I suck. I'd like to not suck.

[Yuefairchild]

I can not post a link to my armory, but my character is Ren on Moon Guard-US.

I am, apparently in Lich King 25-worthy gear. I am lucky if I do 8,000 DPS. I am still getting brushed over for a mage in equivalent gear that does 10K effortlessly, 12K when she's actually trying. I use a Felhunter, and my buffs are Flask of the Frost Wyrm, Spellstone, Fel Armor, and Dark Pact (Glyph of Life Tap Buff). I open with Shadow Bolt for the debuff, and my rotation from there is Haunt-Unstable Affliction-Curse of Elements/Agony-Corruption, Shadow Bolt for filler, refresh as needed, Soul Drain at 35%.

What am I doing wrong? Should I switch to Demonology (which I haven't used in months, tbh)?

[Signify]

Last time i checked, drain soul is used from 25%-.
So yeah, that, and your current gear should do around 8-10k dps, you can do better, but to slack more on what you are suppose to do on the actuall encounter, and i would stick to do what you are supposed to do obviously.
But in general, arcane mage is always doing an insane dps... by only using 2 spells if i may add... and no, all the mages that are going to reply to this by saying "it's mana managing" NO i won't accept that as an answer, it is still skill-free.
Btw, get your professions to max skill and you might have a slightly higher dps.
AND drop the mining profession, since you already have enchanting lvl that up to max and chose between: Tailoring/Jewelcrafting/ Engineering.

[Yuefairchild]

The mage that's whooping me is actually Frost. I don't know if that's better or worse.

[eatflesh]

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...n+Guard&cn=Ren
Is the armory, for the warlock experts.
Give us the mage's name, so we can compare.

[Makaeith]

Last time i checked, drain soul is used from 25%-.
So yeah, that, and your current gear should do around 8-10k dps, you can do better, but to slack more on what you are suppose to do on the actuall encounter, and i would stick to do what you are supposed to do obviously.
But in general, arcane mage is always doing an insane dps... by only using 2 spells if i may add... and no, all the mages that are going to reply to this by saying "it's mana managing" NO i won't accept that as an answer, it is still skill-free.
Btw, get your professions to max skill and you might have a slightly higher dps.
AND drop the mining profession, since you already have enchanting lvl that up to max and chose between: Tailoring/Jewelcrafting/ Engineering.

Any mages that are still arcane should go jump.. fire or gtfo

[Militriax]

Do not clip your dots/haunt.

Clipping dots means that you refresh them before the duration runs out, if you do this you will lose dot ticks and globalcooldowns and therefor also DPS. Haunt should not be used when it comes off cooldown but about a second or two before it runs off. Also as previous poster said, soul drain is for <25% not <35%.

Also drop mining, skill up your enchanting for the ring enchants and get another proper proffession.

Changing gem in your cloak and ring would give you 0.5 spellpower per item, no big deal but if you are going for perfection you should know that 12sp + 10spi gem with 5sp socket bonus means 22.5 spell power (12+(10*0.5*1.1)+5) compared to a red gem which gives 23 sp.

You are also overcapped on hit with 9.94% (cap is 17% -3% from talents -3% from sp/boomkin -1% from draenei racial so get 10-11% from gear) which is totally overkill madness. Drop any hit items as soon as you can, do not care about gearscore, gearscore does not increase your dps - proper stats does. Remember spell power > haste > crit when you replace your next hit items so take a look at what would benefit you the most statwise.

Feet enchant should be changed to Tuskar's vitality - I will not explain why here, if you want to know make some research or simply trust my word.

Also farm PoS HC everyday for the trinket, it is the best in slot for affliction warlocks until endgame.

[Signify]

Oh, that's awesome actually, never seen a frost mage doing such dps.
I would indeed be surprised if she had an equivalent gear as yours.
In any case, try to also get the Tier bonus.
Also, if the armory is accurate, and doesn't include the bonus hit rating from your aff tree, and is indeed 19.94% without the hit rating of your talent tree, then throw away the talent- or replace your gear to greater gear without hit rating.. the hit cap for warlocks is 17% in case you didn't know.

[Crispy]

Moonguard isn't that the ERP server... yeah theres your first mistake. Secondly theres 2 types of people; noobs and pros. You either suck or you don't. Coming to forums to ask for advice means you suck and you will never 'not suck' because you aren't pro.

Also, if you're getting beat by a frostmage the worst DPS spec in the game next to BM hunters and arms warriors you need to reroll faceroll destro you might be able to cover your fail with that spec.

you're such a kind person!

nontheless, an armory of the mage in question would be nice.

things you can improve on:
your gemming. sp/stamina gems are a no go.
you can also get your professions up- get that enchanting max level and drop mining, get something else that actually benefits you.

also, as someone else stated, you have way too much hit. the hit cap is 17%. if you usually raid with either a boomkin or a spriest you can even go for 14%. then if you're consistantly in the -group- (not raid, you have to be in his actual group) with a draenei, you can even go for 13% hit.

try to get 4pc t10, no idea how well supplied you are on emblems (preferably getting rid of the legs, since you have so much hit, and getting the crafted legs instead.)

