[Paladin] 969 Tanking Rotation Explained

Taken From: http://www.tankspot.com/forums/f14/58793-prot-paladin-969-explanation.html
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Why we use 969?

Paladin tanking moves are all instant-cast, on the GCD, and have cooldowns. Most of our abilities are pure threat moves, Holy Shield is excellent mitigation, we want close to 100% uptime (it also provides decent threat). Judgement is one of our weaker threat moves, but also applies a variety of debuffs on the mob and also procs our tanking libram (the BV one is the only tanking libram at the moment).

We have more moves than we can actually use - under most boss-tanking circumstances, every single GCD will be used. The 969 rotation can be mathematically proven to be the best possible TPS rotation - Psiven has done this in his monumental TPS sticky. What follows is a very brief summary of his findings. Credit his.

Although I talk about "best" and "worst" moves in this section, our worst (HotR-single-target) still does 75% of the DPS/TPS of our best move (ShoR), so it isn't worth losing half a second to dead time to switch from worst move to best move. Given that a half-second delay in order to go from worst to best isn't viable, ANY tanking rotation with dead-time in it is automatically a non-optimal rotation.

Dead-time = mathematically non-optimal TPS rotation. Any suggestion of "I use a weird rotation and just take a 0.5 second break every so often" cannot be as much TPS as 969.

The GCD is 1.5 seconds, and is checked client side. so Internet lag/ping is a non-issue (within reason - past about 500ms everything goes to hell). Human reaction time doesn't change the results either.

We have two moves that are on 6 second GCDs, which is 4 GCDs - HotR & ShoR. Both moves are very good - ShoR in particular is our best DPS move. HotR is a weak single target, but amazing for 2+. So that's half our GCDs gone. So we have half our GCDs left.

We have three moves on 8-10 seconds CDs - roughly 6 GCDs: Consecrate, Judgement & Holy Shield. We want HS to have 100% uptime, but it has 10-sec duration and 8 sec CD, and 9 seconds = 6 GCDs, so we us HS every 6 GCDs.

So we're using some things every 4 GCDs and some every 6 GCDs. Which lines up in 12 GCDs - our rotation is 18 seconds long. Once we get HotR, ShoR & HS in, we end up with just enough GCDs left over to get consecrate and judgement in every 6 GCDs as well.

The base CD of Judgement is 10 seconds - that's more than 6 GCDs - so we have to talent it to 9 seconds. But we've already shown that dead-time reduces our TPS under all circumstances, so there isn't any point dropping it to 8 seconds, because 8 isn't divisible by 1.5. We have a GCD at 7.5 seconds - but we can't judge then, too early. And we don't want dead-time, so we use something else and now we get to judge at 9 seconds. Thus: 1/2 Imp Judge.

Once Judge is in, we're down to one GCD free every 6 GCDs. We insert consecrate, with 8 sec CD, we get to 8/9 uptime - about 89%.

Psiven did a whole pile of analysis trying various different options using 8 second Judge/Consecrate, and there was no solution that provided higher DPS than judging/consecrate on 9 sec CD.

This has been confirmed (again) in compelling and accurate detail by Theck. Go read his sticky.

How to do 969

Okay, so all our GCDs are full in theory, how do you actually execute 969?

Short version: Watch this Youtube Video:



Long version follows:

Well, we know our cycle is 18 seconds / 12 GCDs long, and taht 4 GCD abilities use half and 6 GCD abilities use half. These abilities are referred to by the CD lenght - 6 seconds and 9 seconds.

We want no dead-time, and we know we're using every single GCD. So what order to use abilities?

If you work it out, you discover that the only way to avoid "GCD collision" (two abilites coming off CD at the same time) is to swap back and forth between the 6 sec and 9 sec abilities. If you start with 6699, you shortly hit a point where either two abilities come off CD at the same time or no abilities are avaliable at all. It's the latter one that stuffs you - you just had a whole GCD of dead time.

So you have to go "969" (or 696). Short-Long-Short-Long. If you do that, you will always have an ability to use every GCD, and will be able to use each ability immediately when it comes off GCD.

The exact order doesn't matter - you can tune it to suit your personal preferences or the boss/trash mechanics. Just make sure you start with short-long-short-long and after that you're locked into 969 - just hit each ability as it comes off CD.

You can macro it to two buttons if you want - you have a "short" button and a "long" button, and your tanking rotation becaomes 1212121212. There are pros and cons - I don't do it, I prefer the flexibility of order, and the ability to totally control when I use Consecrate.

