Focus Magic Target Priorities.

[Skarrd]

EJ post on FM that one of my shadow priests dug up for me a while back cuz I'm lazy. I'm not sure if it's updated for 3.3.3 but even if it isn't it's probably still quite reliable. Can we stop making these threads now?

Link below, quoted post in link below that.


http://elitistjerks.com/f75/t42876-a...3/#post1583350

Via SimulationCraft data, mostly T9 gear but T10 mechanics.

Spec|Crit Scaling|DPS-neutral Scaling
Frostfire|1.8613|26.585
Fire|1.6858|22.873
Shadow|1.5419|21.995
Elemental|1.3957|19.033
Balance|1.2512|17.273
Affliction|1.2487|15.851
Arcane|1.1548|14.899
Demon|1.1272|14.856
Destro|1.0391|13.519
Frost|0.7932|12.113

Most of the bulk of the center of the list are pretty close together in value, so ignoring specs you basically never see, a good rule of thumb is fire mages first, then shadow priests, then elemental shamans, then balance druids or affliction locks, then anyone else. The typical arcane circle-jerk philosophy is very much suboptimal. These scaling factors already take into account normal well-geared dps per spec (balance druids should get about the same dps per crit% as affliction locks even though their base dps is much lower), but if your particular potential target does significantly lower dps than even the theoretical average due to lack of gear or skill, that'd need to be factored in to your situation as well.

(Ninja'd, but since I sorted the data from the same source by value I'll leave it here for convenience.)

(Edit2: I added DPS-neutral Scaling to the chart. This is the DPS a player should gain by receiving your Focus Magic per 1k of their base dps. Basically, multiply the DPS-neutral Scaling value of the appropriate spec by the DPS (in thousands) that player typically outputs in your raid for each respective potential target and the result should be how much their dps increases due to your FM. e.g. You have a boomkin and an affliction lock both doing 9k on Festergut. Multiplying their DPS-neutral Scaling by 9, the boomkin can expect to gain 155.457 dps while the affliction lock would receive 142.659 dps from the buff. While the base scaling values of boomkins and affliction locks are similar, if you have a boomkin outputing the same dps as your affliction lock, the boomkin should definitely get the FM before the afflic, since the afflic *should* be doing more than that, or the balance druid less.)

[Swizzle]

While the mechanics are updated for t10 (assuming that means patch 3.3 and beyond), i don't think the numbers are accurate in terms of t10 gear. for example, a well geared boomkin nowadays would be further down that list, whereas a demo would be slightly higher.

one point of contention i would make is that while some specs may gain more from FM than others, the DPS they would put out is still far inferior (see arcane mage vs. elemental shaman here).

this topic in general is one that isn't readily discussable due to the factors posted above. if all classes were capable of doing equitable DPS through varying mechanics, then sure. but when the max DPS of one class is 15k while another's is 11k, it is suboptimal to attempt to boost the latter. with the implementation of the warlock focus magic, i would think that FM would get a sort of rework for cataclysm, but only time will tell.

in before non-mage classes start moaning and crying.

[Sephurik]

While the mechanics are updated for t10 (assuming that means patch 3.3 and beyond), i don't think the numbers are accurate in terms of t10 gear. for example, a well geared boomkin nowadays would be further down that list, whereas a demo would be slightly higher.

one point of contention i would make is that while some specs may gain more from FM than others, the DPS they would put out is still far inferior (see arcane mage vs. elemental shaman here).

this topic in general is one that isn't readily discussable due to the factors posted above. if all classes were capable of doing equitable DPS through varying mechanics, then sure. but when the max DPS of one class is 15k while another's is 11k, it is suboptimal to attempt to boost the latter. with the implementation of the warlock focus magic, i would think that FM would get a sort of rework for cataclysm, but only time will tell.

in before non-mage classes start moaning and crying.

Watch out! He makes sense!

[Odexy]

Hey, if you wanna fight with the other mages for who gets to FM the best caster, then go ahead. I believe most mages understand that FMing another mage isn't always the best option, but keeping track of FMs on all the other classes sounds like more than a headache than anything.

I'm way too lazy for that. :P

[Skarrd]

While the mechanics are updated for t10 (assuming that means patch 3.3 and beyond), i don't think the numbers are accurate in terms of t10 gear. for example, a well geared boomkin nowadays would be further down that list, whereas a demo would be slightly higher.

one point of contention i would make is that while some specs may gain more from FM than others, the DPS they would put out is still far inferior (see arcane mage vs. elemental shaman here).

this topic in general is one that isn't readily discussable due to the factors posted above. if all classes were capable of doing equitable DPS through varying mechanics, then sure. but when the max DPS of one class is 15k while another's is 11k, it is suboptimal to attempt to boost the latter. with the implementation of the warlock focus magic, i would think that FM would get a sort of rework for cataclysm, but only time will tell.

in before non-mage classes start moaning and crying.

Yeah, it's not perfect but it's a decent estimate at least. the last column actually covers the dps gaps (dps-neutral numbers), which is why I like this. Our shadow priests and moonkins tend to do pretty solid dps, so I hit spriests first, then moonkins, then mages unless we're running fire specs.

[Nirual]

Hey, if you wanna fight with the other mages for who gets to FM the best caster, then go ahead. I believe most mages understand that FMing another mage isn't always the best option, but keeping track of FMs on all the other classes sounds like more than a headache than anything.

I'm way too lazy for that. :P

Yeah, it's very hard to estimate the value of FM in reality. While I'm sure there is solid math behind that chart, it tends to come down more to which players perform the best in the given fight. I'd even argue putting it on healers isn't entirely out of question. Sure, you won't get more dps out of them, but paladins and shamans especially crit a lot and will put out slightly more healing with FM. If the fight is more about survival than dps, this is just about the best thing a mage can do to contribute to survival.

[Deathnote]

Bump with request of an updated chart.

[Swizzle]

Bump with request of an updated chart.

Don't bump threads. With all the problems with crits and simulations right now, FM priorities will be wonky.