10.30.2006

Mutilate, Part 1: Dual Wield Spec vs Opportunity

The rogue class has evolved over time. I remember we used to wear the OH weapon purely for the stats (Bonescrapper) as OH weapon DPS were basically nullified by dual wield penality. As gears progresses, OH DPS becomes more and more important and at some point, become a significant part of the overall DPS profile. Mutilate elevate the OH DPS to another level as it is the first skill/talent that is mitigated by dual wield penality.

Mutilate adds 101 damage (rank 4) right on top of your MH and OH damage, does 150% when your target is poisoned, and awards 2 combo points (without SF). To maximize Mutilate damage, a slow offhand must be deployed.

Since I am not in Beta, I still have 3 questions about the mechanics of Mutilate.
1. Is Mutilate normalized?
2. Does OH receive the full bonus damage of 101 (rank 4), or bonus damage will first be adjusted by duel wield penality before adding?
3. Does Mutilate adds more than 3 combo points?

11/17/06 EDIT: Mutilate is normalized, the OH receives the full bonus damage, and adds at most 3 combo points.

That being said, an idea came to mind when I was on WoW over this weekend. Is Duel Wield Spec worth giving up Opportunity for?

Mutilate Rank 4, 101 with each weapon.
Assuming 30% crit, 5% hit, and 1540 attack power. Dual wielding Grand Marshal's Shanker (103-155, 1.8 speed). Also assuming Mutilate IS normalized, and OH receive the full bonus damage.

MH = 316 average damage

Mutilate, with Opportunity but no DW spec:
MH = (316 + 101) * 1.2 * (0.7 + 0.3 * 2.3) = 696
OH = (158 + 101) * 1.2 * (0.7 + 0.3 * 2.3) = 432
Sum = 1128 (1692, if poisoned)

Mutilate, with DW spec but no Opportunity:
MH = (316 + 101) * (0.7 + 0.3 * 2.3) = 580
OH = (237 + 101) * (0.7 + 0.3 * 2.3) = 470
Sum = 1050 (1575, if poisoned)

For comparison basis, backstab (rank 10) damage:
BS = (316 * 1.5 + 255) * 1.2 * (0.4 + 0.6 * 2.3) = 1557

So Mutilate is virtually the same DPE replacement for Backstab in PvE and is a slight boost in PvP. Keep in mind that I am calculating using 2 very slow and high damage daggers. So mutilate will benefit the GM/HWL crowd or the high-end raiding guild (Kingsfall/Deathsting) a lot more than random NE/UD rogue out there.

Mutilate should get a little boost on either damage or the poison requirements.

11/2/06 EDIT: Fixed the BS calculation. Apologies on the brain fart.

10.17.2006

Combat Rating System Explanation - Bliz

With the upcoming release of the Burning Crusade, we thought we would take the time to explain more on a new stat that we are introducing: Combat Ratings. These ratings are being used for any combat stat that previously was percentage-based such as: critical strike chance, hit chance, dodge chance and defense skill. Combat ratings are only used with effects generated by items and do not apply to effects that are generated by spells and talents which will continue to work the same.

The following combat ratings are currently in use: weapon skill, defense, dodge, parry, block, hit chance, spell hit chance, critical strike chance, spell critical strike chance, resilience, haste, and spell haste.

*We may introduce others at a later time.

Combat Skills

Unlike fixed percentages such as 2% critical strike chance, combat ratings diminish in potency as your character increases in level. 2% crit is the same at every level, while 28 critical strike rating grants 4% crit at level 34, 2% crit at level 60, and 1.27% crit at level 70. This allows us the ability to create and add new and better items to the world without eventually reaching a point where every character has a 100% chance to critically strike.

Below is the level 60 conversion for combat skills:

Weapon Skill Rating 2.5 rating grants 1 weapon skill
Hit Rating 10 rating grants 1% hit chance
Spell Hit Rating 8 rating grants 1% spell hit chance
Critical Strike Rating 14 rating grants 1% critical strike chance
Spell Critical Strike Rating 14 rating grants 1% spell critical strike chance
Haste 10 rating 1% haste
Spell Haste 10 rating grants 1% spell haste

Defense Skills

The impact on the defense skill and weapon skill systems is slightly more complicated. Many people do not realize these skills actually grant percentage-based benefits already. For example, every 25 points of defense skill grants a 1% dodge chance, 1% parry chance, 1% block chance, 1% increased chance to be missed and 1% decreased chance to be critically hit by physical attacks. Weapon skills have a similar effect for the attacker. Items will now grant skill rating rather than skill directly, and that will convert to an actual skill increase.

Below is the level 60 conversion for defense skills:

Defense Skill Rating 1.5 rating grants 1 defense skill
Dodge Rating 12 rating grants 1% dodge
Parry Rating 20 rating grants 1% parry
Block Rating 5 rating grants 1% block chance

Resilience

Resilience is a special new rating which we have created to reduce the effects of critical hits against your character. It has two components; it reduces the chance you will be critically hit by X percent, and it reduces the damage dealt to you by critical hits by 2X percent. X is the percentage resilience granted by a given resilience rating.

Below is the level 60 conversion for resilience:

Resilience 25 rating grants 1% resilience

Each time you go up a level, the amount of rating needed to get the same benefit will increase. An example of the scaling involved would be the current implementation of Agility which has always worked this way in the live game, requiring more agility for the same critical strike chance as you go up in level

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10.30.06

We've seen a number of players (since we've released the combat rating information) display a desire to be empowered with the knowledge of the appropriate level 70 values. As a result, we've gathered them for you. Enjoy your weekend of theorycrafting! :P

Combat Ratings conversions at level 70 (rounded to 1 decimal point):

Weapon Skill Rating: 3.9 rating grants 1 skill point

Defense Rating: 2.4 rating grants 1 defense skill.

Dodge Rating: 18.9 rating grants 1% dodge

Parry Rating: 31.5 rating grants 1% parry

Block Rating: 7.9 rating grants 1% block chance

Hit Rating: 15.8 rating grants 1% hit chance

Spell Hit Rating: 12.6 rating grants 1% spell hit chance

Critical Strike Rating: 22.1 rating grants 1% critical strike chance

Spell Critical Strike Rating: 22.1 rating grants 1% spell critical strike chance

Haste Rating: 15.8 rating grants 1% haste

Spell Haste Rating: 15.8 rating grants 1% spell haste

Resilience Rating: 39.4 rating grants 1% less chance of being struck by any type of critical strike, and 2% less damage taken from critical strikes

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GG Rogues. On top of already ridiculously high caster armor, they added another layer of melee damage mitigation. Seriously we need some magic resilience/armor rating that reduce magic damage by a flat percentage, similar to armor rating...