Mastery is Stupid

Yeah, I said it. Blizzard is doing this big dance right now about how Mastery is sooo awesome and interesting and fun, when it's just not, at least for DPS. Because there can't be such a thing as an "interesting" gear stat for DPS.

As a DPS, the only concern you have is churning out rad numbers and showing the haters where you come from. To do this, you look to your gear and figure out what your GOD STAT is. Right now, those are mostly Strength, Spellpower, or Attack Power. Let's say your a shadow priest, because you're a classy gent that appreciates the finer things in life, so you love spellpower. You gem for it at every turn, you roll around in it, you want it more than anything else point for point.

Other stats are pretty much defined in light of the GOD STAT. Maybe they're a cap stat like Hit, in which case you have to do an elaborate dance to make sure it stays capped, but not much more. It's better than the GOD STAT up to a specific point, then turns to garbage. That's not interesting, that's just annoying and finicky.

But what of Crit and Haste? Spriests love those too! Yes, but not as much as spellpower; in fact, I know there exact conversion rates by heart (.76 and .98 respectively). I love Haste exactly 98% as much as I love spellpower. When I see new gear, I go through an elaborate arithmetic ritual of turning all the stats into spellpower-equivalent numbers, adding them up, and seeing if that matches my current piece (or going on shadowpriest.com and looking it up). So if it's not a GOD STAT, nor a cap stat, it must be a conversion stat. Which isn't interesting; it's in fact identical to just having the GOD STAT, but with more legwork.

Speaking of legwork, there's the fourth kind of stat: insane horseshit stat. Spriests, as a member of the spellcasting master race, don't have to deal with this, as I'm pretty much just talking about armor pen. If you don't have a master's degree in Especially Difficult Math, odds are you don't really know how good AP is for you; there're spreadsheets that will tell you though. But bizarre trinkets will change all of this if you have them, so back to the spreadsheet! AP is pretty unique in its insane horseshit as a gear stat, which is why Blizz is getting rid of it. Good move.

The question is, where will mastery fall? Not a GOD STAT I would venture to guess (at least not for a significant length of time), since Blizz wants to emphasize the 5 main stats. The mastery bonuses seem pretty linear, so a cap is unlikely for most classes, but I wouldn't rule it out. Maybe Frost DKs only need so much RP boost before it's just pointless. And certainly not insane horseshit: that's what they're trying to get away from.

For most DPS classes, I would wager it's a conversion stat. Hooray, another number to put into my alchemical gear-goodness formula. Hooray, my (.76*Crit+.98*Haste+.59*Spirit+.22*Int+Spellpower) turns into (.76*Crit+.98*Haste+.59*Mastery+Int). I'M HAVING SO MUCH MORE FUN THIS WAY.

Maybe for healers and tanks it will be interesting to balance, much like healers might juggle mp5, haste, and raw throughput. And I can't say it won't bring more depth into the differences between classes. I'm not complaining here, I'm just not seeing how Mastery will make gearing any more interesting as a DPS. It will just come down turning all stats into one number, so you know Item X is +840 GOOD. Your item is only +790 GOOD, so that's an upgrade. That's all.

Talent tree mastery is pretty smart, though.

BACK FROM THE GRAVE

Thought I'd given up or gotten bored? FUCK YOU. I'ma never die.

The drain of job search has been getting to me, and I haven't had the mental energy to drum up a blog post, even in the wake of all the amazing blue posts (ECHO ISLANDS BLAH BLAH). I hope this is what has happened to Jong, and that his resignation from Forbearance is just as temporary as his last one. On the subject of resignations, Shayzani, my mighty guild leader, author of 2fps, and general solid dude may quit WoW come Cataclysm, which is a damn shame. He made a list of all the things he'd want to do before then, which I thought was an idea worth brazenly stealing for myself. Obviously mine is a list of (non-trivial) things to do before Cataclysm is released instead of my eternal retirement, but it's the same deal.

KILL GENERAL VEZAX

Yeah, every time Nocturne kicked big V in his face, I wasn't there. I had an almost impeccable attendance record in Ulduar, but the two goddamned nights I miss, both times. I swear to all-mighty Atheismo the blood of the penultimate Ulduar boss will stain my T10 chestpiece.

