Have you looked at your character on the armory lately?
Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 1:12 pm
The new armory is cool, and very helpful in many ways. It is now at http://us.battle.net/wow/
Simply enter your character's name in the search box on the right to find yourself.
In addition to the coolness and the relatively easier usage of the links to the left (for achievement, etc.), here are some of the things I find very helpful in terms of self improvement, and want to share them with all of us.
Character Summary
1. Once you find your character, take note of your average item level. Note, that there is a big number and a small number (equipped). No matter how you cheated to get yourself into the randoms, your true gear level is reflected in the small number. If you have cheated and are not performing as well as you expected, this might be why.
2. Right above the item level is the Advanced link. Click it. If you care to audit yourself, this button will help you lots.
3. All your gear is expanded, and those without enchants are indicated with a "?" symbol. Scrolling downward also display a list of missing enchants, or missing items that you could use to augment your gear, such as a belt buckle, a tinker, blacksmith sockets, etc. At this point, all regular raiders should have all their gear enchanted. Every bit of extra something helps, whether it means more dps, more mana, more spellpower, more dodge, more anything. More Is Better. Don't wait for a purple piece of gear, because gone are the days of welfare epics from heroic dungeons. Epic gear nowadays are either crafted, only drop in raids, or you do lots of heroics to get VPs to buy them, all of which are not something easily done, or quickly done. So why wait for epic loot to enchant your gear? Putting on good enchants on blue gear is not a "waste" anymore. iLevel 346 loot should deserve all the attention of enchants (that don't need maelstorm crystals) and gems (rare quality gems). Even the 333 ones!! Especially if you are raiding with them and don't seem to get upgrades anytime soon. Do something about them! Something > Nothing! We have JCs and enchanters than can help. It makes me sad (and sometimes angry) to see someone's gear not enchanted or gemmed when we regularly rely on them to be raiding with the guild. If you have done everything right to your gear, it should say "This character has passed the audit." Congratulations if that is you! BTW, it also tells you if you are missing glyphs!
4. Have you tried reforging? If you have, all the reforged stats are also displayed in the middle of the page on the right. If you don't know where to find a reforger, the NPC is usually hanging out in the enchanting shop. Do you have a lot of not-so-good stats that can be reforged into better stats? Like, if you're a healer, are you running out of mana? Maybe reforge some crit into spirit if your gear doesn't happen to have spirit? Maybe your dps class has poor mastery right now and it should be reforged to something like haste, etc. Reforging is your friend.
5. In the same section towards the left is the gems section. Are you a JC and you forgot to use your JC bonus that is so delicious? Socket in three chimera's eyes! That is your profession's bonus. Use it now. If you don't use it, why did you want to be a JC in the first place? And again, don't wait for epic gear. +80 more stats now is better than none. Besides, JC tokens are easy to get so a new chimeras eye is easily obtained in a matter of a maximum of two days (i think).
BTW, I'm not just picking on JCs. This page also list out your professions. Are you keeping up with them? Are you using the benefits that come with your professions? For example, if you are a herbalist, are you hitting that Lifeblood spell on cooldown that grants you 240 haste rating for 20 seconds every two minutes? If you are an alchemist, are you flasking or at least using the alchemy neverending flask for the +80 bonus? If you are a blacksmith, did you add your two sockets? Enchanters, are you forgetting to enchant your rings? Engineers, are you tinkering your gear? Etc.
6. Scrolling down are the basic stats. I would suggest click on "Show All Stats". This resembles the in-game character panel and need no further explanation.
Talents & Glyphs
Now lets switch gear to the Talent page. Link is available at the top on the left. Click it, then click your Primary or Secondary spec on the top right of this page.
The first question to ask yourself is: Have you really looked at your talents lately?
