I still have 1 more raid before the this week’s lock ends and what might possibly be my last chance at the weapon I want. But just in case I’d like to look ahead and see what other things I might be able to get and how they compare. The previous computations I made didn’t have a normal Shin’ka without upgrades but it was obvious that it was still better than the rest.
Heroic Starshatter
Another weapon I might have a shot at this lock and if not then maybe in the future.
7601.8 = Strength: 4619.58 + Critical Strike: 1385.54 + Expertise: 1596.68
Upgraded 2/2
8188.03 = Strength: 4976.58 + Critical Strike: 1492.12 + Expertise: 1719.33
***
Raid Finder Zerat, Malakk’s Soulburning Greatsword
8145.52 = Strength: 4333.98 + Critical Strike: 962.14 + Hit: 1997.6 + Purple Gem: 637.6 + Socket Bonus: 214.2
***
Raid Finder Uroe, Harbinger of Terror
I was thinking of this originally as the new DK tank weapon for the tier but I would still be a great DPS weapon especially with the red gem slot.
7253.48 = Strength: 4333.98 + Critical Strike: 1341.74 + Mastery: 792.36 + Red Gem: 571.2 + Socket Bonus: 214.2
***
Raid Finder Greatsword of Frozen Hells
The normal mode version is said to drop from trash so I don’t know if the raid finder version will make it to live. They say it will be a chance drop on the loot bags.
7562.19 = Strength: 4333.98 + Critical Strike: 1143.18 + Haste: 1330.83 + Orange Gem: 540 + Socket Bonus: 214.2
***
The Starshatter and Zerat do have expertise and hit which tends to inflate their value with stat weights. The other two would probably be better as upgrades. It seems that an upgraded raid finder Shin’ka would still be better due to the large amount of strength though weapon damage would make wonder especially since the item level gap on an upgraded heroic Starshatter would be huge.
Looking at the new gear I can eventually acquire from vendors in the new patch I make a rough plan of the order of purchase and adjust depending on the possibility of raid loots.
Neutral
Striker’s Battletags - Starting with the fact reputation serves as a gate we have necklaces as the first available gear off the bat. This has good stats for DKs and I can see myself getting this right away. I actually like how it doesn’t have hit or expertise on it, 2 stats overly abundant in plate for T14 (especially the former). Currently I have 2 496 necklaces in my bags which are hit/expertise and Critical Strike/Mastery which I look forward to replacing with something that has haste.
Friendly
Band of the Shado-Pan Assault - Ring slots are low on my priority for using valor on the upgrade system and with this ring having both Haste and Critical Strike makes it a great upgrade for either of my current rings.
Bonecrusher Bracers - This one has good stats but not great. considering I currently have a 517 bracer this will probably be saved for when I’m valor capped with nothing to spend on. It’s still be a good upgrade eventually since the demotion of mastery (especially without Gurthalak) and having more hit than I can reforge away make my current bracers better for tanking.
Honored
Spikeshard Greatcloak - A good replacement for my current Haste/Hit cloak. Another easy choice.
Bloodstained Skullsqueezers - This starts of the harder to replace slots due to tier. Breaking set bonuses can be problematic, although I am not to fond of the current 4 piece bonus I’d hate to replace the 2 piece without careful consideration. Although this items stats are not ideal, at least they aren’t ones with caps. It still finds itself lower on my priority list since I have 504 tier gloves and am currently using a 510 one.
Vaultbreaker Greaves - With Critical Strike/Expertise and just one blue slot I’m not looking forward to this piece unless I run out of options.
Revered
Gianttooth Chestplate - Having both Expertise and Hit and both gem slots being blue makes this seem like a poor choice. Then again I’m not too fond of the current one I have equipped since it’s not part of my tier set. I can see myself eventually taking it just cause of the 26 item level difference. At least when something better comes along I can re-gem, reforge, and enchant this for tanking.