KILL THE LICH KING

Fucking right.

GET MELISSUS TO 60.

Melissus is my little-known warlock side project. He's 49 right now, deep in the thickest stretch of shitty old world leveling. I don't really care about getting him to 80; by the time he'd get decent gear Cata would be out, or near enough. I just want to get him outa the shit to pave the way for my troll druid side project.

MAKE THAT NEW CARPET

I loved my carpet; I rode it everywhere until the Violet Proto-Drake swooped in like a hussy and stole it's thunder. Blizzard said a while back they might change the super epic flyers to simply increase your epic flying speed across the board. If so, I have a second chance at love. Carpets rule.

GET THE QUEL'DELAR FOR TARAZ

It looks so goddamned cool and is bathed in stamina. I hate my polearm tanking ghetto, I thirst for a MAN'S weapon. I would also be remiss to never do that quest, which seems really grand and spectacular.

GET NIBELUNG

Ultimate caster staff, wicked awesome proc, and Norse mythology reference? Has Blizzard been reading my fantasy jackoff blog? But oh how they tease me, putting it in the detested 25-man raiding format AKA the raiding format.

GET AMANIITA TO GO HOLY SOMETIMES

I am a huge Holy priest apologist, and I will show even the staunchest disc priests the light. I also feel like 2 tank healers 1 raid healer is just not what some fights require.

BECOME EXALTED WITH KALUAK

If I could play a Tuskarr I would do it in a heartbeat. They are so fucking sweet, goddamn. It's my only LK non-exalted reputation too, so I feel kinda bad for leaving them out.

NEVER SHUT UP ABOUT TRIPLE SPEC

BLIZZARD! WHY DO YOU DENY ME?

RETAKE ECHO ISLES

Trolls need their own sweet city to chill and sip rum and cokes while watching the sun set. They deserve it, and I need to be there for them.

RETAKE GNOMMERGAN ON MY DWARF

Gnomes need to get the FUCK OUTA MY CITY. They are the cantankerous sore on the beautiful gem of the Alliance.

GET MY DWARF TO 80 MAYBE I GUESS

I never play him ever, but he's 71. I feel bad that's he's so close, but really. Never even see the guy.

The Greedy Goblin

Yes, I know he's down there on the Recommended Reading List. And yes, I know he sits on a pile of gold so tall Thunder Bluff gets a Napoleon complex. Nevertheless, Gevlon is almost always wrong.

Now time for some ferocious backpedal. Firstly, Gevlon isn't wrong when it comes to economic tomfoolery. I come from the Marko school of ebb and flow, he's the Goblin school of domination. One is Jiu-Jitsu, the other is Karate. Neither of them are wrong, despite their differences. This is provable because both stomp ass and take names, and both these gents are Rockafellers of WoW. So on that end, I read him for insight into his economic strategies (posts for which are woefully rare nowadays).

But what of his other angles, chiefly his derision of social gamers? Well, yeah, mostly wrong. Even if his conclusions are right-on sometimes, his reasons are dubious at best. I agree that you should leave a guild you're not happy with, but not simply because you will no longer boost the Morons and Slackers* through content. Because the whole point is to enjoy the game, and there IS a guild out there that will suit every individual. He believes in this objectivist utopia, where the foolish and the lazy are driven forth from the land, and the strong and cunning laugh dripping in their spoils. They made that game, it's called EVE.

So then why have him on the List? Because if he's wrong, he's wrong in very interesting ways. No one else is going to ever suggest you threaten to afk during a heroic unless the worst DPS gets kicked, in order to get a better player in, or to only own blues to avoid having to boost anyone in a PuG (LFG typically puts one low-geared player per group; if you ARE that man, your odds for encountering scrubbery reduce). That takes a mad kind of courage, mixed with a splash of sociopathy, and that makes Greedy Goblin some good reading.

I post this just to make sure people know, I do not agree with a whole lot of what he says. Yes, he has powerful secrets of gold-making to divulge. Yes, he is right on when he says bad gear is no excuse for bad performance. He says some smart stuff when he isn't foaming at the mouth from his latest munging session with the corpse of Ayn Rand. And when it isn't right, it's still interesting, thought-provoking stuff, and that is in many ways better than just a list of facts.

*M&S official trademark of the Greedy Goblin