Thursday, July 23, 2015

Is That Piece of Gear and Upgrade?

In a recent post I mentioned that a piece of gear of a higher item level is not always an upgrade.  Someone mentioned that without me explaining it that I might be misleading people into making bad choices with gear.  After thinking about it I do agree with them.  Some people might draw the wrong conclusion.  So I figured a follow up post explaining how to figure out if a piece of gear is an upgrade or not was warranted.

It is really simple to judge a piece of gear as long as it is a simple piece of gear.  That is all I plan to show here, a simple guide to help show those that might not know how to evaluate if a piece of gear is really an upgrade.

Please read the tier and trinket section below for exceptions.

For this post we will be comparing gear that does not offer any additional bonuses such as tier gear or trinkets.  Just a simple comparisons to help you decide on which piece is better and if an item level upgrade is really an upgrade. 

How do you judge if a piece of gear is an upgrade?

1) Find your stat weights:

Go to google, if you do not already have your favorite class forum, blog, or resource bookmarked, and search for your spec stat weights.  Usually typing something like "Marksman hunter 6.2 stat weights" will be enough to find them.  You are not looking for a list of which is better, so you might need to click a few links.  You are looking for a list with numbers.

When I looked for marksman I came up with these results, thanks goes to Azortharion and Niix for their awesome hunter guide that supplied me with these numbers.

2.80 - Weapon DPS
1.00 - Agility
0.90 - Attack Power
0.71 - Crit to 53%
0.64 - Multistrike
0.60 - Versatility
0.59 - Mastery
0.58 - Haste

2) Use those stat weights to get a value for the item:

For this example I am going to use my necklace, the darkflight necklace from BRF heroic and compare it to another neck I recently received from the HRC raid on normal.

We will need to strip the stats off the pieces to compare them, then add the value of the pieces up into one total value, which will be the value we place on the item to compare the two.

Heroic Darkflight Necklace.
Warforged, with a Gem Slot. (Item level 691)

166 agility x 1.00 = 166.00
111 critical strike x 0.71 = 78.81
111 multistrike x 0.64 = 71.04
75 critical (from slot) x 0.71 = 53.25

Total value of that necklace= 369.10

Normal Chain of the Lidless Eyes
No enhancements (Item level 700)

180 agility x 1.00 = 180.00
166 haste x 0.58 = 96.28
74 mastery x 0.59 = 43.66

Total value of that necklace = 319.64

As you can see, the 691 item is actually a considerably better item for me.  This comes mostly from the fact I have a 75 stat gem in the gem slot, but even if I had a 30 or a 50 gem in that gem slot it would still be better.  As long as the gem slot is not empty, the lower item level piece, in this case, is much better.

Note: Many times items with gem slots are where these cases of the lower item being better than the higher item level come into play and these items are the ones I suggest you always check to make sure if the upgrade is actually and upgrade.

3) Keep the higher item level item:

Even if the higher item level item is not an upgrade for you in your current spec it is an item level upgrade. If you plan to pug the only way people have to judge you, if they do not armory, is to use your item level.  When you sign up for a group your item level that they see is your best item level, including those items in your bags.

So even if you get an item level upgrade that is not a performance upgrade, you should hold on to it if you plan to pug.  While you will be gearing smart wearing the better piece even if it is a lower item level, you having the higher item level shows up when you apply to a group and it could help you get accepted into pugs.  Once you are in the pug you will be judged based on your performance, so do the best you can do, abide by mechanics, and no one will ever know you actually have a lower item level.

The 6 Item Level Tip:

Without going into detailed break downs of every item for every class I will make a blanket statement that is more often then not true unless your spec has any stats that are dreadfully bad for them, as in under 0.40.  In which case the number could be higher than 6, but 6 seems to be the average, at least for hunters.

Usually anything more than 6 item levels higher is an upgrade for most classes, regardless of stats, if there are no gem slots involved.

Using the above example, even if it is a 9 item level difference, with the 691 neck with perfect secondary stats vs a 700  item level neck with my worst secondaries you will see, even if I take away the gem slot, that the 691 item level neck would be a 315.85 vs the 700 item neck's 319.64, making the 700 item an extremely minor upgrade, but an upgrade none the less, at 9 item levels.  This will, in most cases, be the case.

The 6 item level tip is a basic guideline and not to be taken as law even it will be true more often than not.  It works well for hunters as their stats are very close to one another whereas some classes do not have that benefit and have larger gaps between best and worst secondary stats.  If your stat gap is larger, the number would be higher.

