Pawn scales

So, I'm anal retentive enough to care about specifically how much my characters benefit from stat X vs. stat Y. The addon Pawn makes this easier, but you have to have the information to put in it to begin with. I'm also OCD enough to want it normalized against the item budget cost, non-normalized numbers are in parenthesis. The advantage for normalizing against the average budget cost is that you don't get much higher values with the presence of lots of stats. What I'd done in the past was simply add STA/Resilience to my DPS values, which was nice, but made it hard to compare the relative worth of an item across categories. Sure it was easy to compare for a set purpose, but to compare the multi purpose worth of an item got harder. It's not the big a deal for Sakuran, but for Zydari and Laic who both have 3 scales, keeping 3 'best' sets is silly when one item may be pretty good across the board.

Oh, and I'm pretty cheap so I only socket green gems at this point. As Sakuran starts using Kara gear I may invest in the blue gems... but 50g for only a slight improvement? Unlikely...

• Zydaria, Enhancement Shaman. My wife's toon.
  
• DPS - Pulled from the Enhancement thread on Elitist Jerks.
  
• Strength: 1.38 (1.1)
  
• Stamina: .42 (.33)
• Agility: .88 (.7)
• Attack Power: .62 (.5)
• Crit Rating: 1 (.8)
• Hit Rating: .88 (.7)
• Blue Socket: 5.79 (3 STR, 4 STA)
• Red Socket: 8.25 (6 STR)
• Yellow Socket: 7.12 (3 Crit, 3 STR)
• Meta Socket: 15.5 (Relentless Earthstorm Diamond)
• Healing - Yes, she does heal as enhancement spec, STR and AP are included due to the 2.3 AP -> +damage/healing talent.
  
• Strength: .38 (.27)
• MP5: 3.47 (2.5)
• Attack Power: .14 (.19)
• Spirit: .69 (.5)
• +Healing: .63 (.46)
• Intellect: 1.39 (1)
• Spell Crit: 1.39 (1)
• Blue Socket: 7.89 (7 +healing, 1 MP5)
• Red Socket: 8.21 (13 +healing)
• Yellow Socket: 8.58 (7 +healing, 3 INT)
• Meta Socket: 21.65 (Insightful Earthstorm Diamond)
• Laic, Survial Hunter. You'll not that I don't assign a value for +hit, with survial spec reaching the hit cap is relatively easy, so assigning a value would make it more likely that I exceed the cap, I tend to shoot for a balanced approach moving gear around to get the higher hit % while not sacrificing my pawn scores).
  
• DPS - Max damage with little regard for mana regen.
• Attack Power: .6 (.51)
  
• Stamina: .12 (.1
  
• Agility: 1.18 (1)
  
• Intellect: 1.04 (.88)
  
• Crit Rating: 1.04 (.88)
  
• Haste Rating: 1.35 (1.14)
  
• Blue Socket: 4.02 (3 AGI, 4 STA)
• Red Socket: 7.11 (6 AGI)
  
• Yellow Socket: 3.55 (3 AGI, 3 Hit)
  
• Meta Socket: 19.22 (Relentless Earthstorm Diamond)
  
• Regen - Emphasis on mana regen, good for grinding or situations where I may not be able to stop drink.
• Attack Power: .55 (.51)
  
• Stamina: .11 (.1
  
• Agility: 1.08 (1)
  
• Intellect: .95 (.88)
  
• Crit Rating: .95 (.88)
  
• Haste Rating: 1.23 (1.14)
• MP5: 3.79 (3.5)
  
• Blue Socket: 3.68 (3 AGI, 4 STA)
• Red Socket: 6.5 (6 AGI)
  
• Yellow Socket: 3.25 (3 AGI, 3 Hit)
  
• Meta Socket: 18 (Relentless Earthstorm Diamond)
  
• PVP - increased weight for STA and Resiliance. Decreased weigh on regen, but still has a value for MP5.
• Attack Power: .52 (.51)
  
• Stamina: .67 (.67)
  
• Agility: 1.01 (1)
  
• Intellect: .88 (.88)
  
• Crit Rating: .89 (.88)
  
• Haste Rating: 1.15 (1.14)
• Resilience: 1.01 (1)
  
• MP5: 2.53 (2.5)
  
• Blue Socket: 5.73 (3 AGI, 4 STA)
• Red Socket: 6.07 (6 AGI)
  
• Yellow Socket: 5.37 (4 STA, 3 Crit)
  
• Meta Socket: 17.14 (Powerful Earthstorm Diamond)
• Sakuran, Combat Dagger Rogue. At least for the moment, WTB excuse to go back to subtlety.
• DPS - Pretty much straight from the spreadsheet.
  
