WoW Raiders Application , Affliction Warlock

[Aj]

ABOUT YOU:

Applications type (Social/PvP/Raider): Raider.
Name:  Aj
Age: 28
Country: England

What other games apart from WoW do you play?: Skyrim/DAO/Starcraft and an array of fighting games on xbox.

A bit about yourself: Well i moved to london from the United States  10 years ago. I work on weekends at a superclub in London. Love cooking, clubbing, eating xD, love being  outdoor, but that's a  bit tricky in the UK, the weather is rubbish.
And  i feel obliged to state. I love World of Warcraft... hehe 

ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER:

Armory Link: http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/character/twisting-nether/Ja%C3%AD/simple

Character name: Jaí

Class: Warlock

Level: 90

Current server: Twisting Nether

Spec(s): Affliction MS / Destro OS

Professions: Tailoring and Enchanting

How often do you play WoW (typical weekly playtime and which hours)?: On average 9 hours a day, usually from 3-4pm  onwards.

What high level alts do you have?: http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/character/twisting-nether/Fuzzybear/simple

ABOUT YOU AS PLAYER:

Do you have Teamspeak? (Voice communication is essential to our raiding and it's highly recommended you get a mic if you don't have one already): I do and  i'm not afraid to speak  on ts when needed.

List the relevant raiding add-ons you use: DBM/Omen/Buttontimers  , im a minimalist, clutter  on my screen drives me  insane.. So  I use whats essential.

We expect all members to attend any raids with food and flasks to last the whole raid night and being repaired and ready to pull bosses at 20.00

Our Raid times are from 20:00 to 0:00 server time with invites starting at 19:30. On which days will you be available for the whole duration? (A raidgroup usually only raids up to 3 nights a week)
Wednesday: Anytime
Thursday:     Anytime
Friday:
Saturday:
Sunday:       17:00 - 23:00 {due to work}
Monday:       Anytime
Tuesday:      Anytime

Have you been in another guild? (Yes/No): Yes

If so: Which one(s)? And why did you leave?:  Feeling Hordy - Techincal issues with my new previous pc system, by the time it was replaced , i was also replaced  in the raid team as they were progressing  on hc spine at the time.
Vipeout - lack of commitment  in signing and attendance, which eventually lead to the raiding being almost  non existent.
Cruel Intentions - RL took some time off and is still afk from wow, the team eventually split.
Eternal Legacy - GM/RL  had new work hours which would be in the evenings, he left for another server that offered him very late night raiding. So the team here  pretty much went our separate ways.
Strife -  progression stopped due to lack of signs etc. Also there were  internal issues that came about, which caused me to leave. If you require further  information about this please feel free to contact me on private setting.

Please list your relevant raid experience, stating which encounters you have personal experience of at the current level cap:

Please link, if possible, any recent relevant logs (www.worldoflogs.com), so we can get an idea from your current performance in raids:
The most resent logs i have would be from cruel intentions. its 2 months old.. but i guess it is better than nothing.. I have searched for  logs from  strife and eternal legacy but there's nothing of relevance.
http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/gad7ujkbkb6xfo3o/sum/damageDone/?s=615&e=1038
http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/gad7ujkbkb6xfo3o/sum/damageDone/
http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/gad7ujkbkb6xfo3o/sum/damageDone/?s=8744&e=9159

These are just a few i found a bit old and please note at this point of raiding  most of my gear consisted of faction and lfr items. =)



IMPORTANT:

Now when you are done with the "basics", we want you to explain a little about different aspects of your character.

Character:

Why did you choose the class you are now playing and the professions you selected?: I choose a warlock as it best represented me as a person in-game. xD, Jai has been my main character for 6 years.

Talent specialisation: Affliction - currently stands above the rest, my versatility makes it easy to switch between specs  when needed. So whatever blizzard decides to do to us locks , i'm not fussed. Whichever spec yields the highest output, would  be my raiding spec.
Destro - scales amazingly well with gear and its not that far from affliction in terms of damage... which is why ive opted for that as my second spec.
Demo is pretty to look at... the aoe is tempting.. but im not convinced  in the slightest by the single target output.

Would you be willing to change your specialization for the guild?: Yes

Do you have two or more specs you know well enough to use in a Raiding environment?: Yes

Please list any talents and glyphs you switch out for certain fights: No major changes with warlocks . I do the odd change to ease the fight like ensuring unbound willl is always speced for example, Four Kings... but these are all minor changes which are rather obvious to someone who knows warlocks.

