1); 4) I'm going to be as forthcoming as possible. Please understand, but I'm not in the mood to spend time to do more calculations for other people. Those, which I normally do, regard topics, which are of interest to me (as you'll see further down below). For example, I was curious to see whether switching to arp was going to be worth the trouble and under which circumstances. I don't use rawr; I prefer to do my own calculations and set my own conditions when I try to find tendencies in the dps. I don't know whether you use that program, but in case you don't I'd like to give you an entire list of the formulas that I use. You can use them to calculate YOUR OVVN damage and to get a clear answer regarding the things that CONCERN YOU. You might know them already, but I wanted to post them here just so we are on the same page:
Bonus AP from:
-> AP (new) = AP (original)*1.1(Heart of the VVild)
-> AP (from agil) = Agility (original)*1.02 (Improved Mark of the VVild)*1.06 (Survival of the Fittest)*1.1 (Heart)
-> AP (from str) = Strength (original)*2*1.02 (IMotVV)*1.06 (SotF)*1.1 (Heart)
FB 5CPs (Rend and Tear increases the crit chance by 24, so I’ll might as well concentrate on the critical strike):
FB = (170+290*5+0.35*AP)*Feral Aggression*SR*Naturalist*2*Predatory Instincts*Meta Gem
FB = (0.35*AP+1620)*3.8124317
Shred = (AA*2.25 + 666)*Naturalist*Mangle*SR*Rend and Tear
According to some sources, the cat’s AA damage is calculated by multiplying our AP by 1/14 and adding 55 (average pawn damage).
Shred(non-crit)= (((AP/14)+55)*2.25+666)*2.28228
Shred(crit)=(((AP/14)+55)*2.25+666)*5.17164648
Shred (base damage with Shred Idol) = (((AP/14)+55)*2.25+869)
Mangle = (Autoattack damage*2+566)*Naturalist*Savage Fury*Savage Roar
Shred(non-crit)= (((AP/14)+55)*2+566)*1.7556
Shred(crit)=(((AP/14)+55)*2+566)*3.9781896
Rake = (AP/100+176+3*358+AP*0.18)*Savage Fury*Mangle*SR*Naturalist
! For Frostmournes and people w/o 4pt10 - (AP/100+176) is the thing that crits. Everything else - doesn't. !
Rake (non-crit, 4pt10 or no 4pt10) = (AP/100+AP.18+1250)*2.28228
Rake (crit, 4pt10) = (AP/100+AP.18+1250)*5.17164648
Rake (crit, no 4pt10) = ((AP/100+176)*5.17164648)+((AP*0.18+1074)*2.28228)
Rip (no additional bonuses) = (36+93*5+0.05*AP)*11*SR*Mangle*Naturalist
Rip (-//-) = (AP*0.05+501)*20.9209
Rip (-//-, crit) = (AP*0.05+501)*47.4067594
Rip (multiplier with 2pt7) = 24.7247 or 56.0261702 (in case of a critical strike)
Rip (base damage with Rip Idol) = (AP*0.05+606)
AA = ((AP/14)+55)*Naturalist*SR
AA (non-crit) = ((AP/14)+55)*1.463
AA (crit) = ((AP/14)+55)*3.315158
Arp affects our AAs, Shreds, FBs, and Mangles. This is what I use to determine the "damage applied" multiplier.
EffectiveArmor = Armor – ArP rating / 1399.6 * min{Arp cap, Armor}............................................ ..8088.68 armour, 7773.73 arp cap
DR% = EffectiveArmor / (EffectiveArmor + 15232.5)
DA% = 1 – DR%
Additional information if you want to take into consideration the buffs in a 25-man raid environment:
-> 10% AP increase (MM's aura)
-> 10% Str/Agility increase (BoK)
-> 687 AP (Improved BoM; it doesn't take into account our talents or MM's aura)
-> 155 Str + 155 Agil (DK horn; it doesn't take into account or talents, BoK, or MM's aura)
-> 55 Str + 55 Agil (our improved druid buff + talents; it doesn't take into account BoK or MM's aura)
-> 180 AP (flask; it doesn't take into account our talents or MM's aura)
-> 400 AP (Berserking; it doesn't take into acount our talents or MM's aura)
-> 40 arp/40 agil/40 str (food; it doesn't take itnto account our talents or MM's aura)
-> 4% damage increase (CRogues) to our abilities
-> 3% damage increase (Ret Paladins) to our abilities
-> 40% damage increase for 30 seconds (Hysteria) to our abilities
-> 20% melee haste (Blood DKs)
-> 3% melee haste (Boomies)
-> 30% melee haste for 40secs (Bloodlust)
-> 500 haste rating (speed pot)
Sources:
https://web.archive.org/web/20150103...dps-discussion
http://forum.warmane.com/showthread.php?t=298787
https://wotlk.evowow.com/spell=48574#see-also
https://wotlk.evowow.com/?spell=49800
https://wotlk.evowow.com/?spell=48577#see-also
https://wotlk.evowow.com/spell=48572?forums#see-also
https://www.wowhead.com/forums/topic/142010
Continuing with the first question - yes, it's absolutely correct that arp trinkets don't snapshot our bleeds and that they don't get affected by the target's armour. However, the reason why I mentioned those items in my first two posts was because they popped up quite often in BiS lists (Grim Toll for the Naxx patch and Mjolnir for Ulduar). I'm not the type of person, who hunts BiS items on Frostmourne due to two simple reasons:
- the gear lasts only 3 months, which will then be replaced by the one from the next patch;
- the items don't always drop, and there's competition for them in my raids.