[Yuefairchild]

The frost mage's name is Millenia. Also on Moon Guard.

I've always had a problem with hit. :P I'll ditch Suppression, change my feet enchant, cloak/ring gem, and trade out my hit items ASAP. Thanks very much! I'm paying off a loan I took to buy some Elementium for a side project, but I'll level enchanting and get tailoring ASAP. D: Thanks very much, everyone!

[zorg]

i would asume the frost mage is very good then...ive seen on a couple of occasions in 10man heroic icc using a frost mage for replenish when no other classes available for it and they still match the other dps

[Dace]

according to your armory (gear) I think 8k dps is fine.

[fisshh]

I can not post a link to my armory, but my character is Ren on Moon Guard-US.

I am, apparently in Lich King 25-worthy gear. I am lucky if I do 8,000 DPS. I am still getting brushed over for a mage in equivalent gear that does 10K effortlessly, 12K when she's actually trying. I use a Felhunter, and my buffs are Flask of the Frost Wyrm, Spellstone, Fel Armor, and Dark Pact (Glyph of Life Tap Buff). I open with Shadow Bolt for the debuff, and my rotation from there is Haunt-Unstable Affliction-Curse of Elements/Agony-Corruption, Shadow Bolt for filler, refresh as needed, Soul Drain at 35%.

What am I doing wrong? Should I switch to Demonology (which I haven't used in months, tbh)?

DO NOT USE COE.

heres your build:
http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?warl...2,pbdqRe,12213

heres your rotation(priority and such):
shadowbolt x1
haunt
corruption
curse of agony
unstable affliction
drain soul at 25% and below, because it is more damage than shadowbolt.

cast haunt when it is off cd, never clip dots, suggestion get a addon that helps keep track of cooldowns and dots on current target, tip: if they are bloodlusting ASAP wait till bloodlust and cast corruption.

haste is good. never gem wierd gems like 12haste and 10 spirit or w.e

heres your gems: you dont need to follow sockets, but they are suggestions.
blue : 12sp and 10 spirit
red: 23sp, or 12 sp and 10 haste
orange: 12 sp and 10 haste
yellow: 12 sp and 10 haste, 20 haste (if desperately low on haste... which i doubt you are)

gear:
4piece t10 is wonderful. pieces wanted: chest,helm,gloves,shoulders.
2piece t10 is good too. please avoid leggings at all cost.
4piece t9 is good.

also. drop mining, and get tailoring, the enchant for cloak is wonderful.
if i am wrong to the following viewers please correct me if i am.

[Crosscut]

You could also look into the Thaumaturge's Crackling Cowl from Saurfang in ICC10m. Looking at your "recent activity" tab on the armory you should be able to go for this one when it drops.

[elcher]

Usually most DPS problems can be solved through asking oneself simple questions:

1. can you predict events before they are going to happen? like say, Haunt stays on the target for 3 secondsm unstable is staying for 1 sec and corruption has 5 seconds left - what to do? you should always think of scenarios like these in order to know what is the right choice at the right time - without havingto think about it.

2.How aware are you? Can you do your priority almost blindfolded? Good players can - to a degree (they need to watch trinket proccs, pots and bloodlust etc.) If you are not aware right now go to a dummy and do your rotation over and over and over again, until it gets better. after some time you should know the "clutch" moments, like where your DoT rotation gets hairy. being able to predict these moments while maximising your shadowbolt casts is key.

3. Time your cooldowns well (as a Hunter it usually means stack em[!] - dunno about haste, casters and the GCD so thats up to the class).

Hope it helped.

EDIT: looking at your gear you should be hitting 10-12k dps in ICC - could be wrong tho.

[Lessly]

A little tip of mine would be that when you use Drain Soul at 25%, still keep your dots up. DON'T cast drain soul till the end, you have to clip it in order to replace your dots or you will lose to much dps. Also wait for your dots to finish their last tick before reappliing (spelling ???) them.

Here are some quotes that helped me a lot from elitist Jerks:
*"Clipping" a dot means reapplying it before its last tick. Although this increases your uptime (no more dot gaps), this is VERY bad for your dps. Why? Imagine a dot ticking every 3s. If you reapply it in the moment of its last tick, it is like resetting its tick counter, meaning there will be a gap of ~6s between two ticks instead of 3s. That is as bad as not reapplying it for 3s. Actually, it's even worse: You shortened its duration by one tick, meaning you have to reapply it more often, losing even more dps. So don't clip dots.
There are exceptions: If you know your target will be unreachable within a few seconds (e.g. Noth in Naxxramas porting to the other group), reapplying all dots is actually a good idea. If you are running around unable to cast anything but instants, clipping dots will save you time when you stand still again, and so on.*