• Strength: .69 (.57)
  
• Stamina: . 12(.1)
• Agility: 1.2 (1)
• Attack Power: .69 (.57)
• Crit Rating: .84 (.7)
• Hit Rating: 1.17 (.97)
• Expertise: 1.25 (1.12)
  
• Blue Socket: 4.09 (3 AGI, 4 STA)
• Red Socket: 8.22 (6 AGI)
• Yellow Socket: 7.11 (3 AGI, 3 Hit)
• Meta Socket: 19.43 (Relentless Earthstorm Diamond)
• PVP - Same as Laic, higher weight for STA and Resilience.
  
• Strength: .58 (.57)
  
• Stamina: .68 (.67)
• Agility: 1.02 (1)
• Attack Power: .58 (.57)
• Crit Rating: .72 (.7)
• Hit Rating: .99 (.97)
• Resiliance: 1.02 (1)
  
• Blue Socket: 5.08 (3 AGI, 4 STA)
• Red Socket: 7.00 (6 AGI)
• Yellow Socket: 6.05 (3 AGI, 3 Hit)
• Meta Socket: 17.29 (Powerful Earthstorm Diamond)
• Zydari, Protection Paladin
  
• DPS - a hard set to come up with, basically I took my start from the Tanking stats and removed anything that was exclusively defensive while retaining things that can result in damage dealt. This is not a retribution DPS scale, they favor much different stats.
• Stamina: .81 (.67)
  
• Intellect: 1.22 (1)
  
• Expertise Rating: .61 (.5)
  
• Mp5: 1.52 (1.25)
  
• Spell Power: 1.04 (.86)
  
• Block Rating: .91 (.75)
  
• Spell Crit Rating: 1.22 (1)
• Blue Socket: 7.41 (4 +Damage, 4 STA)
• Red Socket: 7.29 (7 +Damage)
• Yellow Socket: 7.82 (3 Spell Crit, 4 +Damage)
  
• Meta Socket: 19.61 (Swift Starfire Diamond)
  
• Tanking - These values are based on ones I found on the Pawn forums, haven't seen a spreadsheet yet to give more precise values, but it works. Note that I'm not necessarily offering this as valid for a raid tank as all you want to focus on there is STA/Def/Block/+damage, but for 5 man grouping this should be better. The different ratings are based on the amount of avoidance you get per rating point, so block is the fastest way to get avoidance up, followed by Defense then dodge, and lastly Parry. Yes, Parry is better than Dodge, but for this exercise I'm ignoring it.
  
• Stamina: .72 (.67)
  
• Intellect: .54 (.5)
  
• ExpertiseRating: 1.08 (1)
  
• Mp/5: 1.08 (1)
  
• ParryRating: .72 (.66)
  
• DefenseRating: 1.08 (1)
• DodgeRating: .85 (.78)
  
• SpellPower: .93 (.86)
  
• BlockRating: 2.04 (1.88)
• BlockValue: .7 (.65)
  
• Blue Socket: 6.51 (9 STA)
  
• Red Socket: 6.6 (4 +damage, 4 STA)
  
• Yellow Socket: 6.15 (3 Def, 4 STA)
• Meta Socket: 13.02 (Powerful Earthstorm Diamond)
  
• Healing - I ultimately plan to run 20/41/0 with Zydari, yes he won't main-tank, but he'll be fine as a 5 man tank and raid off tank, plus will be able to off-heal. I'm slightly favoring +Healing to +Spell Crit until such a time as my +healing exceeds 750.
  
• Intellect: 1 (1)
  
• Mp5: 2.5 (2.5)
  
• Healing: .57 (.57)
  
• Spell Crit Rating: .57 (.57)
  
• Blue Socket: 6.48 (7 +Healing, 1 MP5)
  
• Red Socket: 7.39 (13 +Healing)
  
• Yellow Socket: 6.98 (7 +Healing, 3 INT)
  
• Meta Socket: 17 (Insightful Earthstorm Diamond)

Eventually I'll come up with some for my Priest and other toons, but for now this is about it. Hope you enjoy it.

100th post, and a substantive one at that (lol)

So, guess this is my 100th post. Which strikes me as odd as I can't imagine typing that many posts. Anyway, I'll keep plugging along, slowly but slowly, this post is mostly random junk, but stick to what you know.