[LOL] Gnometry

Starting fresh in Azeroth, it made me ponder,
that beyond the mountains, in Coldridge yonder,
through the Deeprun, and straight to Goldshire,
an adventure started, the Gnomish fate no longer dire.

Questing for hours, time quickly flew,
soon a Gnomish master, powered by caffeinated brew,
that day so memorable in all it's glory,
a Gnome forever, and that is my story!

[Raiding] Faction Champions Aggro Theory

Taken from: http://www.tankspot.com/forums/f218/58570-faction-champs-aggro.html
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Apparently this was taken from the raid leader of Forlorn Legacy

General Concepts

The first important point to understand about Faction Champions is that nothing is random, as much as it may seem so upon first learning the fight. Every action the mobs take is governed by very specific rules, all of which may be controlled to your favor by understanding the priority system behind their AI.

The most important principle to understand is that all the Faction Champions are governed by threat. It is often said that they have no threat table, but this is a myth. You can even see their threat table on omen when you target one of the mobs.

How is this testable?

Look at omen while targeting a Faction Champion. Observe the fact that threat drop abilities such as Feign Death or Fade work as normal on Faction Champions, even on Heroic Difficulty. Observe the fact that taunt effects function as normal on Normal Difficulty, indicating that threat rules exist and can be manipulated using the normal tools, even if they function according to unusual rules.

The cause of the misunderstanding that Faction Champions have no threat is the fact that their threat is not the result of damage taken or healing sensed. It is calculated by different rules than any other encounter in the game.

Those are the rules.

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Melee DPS Champions

Melee DPS Faction Champions calculate their threat based on an additive combination of 3 factors. Each of the three appear to share equal priority for determining target, and the threat list constantly updates. These factors are ARMOR, PROXIMITY and HEALTH DEFICIT.

AROMOR

Armor is the first factor of targeting priority and refers to the exact armor value displayed on your character tab. The lower the absolute value of armor on a potential target, the higher the threat.
LOWER ARMOR = HIGHER THREAT.

How is this testable?

Have two warlocks stand exactly on top of each other. Have them both activate the spell Fel Armor. Warlocks are one of the highest priority targets in general for Melee when all other factors are equal because they have one of the lowest relative armor values. At some point, one of the melee will be almost guaranteed to target and attempt to attack one of the warlocks wearing Fel Armor. When that happens, have the warlock who was targeted activate Demon Armor, which grants greatly increased additional armor value. Unless outside factors interfere, the melee DPS Faction Champion should always immediately switch targets to the other lock standing in the same spot as the first one, due to the armor value.

How does this knowledge help me?

Depending on the class, the understanding of Armor Value's contribution to the aggro calculation can be exploited in various ways. One of the most universal is the ability to have your more valuable raid members pre-pot an Indestructible Potion right before entering combat, granting them an additional 2500 armor and thus a much lower threat signature. Similarly, a player who finds themselves vulnerable and unable to escape a melee DPS attacking them may re-actively use an Indestructible Potion to help them drop threat.

Tanks attempting to pick up a target or hold it may wish to put on DPS gear or remove their shield. Players with access to some form of Armor increasing effect such as Inner Fire should pay particular attention to keeping it active at full strength unless they wish to deliberately cause Faction Champions to attack them. Another example is a druid shape-shifting into a higher armor form if focused, such as a feral druid shifting from cat to bear. Warlocks are the class most frequently focus-fired by melee DPS Faction Champions, and their primary threat-signature tool, Demon Armor, was mentioned in the example above.


PROXIMITY

The second piece to the melee DPS Faction Champion threat calculation is proximity; the distance from the Faction Champion to the player. The shorter the distance, the higher the threat.

CLOSER PROXIMITY = HIGHER THREAT

How is this Testable?

Have a deathknight Death Grip a melee DPS Faction Champion far away from everyone else in the raid. Then Stun or otherwise CC that Faction Champion. Have any player stand right next to the CC'd Faction Champion, and have everyone else move far, far away. Unless significant outside factors interfere, the Faction Champions will always attempt to attack the player right next to them. For testing purposes, use a class with fairly low relative armor to ensure that the armor and health deficit threat signature of someone else does not override the testing player's proximity threat signature.

How Does this Knowledge help me?

It doesn't really, since the proper way of handling this knowledge is intuitive already. Melee DPS Faction Champions can attack you from melee range, and thus it is natural to want to move away from them if they are attacking you. This applies to melee DPS attacking the faction champion too though. It is good practice for a melee DPS who is targeted by a Faction Champion to run away from the Faction Champion and cause it to target switch or to be ineffective at causing any damage until someone else's proximity threat signature overrides theirs and they begin attempting to attack someone else. Reducing as much damage taken by the raid as possible is a primary focus of the entire raid, as the less damage that goes out, the more the healers can focus on dispelling, which results in a far more stable control over the encounter. It is also advisable to keep various forms of snares and movement inhibiting debuffs on melee DPS Faction Champions as often as possible.

