Unbearably HoT

I write a lot about gear—what looks totally sweet, stuff that will probably improve your DPS, how to kill the boss to get the gear, and the next-best-thing if you can’t pick up what’s best-in-slot. What I don’t normally cover is the politicking about who gets what—normally I don’t care. If you show up all the time and play like a champion, chances are pretty decent you’ll pick up what you need. But let’s set the record straight: there is no perfect or fair loot distribution system. Finding a DKP setup that pleases your entire raid group is like stuffing high school kids into uniforms—a few people look good in chinos and pleats and the rest are content to bitch until they graduate.

But what if there was a different option that didn’t rely on the supposed know-all of a loot council, RNG, endless grinding for consumables, an absurd amount of seniority or DKP hoarding? What if there was a system that rewarded your raiders for time spent in raid and content downed? What if that system also helped to level the playing field between older and newer players—and still gave partial preference to folks who’ve been around for awhile? What if it also allowed raiders to really differentiate between the most highly coveted items and those that might only be a slight upgrade? That system exists, and it’s called “Shroud.”

I’ll save you some potentially boring history, but the loot system is (predictably) named after the guild that created it, and it’s what we currently use to distribute loot in ECR. It goes a little like this:

Are there drawbacks? Sure. The Shroud system rewards people for simply showing up and sticking it out—not necessarily their performance. You also occasionally risk ill-will when an individual unexpectedly Shrouds on an item that is generally bid “standard” (ex. tier gear)—sometimes folks just prefer (and anticipate) a roll-off on more common items. This is called “Shroud Bombing.”

As Mortality says,

“LIKE AN ATOMIC BOMB TO THE FACE, THE SHROUD BOMB IS GREAT FOR CRUSHING THE HOPES AND DREAMS OF YOUR FELLOW RAIDERS.”

Overall, however, the key to making this system succeed is to drive home the importance of Shrouding whenever you desperately want a piece of gear. Hunter pissed because he bid standard and a Druid shrouded? Tough fucking luck. By bidding standard, that Hunter acknowledged he wouldn’t be heartbroken if he lost the loot. While I would always encourage you to discuss potential upgrades with your fellow DPS (or healers, or tanks, or losers—whatever) so that you’re ensuring your raid gears up appropriately, the “Shroud” exists to discourage collusion. Maybe that’s mercenary. On the other hand, if you’re content to let RNG decide the win every time, there’s no point in having a DKP system anyway.

Although I haven’t participated in a guild that used Suicide Kings or full-fledged EPGP, the Shroud system is about as close to “perfect” as it can get—in my opinion, of course. You encourage your raiders to show up, stick around until the end, and do their gear research so that they don’t waste their points Shrouding on worthless items. It’s like you’re back in high school sitting next to that super hot chick in algebra class. You can gaze longingly at her and hope that maybe she’ll notice you, you can pass her a note and hope she’ll read it before crumpling it into the garbage bin, or you can go balls out and ask her to the prom. If you want her—I mean, it, you go for it.

WIN BIG OR LOSE BIG—THERE IS NO TRY.

If you recall, I posted a preliminary Ulduar Gear List for Feral DPS a few weeks ago. Since then, I’ve done a lot more raiding, have made substantial changes to my spreadsheet (thank you, Gingershnaps, for the extensive and awesome layout work), and have a different methodology for how you can select Cat gear. I’ve also noticed a disturbing trend in the way some of the new Druid gear looks.

The new spreadsheet can be downloaded here.

How does this shit work? First of all, it’s important to know how and why I selected the items that I did. In my spreadsheet, I calculated and then sorted all the stat data based on the following criteria: number of sockets, Total Crit%, Total AP, and Armor Penetration (in that order). Remember, after Armor Penetration (which is a little ridiculous to gear for at the expense of other stats), AGI is the best stack to stat as a Cat. In the spreadsheet, I’ve translated AGI into both AP and Crit, and have attempted to pick out the item in each category with the most Crit Percentage and Attack Power. But why, you say, is sorting by socket number important?

