Archive for the ‘Link up’ Category

I recently downloaded Rawr, a gear calculator/optimizer, and I love the thing. I’ve spent hours pouring over improvements, changes and upgrades to my gear with this little app. Using it, I’ve gone from 1.9k to 2.3k DPS on the Heroic dummies. It will evaluate your gear, and tell you what to upgrade to and where to find it. It also allows me to see my exact weaknesses. I was using under-performing gems and was looking to upgrade the wrong equipment. I use Gearscore in-game, and some of my decisions have been driven by a desire to raise that. When I had the option to go for either a Savage Scaled Chestpiece (over my Whalebone Carapace) or Savage Scaled Legguards (over my Savage Saronite Legplates), I was set to pick up the Chestplate. Why? Because it’s gearscore was much higher in comparison to what it was replacing compared to the legguards. Rawr, though, showed me I was taking the wrong route. My DPS was set to improve much more with the legguards when properly equipped. It’s also helped me figure out what gems I need, and showed me that I didn’t necessarily have to match gem color to socket color for maximum return. I’m hooked on this program. Here’s some other things it’s done for me and Gavelier.

• It convinced me to pick up the Pendant of the Outcast Hero over my Pendant of Azure Dreams.
• It showed me that I could improve in several ways by picking up the Girdle of Valorous Defeat at the Argent Tournament to replace my Icebane Girdle. I thought that the AT belt was a downgrade thanks to the Ratings Buster mod I use, but it’s been an improvement. I also needed some expertise to slow the dodges I was suffering when attacking in melee, and this fit the bill while raising my DPS as well.
• It’s shown me that my best bets for go-to gems are the Bold Scarlet Ruby and Etched Monarch Topaz.
• It guided me to the Relentless Earthsiege Diamond as my meta gem. I wasn’t paying attention to the +agility buffing my crit rating, but Rawr caught it.

There are some things it suggests that I don’t agree with, though, such as it’s talent choices. I’m not going to pass on ret talent to select Divine Sacrifice; my goal is to do damage, not take it. Also, it recommends a spell rotation that I don’t like, but I’m trying to give it a go because Rawr says it’s worth a couple dozen extra DPS.

In short, if you like to theorycraft, you could do far worse then to give this program a spin. It can download your data straight from the WoW Armory, so you don’t have to load everything by hand. It’s easy to use, and yet very powerful. I’d recommend it to any class. A true A+ program.

This is the first in our series of Link up! posts, where I point you to unique, fun, or useful sites around the web. First up, my own Gavelier’s World of Warcraft.

I was a big fan of Flintlocke’s Guide to Azeroth by Dave ‘Fargo’ Kosak at Gamespy, so it’s no surprise that I’m writing my own spinoff. Gavelier’s World of Warcraft features my main (Gavelier), one of my alts (Budman), and a character loosely based on the WoW-hating Betasim (Sibyl). Gav has helped Sibyl kill Hogger, aided Budman in killing a bunch of Defias mobs, and been shown up by a low-level druid. Now, after calling in a favor from a ‘well connected’ friend, Gav has dug himself a hole and will need Budman and Sibyl’s help to dig his way out.

As a side note, Fargo now has a new strip out called Flintlocke vs. the Horde, so read that as well.