Hello Gladiators.
Today is a sad day. Glad was announced as being removed from the game in the coming (We-Cant-Produce-New-Content-So-Were-Doing-Illidan-All-Over-Again) Legion Expansion. Yes, i'm salty, and yes Legion does look sweet.
There's a petition that probably won't matter here on the wow forums, and I even ranted a bit.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/19865166411?page=16#301
Here is the rant :
This is a gladstance rant. I've been following it closely since the annoucement.
I was at Blizzcon when Gladiator Stance was announced. I was that guy at beers with everyone else nerding out about the talents that were still a year away.
I went on to start the gladiators resolve blogspot and interact with the dev's on twitter. This ended up building a twitter following, interacting with the glad community and developing a blog following. All while I did terrible things to try to get into the WoD beta. I can't say that process was fun. I created postcards, photoshop contests, put my personal information in 30 different websites and still didn't get beta. I ended up getting a key from a random dude who got one and didn't give a !@#$ on twitter.
If you were following the beta and the info on gladstance then you would have noticed that some of the blizzard twitter personalities actually didn't know what the plan was for gladstance. We had to hear it from lead designers about 20 times before people even believed it was going to be competitive with Arms/Fury and to this day there are GMs and players who simply don't believe it ever was. And I don't blame them.
It was frustrating to have to see someone like Lore on twitter saying gladstance didn't matter because it was just so tanks could do quests and stuff. He didn't know and another dev replied to educate him. That made it especailly painful when he was the guy who offhandedly dismisses gladstance from Legion entirely.
So, at the beginning and at the end we're dealing with a lot of visible lack fo caring. The same theme continued in the middle as well. Glad was always on a easily tuneable knob with the majority of it's damage being flat % bonuses vs caring about gear. They actually stopped saying it was meant to be competitive or get raid spots a few months into WoD and it was around then all the raiders decided to go fury/arms if they wanted to keep their raid spots. Fury and Arms even ended up doing amazing damage in the end ( lets not get into rotation talk ). So by now I feel like I was in this weird abusive relationship where Blizzard just continually shafted Glad. And while they don't owe me anything, I definitely didn't enjoy that. Hence why the blog is over and I haven't touched glad in half a year.
Anyway, I hate to be a negative %^- but the uproar over Heroic Strike didn't get it back to us for an entire expansion, so if this petition does anything for us we probably won't see the change until later down the line.
Cyc Out.
Sunday, November 22, 2015
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Taking a Break
Gladiators!
It is with heavy heart that I have to lay my shield down. Life is getting too busy to commit to raiding anything serious right now, and I know that means I won't be able to maintain the blog either. We've had a great run, and I want to thank all of my readers, haters, shield brothers and sisters. I had never ran a blog before, and didn't really ever use twitter. I think I've gotten a lot better and learned a ton about social networking, which has been a huge boon in my IT career.
I always come back to this game's serious raiding side, so once I do, if I'm going to blog, I'll be sure to tweet about it a lot. I'll probably be playing some non-serious 10man raiding here and there with RL friends but nothing to blog about :p.
Thanks,
Cyclonus
It is with heavy heart that I have to lay my shield down. Life is getting too busy to commit to raiding anything serious right now, and I know that means I won't be able to maintain the blog either. We've had a great run, and I want to thank all of my readers, haters, shield brothers and sisters. I had never ran a blog before, and didn't really ever use twitter. I think I've gotten a lot better and learned a ton about social networking, which has been a huge boon in my IT career.
I always come back to this game's serious raiding side, so once I do, if I'm going to blog, I'll be sure to tweet about it a lot. I'll probably be playing some non-serious 10man raiding here and there with RL friends but nothing to blog about :p.
Thanks,
Cyclonus
Thursday, August 20, 2015
Glad Buffs on PTR
Gladiators!
