I need your hit buff
I got to have your Hit buff
Close to me
Such a dps gain
Watch my AOE rain
Ramping up my damage
I want you close to me
Mash up of “I need your body” by Tina Arena
Players will gear with the expectation that there will be a Shadow Priest, and or a Draenei, firstly – arguably because it might be a little difficult to get that perfect gear combination, and secondly but most importantly. They don’t have to.
I liken this practise to overclocking a PC. You have your recommended specs, but you can push them a little to get better results, or better performance. However it has it’s risks, and limitations. If the person providing you with this buff dies, or gets out of range as is the case of Draenei’s ( 30 yards) then you lose that buff, and you have only your personal hit rating to rely on, and even as a Shadow Priest, the hit buff requires that the Shadow Priest has cast on what you’re hitting.
There are several fights in ICC where the range of Heroic Presence, the Draenei hit’s buff might be an issue, and probably isn’t considered when you tell dps to spread out on Saurfang. It’s a stationary fight, and healers stand in the middle for the reason that it’s so you can keep range on as many people as possible. I’ve healed that fight several times, and if your standing to the right of the middle, you don’t have range on someone who is far left. So if a healer can’t reach you – then a Draenei’s buff won’t – So if you need a Draenei for your hit – make sure not only they are in your party, but they are close. Suarfang is also a good example for relying on a Draenei when range and melee is an issue. Range, range can be upwards of 40 yards, and so they avoid the adds by standing to their max range to boss. Not the max range for either providing that buff, or using it.
Of course some of the spell ranges/hunter ranges seem to be changing in CATA – but it’s something to think about for those raiding now.
Hopefully Cata improves this. I had a a great free loot tuesday for my alt priest shadow offspec. A pugged token,neck and Tier gloves from Voa meant I bit the bullet and went from 1/t10 to 4/t10 and also from 13% hit to 8%:(
Hit buffs are removed in Cataclysm all across the board. It actually simplifies the gearing because now you don’t need to have the additional pieces of gear to wear if there is suddenly no Sahdow Priest. Now you provide your own hit yourself.
I approve to their removal. An unscalable stat like this should not have been put into a class buff in the first place.