Hunter licenses revoked:
So, I was in a SL group as my rogue with two hunters who I'll not name. I ended up dropping out right before Murmur due to RL issues (specifically a screaming two year old). I logged on later to see how they did. Dropped Murmer and WOOT Sonic Spear dropped. I wish I had a SS of the conversation, but the jist is that it was sharded. ONE OF THE TOP 5 HUNTER WEAPONS IN THE GAME WAS PASSED OVER BY TWO HUNTERS???? I was shocked to say the least. Now one of the two hunters in question is planning on DW, getting a Felsteel blade crafted (two lazy to look it up and link it), so I suppose I can understand that. But still... I'm pretty sure Big Red Kitty doesn't read my blog, but I'm half tempted to e-mail this to him as I think he was never able to get his (though is now wielding Legacy, so the sting will be less).

Arena
I'm loling my way through the arena for a few weapons. Sakuran is losing massive numbers of games on 2v2 and 3v3. 0-20 in the last two weeks. Of course I'm grouped with some guildies who don't PvP much and we're all PvE spec. Sak's going for the S1 offhand dagger (1.4 attack speed FTW). Laic is on a 2v2 with a Warlock in our guild who's much, much better at PvP than I am. He pretty much single handedly carried us to 6-4 which is saying something as I have about zero clue how to PvP as a hunter. Still trying to figure it out.

PvE Spec FTL
In case I haven't mentioned it Sak's combat daggers now. Which is fun in a group, but man does it suck to solo. Waiting for the 2.3 PTR to come up so I can see how buffed the subtlety tree is. If it's even close to competitive I'm respeccing, it's just too much fun. I've been having some frustration with her as I've got pretty close to as good of gear as I'm going to get, outside of heroics and raids (few pieces left to upgrade, I know), but my DPS still isn't where I'd like it to be, averaged 520 DPS on my last BM run. Laic, my Suvival Spec Hunter, is getting close to her DPS levels, averaging in the upper 400s, breaking 500 on some boss fights. And that's with worse overall gear. Who knows, maybe it's just my perception and dislike for Combat Daggers...

Was thinking about rambling on more, but maybe I'll just make it a new post. You know, start that next 100...

Ding 70, time to get to work...

So, Laic dinged 70 last night.

Now I get the wonderful task of grinding coin for a flying mount and working on gear upgrades. Using this list as my base guideline. I'm just listing stuff that is questable or non-heroic instancable. I'll try to include my pawn values and amend this post later.

Helm

• Currently using [Gurn's Horned Helmet].
  
• Quest Reward: [Malefactor's Eyepatch] from the quest Showdown. Most of the way done with this chain, will likely finish it soon.
  
• Quest Reward: [Stalker's Helmet of Second Sight] from quest chain starting with A Ghost in the Machine. Requires a Flying Mount.
• Quest Reward: [Earthwarden's Coif] fom the quest The Warlord's Hideout in Steamvaults.
  
• Drop: [Beast Lord Helm] form Palthaleon the Caluculator in Mechanar. Need flying mount.
  

Shoulders

• Currently using [Exotic Spiked Shoulders].
  
• Quest reward: [Skybreaker's Mantle] from quest A Job Unfinished... which starts off a drop from Avoar the Rapacious. Need flying mount.
  
• Drop: [Beast Lord Mantle] from Warlord Kalithresh in Steamvaults.

Chest

• Currently using [Breastplate of Rapid Striking]. Pretty happy with it, upgrade is lower priority.
• Drop: [Beast Lord Cuirass] from Warp Splinter in Botanica. Need flying mount.
  
• Drop: [Laughing Skull Battle] from Temporus in Black Morass.
  

Bracers

• Currently using [Felstalker Bracers]. Not really looking for an upgrade especially as there aren't any outside of rep rewards or heroics.
  

Gloves

• Currently using [Swiftseel Gloves]. No AGI, but lots of mp/5.
• Drop: [Beast Lords Handguards] from Warchief Kargath Bladefist in Shattered Halls.
  

Belt

• Currently using [Girdle of Gale Force]. No upgrades outside of Heroics.
  

Pants

• Currently using [Scales of the Beast].
• Drop: [Scaled Greaves of Patience] from Captain Skarloc in Old Hillsbrad Foothills.
  
• Drop: [Beast Lord Leggings] from Warlord Kalithresh in Steamvaults.

Boots

• Currently using [Duro Footgear], have [Sky-Hunter Swift Boots] sitting in the bank. Can't really decide which I like more. No real upgrades.
  