Gear:
 
Do you feel your character is sufficiently geared to compete in the encounters of the current Heroic tier? Yes

Where do you think your current equipment is lacking now?: Hmm its hard to say, but   despite the fact  I have a good main weapon, its still  not sha touched , so id have to say atm, first prio is getting a sha touched main hand... and the rest are justifiable upgrades like any other  regular raider ( normal tier to hc tier ...)

What stat-priority do you currently use (both secondary and primary stats, especially for tanks and healers), when gemming, enchanting and reforging your gear? (for both your main and off-spec): I simply cap hit, cap haste at 11% and stack mastery{ until i  have mostly BIS items reach for the 7.6k haste cap}

Guild:
 
Do you know anyone in MoX who can vouch for you?: No
Why do you want to join MoX?: Your current progression suits me perfectly. To acquire this  i know it takes a grp of skilled  players and  i would  like to be part of that group. However  i dont  know what the environment is like within the guild and the guild dynamic , but  im hoping for fun, active and most over all skilled  individuals where we can learn of each other.

What type of guild are you looking for?: Hard working , non bullshit , honest, fun  and active.


What are your goals in wow, what do you want to achieve and how long do you plan to keep playing?
Ideally I would  like to clear all current content  on its highest level before any major nerfs happen. And be as epically geared as my  fellow raiders. This game has become a bit of a mockery with the way loot and achievements are  just given away..grrrrr... so being able to clear hc content prior to nerfing and having something to show for it is always a bonus.
I will play wow for as long as  the game and the internet exists.

Additional Information:

Confirmation that you have read, understood and agree to abide by the MoX Charter (Yes/No): Yes

Is there anything else you feel is relevant to your application or that you would like us to know?
I've been through some awful guild experiences in the past few months, mainly to do with the lack of commitment of supposed *raiders* and power tripping ~*leaders*  ..
All im looking for is a skilled and stable grp whos end goal is as similar to mine., wheres theres no stealing/cheating  our outlandish abuse of power.

[Kletsnat]

Hey Aj,

Thank you for applying to MoX.
Application looks solid. Szemere, our warlock, has promised me he will take a closer look tomorrow

Good luck!

[Aj]

Much appreciated mate. Looking forward to  his feedback.

[Ramsay]

Omg there's only one AJ in MoX and its AJ.

[Aj]

Oi, im the original AJ   

[szemere]

Hey there, I was wondering, can you share some insight in the reasoning behind your reforges and gemming?

There are a whole lot of things that I would probably do different, considering the stat priorities you seem to use, but you seem to mostly gem int>haste, but on other places full mastery instead of intellect, and you go for a 60hit socketbonus, what is your point of view on the int vs secondary stat gemming?  You seem to use the int>hit>haste>mastery>crit reforge prio, but you're 130 hit above the cap, effectively wasted secondary stats, is this the closest to the cap you're able to get with your current gear? And what is your current reasoning in hit capping or not, and going for mastery or haste?

I'd also love it if you could go a bit more in depth on talents and glyphs... You can obviously say "the usual stuff", but I find myself swapping talents quite a lot, I mean, I certainly wouldn't run Shadowfury, Dark Bargain, or Harvest Life, or Glyph of Soul Swap, on every single fight.

[Aj]

Okie my thoughts on my current gem and reforging. Well its based on research and feedback from other respectable warlocks. My current gear is the main reason behind most of my decisions. Haste for example,  the 11% is the soft cap which gives an extra tick of Corruption/UA . But i will be honest there has been soo  much conflicting information regarding mastery vs haste and the actually  cap for haste.. Even when speaking to warlocks the information is quite conflicting. So my decision was based on trial and error taking  into account  what ive read and what ive been told. I did at one point {quite recently} stack mastery and to some extent ignored the 11% haste. And the results are minimal at least.. But that still doesnt give me solid ground  information or direction as to what exactly may be required, not that  im execting a cookie cut answer by any means.
My hit is slightly over, due to gear and current capping targets... its something  ive  looked at time and time again to adjust and would  drop  me below my current haste of 11.00%....I think with potent mastery have an extra 640 vs 320 intel and boosting my mastery up as much as possible would only increase my damage. But I hardly ever and think its maybe only my shoes , hehe  i opted out of intel for full mastery, a bit of  a daredevil ...