*When Corruption is refreshed, the crit rating is not updated to the actual crit rating of your character or the actual crit debuffs on the mob. Instead, the crit rating you had when you applied the first Corruption keeps "rolling" as long as you keep refreshing it. The same is true for percentual damage increases, namely Tricks of the Trade and Death's Embrace. This has lead to a rather unintuitive way of maximizing corruption damage: Pre-Pot ([Potion of Wild Magic]), cast SB and Haunt, cast UA or CoA while Haunt is in the air, activate [Nevermelting Ice Crystal], then apply Corruption. If you have 4pT10, try to prolong this sequence by filler spells to get that proc as well. When the boss hits 35%, reapply Corruption while using NMIC and a pot again. Ideally, get Tricks of the Trade on both occasions and bribe your RL to announce heroism at 35%. The damage difference is significant: The Corruption damage will rise by roughly 30%, increasing the total damage by more than 10%.
This trick has been mentioned in a blue post, saying it is actually NOT an abuse, but clever use of game mechanics.
Even if you don't want to use it, it is good to know that applying Corruption before your first shadow bolt hits is actually a bad idea. This is the reason for the starting sequence: Make sure (someone's) Shadow Bolt already hit the target when you apply Corruption.*

If you want more go check http://elitistjerks.com/f80/t37900-d...sting_Sequence for very usefull help.
(sry for the walls of text.)

[Deleted]

DO NOT USE COE.

heres your build:
http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?warl...2,pbdqRe,12213

heres your rotation(priority and such):
shadowbolt x1
haunt
corruption
curse of agony
unstable affliction
drain soul at 25% and below, because it is more damage than shadowbolt.

cast haunt when it is off cd, never clip dots, suggestion get a addon that helps keep track of cooldowns and dots on current target, tip: if they are bloodlusting ASAP wait till bloodlust and cast corruption.

haste is good. never gem wierd gems like 12haste and 10 spirit or w.e

heres your gems: you dont need to follow sockets, but they are suggestions.
blue : 12sp and 10 spirit
red: 23sp, or 12 sp and 10 haste
orange: 12 sp and 10 haste
yellow: 12 sp and 10 haste, 20 haste (if desperately low on haste... which i doubt you are)

gear:
4piece t10 is wonderful. pieces wanted: chest,helm,gloves,shoulders.
2piece t10 is good too. please avoid leggings at all cost.
4piece t9 is good.

also. drop mining, and get tailoring, the enchant for cloak is wonderful.
if i am wrong to the following viewers please correct me if i am.

this might help !

[Linwelina]

You have way too much hit
Dont use sp/stam gems
Get 4 t10 so you can boost your corruption.
You could also get nevermelting ice crystal from PoS heroic to boost even more your corruption (for more info about that http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...ing-to-corrupt )

[Militriax]

DO NOT USE COE.

heres your build:
http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?warl...2,pbdqRe,12213

heres your rotation(priority and such):
shadowbolt x1
haunt
corruption
curse of agony
unstable affliction
drain soul at 25% and below, because it is more damage than shadowbolt.

cast haunt when it is off cd, never clip dots, suggestion get a addon that helps keep track of cooldowns and dots on current target, tip: if they are bloodlusting ASAP wait till bloodlust and cast corruption.

haste is good. never gem wierd gems like 12haste and 10 spirit or w.e

heres your gems: you dont need to follow sockets, but they are suggestions.
blue : 12sp and 10 spirit
red: 23sp, or 12 sp and 10 haste
orange: 12 sp and 10 haste
yellow: 12 sp and 10 haste, 20 haste (if desperately low on haste... which i doubt you are)

gear:
4piece t10 is wonderful. pieces wanted: chest,helm,gloves,shoulders.
2piece t10 is good too. please avoid leggings at all cost.
4piece t9 is good.

also. drop mining, and get tailoring, the enchant for cloak is wonderful.
if i am wrong to the following viewers please correct me if i am.

Militriax clearly states, NO.

First of: ALWAYS use CoE unless there's a boomkin, unholy dk or another warlock in the raid who does it.

Second: Do NOT cast Haunt when it's off CD, you can get ATLEAST one shadowbolt extra until you have to refresh Haunt (shadowbolt does more dps).

Third: 20 haste gem is NEVER better than 12 SP and 10 haste no matter how low you are on haste SP is always better. 12 sp 10 spi is only good if the socket bonus is MORE than 5 spell power, or if you need to activate your meta with them. Use 23 sp if blue socket and 5sp socket bonus. Also 12sp 10 haste is not a choice for red sockets since once again SP is better than haste.

Thanks for trying but yeah..

Yixx.

[Warlocomotif]

Shadowbolt->haunt->Corruption doesn't give enough time for Shadow Bolt to hit the target before corruption is applied, either throw UA or CoA in between.

[Tya]

Shadowbolt->haunt->Corruption doesn't give enough time for Shadow Bolt to hit the target before corruption is applied, either throw UA or CoA in between.

You should be re-applying it during your set bonus proc anyway, so you're re-casting it 10-15 seconds into the fight regardless.

Personally I always open with Corruption and roll it until the set procs. After that, pop a wild magic pot and re-apply.