This is why the only BiS list, which I respect and know for certain, is the one that contains ICC and RS items. During the other patches, I'm the type of guy who works with whatever I get my paws on.
Once again, if you want to get a definite answer, then the formulas would help you get it. Think about how many AAs, FBs, Shreds, Rip ticks, and Rakes you do on average per minute.
Note: Rip doesn't last 30 seconds. You might have rounded that number up, but in actuality it has 22 seconds (+3 Shreds, but no 2pt7) or 26 seconds (+3 Shreds and 2pt7).
2) Interestingly enough, I've always had the same question. It's true that by lowering our crit, we get less critical strikes, which result in less raw damage and less CPs (=less energy). However, if we have 283 agility from all available gem slots (this includes talents) like in Catisgud's case, then we lose 3.7% crit. This doesn't mean that we will suddenly have 0 crits during fights. It all boils down to RNG, but let me show you how the average outcome would look like.
Imagine that our regular shreds do 5k damage, while our crits 10k (I'm just simplifying evertyhing in this example). If we have 50% crit, and we do 100 shreds, 50 of those would be regular and the other half - critical. On average, we would do (5.000*0.5)+(10.000*0.5)=7.500 damage per Shred. If we have 3.7% less crit, then on average the numbers would look like so: (5.000*.537)+(10.000*.463)=7315, which is admittedly lower than our previous result, but not by a huge margin. And then arp comes into play, which can lower the first number by a great amount to a point where it makes it less attractive.
Let me show you:
So, on average arp prevails just because the damage reduction from the boss's armour is too high. Again, RNG will affect you differently, and sometimes you'd
feel that you have less critical strikes than normal. That's why I look at the average results and observe the tendency. If you look at my second post, you'd see that in order for arp to prevail (with all factors taken into consideration; well... except the class buffs), you need to do X amount of Shreds per minute to gain that small dps increase. This is why I gave you the formulas above - so that you can see it for yourself how much damage you do depending on the number of attacks per minute, so you see whether switching to arp would be worth in YOUR CASE.
3) See this?
FB consumes additional energy (up to 30 REGARDLESS IF YOU HAVE A CC PROC OR/AND BERSERK IS UP), and it gives you a pathetic dps at the end. This energy could have been used for another ability. If you don't mind, I'm going to calculate it here myself:
Let me show you what I see:
- if we ignore the extra energy consumption from FB, we see that one FB (18 energy) is far greater than any Shred (21 energy). So, if we have <20 energy, we should definitely use FB.
- If we consider the extra energy consumption from FB (let's say 24), we will see that 2 Shreds (42 energy) are better than one FB (42).
- However, more realistically the FB will consume 30 energy. In that case, the damage from one FB (48 energy) is better than 2 Shreds (42 energy).
- DISCLAIMER: After using an ability, we trigger a GCD, which lasts one second and regenerates 10 energy. I'm going to showcase a hypothetical example if we have 50 energy, 5 CPs, and only 6 seconds of Berserk:
1st case: 1xFB (48 en) + 2 Shreds
2nd case: 1xFB (18 en) + 4 Shreds
Let's imagine that in the 2nd case, we actually did 3 Shreds due to latency issues and/or human error. Let's compare the damage:
12575+12512 vs 10521 + 18768
25k <29k
As you can see, there's a reason why some people spam Shred. I'm also part of this group, but from time to time I use FB with 50% or 100% energy. VVhy? VVhen? Here's how I play - I am a player, who tries to be as energy efficient as possible, because more energy gives us more Shreds. The cases, when I use FB with a lot of energy, are ONLY THOSE when I have lucky CC procs, and I AM CERTAIN that I won't be able to use my energy to its fullest. It would be wasted once Berserk ends anyway, so I prefer to spend it while I can. In other words, here's what I do during Berserk:
- Spamming Shred + FB at the end (granted, SR and Rip have a long duration);
- Spamming Shred + occasionally using FB if I get too many CCs, and I won't be able to dump all of my energy before Berserk ends.