HEALTH DEFICIT

The third and final component of a player's threat signature for a melee DPS Faction Champion is their health deficit. This is defined in terms of the absolute value of hp that player is below their maximum hp. This is the factor which causes the seemingly random "insta-gibs" where multiple Faction Champions all target the same player at once and deliver a devastating combination of attacks. This generally occurs when someone takes a DoT tick or a low armor value player is clipped by an AOE effect like Bladestorm. It gives the illusion of intelligence by causing them to attempt to target whoever is weakest in your raid.

HIGHER HEALTH DEFICIT (more damage taken) = HIGHER THREAT

How is this Testable?

Have a Deathknight Death Grip a melee DPS Faction Champion far away from the rest of the raid. Then stun it or otherwise CC it. Have two warlocks or roughly equal armor value stand directly on top of the CC'd Faction Champion. Have one of them Life Tap to half health or lower to creat a great enough health deficit threat signature between the two warlocks. When the Faction Champion comes out of CC, unless outside factors interfere it will always attempt to attack the warlock at lower health due to the health deficit from Life Tapping.

How does this knowledge help me?

The biggest application of this aspect of the threat signature is focusing a large amount of attention to defensively dispelling DoT and Debuff effects from your raid. The better your raid's dispelling, the more controllable the fight will be because there will be no random health deficits all over the place causing unpredictable target switching to occur. DoTs tick for hard enough to be a significant danger to raid members by setting them up for an insta-gib situation where their health deficit threat signature causes multiple Faction Faction Champions to all switch targets to them at once. The other aspect of this knowledge that can be exploited is that if you are a tank attempting to control a mob, and you can get a melee DPS Faction Champion far enough away from the rest of the raid taht you have a proximity threat signature advantage to compensate for your lower armor value threat signature, if the Faction Champion starts attacking you it will tend to remain attacking you because it will be constantly causing a health deficit on you unless outside factors interfere.

Another application of this applies to warlocks, who should be encouraged not to Life Tap unless positioned a significant distance away from dangerous Faction Champions or receiving immediate healing.

SUMMARY

ARMOR VALUE + PROXIMITY + HEALTH DEFICIT = THREAT SIGNATURE

Note: The Rules for melee DPS Faction Champions all also apply to the Hunter and both the Hunter pet and the Warlock pet. Both pets are subject to taunt even in Heroic Difficulty.

Ranged DPS Faction Champions

Ranged DPS Faction Champions function on very similar lines to melee DPS Faction Champions, with one difference. Instead of Armor Value being part of their threat calculation, they instead compare Resistance to their school of magic.

RESISTANCE + PROXIMITY + HEALTH DEFICIT = THREAT

RESISTANCE

This aspect of the threat calculation is much less noticable than the armor value part for Melee DPS, since resistance levesl tend to be the same for everyone in the raid due to raid wide buffs like Mark of the Wild, Auras, and Totems. Some classes have abilities which grant them higher resistance to magic than normal, and will thus tend to not be targetd by the caster Faction Champions, but in general casters will simply deliver killing blow insta-gibs to raid members already being attacked by Melee Faction Champions as health deficit is the primary determining faction in their targeting.

How is this Testable?

Stun or Otherwise CC a caster Faction Champion. Quickly move the entire raid to the complete opposite side of the room so that they will be out of range of that Faction Champion's attacks. Have two players, one buffed with Mark of the Wild, one without Mark of the Wild stand directly on top of the CC'd Faction Champion. When the Faction Champion comes out of CC, unless outside factors interfere, they should always attack the player without mark of the wild.

How does this knowledge help me?

If you have players which you find are vulnerable to being focused down by casters, have them use a Flask of Lesser REsistance (+50 to all resists), which should help significantly to prevent caster Faction Champions from targeting them unless they have a significant proximity and health deficit threat signature.

Healers

Healers heal based on a very recognizable principle. They place priority on their healing targets based on the lowest absolute HP among friendly targets. What this means is that out of all Faction Champions with a health deficit, no matter how big, the one with the lowest numerical amount of health will be selected as the target of their healing. This is why it is relatively easy to burn down high health targets at first, but when they reach lower health all enemy healers will pour massive amounts of healing into the target and it will be much more difficult to finish off.

How is this testable?