Did you only choose the squares because you think you knew your spec well, when in fact Blizzard has slipped in some stuff that you are unaware of? Did you leave your leveling spec in as your raiding spec, and perhaps some of those squares are now wasted because you are no longer killing things that "grants experience and honor" and you don't need so much damage reduction talent in exchange for some dps talent? Are you main spec a healer but you used your dps spec to level up, and now your healer spec was just an extended level 80 spec from the days when you roflstomped LK instances and dpsing while healing? Did you spec DPS talents into your healing spec because you could back in level 80 but you never even thought about reviewing them?
Whenever I hit 85 (and I have 4 now, 6 less than the person who got realm-first priest in our guild), no matter how familiar I think I am with my class, I always respec it from scratch. I don't just copy a spec from EJ and that's it. I actually read each squares. And, I also read each square in my spellbook! Did Blizzard slip in some additional awesome into my spells and I'm not aware of? You might be surprised at what you read. If you plan to spec into a talent that says using spell A would give benefit the next time you use spell B,C,D or for the next X seconds, and your B,C,D are your go-to spells, then use more of your spell A! If you don't use your spell A, then why spec into it? If your talent gives you a free something every time you use it but has a cooldown, use it every time it is up! Don't be stuck in the level 80 LK world when you were so familiar with your play style. You're 85 now, and the world has changed! If that means you can't shield spam cuz that'll drain your mana, then don't! There is always another more efficient way to do things if the current way is not working, you just need to read the squares, figure it out, and practice more with it. And DPSers, get familiar with your new interrupt buttons! You'll be kicking a lot. Tanks, don't forget the cooldowns - healers can only do so much! And stay out of suspicious poop!
Last but not least, underneath the talents are the 3 sets of glyphs. Are you missing glyphs? Is something empty under the "Prime" glyph? You should be kicked out of the raid! If you are missing "Major" glyphs, we know who you are, and we are watching you. Missing "Minor" glyphs are mostly OK.
(edit) P.S. I really don't mean to sound egotistic, but I think it means something. I have two alt healers that are capable of healing random heroics now, they have ilevels 341 equipped and 337 equipped. If my alt healers have more intellect and spellpowers than your mains, either my alts are too awesome, or your mains' gear need more tinkering.
Simply enter your character's name in the search box on the right to find yourself.
In addition to the coolness and the relatively easier usage of the links to the left (for achievement, etc.), here are some of the things I find very helpful in terms of self improvement, and want to share them with all of us.
Character Summary
1. Once you find your character, take note of your average item level. Note, that there is a big number and a small number (equipped). No matter how you cheated to get yourself into the randoms, your true gear level is reflected in the small number. If you have cheated and are not performing as well as you expected, this might be why.
2. Right above the item level is the Advanced link. Click it. If you care to audit yourself, this button will help you lots.
3. All your gear is expanded, and those without enchants are indicated with a "?" symbol. Scrolling downward also display a list of missing enchants, or missing items that you could use to augment your gear, such as a belt buckle, a tinker, blacksmith sockets, etc. At this point, all regular raiders should have all their gear enchanted. Every bit of extra something helps, whether it means more dps, more mana, more spellpower, more dodge, more anything. More Is Better. Don't wait for a purple piece of gear, because gone are the days of welfare epics from heroic dungeons. Epic gear nowadays are either crafted, only drop in raids, or you do lots of heroics to get VPs to buy them, all of which are not something easily done, or quickly done. So why wait for epic loot to enchant your gear? Putting on good enchants on blue gear is not a "waste" anymore. iLevel 346 loot should deserve all the attention of enchants (that don't need maelstorm crystals) and gems (rare quality gems). Even the 333 ones!! Especially if you are raiding with them and don't seem to get upgrades anytime soon. Do something about them! Something > Nothing! We have JCs and enchanters than can help. It makes me sad (and sometimes angry) to see someone's gear not enchanted or gemmed when we regularly rely on them to be raiding with the guild. If you have done everything right to your gear, it should say "This character has passed the audit." Congratulations if that is you! BTW, it also tells you if you are missing glyphs!