We've got a few nice buffs on PTR coming in. I think these are changes in the right direction, but they aren't the difference between going Glad and Fury for progression on Mythic Fel Lord. At least I don't think so. I'll be doing my usual testing in SimC once I either figure out how to do spell.overrides properly or Collision updates our stuff.
6% Damage increases for:
Shield Slam
Revenge
Devastate
I talked on our Glad thread on the wow board about this a bit more at length and did a copy paste incase you don't use them. Someone suggested a buff to gladstance instead, and while that would be more damage overall, I'm happy with the INTENT in these buffs:
Buffs to the abilities themselves are way better now, than flat shield charge or gladstance buffs. My reasoning is simply that all of the abilities damage comes from our gear ( AP for R/SS ) and ( AP/Weapon Damage for Revenge ). One of the reasons glad looks so good at 700 ilvl is because a lot of our damage comes from nowhere. Putting damage on the abilities that tie to the gear is nice, get better gear > scale better. Just like other DPS classes.
I also wish HS was included. We already have had a ton of damage put right onto the stance/spec but I welcome this tiny little buff. I did some napkin math and i'm only seeing 3-4% dps increase. But i'm waiting on this being built into simcraft before I did in too deep.
We've got a few nice buffs on PTR coming in. I think these are changes in the right direction, but they aren't the difference between going Glad and Fury for progression on Mythic Fel Lord. At least I don't think so. I'll be doing my usual testing in SimC once I either figure out how to do spell.overrides properly or Collision updates our stuff.
6% Damage increases for:
Shield Slam
Revenge
Devastate
I talked on our Glad thread on the wow board about this a bit more at length and did a copy paste incase you don't use them. Someone suggested a buff to gladstance instead, and while that would be more damage overall, I'm happy with the INTENT in these buffs:
Buffs to the abilities themselves are way better now, than flat shield charge or gladstance buffs. My reasoning is simply that all of the abilities damage comes from our gear ( AP for R/SS ) and ( AP/Weapon Damage for Revenge ). One of the reasons glad looks so good at 700 ilvl is because a lot of our damage comes from nowhere. Putting damage on the abilities that tie to the gear is nice, get better gear > scale better. Just like other DPS classes.
I also wish HS was included. We already have had a ton of damage put right onto the stance/spec but I welcome this tiny little buff. I did some napkin math and i'm only seeing 3-4% dps increase. But i'm waiting on this being built into simcraft before I did in too deep.
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
ASKMRROBOT Stat Weights!
Hello Gladiators,
AskMrRobot has always been an extremely useful tool to our community and i'm happy to say that he has requested the input of theorycrafters on getting some of our opinions on stat weights. Check it out!
That's right, you can use my BIS Stat weights for your toons right on AskMrRobot. I actually subscribe to the site so I often use the weights to do a "best in bags" comparison when I have a lot of options in gear. What I also love is the export to Simcraft capability. So you can import your toon, then export the sim profile to work out your maximum dps very easily.
I'm working on getting them tweaked to make sure we're hitting that first haste cap ( 13% buffed )
Cyc Out!
AskMrRobot has always been an extremely useful tool to our community and i'm happy to say that he has requested the input of theorycrafters on getting some of our opinions on stat weights. Check it out!
That's right, you can use my BIS Stat weights for your toons right on AskMrRobot. I actually subscribe to the site so I often use the weights to do a "best in bags" comparison when I have a lot of options in gear. What I also love is the export to Simcraft capability. So you can import your toon, then export the sim profile to work out your maximum dps very easily.
I'm working on getting them tweaked to make sure we're hitting that first haste cap ( 13% buffed )
Cyc Out!
Monday, June 22, 2015
In a Fit of Rage, Part 2
Hello Gladiators,
I did another terrible poem. I thought you might get a kick out of it.
From the Forums: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/18194052060?page=1#0
"In a fit of Rage Pt 2"
Twas the night before Hellfire
All through the WOW boards,
Telling Glad, Go join a choir!
But we want shields with our swords!
The mythic race is coming!
Glad Buffs nowhere to be found.
Fury damage will be stunning!