Have one player spend the entire fight DPSing the hunter or warlock pet. Since pets have much lower absolute health than any of the actual Faction Champions, as long as the one player is constantly doing damage to the pet the healers will focus their primary attention on spamming the pet with healing and HoTs. An enhancement shaman is ideal for this as they can purge off the HoTs. Observe the healing received meters following the engagement.

How does this knowledge help me?

Save your CC diminishing returns on enemy healers for when your kill target is reaching lower levels of health, and then chain them in sequence to solidify a kill. As in the method of testing, assign one player, or alternatively all your raid's pets, to constantly DPS the enemy pets. Be sure not to kill them. All heals directed at these pets your interrupters can simply let go through, and save their shocks and kicks for any heals directed at non-pets. This allows you to do a much more effective job at eliminating haling onto your kill target.

LOWER ABSOLUTE HEALTH = HIGHER HEALING PRIORITY

So to sum up (ALL THREE SECTIONS):

Clothies use armor spells/skills/pots, stay max range.
Druids shift to bear/barkskin when targetted etc
Tanks drop some armor and only get healed to 50%
Keep NPC pets low so healers focus heal them
+ a bunch of other stuff that will make this fight cake.

[Gearing] How important are your enchants??

For some of us we refuse to put on a piece of gear before it's enchanted, some of us don't care, wear the gear anyway and then get it enchanted, and then there's others that either don't know about enchanting, or just don't care.

I've been a gearing leader in several guilds and have actually brought some players back from being benched permanently, or even from being kicked for lack of performance. I've seen people go from doing less than 3k DPS to doing 8k or 9k DPS.

I've gotten into out and out arguments with people about enchants. What they don't realize is that it increases your chances of getting into groups and potentially being recruited into a guild.

Having the correct enchants also can be the thin line between a raid wiping or downing a boss. It gives your gear that little bit of oomph that it wouldn't have by itself.

[Feral Druid] Annoyances

Okay, so this is rant time. I religiously run Onyxia 10, 25, ToC 10 and 25 faithfully every week. I've only seen a feral weapon drop once in the month's I've been running these instances. I'm still rocking Journey's End off of KT 25.

I've looked at the ToC 5 Heroic polearm and have seen that it's a downgrade from the staff I'm currently using, and I'm starting to get frustrated. It seems that not only am I rolling against Warriors, DKs, Hunters, and Shamans, but it seems that tanking weapons are dropping more than anything else.

I raid on several toons, and they've had successful runs where they've been able to get up to date weapons. Though for the priest I've been hard pressed to change out Rapture, and the same goes for the paladin with his Storm Rune Edge.

The druid just seems the hardest to get a weapon for..... /sigh.

[Raiding Priests] How Many Disc Priests?

This evening after doing Wintergrasp on my Druid, I hopped onto my priest to do Vault. Now, I've been playing my priest for just over 2 years now, predominantly Holy, but recently I made the jump into discipline healing.

A few weeks ago in an Ulduar 10 achievement run a second priest was brought into the raid to assist with healing. The priest was discipline, and I noticed while meter watching (yes, I meter watch mainly to get a general idea of my performance, and to reaffirm that I am doing my job. A throwback to some abuse I sustained at the hands of an overzealous holy paladin.) I noticed that my effective healing and my effective absorbs had gone down drastically from fight to fight.

While thinking about it later on, I had noticed that my usual targets (namely tanks, and some DPS) were bubbled anytime I went to apply bubbles. This nerfed my overall absorbs.

I didn't really question it at that time, but figured that only one discipline priest would be effective in any raid environment.

Tonight really confirmed that for me. I headed into Vault. We had three healers, which usually is sufficiently overkill for Vault 10. The healer balance was off, causing extreme amounts of fail. There just wasn't any viable long range group healing.

After that raid fell apart, I did a little digging, because I had just been runninjg off a theory that you could really only have one disc priest in a raid. I found that you could have more than one, but you need to organize the healing to a point that it would only be good in a fight similar to Hard Mode Anub'arak. (Source)

[LOL] I'm Too Pally

Taken from *Healing Way*

It’s been a hard night of wiping.
The raid leader is griping.
  The main tank threw a fit,
  Three DPS just gquit,
And the healers spent the entire night sniping.

Both Paladins died in a fire.
My cat chewed through my mouse wire.
  The Warlock went on a binge
  Watching the TV show Fringe.
And the Rogue called the Druid a liar.

Adds ran around uncontrolled.
A ready check never was polled.
  Then, after 32 tries,
  Through all the wailing and cries,
Archavon finally got rolled.

Healing Way can be found by clicking >HERE<