The 6 item level tip is for the lazy person, like me with alts.  If the item you are wearing has your two best stats and the other item is only 6 item levels higher and has neither of them, do not switch.  If it is 7, switch.  Either way, I'd still suggest checking it out using the easy formula shown above to make sure if you even care a little but about getting the maximum potential out of your gear, but with the lazy method, you will never hurt yourself too much either way.

Tier Bonus and Trinkets:

You can not, and should not, ever use what I said above to judge tier sets and trinkets.  The reason for this is that the tier set bonuses could, for some classes, greatly outweigh the stats on a piece of gear that would seem like a large increase but break a tier set bonus in the process.

For example, the T17 hunter bonus for BM hunters is still wonderful if you have not snagged the T18 set yet.  And with the increase of bestial wrath to 15 seconds up from 10 seconds in an upcoming patch, it makes it even better. 

So even if you have 4 670 pieces for the tier set it would be much better than replacing it with a couple of 700 items you got out of a mythic bag and two 695 empowered apexis pieces you made on Tanaan.  Even if you would see a substantial item level increase from equipping those 4 pieces and a fairly decent upgrade from their base stats alone, having those extra stats does not (in many cases) make up for breaking what is a very good tier bonus.

I suggest you read your classes forums somewhere like elitist jerks, mmoc, or the battle net forums to see if and when you should break a tier set.  Do not use the above mentioned method to judge in this case.

Or, and I believe this would best, you could learn to use simcraft and play around with it some to help you decide if breaking the tier set will work for you.  There is no simple way to decide like I showed here.  Even a super tier set will eventually be beaten out by raw stats alone, if the gap gets great enough.

The same goes for trinkets.  Never use the base stats on trinkets to judge a trinket.  Trinkets often can be deceiving, in terms of item level.  Such as the trinket off the world boss with the tertiary stats on it.  Sure it is an item level of 705, but a 630 trinket from a heroic dungeon would, in many cases, be a better trinket than that one.

For trinkets I suggest you look at the previously mentioned sites, or your favorite bloggers suggestions, instead of using this formula or judging based on the face stats alone.

I hoped that helped some people learn how to judge which piece of gear is better for them.  It is not always about item level, but it is always about stats.  Whichever piece has the best stats for you, regardless of item level, is the best piece for you.

32 comments:

  1. A very useful blog, thank you for taking the time to write it.

    I will be honest though: I don't think it should be necessary for non-Mythic players to have to use Simcraft to decide whether or not to upgrade an armour piece. I see that as a failure on Blizz's part in their design. It shouldn't be this complex: it should be obvious that item A should replace item B, no ifs or buts.

    Aside from gemming and enchanting you should be able to pop it right on and do more in the next fight. That was Blizz's stated intention when they dropped reforging, yes?

    We've had far too many debates after a boss is killed where players are agonizing over whether to roll on an item even though it's 10 ilvls higher than the one they currently have but it has Versatility. Or Shamans saying they should have an item ahead of Hunters because of the secondary stats.

    At the risk of repeating myself from earlier posts: I cannot understand why Blizz thought it was a good idea to have four separate tier sets in WoD either. There's T17 N/H/M and T17 LFR, same pairing again for T18. They need their heads examining.

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    1. There are many parts of the game that are out of peoples control. Getting gear (RNG) is one of them. What you down is one of them. The skill level of those around you is one of them. Etc.

      So at what level you raid it doesn't matter. There is always one thing that no matter your progression or skill level is completely in your control and your control only. If you do it well or poorly only you are to blame. And that is choosing the right gear from what is available to you.

      It comes down to the person in particular. I try to do the best I do in a raid and as such I try to dress for success so to speak. So I care about having the best gear available to me on me.

      Is it "needed"? Probably not. Should it be done? Absolutely.

      There is no reason for someone to "down grade" their potential with an upgrade to item level.

      Unless versatility is worth less than 0.40 for that spec, a 10 level item upgrade will usually be an upgrade. (if no slots are involved). While it is true in some extremely rare cases that might be false, at 10 levels it is usually a safe bet to upgrade.

      I liked being survival with versatility as a viable stat, even the second best one for a time. No one wanted the gear. Kind of feels like that was the only gear I got all expansion because no one else wanted it.

      You convinced me that I need to work on a post to clarify versatility. It is, for most, not as bad as people think it is.

