MM changeup idea

[Jedimo]

Hello, new poster so I apologize if this is clunky.

I'm an MM fanboy, played it during wrath during it's arm pen phase, and have loved it ever since.

I love it so much I still kept analyzing it even when it was moot, compared to BM and SV, and now I think that's payed off.

I know sims aren't concrete, but that is how I came about the possible change in how MM is played, and at the same time, made it a little more viable on fights with a weak amount of adds.

Stat priority: crit>mastery>haste

Regarding there is possibly a small haste cap I haven't determined yet, but essentially you want your haste to a small point, because this goes in the opposite direction of conventional "aimed shot is king" rotation, and as such you treat aimed shot as a special shot instead of your main focus dump.

Talents: Toth, BS, GT

Now this is the important part, toth is the must, no DB, no fervor.

The priority in the rotation is the same as usual, the only changes are
1.Use CS on cd, no delay
2.Use aimed shot only if
a.Instant cast
b. 1.5 cast speed
c.Careful aim phase
(It is now a bonus shot)
3.arcane shot is now your main focus dump.

Now the pros of this
-You can help kill adds now
-Rotation is a little more interactive(my opinion)
-massive focus is not needed for AS
-Feels more consistent
-Allows for higher output in SV on aoe fights(stat wise)

Cons
-Does not use strongest single target talent(possibly)
-Relies on a specific talent to work
-Relatively still theory(which is why I'm posting)

Now, notable aspects of this are the chanceyness of the spec, it feels akin to a fire mage or fury warrior, except instead of crits everywhere, you need arcane shot to crit, which allows for more dmg to be done vs. AS.

us.battle.net/wow/en/character/emerald-dream/Seights/simple

In regards to my armory I would to note that I managed to achieve the higher simmed dps, not compared to BM or SV, but to the other MM build, this in regards to how most of my gear and items are favorable towards a higher haste build(rppm).

I would like opinions and thoughts on this.

[Skygoneblue]

I would like opinions and thoughts on this.

It sounds like, with the exception of the stat prioritization, you're playing it exactly the same way as everyone should have been for all of MoP so far. Did I miss something?

[Jedimo]

Well yes, current stat priorities focus on haste cap, then more haste followed by crit then mastery, the shot rotation is different in that instead of focusing on aimed shot and getting it to that point were you can hardcast it, you focus on treating it like what it is, an extra shot(akin to BA).

[Conjor]

Well yes, current stat priorities focus on haste cap, then more haste followed by crit then mastery, the shot rotation is different in that instead of focusing on aimed shot and getting it to that point were you can hardcast it, you focus on treating it like what it is, an extra shot(akin to BA).

The problem is that Aimed Shot isn't an "Extra Shot". The way it has ended up scaling has made Aimed Shot be the primary focus dump if you want to min-max the spec.

[Orion Antares]

This seems like the setup to use for a lower gear level. Once you have more gear, a high level weapon and a bunch of RPPM procs that haste scale the haste build and Aimed Shot dump is going to be better.

[Holtzmann]

The problem is that Aimed Shot isn't an "Extra Shot". The way it has ended up scaling has made Aimed Shot be the primary focus dump if you want to min-max the spec.

Out of curiosity, what is the theoretical DPS/percentage difference between dumping focus with Arcane Shot and Aimed Shot assuming equal gear and optimal reforging for both?

[Conjor]

Out of curiosity, what is the theoretical DPS/percentage difference between dumping focus with Arcane Shot and Aimed Shot assuming equal gear and optimal reforging for both?

Small enough for the statistician in me to say statistically insignificant, but large enough for the OCD in me to say its better. The problem is that with my gear my static Aimed Shots are less then 1.5 seconds. So... kind of hard for me to test.

Bottom line it will come down to what your gear setup is. If you have more mastery then using AS will be slightly "less" worse as it results in more mastery procs offsetting the loss in Aimed Shot damage: Arcane Shots + Additional Mastery Procs ~= Aimed Shots, with the right amount of mastery.

However, for sake of completeness, here are my results by forcing Aimed Shot only with a proc or when the cast time is less than 1.4 second (meaning only under RF / BL / Keen Eye / CA):


Here are the results using ONLY Aimed Shot:

[Holtzmann]

Holy crap, that's a narrow delta.

I found out FemaleDwarf isn't blocked at work and ran a couple simulations. Turns out, in my fairly low-level, non-optimized gear Marksmanship is above the other two specs by about 2% and Aimed Shot as a focus dump is a slight (1%) DPS loss.

Holy crap, does that mean I can actually play any spec I like and still be competitive?! I don't think that's ever happened before!

[Skygoneblue]

Holy crap, does that mean I can actually play any spec I like and still be competitive?!

Don't get ahead of yourself. I'm still waiting for PVPers to whine about Aimed Shot -> Chimera Shot hitting too hard.