Swordhook Slingbelt - Stats on this are similar to the gloves but won’t break any set bonuses. It’ll be middle of the pack when it comes to purchase order I would think. I’ll probably ignore the socket bonus though.
Exalted
Sightblinder Shoulderguards - Lackluster stats and no socket makes it rather disappointing for something that requires this reputation level. To think that it’s the only equipment unlocked for purchase since currently there are no helms. Although how difficult and far into the new raid shoulder upgrades will be might drive one to pick these up.
In the End the first few gear purchases should go smooth and without much thought put in. I’m somehow even less optimistic about my raiding options this tier as far as slots go so I might have to depend on more valor items this time around.
Never when it counts…
I roll a hundred on the loot that was uncontested.
The wowhead comparison tool doesn’t have the option to put in an Eye of the Black Prince. The strength that would add for Unholy will be added manually. Reforges aren’t included.
Raid Finder Shin’ka: 8622.99
Strength: 5951.19 + Mastery: 964.72 + Critical Strike Rating: 1135.88 + Primordial Ruby: 571.2
Starshatter: 6985.19
Strength: 4244.73 + Expertise: 1467.34 + Critical Strike Rating: 1273.12
Normal Shin’ka: 9428.49
Strength: 6486.69 + Mastery: 1088.72 + Critical Strike Rating: 1281.88 + Primordial Ruby: 571.2
***
I was hoping to get a normal Shin’ka, Execution of Dominion (wasn’t optimistic to start with for a heroic one this tier) but since the group I was with stopped raiding after the first week of December I’ve been stuck with my Starshatter ever since. The only raiding I’ve had done since then was when certain guilds were short one person and needed me to fill in.
Having had no loot since that time and not expecting any free raid slots in the guilds I’m in contact with whose raids can down bosses I can get upgrades from I’ve been depending on the upgrade system for gear progression. Running out of slots worth the VP to upgrade and the upgrade system being taken out adds pressure to acquire better gear to spend on or to pick a slot that will take a while to replace. Though I’m still holding out hope that I might get into a run that can down the Sha of Fear, it’s time to consider which weapon to upgrade before 5.2 hits and the upgrade system gets taken out (for now?).
***
Analysis:
The superiority of Shin’ka from normal mode is obvious without doing all this but sadly that isn’t an option at present. Weapon damage is not included since it still not as big a deal for Unholy than other classes (though better now than in Cata). Though Starshatter has around 288 more weapon damage it falls behind greatly in strength with the extra socket and legendary gem. Not to mention that it has a lot of expertise which weighs a lot below cap but plate has lots of expertise and hit this tier that if you aren’t in BiS (maybe even if you are) you’d probably be over the cap after reforge.
Will still try to hold out just in case I get a last minute normal Shin’ka but it looks like I’ll have to do with the raid finder one.
Just got back after three weeks away from WoW while the house was being repainted. I have to say that MoP has kept me busy and I don’t run out of things to do even if I hardly raid anymore. The 3 weeks worth mail on all my toons was quite the hassle though. Too bad about missing out on all the PvP and PvE upgrades I missed out on this from not capping valor and conquest for those weeks.
It was hard to get upgrades while leveling and starting out at 90. Heroic DS gear had good stats and sockets plus enchants. I still had a lot of them on at 90 since leveling as Blood in DPS gear I didn’t really need the stam and armor. Offensive stats were just higher from a lot of old gear.
The hardest slots to upgrade though are always for trinkets. There aren’t a lot of them around and some of them are very different from each other making them hard to judge.
Here’s a list of trinkets I had from leveling up to the epic trinkets currently available to plan upgrades:
Creche of the Final Dragon: 2802.866
Eye of Unmaking: 3534.3
Ghost Iron Dragonling: 2577
Carbonic Carbuncle: 4012.502
Iron Belly Wok: 4599.86
Jade Charioteer Figurine: 4599.86
Lei Shin’s Final Orders: 3528.456
Relic of Xuen: 5574.198
Given that 1 slot already goes to Relic of Xuen and replacing Carbonic Carbuncle will depend on when one becomes available.
