(WoW) Pretty Numbers

"You want X before tanking boss, you want Y before stepping into Naxx, you should be able to reach Z easy without gems..."

There are guidelines like this all over for pretty much every class. The problem is, they're written by people who raid - usually with regularity and success. Sometimes, those numbers seem very, very far away. After a lucky drop (finally, Regal Aurous Shoulderplates!) and some emblems, my paladin's finally pushing a couple of numbers above the baseline.


Of course, for non-druids, there's the threshold of 540 Defense. That is where you don't get critically hit by raid bosses. Technically, you only need 535 for bosses in heroic 5-man dungeons. I've been floating around here for a while, bouncing above and below 540 as gear has changed.

For warriors and paladins, there's also the "block cap" (formerly uncrushable). This is where your total avoidance (base miss, dodge, parry - these all reduce a melee hit to nothing) and mitigation (block - this reduces a melee hit by your block value) total 102.4%. At this point, any melee hit from a boss will at least be reduced, rather than dealing full damage. After this, you start trading block for dodge/parry, reducing the chances of even a mitigated hit.

Well, I clicked my little macro for checking it last night in a late Violet Hold run and, low and behold, 102.50%. That was with Holy Shield and my Libram of Defiance proc active*. That's a number I wasn't sure I'd ever see after Wrath hit. Back at the end of Burning Crusade, I was just scrabbling at that threshold before Wrath's level scaling made it so much more distant.

I also noticed my Hit Rating has reached 256. That's a mere seven points shy of the "hit cap" at which all of your melee attacks hit. Hit (up to the cap) is good for tankadins, but it's one of those "don't go out of your way for it" things. Surviving is more important than hitting/killing. But I really like seeing that. It's a shame that I understand Tier 9 gear actually has less hit than the stuff I have now (Tier 8 and rough equivalent), but I'll worry about that when the time comes.

* Holy Shield and Libram of Defiance aren't technically active all the time. But during boss fights, typical rotation keeps Holy Shield up and the libram procs often enough that it can be up consistently - it's enough that these effects are usually counted for paladins.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Adventures in Rokugan (ongoing)

Harbinger of Chaos (Godbound)

RPG Desires?