4. Have you tried reforging? If you have, all the reforged stats are also displayed in the middle of the page on the right. If you don't know where to find a reforger, the NPC is usually hanging out in the enchanting shop. Do you have a lot of not-so-good stats that can be reforged into better stats? Like, if you're a healer, are you running out of mana? Maybe reforge some crit into spirit if your gear doesn't happen to have spirit? Maybe your dps class has poor mastery right now and it should be reforged to something like haste, etc. Reforging is your friend.
5. In the same section towards the left is the gems section. Are you a JC and you forgot to use your JC bonus that is so delicious? Socket in three chimera's eyes! That is your profession's bonus. Use it now. If you don't use it, why did you want to be a JC in the first place? And again, don't wait for epic gear. +80 more stats now is better than none. Besides, JC tokens are easy to get so a new chimeras eye is easily obtained in a matter of a maximum of two days (i think).
BTW, I'm not just picking on JCs. This page also list out your professions. Are you keeping up with them? Are you using the benefits that come with your professions? For example, if you are a herbalist, are you hitting that Lifeblood spell on cooldown that grants you 240 haste rating for 20 seconds every two minutes? If you are an alchemist, are you flasking or at least using the alchemy neverending flask for the +80 bonus? If you are a blacksmith, did you add your two sockets? Enchanters, are you forgetting to enchant your rings? Engineers, are you tinkering your gear? Etc.
6. Scrolling down are the basic stats. I would suggest click on "Show All Stats". This resembles the in-game character panel and need no further explanation.
Talents & Glyphs
Now lets switch gear to the Talent page. Link is available at the top on the left. Click it, then click your Primary or Secondary spec on the top right of this page.
The first question to ask yourself is: Have you really looked at your talents lately?
Did you only choose the squares because you think you knew your spec well, when in fact Blizzard has slipped in some stuff that you are unaware of? Did you leave your leveling spec in as your raiding spec, and perhaps some of those squares are now wasted because you are no longer killing things that "grants experience and honor" and you don't need so much damage reduction talent in exchange for some dps talent? Are you main spec a healer but you used your dps spec to level up, and now your healer spec was just an extended level 80 spec from the days when you roflstomped LK instances and dpsing while healing? Did you spec DPS talents into your healing spec because you could back in level 80 but you never even thought about reviewing them?
Whenever I hit 85 (and I have 4 now, 6 less than the person who got realm-first priest in our guild), no matter how familiar I think I am with my class, I always respec it from scratch. I don't just copy a spec from EJ and that's it. I actually read each squares. And, I also read each square in my spellbook! Did Blizzard slip in some additional awesome into my spells and I'm not aware of? You might be surprised at what you read. If you plan to spec into a talent that says using spell A would give benefit the next time you use spell B,C,D or for the next X seconds, and your B,C,D are your go-to spells, then use more of your spell A! If you don't use your spell A, then why spec into it? If your talent gives you a free something every time you use it but has a cooldown, use it every time it is up! Don't be stuck in the level 80 LK world when you were so familiar with your play style. You're 85 now, and the world has changed! If that means you can't shield spam cuz that'll drain your mana, then don't! There is always another more efficient way to do things if the current way is not working, you just need to read the squares, figure it out, and practice more with it. And DPSers, get familiar with your new interrupt buttons! You'll be kicking a lot. Tanks, don't forget the cooldowns - healers can only do so much! And stay out of suspicious poop!
Last but not least, underneath the talents are the 3 sets of glyphs. Are you missing glyphs? Is something empty under the "Prime" glyph? You should be kicked out of the raid! If you are missing "Major" glyphs, we know who you are, and we are watching you. Missing "Minor" glyphs are mostly OK.
(edit) P.S. I really don't mean to sound egotistic, but I think it means something. I have two alt healers that are capable of healing random heroics now, they have ilevels 341 equipped and 337 equipped. If my alt healers have more intellect and spellpowers than your mains, either my alts are too awesome, or your mains' gear need more tinkering.
Don't be afraid to immediately temp socket gear in green quality gems if you're about to do a run, even if you are planning on getting it decked out in juicy rare cuts a when you get more time/gold.