An item with more sockets is not necessarily better than an item without sockets; however, the number of sockets can make or break a gear determination. Take the Flamestalker Boots and the Footpads of Silence. If you look purely at the Total AP and Total %Crit columns, you’ll notice that the Flamestalker Boots come out ahead (and have Haste). When you consider, however, that the Footpads of Silence are only 17 AP and 0.3% crit off and have two sockets, it’s easy to see why they’re better. As always, remember to carefully evaluate your gear. Crit, AP, and ArP (and even Haste) are totally awesome, but if you’re completely overlooking Hit and Expertise Rating, you’ll find yourself in trouble.

While you can find your best-in-slot items listed on the spreadsheet in red, I’ve put together two gear lists for you: one for the folks focused on Hard Mode Achievements, and one for the folks still trying to push through the first few bosses.

Best-in-Slot:

Back: Drape of the Faceless General. Normal General Vezax, Hard Mode.

Chest: Conqueror’s Nightsong Raiments. Heroic Hodir.

Feet: Footpads of Silence. LW recipe that drops from Heroic Ulduar.

Hands: Conqueror’s Nightsong Handgrips. Heroic Mimiron.

Head: Guise of the Midgard Serpent. Normal Thorim.

Legs: Legguards of Cunning Deception. Heroic Yogg-Saron, Hard Mode.

Neck: Seed of Budding Carnage. Normal Freya, Hard Mode.

Rings: Metallic Loop of the Sufferer (Heroic General Vezax), Godbane Signet (Normal Yogg-Saron).

Shoulders: Conqueror’s Nightsong Shoulderpads. Heroic Yogg-Saron.

Waist: Soul-Devouring Cinch. Normal Yogg-Saron, Hard Mode.

Weapon: Dark Edge of Depravity. Heroic Yogg-Saron, Hard Mode.

Wrists: Mechanist’s Bindings. Heroic Flame Leviathan.

This “set” will put you at 197 Hit Rating/5.91% (coupled with Grim Toll, you’re at 281, already over-budget) and 203 Expertise Rating/6.09% reduction in Dodge & Parry chance (assuming Primal Precision).

Slightly-Less-Ridiculous:

Back: Drape of Icy Intent. Heroic Hodir.

Chest: Conqueror’s Nightsong Raiments. Heroic Hodir.

Feet: Flamestalker Boots. Heroic Ignis.

Hands: Valorous Nightsong Handgrips. Normal Freya.

Head: Guise of the Midgard Serpent. Normal Thorim.

Legs: Proto-hide Leggings. Heroic Razorscale. These are also BoE.

Neck: Broach of the Wailing Night. 19 Emblems of Conquest. This is a super nice necklace.

Rings: Strength of the Automaton (Heroic Flame Leviathan) and Cindershard Ring (Heroic Ignis).

Shoulders: Treacherous Shoulderpads. Normal XT-002.

Waist: Belt of the Twilight Assassin. 28 Emblems of Conquest.

Weapon: Twisted Visage. Heroic XT-002. Lotrafen is technically better, but Twisted Visage is a lot easier to get.

Wrists: Mechanist’s Bindings. Heroic Flame Leviathan.

This “set,” which is a lot easier to assemble and will give you the two-piece T8 bonus, gives you 307 Hit Rating/9.21% Hit (super over-budget; if you can pick up Lotrafen, you’d be in better shape) and 177 Expertise Rating/5.31% reduction in Dodge & Parry chance (assuming Primal Precision).

I highly recommend using the spreadsheet to mix and match the gear you know you can attain and balance it with the stats you already have. Terrible with math? You can use the spreadsheet in conjunction with a tool like Rawr to get a leg up. Rawr also has the advantage of caching a number of other data elements and gear for your perusal. As always, the spreadsheet will continue to be updated as gear changes and discoveries occur. Looking for Bear information? Check out ThinkTank for super awesome tanking discussion and gearing suggestions.

