#0 - May 31, 2007, 3:34 p.m.
Also, if my calculations are correct, it could be usefull to others as well. Please point out my wrong calculations if there are some, because I'm pretty sure i screwed up somewhere along the line:)
And i appreciate constructive posts and usefull information on this forums instead of whine.
edit: Changed some calcs slightly based on input later in this thread, appreciate it:)
I'll try to make this as easy explained/written as possible.
(conclusion at the end, skip the math if you want:P)
Basics first:
First of all, each stat has a value on an item.
+1dmg costs 0.855 to increase on itembudget, while +1 spellcrit costs 1. So +dmg is cheaper to increase than +crit. (compare +8 critgems to +9 dmg etc)
School specific +dmg costs 0,7. (spellfire uses this formula afaik, even if it's 2 schools)
+1 spellhit is also worth +1 on itembudget/lvl.
You need 22.1 critrating for 1% more to crit and 12.6 +hit for 1% to hit.
Easier to calc is +1% hit. +1% hit will give you +1% dmg, and is cheap and easy to increase. Aiming for +16% hit should be the goal for raid bosses. It will improve your dps the most for the smallest ammount of itemcost.
edit: it's actually slightly better than 1%, and also since that missed spell could have crit, giving you 1/3 mana back, it also passively improves efficiency by a little bit.
Now here's the first interesting calc that alot of people are forgetting.
People assume 1% more crit will give them 1% more damage. This is wrong. That is assuming you already have 0% crit, which you probably don't.
Assuming you have 30%, which is ok, each +1% to crit will increase the damage on 70% of your spells by 1%.
For full fire that is 70% of 1.1% (with ignite) = 0,827%. Meaning 22.1 critrating will increase your dps by 0,827%.
For arc/fire, theese numbers change a bit, also assuming 30% crit already for easy calcing. For 22.1 critrating = 70% of 1.45 % (spellpower and ignite) = 1.010%
(edited this after calcs from others:)
This means, critrating is a little bit more beneficial to arc/fire than full fire, which is no surprise.
But now let's look at full fire and +dmg. Seeing as +dmg gets benefit from all the firedamage increaseing talents (13%) then +1dmg is +1.13 dmg.
But people also often forget here that they do not have 0% crit, as the +dmg can also crit.
Assuming once again 30% critrating, +1dmg = 1.13 x 1.3 = 1.469.
Let's assume you never get coe, only the +15% scorch dmg debuff.
Afaik the talents are also multiplicative, meaning +1.469 x 1.15 = 1.689
If you're spamming fireball, add another +5% to the effect +dmg gets
(imp +emp fireball is total +105% of your +dmg, damn coefficiency nerf;)
(scorch gets +43% for half the cast, obviously alot worse for dps)
So each point of +1dmg is worth +1.689dmg while +1 critrating is really worth +0,827 critrating, assuming 30% already critrate.
(meaning you need ~26.5 critrating for about 1% total dmg increase)
Meaning +dmg is TWICE as good for increasing your dps as critrating is.
I repeat, TWICE the value. And it's cheaper to increase, as it costs less on itembudget than critrating does.
Now for another calc, which will be fairly inaccurate. ~+26.5 critrating will give you +1% more dps. (as full fire) Easy numbers.
How much will then ~+26.5 dmg give in dps increase? First off, with talents and current critrating, +26.5 dmg converts into +44.75 dmg.
(I could even be cheesy and add another +10% to those +dmg numbers, as +dmg is cheaper on itembudget, but I won't, since this is to compare items.)
Now the calcs get a bit harder, as it's assuming so much about your current gear, and how much dps increase 1% is etc.
So on a 3 sec cast fireball: +26,5dmg x 1.689 --> 44,75 /3 = 14.91 dps increase.
While 26.5 critrating will give you +1% more dps. Meaning you'd have to do 1491+ dps for +1 crit to get better than +1dmg. It's possible, but would take ALOT of +dmg for crit to get better.
I'm guessing 1000dps is realistic on a static bossfight with none or little movement. (from experience)
If your gear is lower, +dmg will get even bigger benefit.
+crit will be better than +dmg eventually on scaling, but at a ridicilously high ammount of +dmg.
But as a closing note. Crit is also good for MOE and procs and similar, so shouldnt be ignored.
And also, stacking a single stat on an item is more expensive on the itembudget than stacking 2 different ones.
So an item with +50dmg and +20 crit will off course be better than just +60 dmg. (and also help MOE etc)
Edit: I did the same calcs for arc/fire, and I think the conclusion was that at about 1200dps, self buffed only, crit gets better than +dmg. 1200+dps can be hard to pull off through a whole bossfight, but if your +dmg is already stacked skyhigh, (I'd guess +1300 dmg or more) AND you have the lightning capacitor, then crit will increase your dps more than +dmg will.
At 40% crit with scorch, which is high, will make the capacitor proc every 11.25 sec on average, adding ~900 dmg average with crits. = +80dps. Allthough scorching is a bit lower dps than fireballing would be, this trinket helps make up for the difference, and you'll be more mana effective as well.
Conclusion: +hit will actually give you highest dps increase on raid bosses, up to +16% with talents, while generally you should be stacking +dmg, while getting the odd crit on items when you can. Chosing the same ammount of +crit on an item instead of +dmg is generally slightly gimping your dps in total.
Ps. Runed living rubies in everything unless the socket bonus is really worth it.
Or the new +hit +dmg gems if you can find them, Veiled Noble Topaz.
Edit: please correct me, I'll edit or heck, even delete the post if i screwed up majorly in the math and I'm totally wrong:) I don't want to give out wrong info or confuse people:) If I'm right, please confirm as well:)
Math geniouses, I call on you!
Edit: see page 2 and the post from Tivelositos, he's better at this math thing than I AM:)
His post is the kind of reply I was hoping for, and it converts +dmg hit and crit to nice % values:)
Q u o t e:
So lets convert those formulas to a real world example. Let's take a fire mage with 900 spelldamage, 100 hit rating, and 30% to crit with fire.
+50 spell damage would mean (B+c*(D+n))/(B+c*D) = (902.5+1.035*(900+50)) / (902.5+1.035*900) = 1885.75 / 1834 = 1.0282 which is 2.82% more DPS.
+50 spell crit rating would translate to 2.26244 more crit chance (1.1*(C+n)+1) / (1.1*C+1) = (1.1*(0.3+0.0226244)+1) / (1.1*(0.3)+1) = 1.35488684 / 1.33 = 1.0187 which is 1.87% more DPS.
+50 spell hit rating is 3.96825 more hit chance on top of the 7,93651 hit chance the mage allready has (0.83+H+n)/(0.83+H) = (0,83 + 0,0793651 + 0,0396825)/(0,83+0,0793651) = 0,9490476/0,9093651 = 1,0436 meaning a whoping 4,36% more increase in DPS!
Ps. check my other sticky for additional mage raiding tips:)
The reason I recommend runed living rubies instead of the +8 hit gems is because +dmg is allways usefull, and it's easier to switch in a few high +hit items for bosses, depending on Totem of Wrath, Dranei in your party etc, making your gear alot more specialized for each encounter.
And getting to hit cap isnt very hard to do, so extra hit over +16% would be wasted.
