I reached max level on my rogue, I became aquainted with the endgame that is raiding, and fell in love. As my skill and gear progressed, I eventually applied for and was accepted into a top-50 US guild. This required me to raid 6-7 nights a week, from 1:30am - 7:00am when I had to head for work. I slept for a few hours after putting my kids to bed, then raided all night. I also played quite a bit on weekends. While my play schedule did not interfere excessively (in my opinion, at least) with my relationships, or even my social life, it certainly took its toll and I have to admit my work suffered. Fatigue ground into me and eventually I realized I couldn't sustain the time requirements and dropped back to a more casual schedule for the remainder of my months on the island.

After my return to the West Coast, I was able to play more with my friends at 'reasonable' hours.  They were a talented, fun bunch, and established the idea of the 'hard core casual' guild that we see more of today - the concept was two raid nights a week, but serious focus and drive during those times. That should be no problem! Well, the problem was, raids started at 5pm for me. I would come home from work, immediately log in, and start playing. My family had to fend for themselves. And it was difficult on off nights to decline evening ten-mans or playing with my friends who were on at that same time. I progressively played more and more, during the evening and weekend hours, eventually becoming co-GM of the guild, and helping lead our 'casual' guild to a #2 server ranking despite our limited raid times. I was king of the world! I was having my cake, and eating it too! It wasn't until my 'cake' (in the form of my then 8-year-old) asked one more time, 'why don't you play with me any more?' and my kind, gentle, supportive spouse said 'enough,' that I clued in to the costs my Wow play was incurring. Too much. I quit Wow.

The next few months were boring. I played soccer. I went to work. I played with my family. I read a ton of books. I grilled on the backyard BBQ. Had the neighbors over. WAIT!!! WHAT??? That doesn't sound boring! In point of fact, all of the above were wonderful, and I was very glad to be doing them again. But I still hung out in my old guild's forums, read MMO-Champion, and my night owl ways left me watching way too many informercials. I didn't have to play, but I still wanted to. So, with the spouse's blessing, I embarked on an attempt to better balance Wow and non-Wow time. Limiting my time to after the children are in bed has made a huge difference. Still, what to do on non-raid nights? Run 10-man content, do daily quests, play the Auction House, BGs, arena; the possibilities are endless.

Recently, I found myself in a raid every night. And found that I was missing the extra time with my spouse, and doing other activities like reading and catching a few shows (like Chuck - wonderful!). I was still, I have to admit, also slacking on my contribution to the onerous household necessities, like (ho-hum) dishes and vacuuming.

Would I like for both my shaman and my DK to do an ICC 10-man each week? Yes. Would I like to kill Arthas? Hell yes. Two groups in my guild have killed him - they work on ICC10 two nights a week, while my Friday group has gotten to him with no time left to work on a kill. Would I like to BG, arena, or maybe do an achievement here and there, or level an alt? SURE! But, for me, the answer has become more and more clear. There are benefits to playing 7 nights a week, and to doing those things listed above - they're fun! But there are costs as well, and the costs are too high.

So, while I'm not in a top-100 guild, and I still haven't killed Arthas yet, and there is much yet left undone in the World of Warcraft, I'm perhaps at my happiest I've ever been in my Wow-journey. I still raid competitively. I still min-max my main toon and my raiding performance. I still play a lot by many standards. Yet I also have time to do many of the things outside of Wow that I enjoy. I'm not perfect, but I'm happy with being a work in progress, and in getting better at finding a balance.
______________________________________

So, what does your cost-benefit analysis look like? Do you play Wow too much, or too little? What things might you be neglecting for Wow, and should you devote more time to those other things?

"THAT" Class I swore I'd never play.

If you've created a single alt besides your main character, you've experienced the joy of trying to play Wow from a different perspective.

The first character I ever created (based on those official Blizzard descriptions) was a paladin, which lasted at the time until level 20, when I realized I didn't like what that playstyle had to offer. I created a rogue, and never looked back.

While I genuinely loved my rogue, naturally the alt fever eventually started to tickle me and I created my first alt for the purposes of leveling all the way to max level (70 at the time). I leveled a shaman mostly as enhancement, although I envisioned her as a resto shammy at 70. I enjoyed the leveling, and, at 70 playing her both as enhancement and resto. Later, a warlock joined those two at 70. Like many, I found leveling a warlock both incredibly easy and fun. Having a personal tank aka Blueberry, and fear-dotting swarms of adds was crazy fun! Alas, destro lock raiding was quite boring.....

As the months and years went by I fiddled around with various classes, trying druids, shadow priest, mage, and warrior, taking each of them anywhere from level 15 to 30+. I even got the pally to level 30 - although before lowbie mounts were available, I used him for a higher run speed bank alt. :) I've now leveled - including Lich King Beta - a total of 5 characters to 80, with my poor warlock stuck at 72. I've played every class in the game, at least long enough to add a few talents, and to see if I like how they 'feel.'

But, I always SWORE I'd never play a hunter. I'm not sure why. I suppose it might have been all the huntard jokes. It might have been the melee bias (and if I'm not meleeing, then casting is ok, but not bullets/arrows???). I told myself I didn't like the concept, or the gameplay.

Even when my son played every class from time to time and asked me why I didn't like hunters, I fiercly replied, "I'll NEVER play one, ok?"


..............

Yeah.
You guessed it.
I have a baby hunter on my main's server, and she's already level 38.
The playstyle doesn't suck. And, like leveling a warlock, it's nice to have a personal tank. Killing much higher level or elite mobs is a snap.
Like leveling any alt, it's nice to be able to log on, not worry about committing to 4 hours, or even 5 minutes if I don't want to, and just do a few quests or kill a few mobs, then hearth.
Leveling a hunter isn't so bad! :P

Update: SAN

I had a friend point out that 'blogging' seemed a little pretentious and self-congratulatory.

Perhaps, perhaps.

We tend to read each others' blogs, generally spew encouragement, and comment back and forth. Sometimes it seems as if 90% of our readership is other bloggers.

The past few weeks have done nothing but reinforce this perception, but it's been fun anyway, amirite?
The inception of the EU and US SAN (Single Abstract Noun) guilds has given a place for bloggers (and friends) to gather together for little of the typical reasons for forming a guild, and all about the circle-jerk that is talking about talking (about wow).

Still, I've loved the concept and was finally able to squeeze in a little time to create a Hinenuitepo-alt and join in the fun! It's a place to chat, although a number of folks are apparently experimenting with different ways of leveling, or are bringing in 'viable' alts to actually play wow. :) I also dropped in on a conversation about a GM/raider wanting to hang out in SAN for a week for a break from the grind of raiding/running a guild. Chatter ranged far and wide over the course of the few minutes I had, but then it was off to face Arthas once again! (unfortunately, the Lich King's demise eludes my guild still. But not for long!)

Good stuff, though, and I look forward to more interludes with SAN as time allows. If you're interested, you're always welcome to roll an alt and join in the fun, persnickety blogger or not!