Why Ret Combo Points = Fail Currently (Math)

#0 - Aug. 3, 2010, 8:25 p.m.

The following is a post from the beta forums based on testing, math, observation:

"Ok, i'm just kinda thinking out loud here.

TV gives 55%/125%/225% weapon damage when use use it, depending on Holy power.

If you use TV evey 1 HP, then you'll net 55%/3sec WeaponDPS= 18.333% WDPS +seal
If you use TV every 2 HP, you'll end up with 125%/6sec = 20.8%WDPS +seal
If you use TV every 3 HP, you'll end up with 225%/9sec = 25% WDPS +seal

Seals deal Holy damage, and thus will be improved by Mastery and Inquisition. don't forget that also, every damaging seal will gives us 15% weapon damage as holy damage, via Seals of Command (Thus, should be increased by mastery) because of seals. then we'll get seal damage on top of that, be it SoT or SoR. Ignoring mastery, we end up with

1HP: 70%/3sec = 23.3% WDPS +seal
2HP: 140%/6sec = 23.3% WDPS +seal
3HP: 240%/9sec = 26.6% WDPS +seal

Now, given Inquisition and mastery should increase the Seals of Command damage done by 30% and an additional 20% respectively (or more with more mastery rating), that 15% weapon damage becomes (.15 * 1.3 * 1.2) = 23.4% weapon damage, assuming of course that the Holy Damage granted by Inquisition and Mastery are multiplicative. Our new WDPS of TV would then become:

1HP: 78.4%/3sec = 26.13%WDPS +seal
2HP: 148.4%/6sec = 24.73%WDPS +seal
3HP: 248.4%/9sec = 27.6% WDPS +seal

ETA: more tests show:

Now that I've done more research on the matter, I find that with our chosen seal, Seal of Truth, we get even more Weapon damage for seal damage. And luckily, it's easy to predict exactly what that seal damage will be. I'll be conservative and say 37% Weapon Damage per hit. We can basically ignore Censure damage for calculating TV DPS.

Before Inquisition/Mastery:
1HP: (55+15+37)%/3sec = 107%/3sec = 35.6%WDPS
2HP: (125+15+37)%/6sec = 177%/6sec = 29.5%WDPS
3HP: (225+15+37)%/9sec = 277%/9sec = 30.7%WDPS

After Mastery/Inquisition: (15+37)*1.3*1.2 = 52*1.2*1.3 = 81.12
1HP:(55+81.12)%/3sec = 45.37%WDPS
2HP:(125+81.12)%/6sec = 34.35%WDPS
3HP:(225+81.12)%/9sec = 34.01%WDPS

So, right out of the gate, we can see that in order to get the most damage out of Templar's Verdict, it's best to spam it and CS, only pausing to get mana from Judgement, or to refresh Inquisition.

Of course there are other factors to take into consideration, like how much damage our other attacks will do, how much mana we'll have to work with, and so on. Exorcism, Holy Wrath, and Judgement, however, do not proc seals, which look like they will be our primary source of damage."

#31 - Aug. 4, 2010, 4:01 a.m.

The rotation won't be 121212 under any circumstances.

At the very basic level you could call it 1112111311121113 but almost every class boils down to something similar if you ignore all of the other talents and abilities. What will keep Ret from falling into a rotation that stable are:

1) Having to manage other attacks. Judgement isn't the kind of button you eventually get around to using.
2) Getting Holy Power coming in at somewhat unpredictable (but not completely random) intervals.
3) Dealing with procs like Art of War.

Seals do way too much damage on live and in Cataclysm. We haven't worried about that damage yet because we're still working out a basic rotation that feels good. We also are mindful that deemphasizing white attacks of any kind risks making haste less attractive.