Comments on: To Mindblast or not to Mindblast

By: anexxia

anexxia — Sun, 16 May 2010 00:49:45 +0000

I went from running with a harem of shadow priests to being the only one. SO I hadn’t noticed folks not Mind Blasting. I still do so out of habit and from typically being the only replenisher in most of our 10s. Will have to try to resist the urge to hit that key n ICC25 this week and see if it’s a big boost.

By: Cassandri

Cassandri — Tue, 04 May 2010 12:56:01 +0000

I usually ask/check if it’s ok for me to drop Replenishment. Or I just count the number of Ret Pallies in attendance But mostly I will Mind Blast, I just don’t watch the cooldown anymore. I think that leaves you more room to cast smoothly, regardless of how Haste affects the rest of your spells while the MB CD remains unchanged.

By: Narx

Narx — Tue, 04 May 2010 05:02:38 +0000

“Now, in regards to adds, Shadow Priests are one of the worse classes to deal with adds and swapping, our ramp up time is almost legendary”

Affliction Warlocks… cough….

By: Shiva

Shiva — Mon, 03 May 2010 20:27:59 +0000

There are many ways to look at this. And, I don’t want to look like an arrogant condescending bastard, because I promise I am not… but…

Some classes are better at adds than others; however you should take into account what’s wiping the raid. And if something isn’t wiping, then maybe you shouldn’t worry about it. What I mean is, things like spike. If the spikes are in melee range some classes will lose no dps at all while hitting the spikes. You know from stuff like chain lightning and cleave or seal of cleave.

I think you owe it to yourself to look good compared to the standards, rather than to do what’s “right”. This isn’t a guild, it’s a mercenary run and you probably want to do what it takes to get an invite again.

Of course, as others have commented, the Ret paladin will always put up Replenishment and it’s possible the hunter might’ve been as well. There is no need for 3 Replenishments in a raid, extra replenishments do not stack. So in a situation like this, you might as well forget mindblast anyways. It basically gains you nothing.

Now, in regards to adds, Shadow Priests are one of the worse classes to deal with adds and swapping, our ramp up time is almost legendary. But it should be noted if the adds are going to live long enough, multi-dotting is worth it. I believe the numbers work out, for up to 4 targets, spamming Vampiric Touch on all 4 and then swapping back to Mindflay/Devouring Plague the main target is maximum dps if you want to focus on one target or contribute via VE. For absolutely maximum with 4 targets, you want to put up 4x VT then go to town with Mind Sear.

I will say one last thing though. I think the most amicable solution is to either ask in raid or the raid leader if you are needed to put up/keep up with either VE or Replenishment. And if you are, explain it will be for a personal dps loss, but you can do it for the benefit of the raid. Smart raiders/raid-leaders will already know this, and they make more kindly to inviting you again and/or the “meters”.

Anyways, I think it’s worth mentioning again, I certainly hope I didn’t come off sounding like an asshole. I absolutely don’t mean to be or intend to sound like one.

By: Zebb

Zebb — Mon, 03 May 2010 18:45:57 +0000

@Gronthe: I raid lead 10-mans for a moderately casual guild (and in random bouts of insanity I lead the occasional 25-man PUG too), and I’ll tell you you and your guild are in the minority requiring that level of cross-class expertise. I keep a handle on it, and after all the months I’ve lead these guys, they know to take me on my word when I ask our hunter to go marks when we’re missing our enhance, or survival when we’re missing our retadin.

Either way, I’d wager most guilds out there, even the casual ones, have at least one guy like me who knows the way all the raid buffs and debuffs interact. In a PUG, hopefully it’s the raid leader or one of his assists… at least there’s your best bet.

By: Gronthe

Gronthe — Mon, 03 May 2010 15:36:09 +0000

@ Zebb: Being a shaman myself, on the enhancement side of things, I’m looking around my raid to see who provides similar or overriding buffs as well. Learning about the buffs each class provides was a prerequisite for my guild.

It’s true, it matters more in a 10 man than 25, so just take a look and see if anyone else can provide it. Maybe you don’t have to use mind blast off every cooldown, but every once in a while would certainly help.

By: James

James — Mon, 03 May 2010 14:04:06 +0000

It’s a pug…I never feel guilty in a pug.

By: Zebb

Zebb — Mon, 03 May 2010 13:03:04 +0000

I would suggest to any player of a class who supplies a vital raid buff at the cost of personal DPS, know who else supplies that same buff and check the composition of your PUG for it. I have an Elemental Shaman, and any time I hop in a raid, the first thing I look for are Felguards. Felguards mean we’ve got a Demonology Warlock around, meaning we’ve got Demonic Pact overriding my Totem of Wrath spellpower boost. Thereby leaving me free to drop a Searing Totem as my standard drop and not feeling at all bad about popping out a Fire Elemental during Bloodlust.

By: Narx

Narx — Mon, 03 May 2010 04:48:47 +0000

These days replenishment isn’t much of an issue in 25s.

Its 10s where it hurts the most :\

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 03 May 2010 04:12:11 +0000

Looks like you had a ret paladin (albeit a bad one who was only doing 4.5k dps) and a hunter doing 4.5k who could have been survival?

Both of these classes apply replenishment in their normal rotation, so you can consider yourself free to dps to your potential.

I tend to err on the side of utility as well for my classes, and will assist with things like adds etc if I deem it’s necessary rather than tunnelling dps into the boss. I suppose I probably shouldn’t, in a perfect min/max world.