I have not done very much work on optimising my hunter or my mage so far, partly due to the fact that I am no longer raiding and the only data I can get is from Target Dummies.
Target Dummies throw up a couple of BIG issues when doing dps testing
1) Frost mage dps on a dummy will never be anywhere near the dps they can produce on a boss due to the fact that the dummies are stunnable so Deep Freeze just gives you an extra couple of Fingers of Frost shots rather than a huge burst of damage.
2) Marksman hunters have a talent that increases their crit chance against mobs over 80% health, since the dummies are always above 80% health this makes any sort of DPS comparison involving Marksman Hunters invalid.
3) Many classes have an “execute phase” bonus to their dps which kicks in when the mob is below 35% health, again this means that their true dps capability cannot be tested on a Target Dummy.
Basically without “live” data to use for testing from raid encounters any figures I could produce would be invalid either due to extra damage that would not happen on a true boss fight or lack of damage that would happen on a true boss fight.
My desire to play World of Warcraft has taken a pretty big knock in the last 2 weeks, changes are about to happen and I cannot see myself raiding again at least untill Cataclysm has hit and I can pug some of the content there.
If anyone is interested in the specs / glyphs I am running with currently you can check out my hunter and mage on the armory
Hunter – Bytorsnowdog on Jubei’thos
Mage – Snowdog on Jubei’thos