      I used to be one of those people that was anti versatility as well until I read a great theory crafting post on it and my mind was forever changed. It might not be a great stat, but it is not a bad one either.

      Blizzard has made a boat load of mistakes this expansion, gearing in and for raids is only one of them. I can pick apart at least 10 problems with gearing this expansion without much effort or thought. So yeah, they need to have their heads examined.

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    2. As a non-raider (I feel like I say that a lot), I also wish things were clearer for me when it comes to gear. I do think this will help (thanks Grumpy) as well as another post someone else did, but when it comes down to it, I'm usually at a loss of if something is a clear upgrade or not.

      I really do just want to win something (finally) and it be worth my time to put it on, not more work to weigh and figure out.

      And while I shouldn't worry about the small gains/losses of upgrades, I do want to at least do better for me. Gear, as it stands now, is generally unclear and "upgrades" often feel like I'm making a sacrifice that I shouldn't have to. That might be my ignorance on the subject, but Blizzard has done nothing in game to resolve that.

      @Grumpy

      I got my mage the 680 ring and it has versatility. I'm not against the stat, and I even like the concept, but I'm looking forward to hearing more about the upside of it.

      As a general idea, do you think it is better to maximize your attunement stat or focus on upping your other stats? Quick example: Arcane mages attunment is Mastery. If my 675 chest piece has Mastery/Crit, and I get something that is pure Mastery but equal ilevel, is that probably better? Basically, is +250 Mastery better than +125 Mastery, +125 Haste?

      If that is too much of a question, apologies, just looking for a guideline. Or if you know of a not too technical read, a link would be appreciated.

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    3. You should not need to be at a loss if an item is an upgrade or not. Blizzard said they would make it simpler and they did not. If they ever wanted to design correctly they would limit the item levels so we did not have 4 different item level tiers each tier, there would be no warforged and no random gem slots, and they would decrease the value of a tier set so that upgrading it item level wise would not be a downgrade performance wise.

      Gearing is probably in the worst place it has ever been with regards to ease. They did a horrible job with it this expansion.

      For the non raider, more than the raider, gear is important, it is the only way you have to judge your personally progression. So wanting to put on the "right" gear matters to a lot of people even if they do not raid and most of the time, being it is a number, that is why item level wins out. People want to see the higher numbers.

      For most classes your attunement stat is your best stat. Blizzard made great efforts to make sure it worked like that.

      As for the chest, you can run it though the numbers, for an arcane mage of course, not the numbers I used, and you can see. In theory if they are the same item level the one with all mastery should be a no brainer. But you have to be careful because things that have a single stat usually have less total stats than the one that has 2 stats on it. So unless you check it you can not be sure if the pure mastery one is an upgrade over the mastery crit.

      If the question is on a equal basis, as if +250 mastery is better than +125 mastery and +125 haste, then the answer is yes, absolutely.

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    4. @Grumpy

      Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it.

      I thought that might be the case with the attunment stat but wasn't sure.

      Although I did have two other issues last night. And I'm not saying these are for you to resolve, but just to illustrate the issue:

      1) was that I got a piece of gear that was my two middle best stats (same ilevel and other stats). I was wearing one with my second best stat and my "worst" stat. So is it better to have the two pretty good ones or the one really good one (but not the best) and the "worst" one. Again, not asking you to solve the problem, but supporting your point that Blizzard did not make this easier.

      2) When I googled feral druid 6.2 stat weights, I got different answers from Icy Veins than from Noxxic (I think) And not just slight differences, but I'm pretty sure one had crit at or near the top while the other hand it very close to the bottom. Now it seemed perhaps they were looking at different things (AoE versus single target) but again, it didn't seem clear cut.

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    5. 1) Depends on the stat weights really. If the "worst" stat is really really low on the stat weights you might be better with the two middle ones, same goes for the best stat, if it is really high on the stat weights, it might offset the bad stat even being there. No way to tell without knowing the stat weights and checking it out.

      However, with that said, I would usually stick with the one that has my best stat on it even if the worst stat was with it. Might be wrong, but until I check I would feel like that is the best idea.

      2) Check the update times. Noxxic is well known to take a long time to update, their information could very well be from last patch. I would roll with the icy veins stats. They seem to be more up to date. Can't say they are any more accurate, but as they are more recent I would most definitely trust their numbers more.