Why even keep us around?
Raid Lead said Fury,
Arms for cleave, or the bench
We're F5'ing in a hurry
Our wrists starts to clench.
We've been waiting for a year
A Patch where we can race
Shield Maidens and Brothers near
Looking Fury Face to Face
Glads got the APM of the Gods
Could be dropping Nydus Worms
F5'ing against the Odds
Instead Fury's dishing Burns
Carpel Tunnel is coming,
That's okay, it's free rage
Lack of Feedback is numbing
Someday we'll have the stage.
6.3 They'll realize the mistake
After the race is said and done
But our shield wall won't break
Even if nerfs blot out the sun.
Nerf Patch Buff
Damage PVP Survival
Cry Huff and Puff
This is the warrior cycle.
In a Fit of Rage Pt 1: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/9573279186
- Cyc Out
I did another terrible poem. I thought you might get a kick out of it.
From the Forums: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/18194052060?page=1#0
"In a fit of Rage Pt 2"
Twas the night before Hellfire
All through the WOW boards,
Telling Glad, Go join a choir!
But we want shields with our swords!
The mythic race is coming!
Glad Buffs nowhere to be found.
Fury damage will be stunning!
Why even keep us around?
Raid Lead said Fury,
Arms for cleave, or the bench
We're F5'ing in a hurry
Our wrists starts to clench.
We've been waiting for a year
A Patch where we can race
Shield Maidens and Brothers near
Looking Fury Face to Face
Glads got the APM of the Gods
Could be dropping Nydus Worms
F5'ing against the Odds
Instead Fury's dishing Burns
Carpel Tunnel is coming,
That's okay, it's free rage
Lack of Feedback is numbing
Someday we'll have the stage.
6.3 They'll realize the mistake
After the race is said and done
But our shield wall won't break
Even if nerfs blot out the sun.
Nerf Patch Buff
Damage PVP Survival
Cry Huff and Puff
This is the warrior cycle.
In a Fit of Rage Pt 1: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/9573279186
- Cyc Out
Monday, June 15, 2015
Slowing Down Until 7.0
Hello Gladiators,
I'm going totake a break from slow down blogging about Gladstance. The recent Q&A by the Blizz dev's didn't address any of the Gladiator issues, and while I feel like we're not being completely neglected, I'm not happy with the direction. They did buff us recently, and then tune it a few times. But you all know I'm not happy until we're taking part in Mythic progression.
Right now it looks like if you have the right gear for Glad, and the wrong gear for Fury, you're okay to go Glad for single target in Mythic HFC. MAYBE some of the fights where multidotters shine ( something like Blast Furnace ) would be nice for us as well, since there will be a lot of spread out targets up for a long time, to allow thunderclap and deep wounds to do a lot of work for us. So I'm hopeful we see a few Glad's here an there. But in Heroic Difficulty, go ham. Glad is perfectly fine for Heroic.
I'llprobably be back with the 7.0 changes and will always be around on twitter.
Keep in Touch,
Cyc
I'm going to
Right now it looks like if you have the right gear for Glad, and the wrong gear for Fury, you're okay to go Glad for single target in Mythic HFC. MAYBE some of the fights where multidotters shine ( something like Blast Furnace ) would be nice for us as well, since there will be a lot of spread out targets up for a long time, to allow thunderclap and deep wounds to do a lot of work for us. So I'm hopeful we see a few Glad's here an there. But in Heroic Difficulty, go ham. Glad is perfectly fine for Heroic.
I'll
Keep in Touch,
Cyc
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
6.2 Gladiator Guide ( Updated 7/6/2015 )
6.2 Gladiator Guide
Recent changes to our spec has resulted in some changes to how we should gear, talents we want, and our rotation.This is meant to be a matter of fact, simple, guide for how to play as Glad in 6.2.
Stats
685-715 ilvl
Strength > Bonus Armor/Attack Power > Haste to 13% Buffed > Crit > Multistrike > Mastery > Vers > Haste after 13% buffed.
