Eff the Ineffable || Azuremyst US

Ok , so I've loaded RAWR, bookmarked Mr. Robot and spent more time than I'd like puzzling over what type of Gear Score would be average for Heroics and (hypothetically) Raiding..

I know I need to change my talent specs since they don't jibe with the current calcs for Fire Mages. I also know that I'm low on the ilevel specs for a number of pieces (which, presumably, would improve with more "dungeoning") and some of my gear is not optimally enchanted (e.g. Mr Robot suggests I use the Hurricane Enchant on my staff- I'm not planning to do that until I get at least an ilvl 345-350 weapon- open to suggestions, however).

I have already followed a number of suggestions from RAWR for optimizing (although RAWR is now telling me to re-optimize to other specs)..

I'm interested in getting opinions/suggestions regarding areas where I might see some more immediate improvements. According to the site WTF Is My Gear Score I'm in the 7400 range which seems really low..

Anyway, I'd love your thoughts, suggestions, criticisms etc..

Oh, and I am completely bewildered regarding "Caps" for my spec.. any help here would be great ( I did see the formulas on EJ for calculating caps but I'm wondering if someone has already got these figured out)..

Thanks!!!

... what he didn't like about heroes was that they were usually suicidally gloomy when sober and homicidally insane when drunk. There were too many of them, too.

Gear score doesn't mean shit as far as being ready to raid or even being ready for heroics. What you want to look at more is your average iLevel.
For heroics you need at least an average iLevel of 329 before Blizz will let you queue, but I'd wait until you can do 8-9k DPS on average in regular dungeons before you setup up, which means you'll probably be more in the mid 330s.
Raid ready is more of a judgement call. With the nerfs to t11 you can probably do and be successful in t11 content with an iLevel around 340 or so, but personally I probably wouldn't go until I knew I could be hitting 10-12k dps consistently, which means closer to iLevel 350. And of course being fully enchanted, properly reforged, etc.

As for caps I think the only one you really need to concern yourself with is the hit cap, which you definately want to be at.

Nobody makes me bleed my own blood!!

OK. Good info Furiel. Btw.. thank you for validating that (seems like common sense) gear score is an arbitrary number. I'll work toward getting to 17% hit cap with the addition of the other items you mentioned.

Many thanks!

... what he didn't like about heroes was that they were usually suicidally gloomy when sober and homicidally insane when drunk. There were too many of them, too.

My personal opinion is that gear score/ Ilevel etc is kinda worthless. Now sure, Blizzard wont let you queue for a random heroic under 329 (or whatever) and a troll under 346. So obviously, if you dont have that ilvl you cant random those. But if you want to run heroics or even trolls with a group full of guildies you could get in them through the "door" instead of the LFG system.

As for raid, the only important thing is your dps numbers. When i started raiding with Eff i was on my rogue. His ilvl was 333! Gear was unenchanted with green quality gems. But i knew how to play it. I pulled between 11k and 13k dps on magmaw...nothing earth shattering but still good enough. So if i wanted to invite you to a raid, my question to you wouldnt be Whats your ilvl, it would be whats your dps on the dummy?

Idc crap about mages so i cant help you with that.

Guys, thanks- great info.. My goal is to make sure I have the gear, "juice," and numbers to be effective in group dungeons, heroics and then maybe, (if I can commit the time)try out for raiding..

This info helps me to set some goals to get there..

... what he didn't like about heroes was that they were usually suicidally gloomy when sober and homicidally insane when drunk. There were too many of them, too.

You have the gear to be effective in regular dungeons and non-troll heroics already. I just looked your gear over in the armory and your gear is way better than Azzie's and I run regular dungeons with him and am about to step up into regular heroics with him as well once I get another piece or two of gear.

If you are worried about not knowing the fights and stuff just latch onto one of the guild groups, I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say we'd all be more than happy to talk you through the fights. Lord knows we've done them all enough. Heck even if you want to PuG them just be honest and up front and tell them you havn't been there before, most people will give you a pass and give you a high-level overview of the boss fights before the pull.

Nobody makes me bleed my own blood!!

Awesome! Thanks! - I am going to take you up on your offer.. especially since I now have my "pickled-egg" and "stopwatch" trinkets! : )

Ashe- I will hit you up with Fire Magey questions..

According to Rawr I can pull another 3-4% hit out of my existing gear so I'll give that a go.. in addition, I'll respec to proper Fire standards.

Now I need to get rid of my pvp gear - all that resilience is making me itch!

... what he didn't like about heroes was that they were usually suicidally gloomy when sober and homicidally insane when drunk. There were too many of them, too.

Just a quick note on the hit cap for caster dps - because of the enormous value of Int for casters, it can actually be detrimental to get all the way to the hit cap IF you'd be giving up Int to do it. If you're "close" (so, within maybe half a percent or so?), and the only way you can get to the cap is by using a +hit gem/enchant over an Int one, it might not be worth it. In that situation, it makes so little measurable difference in the overall result that it really comes down to personal preference. Personally, I try to always be at the hit cap but that's just because I'm super anal about it. It might make the whole reforging/optimization thing a bit easier if you're okay with stopping just shy of the cap.

If you're looking to run heroics/trolloics and you want some company of the dps-y or heal-y variety, just yell!

"Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space there is the power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom."
-- Viktor E. Frankl