First off, I would think that the 95+ Experts would be better than the 80+ Masters so if they're not maybe you should /bug report it. Of course they may have deemed them to be more powerful based on more than just the raw numbers. For example it's possible that the level 80ish spells are going to be resisted or just plain not work against level 96+ mobs. I don't know that this is the case as, quite honestly, I haven't really had time to level my crafters and make the experts. Still it's definitely something that should be pointed out, maybe even some screenshots tossed in to get their attention. As for the quest gear not being an upgrade I guess it depends on where you're starting from. My Ranger was in all ToV quest gear with maybe 1 piece of cryptic and all of the quest rewards were upgrades for him. My Inquisitor, on the other hand, is all in the BG gear that's the equivalent of potent and I'm not expecting any of the quest drops to be an upgrade for him. I figure he's going to have to run at least Adv Solo's to get even a slight upgrade and probably heroics or maybe contested to get decent upgrades. That's always been the case though so not a huge surprise.
Here's a quick example: Refusal of Atonement V - Level 88 Master (17544-25892 divine damage) Refusal of Atonement VI - Level 98 Expert (16899-24832 divine damage) If it's resistibly for higher level mobs, then my response is meh. I want more damage! This tells me that the damage component of the 88 and 98 Masters are almost the same. Right?
Here are a few more examples: Holy Aid VIII - Level 96 Expert - the heal and mitigation is less than the 86 Master Righteousness VIII - Level 96 Expert - damage is high than the 86 Master, max threat is high than the 86 Master, but the decrease in Arcane mitigation is 1613(for 96 Expert) and 1651(for 86 Master) Divine Inspiration - Level 96 Expert and Level 86 Expert, the 96 is higher in damage output, the max damage increased 357. Can I insert sarcasm here....357? And the power increased....why even get the Expert? Is it me?
Well, if it's resisted less on higher level mobs you'll end up with more damage it's just not going to show that in the text. Still, those numbers look wrong to me as well. I might could see it if that was a Grand Master level 88 but I'd think that an Expert should be at least on par with a Master from 10 levels back. Otherwise what's the point of upgrading.
It's not you, those don't look right to me either. If you haven't already, maybe you should add this to the Fighters Focused Feedback thread as well.
They are pretty intent on Paladin DPS to be the worst of all tanks, since we have amends for aggro. If you want to do damage, you better find some way to reflect, or a Charm of Bertoxxulous. Not that it's in any way related to improper progression of spell upgrades, but yeah. Along the same lines.
Well, everything else we are pretty good with. We'll see how content got balanced along the way. Until then, our tools are pretty solid. Sort of.
Up to level 95, a higher-level Expert spell always out-damages the lower level Master spell. Not by much - it is usually a sliver - but it seems pretty consistent. These values are not consistent with the progression. I plan on bug-reporting this myself. Not cool.
Just want to clarify here that the level of a spell has no effect on its resistability unless it specifically says so in the description ("resistability increases against targets above level XX"). Only tier matters, so the level 80-ish Master is not only more damage, it will also be less resistable than the 90-ish Expert.
This is out of date, and I'm not playing enough to update it right now. Lots of good information, but interpret it as necessary.
Bump. I'd like to note that all of this information is still accurate, even if the specifics have changed slightly. It's accurate enough to not warrant making a whole new guide like I did with TOV. The only recent advice: Don't take Diamond skin, and buy the obviously superior, new food and drink. Reflect is stronger than ever, and vital trigger is huge single target damage. Adornment wise, cast speed is still superior everywhere you can obtain it, ASSUMING you can reforge out of it on your gear and not go overcap. Once you get too much to manage, consider upgrading into gear without cast speed. Those adorns are very, very powerful. Using one that gives reuse instead of a net loss of reforging potential.
I figure this thread is probably the best to ask in. But long story short, I've played off and on on a paladin. I believe at one point I copied some spec (very likely the one in this thread). But I don't group, so I have to wonder if anything might change for solo mode? I haven't done anything in AoM yet. So before I do that, I'll ask on the gear situation there, as well. With me never grouping, wanting to solo old raids mostly, DPS would be a bit better, I assume? Which stats would be best to focus on? WDB? Potency? I know there's the AA that gives a certain amount of WDB if using a shield. Does that make shield > 2hand weapon for DPS? I honestly can't recall if there are any abilities that are "if using shield only". Probably stupid questions and I know paladins aren't meant to DPS or anything, but ..I like being the holy knight archetype and I like soloing. So just curious how to make my life better.
We dps just fine. Here are my suggestions on AA lines. DPS won't matter, most old raid content will require you to be able to be immune to stun/stifles and stuff. So, doing that old content will require more potions purchasable from the broker. Get the runes that make you immune to certain stuns/stifles, and as for AA lines, you can't go wrong with any choice, but I would recommend Arch heal. Gives you another heal option that can be cast coming out of a stun. The raid mobs you will be solo'ing require cures which you are limited on so you have to be full health in between those cures. Crusader: you don't need strength line, use agi, sta and int lines, which is Lance, divine Aura, and Legionnaire's. Paladin: I would take Arch Heal, but you may find "Cure Spells" useful, just not as often as you would like since it's arcane. Heroic: Zealous smite a must, you need to know that Zealous smite, aura of the crusader, doom, all cure you. Dragon: Make sure you get Strength of Mind and Resurgent Counter, these are great when soloing. Prestige: left side for sure, Stonewall is another great stoneskin for long fights to get some dps in. Definitely do CB and Potency for your gear choices, get to 85 on ability casting and reuse, so you can use a forerunner's Cognizance and sit at 100%. Something I have never done is use a 2 hander, I have a lot of achievements done and I use the board/sword for them all. Only time I would use a 2 hander was in TSO days, but currently, no reason to swap out, you do more healing than necessary with a 2 hander, but if you have a good one, try it out on the old raid content, may be fun Good luck and have fun!
Sword/board is better unless survivability is absolutely meaningless. I'd also argue that strength line is better than int line for solo players. They simply don't have the blue stats provided by raid gear, and the extra freedom from str is probably more powerful than the stuff int provides. I'd also consider taking right side instead of left side prestige, or at least double conversion since it provides a significant source of damage.
Most of us, but there weren't many to begin with. Pretty sure Mahgnus showed up a few months ago and disappeared again. Oh well.
Update from Thursday 2/12/15: Expert Spells of a higher tier will now do more damage than the same spell Master previous tier. For example: Level 91 Faith Strike (Expert) will now do more damage than level 81 Faith Strike (Master). Good to see this was fixed...see my posts in this thread from 11/18/14.
