NERF BAT INC!

[Lisaara]

Palla, the patch 4.0 isnt Cata. It's pre-cata. Far as I'm aware, nothing for directly Cata is on PTR.

There is alot more from beta on the PTR right now then some think. Mana is gone , no ammo, new talents, New abilities, BM pets are hitting like a steamroller. I'm sure there is more to add to this list.

That's still not Cata. A lot of that will happen BEFORE cata. I think there's a thread somewhere listing that.

[Adam-Savage]

Palla, the patch 4.0 isnt Cata. It's pre-cata. Far as I'm aware, nothing for directly Cata is on PTR.

There is alot more from beta on the PTR right now then some think. Mana is gone , no ammo, new talents, New abilities, BM pets are hitting like a steamroller. I'm sure there is more to add to this list.

That's still not Cata. A lot of that will happen BEFORE cata. I think there's a thread somewhere listing that.

*sigh* I never said it was. I said alot of the stuff from beta is in the PTR right now. I'm fully aware there is stuff in BETA that is not/will not be in PTR.

[Nimizar]

For the skeptics, SV currently has a max theoretical DPS about 0.6% higher than BM with BiS gear. Such a small difference will be absolutely swamped by gear and player ability differences. By contrast, the jump up to MM is more than 11% (Source: http://elitistjerks.com/f74/t42519-best ... readsheet/)

That depends on what you call BiS gear tough. MM and SV have vastly different priorities, so you would have to test them with the right gear, not BiS gear. BiS gear tends to favor MM, at least the way most calculate it. In actuality, the difference between a properly geared SV and a properly geared MM is about 9%. Not a big difference, but is shoves BM back behind again, since they gear the same as MM, with ArPen being the stat of stats.

Uhh, the EJ crew *do* have some idea what they're doing when it comes to theorycraft. As you would have seen if you'd looked at the link I provided, the max theoretical DPS for each spec is exactly that - the absolute highest number you can get the simulator to produce for that spec given the gear currently available in game (it just so happens that that gear ends up being largely the same for all three specs, with the bulk of the differences lying in gem choices). Once you bring real fight mechanics into it, player skill is going to make a much bigger difference than spec (e.g. stutter-step for auto shot on the move, maximising Sniper Training uptime as SV, optimal use of Readiness as MM, minimal time wasted on unnecessary Steady Shots, not dying early in the fight etc). Now, if you think the EJ theorycrafting is wrong (beyond the extent to which all theorycrafting is wrong due to the underlying assumption of a tank-and-spank style fight), they do publish their numbers for anyone to fiddle with and find more "optimal" settings.

The perception that BM has significantly lower potential output than SV is a holdover from the time before the last round of BM buffs. The addition of Steady Shot to the 9% FI damage buff made a big difference.

Edit to note: BiS hunter gear can (and does) reach the Armor Pen hard cap of 1400. That brings the desired stats for all 3 specs closer together again, since all 3 reach that cap and then go for other stats.

[Lisaara]

There is alot more from beta on the PTR right now then some think. Mana is gone , no ammo, new talents, New abilities, BM pets are hitting like a steamroller. I'm sure there is more to add to this list.

That's still not Cata. A lot of that will happen BEFORE cata. I think there's a thread somewhere listing that.

*sigh* I never said it was. I said alot of the stuff from beta is in the PTR right now. I'm fully aware there is stuff in BETA that is not/will not be in PTR.

By Cata, I mean like the whole scenery changes and stuff.

[Saturo]

Of course the EJ crew know what they are doing. I merely said that the theoretical damage will be different depending on gear and such. And not every piece of top gear spends the statpoints the same. There is BiS gear for MM, and BiS gear for SV, and while most of it will be the same, there are pieces that are different! That said, every spec has it's strengths. BM will be stronger on movement heavy fights, it might even surpass MM on some. Lag and such also plays in, affecting some specs more than others.