For raiding MSV- I would usually spec in  Dark regenration , because  though soul leech is good, theres alot of damage that can be avoided by the first few bosses and theres alot of aoe healing, to take advantage of, so using dark regeneration i have the control of when i think its persoanlly best...id say fights  like stone guard/gara jal/ Feng. The others the damage can be quite ticky and constant so id go for Soul Leech to constantly have that added healing through my damage.
For elegon ill use Sacrificial Pact to absorb damage when soaking , or any other fight that this required.
Im always spec in Grim of Sacrifice / Kil's Cunning and  in most instances where a character may become  impared , i will ofc use Unbound Will.
Fights which require no CC or stunning effect I will opt for mortal coil   purely for health.
I tend to use harvest life  in cases where adds will die pretty quickly and SOC will not  tick fast enough, and  during maddening shout on Four Kings  ill use harvest life, easy and sufficient damage with no after effect that mates usually moan about.. jai u left a dot on me.. 

I hope my response give you some  insight into my decisions, but bear  in mind that nothing is set  in stone and if you advise otherwise Ill happily oblige.

[szemere]

Although you do seem to know what you're doing with talents, I'm just not convinced by your gearing. Stuff like that is things you can just have "done" before you even go into combat, making sure everything is as good as you can get it, so you know that the only thing that could possibly hold you back from performing optimally with your current gear, is what you do IN combat.

Why I believe this:

1: Regarding your haste cap... You might want to stop listening to people that might not know what they're doing, and start using cold, hard numbers in that regard. List of all extra ticks for affliction: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsDL8HE-bGDVdFFVWlIzbzQ5RFJJZGFyQ25xZmFYa0E#gid=12

As you can see, only Corruption gets an extra tick, at 11.09% haste for you to be precise. But the % is something you should probably ignore too: Ratings is where it's at. You currently have 4674 rating. You say you think the extra ticks at 11%are significant to you, meaning you're trying to get to 4717 haste rating for the extra Corruption softcap at least... You didn't even reach the next Corruption tick, and you're miles away from any UA softcap. Conclusion 1: Try and figure out your own things, instead of looking at arbitrary points. The only positive here is that you at least managed to exactly get to the 11.00% hastecap, too bad that it means nothing tho. That means a lot of secondary stats is currently being wasted in haste.

2: You say it's not possible to get to the numbers you want. I think you haven't really tried hard enough, or at least haven't tried getting assistance of several tools available. I say it is 100% possible to get EXACTLY on 5100 hit, and less than 10 rating above the haste cap you're looking to get, using the hit5100>haste4717>mastery>haste>crit prio, using the gems you currently have in your gear. Getting EXACTLY to the hit cap is of course not always possible, but with your current setup it is, yet you're still more than 100 rating off. That means those points in hit rating are currently just being wasted.

3: Just trying out doesn't give you the best results.
If you had good reasoning like "missing spells on boss X is absolutely brutal, and I really want to use Affliction over my offspec because of Y on that specific boss", or some other argumented reason why you are hitcapping (rather than getting a boatload of extra mastery or more haste softcaps), that might be good reasoning.
And if you had said "I tried going full mastery gems, BUT as soon as I did that the stat weights indicated that on that point of int, int gems were better than mastery again, so I decided to run with a combination of the 2", it would explain to me why you in the one place use Int as primary gemstat, and on a single item just decided to slot mastery gems instead....
And if you were to tell me "I took the hit socketbonus, so I could get closer to the hitcap than reforging could offer me without this socketbonus", that would explain that.
But as of now, it just seems to me like you never even really tried simming your gear, or using any other secondary tool to get the most out of the items you have...

Fact is even: Mastery is currently for your gems MILES ahead of Intellect, so getting rid of the majority of your Int gems should be a priority. Another fact, getting rid of the hit cap on the standard fight, would probably net you tons of DPS too, as hit is with your current gear even worse than stacking a ton of additional haste (which is still being trumped by mastery of course, ignoring any individual softcaps that might be rather close.)


So to conclude: I think you still have a ton to learn in the direction of "getting the most out of my character on a tank'n'spank", while of my current raiders, I expect them to have that stuff down for 99%, so that when Heroics need to be killed, damage is the last thing we'd have to worry about, and I can throw the focus on "this is a survival fight". And while I'm all for helping someone out, finding ways to improve their damage, this should usually be in "how can I abuse this spellbook that my class has on a particular fight, to make <insert class name> look OP", and not "this is how you look up how you get the most out of your gear.". That is at least what I'm looking for when we say "Not actively recruiting, but always looking into exceptional players".

So I will sadly have to decline you for a Raider trial, I wish you all the luck finding a good guild, and on the never-ending road of becoming an example of how OP warlocks are

szemere