Ele shaman WTB [Competent DPS] :(

[Vanden]

I used to think of myself as a pretty good player, and especially as a pretty good shaman. But the last couple months have really shaken my confidence and I don't know what else to do. My DPS simply is not improving. I've read all the theorycraft. Hell I used to read Binklestein's threads on Elitist Jerks religiously before he semi-retired. Now he's the ele shaman columnist for WoW.com, which is cool.

But anyway... I'm starting to question whether I am even making a valid contribution to the raid group anymore. My spec, my glyphs, my rotation... all are as close to "best" as I can hope to be. My flameshock up-time is near 100%, my Lava Burst crits are near 100%, yeah I mistime a couple per night, but we're all human. My gear is greatly improved from when I first joined you guys. But in spite of all that... my DPS contribution remains low.

In terms of what I bring to the raid, you guys have a demo lock and a ret pally in the raid 99% of the time, so my Totem of Wrath is not really needed as both those classes provide better versions of the same buff, especially the demo lock. You have a boomkin 90% of the time, so my Elemental Oath buff is not needed since boomkin do the same thing PLUS a haste buff (thanks again, Blizz.) So it comes down to DPS... which I am not doing enough of.

I don't want to be dragging the raid down, and right now that's how I feel. So... if anyone has any suggestions that might be able to improve my damage, I am all ears. I just want to pull my own weight.

Van

PS- In terms of specific things I have already done, my glyphs and spec are already pretty much the accepted "standards." The only difference would be to swap Glyph of Lava for Glyph of Flametongue Weapon, which is supposed to be marginally better. But Lava is a valid choice on mobility encounters when you can cast more LvB's due to moving during its cooldown. Since I am not "hardcore" enough to swap my glyphs for each fight, I just leave Lava on full-time.

My rotation is also pretty much standard. FS > LvB > LB spam. I use one CL per LvB cooldown on single targets, and CL every time it is up on multiple mobs/trash/bosses with adds.

[Kharth]

next time you are feeling worthless....look down the dps meter to the enhancement shaman! Same complaints but even less dps and a more complex rotation.

In the end don't get down on yourself, it isn't you...its Blizzard.

[Gerunna]

Take all this with a grain of salt as I'm still trying to nail this spec down myself.

I've found the ZAP! spreadsheet pretty handy for helping to pick that 3rd glyph, deciding which trinkets to use, and how to gem. RAWR is supposed to do a decent job too, but I haven't really looked into that much.

Overall it looks like you're doing it right. The only big thing that jumps out at me is that you're way over hit cap (assuming 289 since you've got a boomkin in the raid). Since that's the case, Shard of the Crystal Heart is a really poor trinket to be using, as in you'd be better off using a JC or alchemy crafted trinket. I'm not sure what alternatives you have available, but the Abyssal Rune out of normal ToC-5 is actually almost as good as your Spyglass; the only better alternatives than it are Flare of the Heavens (Vezax 25 hard mode) -> Reign of the Dead (Anub 25) -> Phylactery of the Nameless Lich (Sindy 25) -> Dislodged Foreign Object (Rotface 25) -> Charred Twilight Scale (Halion 25).

Aside from that gear-wise, you might check out some of the off-set items and see if they beat wearing all 5 tier pieces.

After looking at your WoL parses, to me it looks like your dps is just fine, so don't beat yourself up too much.

next time you are feeling worthless....look down the dps meter to the enhancement shaman! Same complaints but even less dps and a more complex rotation.

Pretty much why I switched to elemental right there

[Vanden]

Yeah I know I'm way over hit cap, and I know my trinkets are crap. Been waiting and hoping for a DFO from ICC-25 but the line for that is pretty long.

I don't have any other trinket options at present. Getting trinket drops has been a major pain, and I don't have the playtime to run things like ToC-10/25 on my own time to find those kind of pieces. What I get in raids, is what I get, unfortunately. As far as the tier pieces go, it is a similar situation. I wear the tier set because that's what I have. The appropriate alternative pieces have not come my way as yet. Trinkets and me... have a long standing bad relationship. My Alliance shaman was stuck with a Naxx-10 trinket all the way to ICC.

[Gerunna]

Yeah, I feel your pain. I don't know how many AN runs it took my DK to finally get an Essence of Gossamer (pretty sure it was in the 20s). That's why I think Abyssal Rune would be a good choice for you as it is very easily farmed from a fairly popular normal mode 5 man dungeon. In fact I need to get my pally in there for her Black Heart some time soon, so feel free to hit me up for a run if you catch me on some time.

[Zels]

Not to hijack the thread, Ger do you remember what was your dps comparison was between enhancement/elemental?

I will look up the DPS delta between Kharth and Van one night when I am bored.

I need to make a decision if I should start looking for elemental gear and drop enhancement.

[Jarasiah]

Vanden: when I was having doubts about my own dps, I strived every raid to be close to your dps. Since our classes are similarly handicapped, I set you as the benchmark for my dps. When I'm way below you, I feel like I have improvements to make... I look at what I may have done wrong, and do my best to improve.

You are a great player, and a great Shaman dps. I'm sure that at this point, everyone knows that you are a great player and you contribute plenty to our success as a guild. Dps isn't just pure numbers, it's staying out of the fire and keeping yourself alive, which you do a really good job of (except for that time my aoe killed you on deathwhisper... my bad ='( )

So don't be so hard on yourself! =)