So, as my really long title specifies, this post in going to cover a few things, in no particular order. First off, I dinged 80 on Tuesday night, I had to stay up till almost 3am so I could ding, because I wanted to do my first 25-man raid with my guild the next night. I raided a few things last night with my guild, and apart from being disappointed a little bit with my DPS, it was fun.

I now have 1700 spell power, unbuffed

Pretty funny that my last post was about me finally hitting 1400 spell power, and then yesterday, with a few upgrades, I managed to hit around 1690+ spell power, just barely under 1700. I would link what I upgraded, but I’m at work and try to avoid going to WoW related websites, so if you’re curious, just armory me (Macbook of Stormscale). The main upgrades were my weapon (Titansteel Guardian), and a new set of shoulders. The Titansteel Guardian is probably more of a pally mace, since it has no intellect, a great amount of stamina, and a buttload of spell power (490 spell power). Sure, it cost me nearly 2000 gold to craft it, seeing as how I was too impatient to farm the mats to make the Titansteel bars, but its still a very, very nice upgrade. Buffed for 5 mans, my Starfires are critting for nearly above 10k damage consistently, and my Wrath’s crit for at least 4-5 thousand, so I’m pretty happy.

I’ve also been stacking a good amount of haste; if you haven’t noticed, most leather spell damage gear has had large amounts of haste on it. Talented appropriately, my Starfires are now around a 2.6 second cast, and I haven’t even checked how long my Wrath’s spells take to cast. Couple that with Nature’s Grace, and you get a very mean, damage-dealing, laser turkey.

Is Master Shapeshifter a Bad Point Investment?

A loyal reader commented the following on a previous post, in regards to picking up Master Shapeshifter:

The dissenting opinion that I’ve read is basically that you’ve spent 5 points for the 4% bonus. DPS-wise that it’s not a good return (per talent point).

This isn’t directed at him, but what he said got me thinking…I think almost every moonkin build I’ve seen puts 3/3 points in Lunar Guidance, which increases your Spell Power by 12% of your total Intellect.  At 550 intellect (what I currently have in human form), thats on increase of 66 spell power.  Master Shapeshifter, with a total investment of 5 points (3/3 in Natural Shapeshifter, 2/2 in MS), and with 1640 spell power (what I have in moonkin form), its an increase of 65.6 spell power.  So, you spend an extra 2 points, for around the same spell bonus as a talent that no one complains about, but you also get an additional 30% mana discount on shapeshifting, and bonuses in all your other forms.  In my opinion, its a must-have talent for a raiding moonkin.

I think what happens is that people look at the numbers on the talent descriptions, and think that those numbers correlate to your DPS increase.  For example, when they read how Lunar Guidance “Increases your spell power by 12% of your total intellect”, they probably are thinking that equates to a 12% DPS increase, which is wrong.  Master Shapeshifter, on the other hand, is much closer to being a 1-1 ratio.  4% extra spell power IS actually a 4%+ increase to your DPS, seeing as how each point of spell power is equal to more than 1 dps.

Naxxaramus

I was planning on talking about my first 25-man raid at level 80 today, but I think I’ll leave that for another day, as it wasn’t that amazing, and we did down all the bosses we attempted, with just a few wipes while everyone got adjusted to the fights.  I was surprised at the amount of HP these guys had, I was seeing 7million and I was like damnnnnnnnnnnnn.

Reader Questions

Aju left me a few questions in a comment the other day, so I’ll go through them before ending this post:

1. How beneficial is Owlkin Frenzy? Seems to be like a PVP stat. Is it useful in raids (with the 5% proc rate?).

To start off, I did put points in Owklin Frenzy while levelling.  I wanted to test it out, I didn’t see anywhere else that my points would do me much benefit, so I put 1/3 points in there, for a 5% proc rate (it goes up to 15% with 3/3 points).  As far as usefulness in raids, I’m still unsure if its going to have much use,  because its contingent on the whether or not caster DPS will be taking damage in raids.  Pre-WoTLK, a friend of mine (Suppa, where are you!), said it was helping him GREATLY while he was raiding Sunwell.  I think it will help out a little, but its not something I would put 3/3 points in.  Its a nice little surprise when it procs, I don’t have to change my rotation because it did proc, and you get to hear your Moonkin roar.  In the 2 raids I’ve done at level 80, there has been a lot of raid damage being taken, and given the fact that most healing classes now have AoE healing, I think we can bet on most raids taking tons of AoE damage from bosses and trash pulls.  That said, you should always be more aware of your surroundings and stay out of AoE to keep the healing focused on the tanks, so I don’t use Owlkin Frenzy for the reduced pushback (its great for soloing).  I enjoy the extra 10% DPS while its active.

2. Is Starfall too situational to be worth taking?

IMO – I still think it is.  Its a very fun spell, but its not one I personally will be picking up.  The range is still too massive; I would prefer it to have a designated area like Hurricane instead of that massive 30 yard radius.  I don’t think you will ever really be able to use it in a raid; all AoE pulls usually have other stuff around them, the 3 minute CD means I won’t always remember to use it even if I have it.  Unless there’s another raid like Hyjal in the WoTLK raids, I won’t be picking it up.

3. Improved FF. Many discussions has said that taking improved FF is a waste because the raid debuffs will usually override it. However for 5mans + 10 mans purposes – does it make sense to take it for the + Crit?

I’ve never used FF in a raid before.  Never.

Most raid debuffs will do way more than your FF and override it, and even in 5-10 mans, I’m not sure its worth it.  3% crit really isn’t that much.  I’ve actually stopped worrying about my crit chance these days, haste seems to be where its at.  If you haven’t picked up Improved Insect Swarm, that’s what you should get.  Increased 3% crit to targets affected by your Moonfire with Starfire, AND it does damage.

Still, some guilds require their moonkins to keep Imp. FF up on all bosses, but none that I have ever been in have made me do it, so I will continue to not use it.  Not worth it IMO.

Hope this all made sense, thanks for reading, and come back!

Macbook