      As far as single target vs AoE, go with a single target build. Feral AoE does not seem to be really great right now and there will usually be some classes that are great at it that will be glad to hog the meters with their leet AoE numbers while you are killing to boss. Don't worry if your numbers look less than the AoE people, a good raid leader will notice that you are doing the "right" thing and that is why you are not as high as the people AoEing.

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    6. I would never know that an arcane mage needs mastery. SO that begs the questions, how in the world are folks suppose to know what stat one needs the most. For example, I know agi for a BM hunter (prob most hunters). But after that, I go for haste, mastery and after that, all the others. So if that is wrong, how in the hell am I suppose to know? Blizzard doesn't want to tell me and 99% of all the blogs/web sites are only concern for raiding hunters, not the non-raiding one. I haven't been able to find the truly non-raiding hunter web site. And same goes for Rogue, Warrior, Mage, Locky, Pally, etc. Nearly all are only concerned about the raiding (fill in the blank).

      BRK is gone. Hunter's Union is gone or has dropped most of the support for non-raiding.

      Thank you for bringing items like this page up for discussion.

      -rootime to feed the feral cats and Mr Sweet Bob

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    7. @Casually Odd I'm a non-raider as well, but I am a computer/math nerd, and I do get into the why of the stats. I would avoid Noxxic; they seem to say vary odd things these days. However, one gesture they make in the vague direction of being right is to list different stat weights for classes at different ilevels.

      The "canonical" stat weights you see on sites are typically based on a specific set of gear, often Best in Slot with tier bonuses. These can be pretty off-target for, say at the moment, an ilevel 660-ish character without a tier set. I think Noxxic's stat weights are also based on BiS for item level with tier bonuses, but they don't say, so I don't know.

      Right now, Icy-Veins gives

      Intellect > Multistrike >= Crit > Haste > Versatility > Mastery.

      for all Frost Mages, while Noxxic gives

      Intellect > Multistrike >= Crit > Haste > Versatility > Mastery

      for ilevel 705 Frost mages, and

      Intellect > Haste > Crit > Multistrike = Versatility >= Mastery

      for ilevel 685 Frost Mages. That is just strange. I have no idea what set of gear they could be basing that 685 figure on.

      My own tailored sims for my 691 mage give

      Intellect > Multistrike > Mastery ~= Haste >= Crit > Vers

      (but Crit increases in value the more movement in the fight, because I have less time to cast FB, so I lose some value from both Haste and Mast).

      OTOH, my character just feels better to play with more Haste - more like the Frost Mage I remember - and Haste comes in awful handy for AoE, so I take more Haste than is prescribed by the numbers.

      Quite a difference of opinion there!

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    8. @Roo

      If you aren't familiar, somewhere in your passive section of your spell book will be some spell that essentially tells your what your attunement spec is. If you mouse over and get the tools tips one of them should say something about "get 5% more [Secondary Stat] from all sources" or some such. But you're right, it's not easy to find and there is nothing in game that tells you about it clearly.

      @Gráinne

      Thanks for the info! That sort of thing, where Mastery is high on one and low on the other, is exactly the thing that adds to the confusion. not saying it is your fault, just the conflicting information.

      And overall, I don't want this to matter. I'm somewhat like you in that I kind of what my character to play like how I feel should be fun. But if I want to do LFR or some more challenging dungeon, people are pretty kick-happy at times and if I'm low DPS on the list, I'm out.

      Now part of that is that I probably need to improve my skills too, so that is acknowledged, but having good gear would help.

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    9. @Roo

      The game does not really teach anyone inside of it. You need to go to an outside resource to get that information.

      However, with that said, usually, whatever the stat attunement for the class is, that is usually their best stat.

      You are dead on for BM. Mastery and haste are best. Agility is the core stat of hunters so that of course is best and on our gear.

      @Gráinne

      Good point on Noxxic, I too warn people away from it lately, for data like that. For basics for a beginner I still think it is fine, but for details they seem to be a little off on things lately. But you are so right, they are the only place I saw that shows that stat weights change at certain item levels, which is very true.

      For alts, like my mage is, that I do not intend to ever raid anything above normal, I usually try for haste as well. Not because I think it is better than it really is, but for as simple as you put it, I just like the way it feels better. Once I get to my sweet spot feel wise, I try to follow standards. While I always try to do my best, for an alt I also want to feel comfortable, even if I lose 2% DPS in the process.

      @Casually Odd

      Gear does matter. As someone in another thread dug up when we were talking. (do not remember the exact numbers he said so going to make some up)

      Me at 685 did 46 on a fight, someone else at 705 did 48 on a fight.

