I am really looking forward to Cata, if for nothing else than the stat simplification that is going to take place. This isn't some errant thought, this is driven by something that happened in last night's raid.
All we had left in ICC 25 was PP, Sindi and LK, and because some of our core healers failed to show up we decided to just do them regular (fucking priests, stop being annoying and come to raids k thanks). No problems clearing sindi and PP, and I even got a token to upgrade my last set piece to Sanctified off sindi, a clear upgrade.
Then comes LK, a true pain in the ass, but one we have killed on normal many times before. After two wipes, one due to someone being dumb with defile and the other due to 2 shamblings be up with no plague to be found, we downed him with no issues. And what should drop, but 3 things I potentially need.
First one was the tanking mace, a clear upgrade for my tanking set, which went to me because all our tanks didn't need. Woo hoo, very cool, and considering I was asked to tank for Hellion trash potentially raid helpful (really enjoyed that by the way, raid tanking is a lot of fun).
Next another token I can use, but since I got one off sindi I greeded for it, but wtf, I get it also. It seems that me spending my precious epgp (dkp basically) on the token off sindi wasn't overly smart, but how could I have known (for those keeping score, I now have an extra token waiting for a piece of tanking gear to upgrade).
Then comes the trouble maker - Glorenzelg, High-Blade of the Silver Hand. Well I don't really want to take this, as I am wielding Heroic Bryntroll in my main hand and Shadow's Edge in my off hand, with pretty well balanced stats (basically meaning I am at the Expertise cap and the hit cap without being too far over). My class lead though assures me it will be an upgrade over bryn, and I decide what the hell, I will minor upgrade it (half epgp cost, but lower priority than main specing an item). I get this too (yes, 3 pieces of loot off one LK kill, and one from sindi, lucky dog, i know).
The issue: When I put the new sword into Landsoul's spreadsheet (find the link from EJ, but if you are a raiding warrior you should know what I'm talking about) it lowers my dps by about 40 (theoretical dps with full raid buffs). Now this isn't a ton, but it isn't negligible either. I mess around with gems, a neck and ring I have that i don't wear but are very good, but it just wont budge in the right direction.
The problem, as it often is, is Expertise. The sword puts me well over the cap, and expertise is an odd stat where it is vital if you don't have enough and pretty much meaningless if you do.
Why I didn't see this coming: Well I should have, but the real reason I missed it is because as an Orc I get an expertise bonus to axe's, which is what I am using. Being properly geared I knew that if i was switching to another weapon type I would need more expertise, and the sword looked basically perfect. I just didn't realize how much over the top Glorenzelg would put me, and I only had a minute to make the call on the drop.
So basically my class lead and my gut instincts were right and wrong. The sword could be an upgrade, but only after I replace my boots (heroic Bone Drake's Enameled Boots, so they don't suck) which have a whooping 60 expertise on them.
Until then this very cool, interestingly itemized sword goes in the bank, waiting on another shift in my gear before it becomes useful.
Oh and if heroic cryptmaker finally drops before I get new boots the sword is completely worthless to me.
Gearing in this game has gotten way to complicated. Cata can't come soon enough!
No comments:
Post a Comment