Thursday, October 25, 2012

Cooldown or Proc Trinkets: Which do You Prefer?

We will take a make believe trinket and compare.
Trinket 1: Proc Trinket : Procs 4000 agility on hit for 20 seconds, 90 second internal cooldown.
Trinket 2: On Use Trinket: Grants 4000 agility on use for 20 seconds, 90 second cooldown.

Now looking at them if the person uses the on use one ASAP when it is up and it is off the GCD so it does not waste time there is no difference between the two.  Both will give you 4000 agility every 90 seconds.  Simple enough right?

Not really all that simple.  There is a lot more to consider and the changes to hunters will make even those people that played them know how having more keys to press makes a huge difference.  So many people have had problems adjusting to the changes made to hunters because they were given 4 (or 5) new buttons to hit.  Having more to hit means more chances to make bad decisions and press things in the wrong order.

The more buttons a class has the less trinket 2 looks good.  If you are already worried about hitting 12 different things adding a 13th is not going to help matters any.  You would be better off having things go off on a timer on its own with nothing needed as far as input goes from your end.  With the on proc trinket the agility will always be there when it is time for it to be there.  You never need to worry about it ever.  It is a set it and forget it thing.  You can't ever make a mistake and not hit it because it will hit itself.

So that clearly means that trinket 1 is a better trinket.  For that case at least.

When you are raiding and there is a need for some burst damage having trinket 1 could leave you out in the wind.  Will you have that 4000 agility when burst time comes?  Who knows really.  With trinket two you can save it for the moment you need it.  During that phase where you need extra damage to burn down an add or during the hero/lust phase or during a time the boss takes extra damage.  Just use your on use item and you are ready to burst when you need the burst 100% of the time.  Never will you have to hope your trinket procs when you need it to because you control when and were you get that extra agility.

So that clearly means that trinket 2 is a better trinket.  For that case at least.

So while there are some cases where one might be better than another, like a fight that has no particular type of burn phase would lead to the proc one being better as there would be no chance of missing using it, it really comes down to which you prefer.

Hard core raiders getting every last ounce out of what they do will have both and use both in which situation it is needed.  I know I always have both even if I am not hard core, just in case there is a fight where I need my burst available when I call on it.  But it is not really required as I am not hard core, so that leaves me to ask what about the rest of us.  We should just go with what we like.

What do you like?

Last expansion I liked on use.  I used to stack things so I used it at the right moment for me.  While it would not have as much of an uptime as a proc trinket for example because I held it back and used it at times where I found it would be best to use it for burst, I made up for not having as much of an uptime as the proc one by stacking it.

Now, I am on the other side of the fence.  I like the passive nature of things that take care of themselves being I have so many new things to worry about as a hunter as is right now.  Perhaps my opinion will change as I get more used to all our new abilities, as it seems I am as time goes by, but for now I like proc based trinkets over cooldown based ones.

Unless you are hard core what you would use is based on opinion really.  Even more so if they would end up with the same net result.

So while most people will just look at a best in slot list and choose whatever they see is best in slot others will go with what they like and what they feel more comfortable with.

If there is one mistake I have had to teach people not to make as a raid leader over my time doing it about trinkets, it is that on use trinkets are worthless if you do not use them.  So often I would see people with on use items on and then looking at the log notice that they never used it once.  When talking to them they said it was best in slot.  Yes, it is, but only if you actually use it.

For the majority of players I think proc based trinkets are better.  There is no need for anyone that is not planning when you use it for for its best use, before the fight even starts, to ever have an on use trinket on even if some guide calls it best in slot.

Which do you prefer?

10 comments:

  1. I macro my on-use trinkets into my core rotation to basically be passive. So I guess I typically prefer the passive nature of the trinkets. However on a fight like spine I can take out that macro and use it for maximum burst so on-use is more flexible that way.

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    1. For things like spine I would tend you use the on use myself as well to have it when I needed it. I always liked the way the valor trinkets lined up for that.

      I never liked macroing them into shots normally because I always tried to wait for some passive proc to stack it with even in non burst situations.

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    2. I macro on-use trinkets into other longer cooldown abilities to stack them. Like BW, etc.

      In general, I prefer the proc trinkets because they proc more often (just for less bonus). I always used the on-use on Spine though for that extra burst like everyone else.

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  2. I prefer to have the trinkets go off on their own. Anything to keep me from having to remember and push a button is good. But, I can see how if raiding, one would want to be able control that extra burst of agility or what have you.

    I didn't know one could macro an on-use trinket into a shot. Interesting. May I ask one silly macro question - thanks - can hunter's mark, pet attack and concussive shot be made into a macro that works?

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    1. Unfortunately, no. Hunter's Mark and Concussive Shot both trigger the global cooldown so only the first one will go off in the macro.

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    2. There is a glyph that will apply hunters mark when you hit with arcane shot, chinera shot, kill command or explosive shot called glyph of marked for death, that is the best way to do a set it and forget it.

      For the first slot of a trinket you can use this line.

      /use 13

      For the second slot you can use.

      /use 14

      It is easier than typing the name of the trinket out and works even if you change your trinket. No need to ever use the actual name.

      You can macro concussive shot but you would need to spam the button as it triggers a global cooldown as jaeger said.

      Some global cooldown macros can work, I use one for dire beast. Might lose a second here and there and I can still hit it directly but this is what I use.

      #showtooltip Arcane Shot
      /cast Arcane Shot
      /cast Dire Beast

      If you spam the key, which is one for me, it will fire arcane and usually DB right after. It will also always fire DB if it is available and there is not enough focus for arcane.

      It is rare however that I ever put two things that trigger a global cooldown in a marco together.

      You can also use these two for pets.

      /petattack
      /petassist

      Both are self explanatory. The pet attack one will send it to attack the one you are targeting when you hit it, if you have your pet on passive it will always stay on that target even if you switch targets.

      Petassist will make it change targets to your target.

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  3. Proc for offensive Trinkets, On-use for defensive ones.

    I like having 'panic buttons' 'just in case', I do not like having additional buttons to push for 'normal' performance.

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    1. When tanking on use always. At least that is my opinion. I love having that extra cooldown, always have.

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  4. On use. At this moment I have 10+ buttons I consider 'cooldowns' outside of normal rotation - things that can save my life or greatly diminish the damage intake (like Hand of Purity on hc Stoneguard Rend damage). But there are fights (like Elegon) where it feels I don't have enough cooldowns. Sucks to look at your auras and see you have *everything* on CD cause you pushed everythig during the last 27 seconds when both healers died. So on use.

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    1. I have to laugh reading that because I know exactly how you feel. That oh crap moment when you need a cooldown and there is nothing left. You just hope for the passive avoidance gods take mercy on your soul while you wait that last 8 second for your cooldown.

      When tanking I always like having more cooldowns, it seems like in many cases there can never be too many.

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