Ret DPS Help in 3.1

[gringo]

Expertise isn't a must to get capped.

Depending on which spreadsheet you read expertise (after hit cap) is less valuable or almost as valuable as strength.

So my deduction is:

Hit cap
Pure strength gearing.

This. Expertise is nice to have if it comes on gear, but don't gem/enchant for it.

[amk]

now that seal damage has been increased, is important to not miss any hit ( miss, dodge ), so go for the hit expertise's cap

i have 8 % hit, 6,50 % expertise, around 3350 ap unbuffed, and my damage seems to be very similar post-patch. 5900 dps on xt-002 last night (playing with 10 fps , could be more if my real pc was not broken), with only 1 rogue above me ( casters were dpsing scrapbots )

just get the hit and expertise caps, and go for strength

Well for example, I'm rocking Obsidian, Circle of Death and Ruthlessness, Girdle of Rez and a Betrayer. Not much else I can do to up my Expertise except to Gem for it. So is it worth dropping AP enchants or ST gems for Expertise?

[lisergy]

Well for example, I'm rocking Obsidian, Circle of Death and Ruthlessness, Girdle of Rez and a Betrayer. Not much else I can do to up my Expertise except to Gem for it. So is it worth dropping AP enchants or ST gems for Expertise?

in my opinion yes, it is.

i have the same items, and you can:

- get the emblems of valor wrist ( Wristbands of the Sentinel Huntress )

- gem for it

if you are bs, can use those sockets for the expertise, or if you are jc can use the 27 expertise gems. The expertise enchants is not a good option i think

try it, and comment how it goes

bb

pd: english isn't my mother language, forget my errors if there are some XD

[Kuthumii]

now that seal damage has been increased, is important to not miss any hit ( miss, dodge ), so go for the hit expertise's cap

i have 8 % hit, 6,50 % expertise, around 3350 ap unbuffed, and my damage seems to be very similar post-patch. 5900 dps on xt-002 last night (playing with 10 fps , could be more if my real pc was not broken), with only 1 rogue above me ( casters were dpsing scrapbots )

just get the hit and expertise caps, and go for strength

xt-002 is not a good fight to judge your DPS on, you get a DPS buff when attacking the Heart.

Do not socket Expertise. Socket Str once you are Hit capped. Let Exp come with gear. You should have a fair bit already if you were farming Naxx, if not, if will come, do not socket for it.

[Kuthumii]

Well for example, I'm rocking Obsidian, Circle of Death and Ruthlessness, Girdle of Rez and a Betrayer. Not much else I can do to up my Expertise except to Gem for it. So is it worth dropping AP enchants or ST gems for Expertise?

No, the math proves it isn't. Download Rawr and input your gear and you can play around with it.

Opinions can be flawed. Math cannot.

Gem Str after hit cap and let your Exp come with gear. You shouldn't be see much of a DPS loss from not having Exp as you are near cap already are you not?

[amk]

No, the math proves it isn't. Download Rawr and input your gear and you can play around with it.

Opinions can be flawed. Math cannot.

Gem Str after hit cap and let your Exp come with gear. You shouldn't be see much of a DPS loss from not having Exp as you are near cap already are you not?

162 Expertise = 4.75% (of 6.50%)

[Kuthumii]

That isn't that far off. I have 3.75% and haven't noticed a drop in DPS. I also regemed to get near hit cap.

Exp is nice and in some cases will better than strength...but it is gear defendant. Use Rawr. Its an amazing tool.

[nikkfurie]

Ok so from what i'm hearing, and i'm ignoring the retarded comments, it's due to a lack in expertise? I'm from the, "cap hit then strength" school, and that's what i'd done up until 3.1. But as of now, I haven't really heard anything concrete other than my expertise is low. I'd have to agree with the poster above, cap hit max str (ap) and gather whatever expertise may come with your gear. there's no way i'm gonna gem for expertise and lose ap that seems retarded. But I also can't see myself losing 1k dps to some dodges...
btw, to the dude who said he pulls 2.8 on a dummy, i tested mine last night with little to no expertise, and i was 3.1k pretty constantly on a dummy
my only guess sfjake, is that bosses in ulduar are generally on the move, and now since the majority of our dmg is SoB dmg as opposed to a ranged nuke, is that we're not getting full benefit of SoB procs since we have to be moving therefore missing swings (white dmg) and sob procs. Our gear is optimized for the Judgment nuke, which no longer exists so that extra dmg is totally gone. I'm pissed that people seem to think this was a buff for us, because it obviously isn't. The only thing i'm hoping is that, as I gimp along in raids, T8 will close the gap. The extra stats from our pieces should help, although the bonuses are so f-ing miserable i want to crap myself. I looked at the breakdown on recounts, and Sob dmg and melee (white) are now the leaders amongst dmg, and that crappy boost that we were supposed to receive, exo-crap-cism is like 10th or 11th. -_- thanks blizzard.

[archform]

if gear and talents isnt the problem then its rotation

[Adamson]

if gear and talents isnt the problem then its rotation

There is no "rotation"

Rotation implies that your CD's match up at some level of repeatable frequency.

[slipshade]

We could also call it blizzards fault too.

1: They changed our main dmg from our judgments that was unmitigated (Holy) into physical (crusader strike and ds). This causes a few problems that are not our fault. We are getting bad luck alot of times with glancing blows so our dps is more rng like. The 2nd part of that is well physical dmg is mitigated by armor and other effects so -dps there as well.

2: I do not know if there is a bug in blizz works or what, but any melee that raid seriously and watch wtf they are doing will have seen that all mobs can now Block without shields. Don't believe me turn on scrolling combat text for an entire raid and really pay attention. Notes on this new block mechanic is that it seems that it can only happen on white attacks not yellow. I confirmed this with the other 3-4 melee that run with me ESPECIALLY the fury warrior who was bitching the whole raid that since his white hits are now getting blocked be in from in front like on thadd where u might not have a choice or from behind mobs as well. He was complaining about rage loss not hitting his whites etc. Well since sob does more dmg every hit now and our judgment sucks this new block thing be it here to stay or a bug needs to be re-evaluated in blizz's mechanics.

I exparamented a little with exp maybe lessening chance of blocking by subing out some gems and my boh for the jawbone and eating exp food to reach cap and to my horror being exp and hit capped there is STILL THIS FUGLY BLOCK THING.

[Adamson]

NPCS have been blocking without shields for a long time.

[iktankniet]

i finally got the obsidian greathelm after all this fucking time!

my expertise now is doubled and im really close to hitcap. i can see on wednesday if i have a dps increase with less dodges.

[nikkfurie]

you know what he means adamson. (I mean, I hope that's what he means)... I'm assuming you mean: FCFS priority. And obviously I know what I'm supposed to prioritizing; I can read. Like I posted before, assume I'm doing all the basics correctly. But I'm confused, I'm pretty sure expertise removes dodges/parries from the table not blocks, so stacking exp to mitigate some weird blocks is.. ?? or am I wrong. However, I did take a look at more recounts from fights, the glancing % has increased significantly.