Alter Ego

Hey there,

Been running tons of instances and a bit of RoK raiding as well, and I'm finding extremely hard to replace the +45 CA/Spell Dmg the 72 MC chain pieces offer. It's even better than the lvl 77 MC by far!

So, after a lot of thinking I did replace the bp with a Sandstorm Scalemail, and the boots with a Boots of the Minion (drop off of the sperm name in MC).

Even then, I'm not sure what was I better off with, so my question is: What do you guys think about the subject? Which non-ultra-high-end pieces would indeed mean an improvement in dps over lvl 72 MC?

And something else: Which one would be the CA/Spell dmg to Crit % comparison ratio?

Thanks a lot in advance!

Poofe

I think 6 dps boots or jarsath boots would be better than MC,

I also wear the spell crit stuff over MC

fish embroidered gloves - gloves, 70 spell dmg, 2 spell crit
woven silk underlay - bracers, 65 spell dmg, 2 spell crit
fulgent arms of sagacity - arms, 75 spell dmg, 2 spell crit
froglok bonecasters robe or sandstorm scalemail - chest, 50 spell dmg, 2 spell crit
fuscia finery - head, 90 spell dmg, 2 spell crit

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Poofe Fromage the Fragrant - 80 troubadour

Paikis

Wrists: \aITEM -1411054961 -1607529131:Bracers of Deadly Melody\/a - Kotiz, Sebeliss
Chest: \aITEM 198475395 734367945:Jarsath Robe of Royalty\/a - Drusella, Maiden's Chamber
Boots: \aITEM 1347694324 -757806089:Trooper Scale Boots \/a - General V'Deers, Jarsath Wastes.
Legs: \aITEM 252143984 969230788:Chain Leggings of the Lyrist\/a - Named outside Crypt of Agony.
Hat: \aITEM -407893232 1466633194:Fuchsia Finery\/a - Drusella, Maiden's Chamber.
Gloves: \aITEM 1945904353 -336158378:Fish Embroidered Gloves\/a - Quest in Kunzar Jungle.
Shoulders: \aITEM -1618667080 -633278498:Fulgent Armguards of Sagacity\/a - Pretty much anything in Crypt of Agony.

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Paikis, Troubador of Nagafen.
Vae Victis - 'The bait isn't supposed to eat the fish!'

Chix

I have had and continue to have the same dilemma.

I have pretty much every item I'd ever want from instances/quests (and no raid-dropped gear at all). So I have been mixing and testing different gear setups a lot... mainly lots of MC pieces vs no MC pieces. And the results have always been... they are equal. All that hard-earned gear from endless instance grinding netted no DPS gains at all, no matter how badly I want my parser to tell me it did.

But of course, stuff like Chain Leggings of the Lyricist and Jarsath Robe of Royalty are better than the MC counterparts... but not as much as many would like to think.

And also, I think it will be difficult to establish a "CA/Spell dmg to Crit % comparison ratio". Someone might try, but it will mostly be wild speculation.

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Chik, troubador on Splitpaw

Alter Ego

Hey again guys,

Thank you immensely for your replies. I got one more question though, based on the replies here and some others I've seen on resemblant threads.

I see a clear focus on spell dmg crit% and +spell dmg items.

Even then, we got:
- Reverberating Shrill (Fast cast, 15s reuse)
- Tap Essence (0.93s cast, 10s reuse)
- Thunderous Oberture (1.39s cast, 5s reuse)
- Painful Lamentatios (AE, Slow cast -even with max AA-, 12s reuse)

Vs.

- Draining Incursion (Fast cast, 10s reuse)
- Ceremonial Blade (Fast cast, 20s reuse)
- Piercing Stab (Fast cast, 1m reuse)
- Bright Blade (Fast cast, 10s reuse)
- Night Strike (Fast cast, 20s reuse)
- Bump (Fast cast, 30s reuse)
- Sinister Strike (Limited Targets, Fast cast, 2m reuse)

So, why so much focus on +spell stuff, when we actually use way more CA's than spells? Specially with Thunderous Oberture and Tap Essence taking so long to cast, I find myself most often than not repeating an already refreshed CA or Autoattacking instead of using those. Well maybe I do use TO cause of the high dmg but TE? Rarely.