Noblegarden is spectacular—a true vision of Azeroth at its finest. I only had to snag my first egg from the cotton-tailed clutches of a Hunter-turned-rabbit to receive a stream of grammatically incorrect vitriol. I love this. First of all, I’m terribly sorry that you can’t click as quickly as I can. Second, I’m disappointed that your retorts are neither clever nor funny. Third, you have only inspired me to poach as many eggs from you as I possibly can while simultaneously reporting and throwing you on ignore.

That’s beside the point. This newly-revamped in-game holiday is awesome for ERPers and fans of collecting scandalous and/or useless costumes. For all of you over-achievers who have no compunctions about sitting and doing completely mundane and occasionally frustrating things for hours on end, this is the shit for you. Fortunately, even if you’re completely unlucky, you can complete all the achievements for the meta (i.e. the mini-achievements that will get you the Noble title) using the Noblegarden Chocolates you find in the Brightly Colored Eggs. Unfortunately, that can take some time. Here’s a quick look of what you need if you want only the meta:

• Spring Rabbit’s Foot: 100 chocolates
• Spring Flowers: 50 chocolates
• Noblegarden Egg: 5 chocolates
• White Tuxedo Shirt: 25 chocolates
• Black Tuxedo Pants: 25 chocolates
• Spring Robes: 50 chocolates
• 110 extra chocolates: this fulfills your initial quest to get your Easter Basket and also nets you a stomachache and the Chocoholic achievement.

That’s a total of 365 eggs. What about the Spring Circlet and Elegant Robes? Technically, you don’t need those. The ears are totally just for fun (and for the record, you can use your Spring Flowers to put the ears on yourself) and you only need to find another person wearing the dress to get your Blushing Bride achievement done. So how the fuck do you get all those eggs? The best thing you can do is find a decent spot to camp out and stand around like a champ until they do. Here’s my suggestion: Dolanaar. I pick this not because I’m a Night Elf, but mostly because it has potential to be “less crowded,” and also because I found really awesome spawn points there. 

When you get to the Inn, go around to the left side near the Stable Master. 

One egg spawns on top of the wooden doodad, one egg spawns behind the wooden doodad, and another spawns in the bushes. You can position yourself in such a fashion (all up ons the Stable Master) that you can grab each of these eggs in rapid succession when they spawn. It’s not fun. You do this because you want the stupid title and potentially a proto in your future, and you must understand that it’s more boring than fishing. The rest of the achievements end up being very self-explanatory.

While I’m at it, let it be known that I updated the Ulduar DPS Loot List, and let me direct you all to a new Priest blog called “Maintaining Discipline.” Laney is a Holy/Disc Priest, one of ECR’s raid leaders, and just so happened to find some inspiration lately to start a blog. Go offer some words of encouragement! 

And sadly, just as we welcome another blogger to the ever-expanding sphere, another leaves. Megan, from Out of Mana, is stepping down and pursuing other worthwhile life experiences. I recommend pole-dancing and makeouts. Drop her a line, wish her good-luck, and parse through her old entries full of advice, biting wit, and “slick” graphics. Take care, yo.

This post is now outdated. For up-to-date information and better gear recommendations, please go HERE.

As promised, I have compiled an Ulduar loot list for all the hot cats out there. Note that this list only includes loot that’s new in 3.1 and that it’s entirely possible that more loot is yet to be discovered. If there are leather items you know have dropped and they haven’t been included, do me a favor and drop me a line so that I can add them to the spreadsheet. When considering what gear I chose as a top choice, remember:

• Agility and Armor Penetration are the “best” stats to stack as a Cat right now. This doesn’t mean that you won’t benefit from Critical Strike, STR, or Haste. 
• You will want your two-piece T7/7.5 and two-piece T8/8.5 bonuses.
• Best-in-slot means nothing if you’re not Hit or Expertise capped (or at least fucking close); choose the proper gear accordingly.
• In most cases, 25-man Ulduar gear will be better than 10. Sorry, kids.
• I’m not including pre 3.1 gear. There’s a good chance you’re already wearing some sweet stuff. Make sure you do your research before assuming something in Ulduar is 100 percent better.
• Where my idols at? For DPS, you’re still going to be alternating between the Idol of the Ravenous Beast (especially if you stack ArP) and Idol of Worship.
• Trinkets? Do yourself a favor and go get that Darkmoon Card: Greatness. Pair that up with something like Grim Toll or Bandit’s Insignia or the Mirror of Truth, and you’re good to go.