Melee Weapon

• Currently using [Crystalforged War Axe] with Savagery (+70 AP).
• Quest Reward: [Terokk's Quill] from Sethekk Halls and promptly through +35 AGI on it. Probably best pre-raid Survival weapon.
  
• Drop: [Sonic Spear] from Murmur in Shadow Labyrinth. Arguable if this is better for a Survival Hunter. I'd only think about getting it if it was going to get sharded.
  

Ranged Weapon

• Currently using [Valanos' Longbow]. There are lots of side-grades, but nothing that is an 'upgrade'.
  

Back

• Currently using [Cloak of the Craft]. I'm pretty sure I'm sticking with it for a while.
  

Neck

• Currently using [Earthen Mark of Razing], but have [Necklace of the Deep] in the bank waiting for me to hit the hit cap so I can swap back to it.
  

Ring

• Currently using [Pathfinders Band] and [Warmaul Slayer's Band]. Only looking to replace the later.
• Drop: [Ravenclaw Band] off Talon King Ikiss in Sethekk Halls.
• Drop: [Ring of the Exarchs] off Exarch Maladaar in Auchenai Crypts.

I'd go into Trinkets now, but I really need to get back to my day job...

Farming FTL

So, Sakuran has been sitting at 360 LW for the past week or so. I managed to find the pattern for [Drums of Restoration] on the AH and was able to score the 2 skill points I needed to get to 360 for around 60g (which I promptly resold for cost, didn't realize they're listed as a 35g buyout...), which is much better than the 150-200g per point the skill ups would cost other wise.

So, sitting at 260 I have the option of competing with every other LW in the game for [Thick Clefthoof Leather] (which is stupidly overpriced), attempting to make Felstalker gear, or the Fel Skin set. Now, the Fel Skin set was the way to go until the drop rate for [Mote of Shadow] was nerfed. What used to be the cheapest and most abundant Primal is not a 14-20g buyout. Obviously I'm not the only LW leveling to 375, so the market can be flooded with certain items. Felstalker Bracers in particular and any of the Clefthoof pieces in general seem to be abundant. However, I haven't seen any Fel Skin in the last week or so. The abundance of competition has driven down prices to the point that Felstalker Bracers are selling for 30g when the mats alone would cost over 100g. So, my plan is to make Fel Leather Boots, a yellow pattern at 360 and sell them for my cost in mats. Without any competition I'm hopeful that I'll be able to charge a higher price and offset my cost and get to 375 (well, as high as I can before they go green) without throwing thousands of gold down the drain. Might even get my Consortium Rep up and make Fel Leather Leggings for a profit is this works out...

Back to the tile of the post I've been running laps around Oshu'Gun hitting the Voidies that spawn abundantly all around it. Drop rate and re-sapawn rate make for solid farming, can do a complete lap in 10-15 minutes and seem to average 10 motes per lap (AKA 1 Primal). Also had decent luck with greens and blues. My first foray resulted in 3 primal shadows, three BOE greens, and 2 BOE blue (one from a rare named, Voidhunter Yar) all in roughly an hours work.

Still dreaming of Terokk's Quill

Laic is still dreaming of [Terokk's Quill], but my play time recently has been little and none. Finally moved into the new house last weekend, which unfortunately meant a week without internet access. Now that my access is back, while I wait for a group I'm doing the quest than that ultimately rewards [Malefactor's Eyepatch], which is going to be a nice upgrade as I'm still using the [Helm of Lupine Grace] from Terokkar Forest.

Where Laic's at right now:

My guild is finally getting people attuned for Kara and look at starting to run it in a week or two. For those of you how raid actively, we are a real casual guild. Most of our members have way too many alts, very irregular play schedules, and little desire to take the game 'seriously'. Honestly I like that as it fits my view towards the game. That being said I'm looking forward to something a bit more coordinated and 'serious'.

As Sakuran is going to be my raid toon, I've been thinking about how to spec her. Up till now the 5-man content/solo stuff she's been doing hasn't required her to go for a pure DPS build. Her current 17/0/44 is working just fine and with some of our under-geared tanks I have to hold back my DPS. But when we raid I want to make sure I am capable of bringing as much to the table as possible. That being said I'm not sure I can stomach going back to a combat build (100-120 DPS increase). It's so...boring. So, as a compromise I'm planning on going to 30/0/31 which should allow me higher DPS (60 more according to the spreadsheet) while still allowing the luxury of my subtlety talents that I enjoy so much. I'll miss Shadowstep, but I did love Seal Fate back in the day and I'm sure it'll make up for it.

Here's Sakuran right now:

edit: Item linking courtesy of Armory Musings by way of BigRedKitty.