      We were close, but I did 99% of my potential, he did 50% of his. That means, just from 20 item levels higher, he could basically AFK hitting some random keys only doing half his potential while I performed about as close as I, or anyone else that is not in a world first guild, could and he still beat me.

      That is the power of gear. I really wish we went back to the day when skill mattered more than gear, where I could be stomping all over him for playing well. But that is just me. The majority really like gear making people so much more powerful. I know I am in the minority here that would rather skill be more important than gear.

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  2. Out of sheer curiosity, would you call a guild that has kills in the following days a 2 day raiding guild?
    Days are as follows:
    june: 23,24,25,26,29,30
    july: 1,2,6,8,9,13,15,16,20,22

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    1. oh and when I say kills I mean hfc kills registered as kills on wowprogress as guild kills.

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    2. This turned out to be a much longer answer than I expected, I think I could make a post on this. It got me thinking.

      ---

      Depends on how you mean it.

      Talking progression night or just plain old raid nights?

      My guild raids as much as 4 nights, one for old stuff, BRF heroic is still good gear for a lot of normal mode players, and an alt run whenever we can get people for it, maybe once a month, twice if we are lucky.

      Otherwise my guild I call a 1 day guild, but we really raid 2 many weeks. We only work progression 1 day when I try to take the better players only (not many left anymore sadly) and we actually make an attempt to down new boss. Being this is the only "required" night for raiders it is our only real raid night were I expect to raid and down things. So I call it a 1 day guild as we have one required night for raiders to be there.

      So it is more a matter of opinion.

      I call it a one night guild, some would say 2 and still others would say 4, even if the the other 2 are usually in lesser content.

      I am not sure with those dates, looks like every day one week, 2 the next, 3 the next. Looks like most casual guilds. Raid whenever there are enough people to do something.

      Heck, That is why we do older stuff sometimes, it comes down to there are people here, need to keep them happy, so we do something, even if it is not progression. But I would never call that part of the scheduled raiding. They could be like my guild, one night trying to advance, and other nights just running with whomever is around.

      I guess what it comes down to is the "required night" thing I mentioned.

      How many of those nights did that raid leader say it was a required night for the raiders to show? Then that is how many raid nights they run per week, anything else is extra.

      One required night means 1 day raiding guild, 2 means 2, etc. I guess that would be my answer and I can not tell from the dates if they were required nights or just a bunch of people getting together for some fun.

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    3. I know what I would it call a guild like that - a busy guild where ya best show up!

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    4. You kind of have to keep a guild busy or people leave. On nights we do not raid we have people assembling mythic dungeon runs, doing a PvP night, doing alt runs through the starter dungeons so they can start their legendary quest line, etc.

      A good guild is one that keeps busy.

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  3. Very nicely written and explained Grumpy! Thanks you for this article.

    I know there are add-ons that "do the math" for you, but it's nice to have this article so that people understand the math that is being done in the background... AND... so they can check to make sure that the values the add-on is using are in fact correct - and then make changes to those value if they are wrong.

    Good job man! :-D

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    1. Oh and... I thought you said you had bad RNG! Mister "I has a Heroic Darkflight Necklace, Warforged w/ a socket"! ;-)

      Guess that means you used up your RNG for the year on that one. ;-)

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    2. A guild mate won it in a pug a few weeks back and gave it to me because he did not need it. Most of my gear is hand me down.

      Not saying I would not have purchased it on the AH if I saw one at a decent price. It is a BoE item.

      Addons are nice, sure, but it is always a good idea to understand what the addon is doing. At least for me I think it is.

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  4. Nice post. This is going to help a lot of people. I agree with Grumsta. As a fairly knowledgeable player I shouldn't have to use Simcraft every time I get a new piece of gear to determine upgrades. The current system is just convoluted.

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    1. The current system is really messed up when there are, what seem like, a million different item levels with a million different combination those pieces could be.

      How I long for the days of a piece of gear is a piece of gear, and that is all. It is not warforged, it is not with a gem slot, there is not a 680 piece, a 681 piece, a 685 piece, a 609 piece, a 691 piece, a 696 piece, etc, so many piece so close to each other, all with the random chance of a gem slot to change the value of everything.

      The good old day where when you moved from one piece to one 13 item levels higher it was an upgrade 98% of the time, no doubt about it. Now.. you need to make sure it is. Way too convoluted.

