So after me and a fellow bst in my guild caave did some research we have found that bite of the empress is not as big and great as most people make it out to be. In all honesty its a very marginal upgrade at best.
Bite of the Empress rk 2- Mana to Dps ratio= 3.26
While
Spiked Sleet rk 2 - Mana to dps ratio = 3.25
and
Ancient: Savage Ice - mana to Dps = 3.15
Not a big of jump as spiked was to ancient its still a upgrade and a different spell type with it being on a different resist it makes it a viable upgrage and a much needed different line of nukes for us....its just the rawr numbers I thought could be of some use to everyone......ENJOY :-D
Yes the mana to damg is clsoe to the same not as muchb ut overe all i think its s BIG upgrade its a big base nuke and not ice based as you said wiith tss out nukes for raids in vald and stuff are worthles in some evants and in alot of gruops this was soe's way to letting us keep nuking i gue si liek it
I havnt got it yet but aside from the fact that the mana to damage ratio is not far away from what we already have it IS a big upgrade. It is that in the same time as we took to cast this we are doing a lot more damage than we did previously. I didnt expect, or even hope for, a huge upgrade in the ratio, but if i can do that extra damage in the time it is worthwhile.
first off forgive me for being the devil's advocate please. But when I compare this to our highest level ice nuke I see quite a change in damage and type giving us yet another opportunity to nuke mobs that might otherwise be resistant to our cold based nukes, and a sizable damage increase over our best ice nuke. comparing what 1400 max damage on our highest ice nuke to almost 2500 minimum damage on bite? even if the efficiency and ratios bite that's still a lot of damage if used by an efficiently minded bst imho.
I think a nuke other than a Cold based is LONG over due, and I think they did it right making it a Poison. I would have give thought to Deasise as well but its resisted more than poison is. I think a flushing out and making this into a full line would be nice also to allow this to come into the hands of up and coming beastlords also. Not just us at the highest levels.
trust me I wasnt knocking bite of the empress just stating the facts mostly, as it stands less you go out of your way to get a focus for PR ice will still out dps bite due to the fact of our epic focus long as its not on a mob that resists cold based nukes easy
You have to remember, mana to damage is only important to a Mage and Wizzy cause lets be real, before this new nuke and the increase in mana from BaM high end Bst never got low on mana unlike the mages and wizzys cause their dps derives from their casting. They had to micromanage their Mana. We get low we just keep swinging.
I have used this spell a lot in Solteris raids. These are very long fights and mana consuming but with the new OOC Regen after a fight is done and you are diving up loot you'll regen to full in no time.
So far I like the new spell, another Bst in my guild has the Posion focus from DK and he is getting over 7k crits which is very nice. I do ask that you don't go waving in the rangers faces about this cause we are starting to creep up on thier DPS and they will start the nerf bst chant again.
Bah, if the rangers get uppity, just point out that our epic spell focus is cold-restricted while their otherwise identical focus applies to all their nukes, regardless of brand. When we only had cold nukes the restriction meant little, and now it is limiting.
I agree with your point nusa... I really think it bites when other classes decide to vie for our nerfing when we start to get a unique advantage or similarity.
Your point is well taken that this is actually not much of an increase in situations where mana is a factor (really long fights, soloing, chain pulling groups). I for one always push my mana into max dps, so I'm always running low. However, in a lot of situations its a rather nice upgrade - burn fights, sporatic pulling groups, stopping runners, impressing the ladies with 5k crits. I love the big boom! The only really downfall I see here is that it virtually replaces cold nukes, so my old 60% cold focus is rather worthless and I'll need to go out and get a poison focus somewhere and rejuggle my gear (11 focuses now I think!).
In a good burn fight this nuke is pretty awesome.
I see some draw backs if your trying to conserve mana, that having the top 2 cold nukes memmed over this one might be actually a good thing. That way you can throw out a less effective but cheaper nuke might help out with other things.....like stretching out mana for an extra growl or BotM/BE or two.
It adds a bit more versatility to all our damage dealing. Now if they can start doing that with our utility. :?
This spell has considerable agro with it, when i first got it i was always tagging agro from tanks hehe, but once you get used to it its not bad at all. Tho if your tanking this is golden for agro generation at the start of the fight, also good for tagging off casters if there is no mezer around. All in all i really like this spell alot.
iirc, Poison is one of the most debuffed resists in teh game. It's been to long to quote numbers and stackability, but w/ the shammy and Necro debuffs, I'd wager it's much better than the druid cold debuffs.
very nice spell to use when you have a 65% focus to it hehe ( go go 8k crits !!)
lol I am working to a focus but not going out of my way atm
The ally wrist item from Katta has a 30% poison focus on it and it isnt a bad piece of equipment that is fairly easy to obtain.
and it also works with poison dots...
Have been getting 5400-5500 crits with bard songs ect on raids. am loving this new spell. I added as input in the ideas to correspondent section that they should change all our worthless dots into poison/disease nukes =p then maybe i'd mem them once in a while to use along with this great spell.
(http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/7835/critsigab7.jpg)
I'm happy. :-)
nice highest I got so far was a 6k crit with no poison focus, but I might have had bard songs playing near me or in my group lol they change me in groups so much bleh
I have to agree with the consensus. I really like this spell, just over 5k crits, and I use it to hold aggro now that I have learned how to manage it. Managing mana is a pain occasionally if soloing but on raids I normally don't have a problem, not with the speed med...chanter buffs..and castiing group aura of spirit occasionally(on those really long fights).
Got the ring from the Giant guy in Vergalid cycle, the poison focus is 35% I think, its sweet. The base damage a good 95% of the time when I cast the spell goes from 2593 base dmg to 3200-3660 every time I cast it and it lands.
Highest crit atm with bard song+ druid epic 2.0 debuff = 7293 crit!
I've even critted this much without a bard in group. :wink:
Sick. Just.....sick.. :cry:
For those complaining about the mana efficiency, that is not what the spell is about. It is similar to the shaman Sting of the Queen - a DPS boost with a highish mana cost. In fact, its mana efficiency is higher than the shaman rk. II spell (which sits at 3.0)
I love the spell, pure and simple. Even more so now that i have a 65% poison focus, crits close to 7k without bard or druid is nice, and it helps to keep aggro on multiple targets when grouping with my alts.
So far been able to get crits up to 8.6k without destruction AA or bards....hopefully the moon and sun will align whilst i'm in a DPS group and i'll see the super high crits.