Mind you:
- Perfection of the Maestro
- The Aria
- Rhythm Blade
Are not affected by +spell nor +CA bonuses effects.

All answers will be greatly appreciated once again, have a nice day!

Poofe

Thunderous and painful proc Aria and other spell procs more often due to the longer cast times. Also, Thunderous has a really short recast, so it's available to be cast more often.

Our CA's are really low in damage regardless of the recast. Now, I'm not saying to avoid them entirely, but pick your times.

Also, before they helped the hit rates on orange mobs, spell damage was the way to focus and get more consistent dps.

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Poofe Fromage the Fragrant - 80 troubadour

Chix

I am not a big fan of too much spell focus either. I just happens that a lot of the good troub gear is of the kind X% spell crit + Y spell damage, which I believe is better than say a 2% melee crit + 2 haste/DPS item.

For the reasons you've stated +CA is just as good as +spell (if not better), at least initially. Once you've capped Bright Blade and Incursion +spell is definitely better (as Shrill and Overture wont cap for a long time yet).

I would also choose 2% melee crit over 2% spell crit anytime (as melee crits are better even if you are doing 50% melee and 50% spell), but due to the itemization in legendary gear you rarely have that choice. You just go with the tasty 3% spell crit +70 spell item instead.

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Chik, troubador on Splitpaw

Uyaem

I've recently sacrificed some melee crit gear for double attack and dps mod. Currently I'm at 30ish spell/melee/DA self-buffed iirc and 400 spell/CA mod, 32 +dps mod.

I was planning on going through the parses to see which was better in the end, but it turned out to be a Sisyphean task because my group's setup is never the same (even had something like Inq/Guard/Monk/Wiz/Ass/Troub recently, and that was giving me the best results, wtf...), hence I can't really compare.

I bet someone else has already done the numbers on this, care to share?
Something in the form of X > Y would be awesome.
Simply because of hit rates, I've always prioritized spell crit/+spell mod.
What I can say for sure is that because we're very low on the +dps curve, each and every +dps item is worth holding on to.

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Kino

The reason raid troubs spec for casting is that a lot of the time we're in the mage group and it just makes more sense that way.

Spell damage and crit DO affect PotM and aria (on ourselves definately, though im not sure if our numbers affect other peoples procs). But because the numbers for those procs are so low, you need very little spell damage to hit the cap for those two.

Honestly though theres only 3 CAs i use on a regular basis in a raid. Nightstrike, bright blade and cerimonial blade. I spec for spell damage because most of our debuffs are spells and they proc aria and potm all the time. And if a wizard does velium gift or whatever it is, thats more spell damage proc'ing.

I guess mostly my conclusion is that spell damage = nice to have. Spell crit = MUST HAVE. Ranged/melee crit = nice to have.

I'd say for grouping and raiding, wear:
Fuscia finery
Jarsath robe of royalty OR leviathin sealed carapace
fulgent armguards
Ayonic axe
EITHER: Faceless shield, that jinisk faction shield, or the jade reaver
(the shields are for STA line spec only)
Sokokar scale boots or Gwalnax brigade boots
Fish embroidered gloves
bracers of mercilous melody
tormented bracelet of doom
will bender (from chelsith)
di'zok bow of flame
melodic pants from name outside COA

Some nice raid drops include:
Kodux war leggings
Hood of dark dealings
twelve tone earstone
marrow's song
t1-t3 set gear also very decent and relatively easy to obtain.

and theres some other stuff i cant remember right now.

Pinski

No, spell damage does not affect PotM or aria's, period. Spell Crit is nice, but you really don't need that much, and lol using a shield over an offhand destroys your dps.

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