730 ilvl BIS
Wdps > Strength > AP/BonusArmor > Haste to 13% Buffed > Crit > Multistrike > Vers > Mastery > Haste after 13% Buffed.
Gear
730ilvl Mythic BIS :
head=faceguard_of_iron_wrath,id=124334,bonus_id=567
neck=world_enders_gorget,id=124222,bonus_id=567,enchant=gift_of_critical_strike
shoulders=doomcriers_shoulderplates,id=124343,bonus_id=567
back=void_lords_wizened_cloak,id=124147,bonus_id=567,enchant=gift_of_critical_strike
chest=breastplate_of_iron_wrath,id=124319,bonus_id=567
wrists=wristplate_of_the_wretched,id=124352,bonus_id=567
hands=gauntlets_of_iron_wrath,id=124329,bonus_id=567
waist=annihilans_waistplate,id=124349,bonus_id=567
legs=legplates_of_iron_wrath,id=124340,bonus_id=567
feet=treads_of_the_defiler,id=124322,bonus_id=567
finger1=thorasus_the_stone_heart_of_draenor,id=124634,enchant=gift_of_critical_strike
finger2=mannoroths_calcified_eye,id=124204,bonus_id=567,enchant=gift_of_critical_strike
trinket1=anzus_cursed_plume,id=124241,bonus_id=567
trinket2=empty_drinking_horn,id=124238,bonus_id=567
main_hand=fiendsbreath_warmace,id=124374,bonus_id=567,enchant=mark_of_the_thunderlord
off_hand=fallen_defender_of_argus,id=124355,bonus_id=567
Stat Weights
6.2 Gladiator T17/18 @ 700 ilvl. This build is fine all the way to Mythic HFC gear.
Scale Factors
for T17 @ 700 ilvl BIS
|
|||||||||
Wdps
|
Str
|
AP
|
BonusArmor
|
Crit
|
Mult
|
Mastery
|
Vers
|
Haste
|
|
Normalized
|
1.03
|
1.00
|
0.96
|
0.96
|
0.73
|
0.62
|
0.61
|
0.56
|
0.49
|
·
Wdps
> Str > AP ~= BonusArmor > Crit > Mult ~> Mastery > Vers
> Haste
| |||||||||
Scale Factors
for T18 @ 730 ilvl BIS
|
|||||||||
Wdps
|
Str
|
AP
|
BonusArmor
|
Crit
|
Mult
|
Vers
|
Mastery
|
Haste
|
|
Normalized
|
1.04
|
1.00
|
0.95
|
0.95
|
0.83
|
0.76
|
0.73
|
0.69
|
0.50
|
·
Wdps
~= Str > AP ~= BonusArmor > Crit > Mult > Vers > Mastery >
Haste
|
|||||||||
Update 7/1/2015!
Note that the trinket you're wearing greatly affects your stat weights. We should shoot for either Anzu and Drinking Horn. Whereas Worldbreakers Class Trinket favors Mastery more than Versatility.
HFC Talent Guide
On All Fights: Unyielding StrikesHellfire Assault : Dragon Roar/Bladestorm/Rude Interruptions
Iron Reaver : Dragon Roar/Avatar
Kormrok - Dragon Roar/Bladestorm
High Council - Dragon Roar/Bloodbath
Gorefiend - Stormbolt/Avatar ( I prefer the stormbolt stuns when you're in the stomach )/Rude Interruptions
Socrethar - Dragon Roar/Avatar/Rude Interruptions
Velhari - Dragon Roar / Bloodbath / Rude Interruptions
Fel Lord Zakuun - Dragon Roar / Bloodbath
Xhul'Thorac - Dragon Roar/Bladestorm/Rude Interruptions
Iskar - Dragon Roar/Bladestorm
Mannoroth - Dragon Roar/Bloodbath/Rude Interruptions
Archimonde - Dragon Roar/Avatar/Rude Interruptions
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