But he does... http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte.../Guac/advanced
...you just don't see the Wrath of Tarecgosa procs from an arcane mage since they don't use DoTs. Normal spell procs copys the spell and as such you cant see them directly on WoL since they'll have the same name... you sir need to know what you're talking about before badmouthing others
Last edited by Darcam; 2011-08-29 at 11:00 PM.
The shaman that pulled 42K dps in FL was using the legendary staff. While that can't be used as the standard, the basic motto I follow is that an upgrade is an upgrade - If you are a DW frost DK with swords from BWD and then Hand of Rag drops... you will likely do more dps switching to 2h frost and using that.
You do tend to gain a little with shield and MH due to the fact that sometimes (only sometimes) A staff may not have a socket and/or you can have two enchants with MH + shield i.e. power torrent and +40 int.
Checking his activity log, he got both the trinket and the staff on the day that the parse was made. As he's using the trinket in the parse, it's reasonable to assume he's using the staff in it too. However, supposedly Arcane Missiles counts as a dot for the purposes of the WoT proc, and I don't know enough about analyzing Arcane parses to say whether or not the # of Arcane Blast casts he got was impossible. At the same time, it's rather suspect that the #1 Arcane Mage parse would be one without the staff placing him ahead of every Arcane Mage WITH the staff.
Food for thought I suppose.
I love arguing! BRING ON THE TROLLS!
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...twiki/advanced - Contributor to Stormearthandlava.com
I'm just saying if you're going to discredit the shaman parse because of the tricks of the trade and PIs you should be discrediting all top dps parses on WoLs. It's par for the course on that site.
I challenge you to find a top dps parse without all the extra buffs thrown at the one person.
Edit: I can't confirm whether 2nd and 3rd had the staff at the time of their parses. However it's confirmed that Guac did have his for that parse.
Don't forget a staff has less stats than the MH+OH combination.
Your average non-legendary will have slightly less Intellect, but more Secondary stats (Haste or Crit or whatever). If we look at the two BiS options (Legendary Staff vs. Rag Hammer + Red Willow Shield), The staff is better even without the amazing proc:
Legendary Staff:
Stam - 730
Int - 576
SP - 2786
Secondary 1 (Hit) - 314
Secondary 2 (Haste) - 271
Awesome Proc
MH + OH (Rag Hammer + Red Widow Shield):
Stam - 696
Int - 534 (this includes the OH enchant)
SP - 2786
Secondary 1 (Spirit) - 324
Secondyar 2 (Haste) - 264
All of the above Intellect scores are assuming you put a 40 Intellect gem in each Red slot.
Legendary staff is BiS, we all know that. Time we leave it alone, it cannot be used to compare to epic quality weapons.
From most comparisons I have seen staves have the advantage with more stats, until you get to rag hammer and shield then it takes the lead.
Rag hammer + shield > staffs > mh/shield
This is for normal modes, and I could be wrong easily.
in general, 1h+shield is going to be better than a staff, assuming similar ilvl and itemization.
Check this out:
http://www.wowhead.com/item=71039
vs
http://www.wowhead.com/item=71359
http://www.wowhead.com/item=71038
If you add it up, you'll see they have identical secondary stat values (albeit in different categories)
But because of the off-hand enchant, you get an extra 34 intellect with the shield.
Another thing the shield provides is 12k armor + 5% chance to block - i.e. 25% ish less physical damage taken, plus a 5% chance to reduce that further. That's a big deal any time you take physical damage.
So all things being equal, staff < MH/shield.
But of course... ilvl trumps this. A 378 staff is going to be better for pve than even a 372 MH/shield combo, especially with the right secondary stats.
And the legendary goes without saying.
Personally, I'd nab a chelley's and wait for the shield to drop from beth. Beth is one of the easier bosses in there, plus you're not going to have much competition for it, and the shield is very well itemized.
Huh? I'm sorry your question doesn't make any sense but I think I know what you are getting at. I'm just saying I wouldn't take a staff over a caster that can't use shields. If a shield drops and I don't have a good MH I would pass to the paladin, but if I have a good MH and I'm using a staff (which would be replaced) I would roll for the shield as I would have a better set overall.
I don't get stressed out over gear. If it will benefit me I'll use it, but if I know I'm going to replace it then I'll just pass to the person who will be using it longer than I would. I'll wear MH + shield over a staff if the stats are similar because shields look cooler and some armor is better than no armor.
The misguided notion that Elemental Shaman shouldn't use shields comes from one of the following three sources:
1. Loot-whores who don't want competition on Staves
2. People who have learnt from people in category 1 (i.e. they believe it without thinking about it)
3. People who think that a 1h/shield is more "Shamany", if such a thing even exists.
If it's an upgrade, use it. If you prefer the looks, use it. If not, don't. Simple.
There are offhands that are not shields BTW. (Not sure how to add Wowhead mouseover links in this forum =x)
Goblet of Anger http://www.wowhead.com/item=71448
Molten Scream http://www.wowhead.com/item=71462
I will use whatever gives me the most desirable stats. If a staff drops and its an upgrade to what I have MH+OH, I'll roll on it (keeping other raiders that can use it in consideration of course).
Last edited by KCee; 2011-08-30 at 11:43 AM.
In a perfect world scenario where all the gear of relevant ilvl is freely available to you, i am sliiightly tempted to believe a 1h+shield is better, just because you get extra 40 int from the OH enchant AND powertorrent ontop of that.
Now sticking to that combo is by no means necessary. If a staff is a pretty substantial upgrade then by all means go for it.
P.S. I miss the old days of 2handed int maces. Those were the good days i tell you
Staves seems to be easier to get this tier than anything else. I think I will be grabbing a Shoravon instead of waiting for a Kogun and ultimately a Dragonwrath. There were some bias in WoTLK as only shields could have a spellpower enchant on it so the difference between MH + Shield vs Staff is even bigger than it is now.