And without any other further ado, here’s my DPS gear shortlist! For a full rundown of gear and stats, please download my 3.1 Gear List Spreadsheet here. 

There’s nothing better than stomping the Iron Council into the ground and trekking back up the staircases to see a giant Titan dude emerge from the depths of Ulduar. If you haven’t seen him yet, Kologarn is so big that you actually only get to hit his regenerating arms and his giant-ass torso. For most folks, the strat is ridiculously simple—keeping everyone alive makes the encounter difficult. As always, having stellar DPS is an absolute must; however, there is no possible way to DPS any part of Kologarn from behind. What does this mean, kittens? No Shred. This is a Problem. Although Primal Gore boosts our Rip damage enough to keep us mostly viable for this fight, the sad reality is that you will be losing approximately 25% of your normal raid DPS (depending on the idol you use) here.

Fortunately, I had ample time last night to test out a variety of things in a patently unscientific manner to determine the best ways to make the most of your frontal DPS.

For what I did, you need this shit:

1. 6.5% chance not to be dodged or parried. This is the soft expertise cap, and it’s CRUCIAL because you’re unable to stand behind the boss.  Being hit capped or close to hit capped is also important.
2. Elixir of Mighty Fortitude. EXCITING! This is only because you need a guardian elixir and it’s really the only choice.
3. Elixir of Lightning Speed. I realize that this is surprising.
4. A stack of Imperial Manta Steaks (40 Haste) or, if you’re not Expertise Capped, a stack of Rhinolicious Wyrmsteaks (40 Expertise). I used Haste food, because I’m just below the soft Expertise cap.
5. Idol of Worship. This serves to maximize your DoT damage, which is essentially the only thing you’ve really got going for you. Especially useful because your DoTs will still be ticking when you inevitably have to kite an Eye Beam or become a victim of Stone Grip.
6. Potion of Speed. Unless you really fail and will absolutely need a health pot.
7. 5/5 Feral Aggression. You want the extra Bite damage.

These buffs will also help tremendously:

1. Improved Icy Talons. This can boost your Haste (if you happen to be lucky enough to be with your DK pal) by 20% for 20 seconds.
2. Windfury Totem. No DK? Windfury Totems are still pretty awesome and provide 16% Haste.
3. Heroism. This is pretty self-explanatory, I believe.

The idea is to increase your melee Haste and boost your white damage—your auto attacks. The more auto-attacks you do, the greater chance you have to proc your Clearcasting ability. But hey, we can’t Shred! Why bother? Although you will ultimately have so many Clearcast procs that you won’t know what to do with yourself, here’s how how you can use up all that Energy:

1. Mangle spam. No joke. You’ll (mostly) be using Mangle to build combo points.
2. Savage Roar for four combo points. To start your rotation here, SR at two combo points.
3. Keep up Rake. But don’t clip it. Refresh this only when it’s about to run out.
4. Keep up Rip at five combo points. Same rules apply. Don’t clip your DoT here because you’re only going to lose out on damage. Refresh this only when it’s about to run out.
5. Ferocious Bite like it’s your goddamn job. You will OFTEN have five combo points and seemingly nothing to do with them. Use that to your advantage.
6. Use Tiger’s Fury and Berserk as appropriate.

So why does this work so well? I am also running at a flat, unbuffed 265 Haste Rating, which many of you other cats in similar gear may have. With onlythe Elixir of Lightning Speed and Imperial Manta Steaks, I’m bumped up to 350. I’m also gemmed for Armor Penetration and run with approximately 197 ArP unbuffed. If you count Grim Toll’s proc in there, that’s more like 809. When you combine the strategy outlined above (that has an emphasis on boosting physical damage done) with a significant armor reduction, now we’re talking.

Questions? Good luck with Kologarn!