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  5. As Chris mentions above but didn't follow up on, if you aren't already using a gear evaluation add-on go grab Pawn... use defaults or enter your own value and it'll show you at a glance if a piece is an upgrade, by how much and for what specs. It also won't try to evaluate procs which I appreciate - if you care enough about those beyond just eyeballing, you should put some effort into evaluating.

    As for why Blizzard makes it "complicated" to evaluate gear it's because different classes/specs value different stats. That's a good thing for overall engagement in the gearing process, if all stats meant the same to all classes what's the point of having different secondary stats? You'd just grab the first pair of pants you can and you're done gearing that slot until next tier. Is that somehow better from the current system regardless of whether you're looking at it from a game design standpoint (you want players wanting to keep playing) or from the player standpoint (how many players would sign up for getting BiS gear at the start of each tier, never having to worry about gear acquisition and just focus on killing bosses? Lots... how many would still be raiding in 2 months? Significantly fewer, I expect, a big reason why bosses die is BECAUSE of the loot).

    There have been all kinds of discussions and studies about MMOs in particular about how to keep players engaged and it's some sort of calcuation about effort/reward where the effort is SIGNIFICANTLY greater than zero in the optimal equation. Gearing up isn't any different... it would be easier to not have to worry about it but that wouldn't make it better. If you don't actually care about stats then don't worry about them, grab the higher iLvl piece and you're good. If you do, then run an add-on or do some research or run SimC or whatever floats your boat. Everybody has their own opinion (Grumpy would stab me with a fork if he knew my personal policy on lower-level gear with gem sockets) but that's part of the appeal, do your own thing and enjoy it.

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    1. Good suggestion on the Pawn addon.

      "You'd just grab the first pair of pants you can and you're done gearing that slot until next tier."

      Yeah, and?

      Really, what would be so bad about that. I would love love love to be able to get all my gear over with as soon as possible. Gearing up, even more so by RNG, is the most boring part of the game. I want it to be over as soon as possible. (but I am strange)

      I'd never do that R, we all have different opinions and there is nothing wrong with that. My personal opinion on it is that should either 1) add gem slots to all gear and not make it random or 2) remove gem slot from being on gear all together.

      I just hate the random nature of things like that. I am tired of random and random has no place in an effort = reward sort of game, which is what this should be.

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    2. ok, is "Pawn" the full name?

      Also, GE, what other add ons do you use? I keep seeing one in videos where all the, dang, forgot their names, the right sides and bottom, where you can put the different icons are like on top or all together. Ok, never mind. having a "roo moment".

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    3. What exactly are you looking to do? Move raid frame? Place raid markers?

      Not sure which one you are talking about.

      Yes, type "pawn curse" in google, that will get you there. Just trying pawn would get too many results.

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    4. hi F, I mean GE. Oh I am not sure. the way the mind is working these days, I have no fooking clue. I saw some ones screen on a youtube video and it was alsome looking, but it was not the normal wow interface. I cant explain nor can I find that video. Oh well. I found Pane, but most of the folks said it wasn't very good, screwing up. I d/l'ed it, but not installed it. But it was notin vein, as I found a new update to followers. forgot the name -oh master plan. :) life with me is fun!. Trying a new med and the doctor said as a side effect, it may give me vivid dreams - LOL, I told him he needs to be with me, as all my dreams are vivid. :) LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

      -roo now on the 4th beer.

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    5. Master plan is fantastic, the best follower addon out there in my opinion.

      If you are looking for something for your action bars I use bartender. I like it and it has a lot of options.

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    6. I think that is it. Thanks GE!

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  6. Nice explanation, thanks! But I can't help but remember when Blizz explained that the 6.0 new stat system was being implemented in part to save us from having to do math.... Think that was about the same time they explained that garrisons would be completely optional.

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    1. Thanks Fiannor,

      Made my day, except for where I hit my head going down laughing so hard. :D

      -roo

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    2. @Fiannor

      When thinking about best, it will always be a math issue. Best is best, there is no opinion about it, just facts, and these facts are numbers.

      If blizzard had made secondary stats closer to each other per point it would be what I think they were going for. Where every piece of gear is an upgrade. But them adding random gem slots and not being able to get the stats close enough completely ruined that.

      They tried, they failed. Simple as that.

      @Roo

      But garrisons are optional.

      You can choose to play them, and the game by process, or you can choose not to. That is an option right? ;)

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