Lessons of the Darkmaster was not included only because I don’t like it (lol) and have no intention to farm for it. Carbonic Carbuncle already dropped for me and I’m guessing Lessons would be of less value.
While leveling I did try Ghost Iron Dragonling over heroic Creche of the Final Dragon since the difference was small and I didn’t know how to value the summon proc (it’s not included in the value above). What I can say about the dragonling though is that it seems to always come out immediately at the start of the fight. The heroic Eye of Unmaking though had a lot of staying power and I valued it at full stacks since I’ve been used to maintaining them for months and they don’t usually fall off.
***
At present I’m trying Lei Shin despite Carbuncle scoring higher cause I feel like I need the haste.
Redemption Girdle at BMAH
Tier 3 Pally belt was up today at the Black Market Auction House for 10k. What struck me is that the item itself doesn’t have the Paladin only tag.
(Source at the bottom is actually from an Addon)
Waiting for the expansion at the same place as last time.
Got My Mind On My Money - 200k
Some months ago news sites showed some of the new achievements that were going to be in Mists of Pandaria and one of those was another level to the Got My Mind On My Money achievement which would increase the looted gold needed to 200k. I was still working on the 100k at the time and once I got it I took a break from Solo Raids aside from those that could possibly drop mounts. But more recently there was also an announcement that gold drops from old raids will once again be nerfed so a week or two after that I managed to get myself to start solo raiding again and even increased boss kills from when I was working on the 100k.
On the list of raids to solo were full clears of Hyjal Summit, The Eye, and Naxxramas. There’s also Onyxia’s Lair, Magtheridon’s Lair, and The Eye of Eternity. Then for partial clears I did 3/4 Vault of Archavon, 6/14 Ulduar, 5/6 Serpentshrine Cavern, and 1/12 Karazhan (hardly any gold but you might get a mount). There are a lot more one can do solo but I felt they were too much trouble to add.
Since I spent more time going out with friends than usual this week I skipped a lot of the solo raids that don’t drop mounts. I decided it’s time to check my progress by adding the gold looted statistics of my Horde toons in my current server. I was happy to find out that I’m almost 12k over the target without needing to count characters from other servers; and that my DK makes up for 71.4% of that. Starting this raid lock it’s back to just the mount bosses.
Physical Vulnerability
I was hoping they’d change their minds about Ebon Plague but, as was mentioned recently in WoW Insider’s Lichborne, the buff to the shadow damage of Scourge Strike per disease points to it being done to make up for the loss from 3 down to 2 diseases. Hopfully this plus the increase in the physical portion of scourge strike will make up for the lost disease and the change of the Scourge Strike glyph into Glyph of Foul Menagerie.
But personally I was more concerned with Ebon Plaguebringer now providing Physical Vulnerability which is a debuff that increases physical damage taken by 4% instead of Ebon Plague which increased all magic damage taken by 8%. My normal melee, ghoul, and strikes do physical damage but at the same time my Death Coil, Death and Decay (which it seems will still be included in single target rotation), DoTs from diseases, Gargoyle, and the shadow component of Scourge Strike are all magic damage. This might be similar to how the number of spells we have makes expertise our worst stat despite being a melee class.
Another thing to consider is that the magic damage debuff now comes from warlocks and rogues. I find this a little odd since they have been trying to even things out between classes when it comes to buffs and debuffs. Wouldn’t the rogue have had more use for the physical damage debuff instead? And if I remember correctly, there was a time in Cataclysm that these two were the least seen classes in raids. I’m sure hardcore guilds would have all the buffs and debuffs covered but what of the rest? In our guild that raids two to three 10 mans a week none of the level 85 rogues were raiding before the legendary daggers were announced and only one lock. I just hope that the ability improvements and flashy graphics for warlocks will increase their numbers and that the rogue alts keep getting played once the legendary daggers become outdated.