Arms Warrior Elementary School, Q & A

Some folks have asked me a few questions through various mediums such as email and Twitter and whatnot, so I thought I'd go ahead and answer them here. That way, anyone else who has the same questions won't have to ask.

Why didn't you cover races and their racial benefits?

Because I encourage people to play the race that feels most comfortable to them. For instance, the first Lelissa was actually a Night Elf. I managed to get her to level 20 before deciding that I didn't really like the way the character played. Sure, it was just like every other Warrior in terms of abilities, but something never felt right. When Burning Crusade released, the Draenei seemed to fit a little better. I enjoyed the class more when I felt more attached to the character behind it. (Insert LOLRP jokes here.)

What professions should I take?

Honestly, you really can't go wrong with any of them, except maybe tailoring. Lelissa is a blacksmith and jewelcrafter, for the extra sockets and crafter-specific gems. It works out pretty well, especially when you consider her Belt of the Titan has three sockets (after an added buckle), and each one totes a +34 strength gem.

So what should I gem for?

That depends on your gear, and on you. If you're not hit-capped, you'll need hit gems until you are. If you're not expertise-capped, you'll need expertise until you are. If you're following the Elitist Jerks model of Arms DPS, you'll want Armor Penetration gems. If you're more like me, you'll go for strength. If you're not specialized for poleaxe, you might want enough crit to get you to 30% or so.

Will I lead the DPS meters?

Not likely.

But if I'm not leading the meter, why be Arms?

Arms DPS is about more than putting out huge numbers. I'm sure Lelissa (with a little bit better optimized gear) could crank out around 5k without too much trouble (she easily breaks 4k now), but her real value is in providing a damage boost to the physical damage dealers in the raid, improving their overall output.

On top of that, once a boss hits 20%, if your crit rate is good and you've got the same spec I do, you can Execute until it dies. I'd call that a win.

Will you ever talk about the Best-In-Slot items for Arms?

I doubt it. There's too much math and theorycrafting behind that sort of thing. My goal for this game is to make it fun, not a second job.

Sure, I've made posts in the past about DPS tests on Armor Penetration gems vs. Strength gems and about testing priority lists, and the benefits of Mortal Strike vs. Execute. The thing is, those are things that impact my class and spec choice consistently. Best In Slot isn't a necessary thing to play the game - it's only if you want to squeeze every last bit of DPS out of a spec that you can, and from what I've seen, it's never this huge margin of difference.

What else is on the list for what you're working on?

Well, I know it's a little far behind, but I'm planning on covering boss fights for both Ulduar and ToC. I'm also in the process of trying to transplant the blog to a self-host, but having a bit of trouble with the CSS, so it's delayed; on the other hand, the awesome Baenhoof will be gracing the new page with all kinds of kickass art (which I'm really looking forward to), so once I can get the CSS done (or better, find someone who can do it for cheap - I suck at CSS for WordPress), we'll be well underway.

I've also been talking with the Mighty Nibuca about another project to make an appearance on... it sounds pretty interesting, and I think I'm going to participate. Details are still kinda vague, but when I know what's up, you'll know what's up.

On a non-WoW note, I've started running a 4th Edition D&D game. I'll be writing a blog to track that game, and it will update once every other week. I'll make a post about it, so if you're interested in seeing the shenanigans of my friends, keep an eye out for it. It'll be fun.