Blue Post: Slice and Dice Affects Real PPM Proc Chance

Little bit of catchup here — this actually broke several days ago.

In a conversation with theorycrafters after unveiling how the various new trinket procs would work in Patch 5.2, Ghostcrawler noted:

RealPPM procs still scale more frequently with haste, which many specs have drastically more or less of.

He followed that with this juicy new tidbit, when asked whether the Real PPM system counts Slice and Dice as haste:

Yes. RPPM uses the highest of all haste/attack speed/cast speed effects.

This whole topic exists dangerously close to the Rfeann-Doesn’t-Know-What-the-Hell-He’s-Talking-About precipice, so I won’t try to get too deeply into this. But as a quick refresher (assuming I have this right): The Real PPM system was set up to make the frequency of our procs more reliable, yet at the same time ensure they still feel random when they happen. Real PPM currently manages how often our primary weapon enchants (Dancing Steel, Elemental Force, Windsong) proc; as of Patch 5.2 it’ll also manage procs for our new trinkets.

Now that we know Slice and Dice affects our Real PPM proc chance, we… well, most of us won’t be impacted too deeply, since this is mostly of interest to theorycrafters and those who are calculating the values of our shiny new trinkets in 5.2.

One thing this knowledge *does* do, though, is drive home just how important it is for us to get SnD up as quickly as possible in a boss fight, since we now know that in addition to all of its other benefits it also increases the proc chances of our enchants and 5.2 trinkets.

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Hotfix: Elemental Force Enchant No Longer Procs From Heals

Stealthed rogues, rejoice! From the Dec. 5 edition of the official Patch 5.1 hotfix notes (this appears to be the only rogue-relevant fix from today’s batch):

Enchant Weapon: Elemental Force will no longer incorrectly activate from healing effects, and can only be triggered by damaging melee attacks or spells.

For us, this likely means no more procs from Recuperate or Leeching Poison. That’s a good thing, because a number of rogues reported being knocked out of stealth because of this. (Sample scenario: Rogue attacks a player. Rogue gets Recuperate rolling. Player dies. Rogue stealths. Rogue sneaks up on new player. Before rogue can use opener, Elemental Force procs, because Recuperate is still running. Rogue is now visible, standing there, naked. Everyone in class is laughing at rogue. Rogue enters deep depression and skips senior prom.)

Also, just in case anyone was concerned about possible adverse effects of this hotfix: Given that this is a Real PPM poison, I think it’s highly unlikely this change will result in a reduced proc rate for Elemental Force.

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Hotfix: Dancing Steel, Windsong, Other Real PPM Procs Now Stack

From the 11/29 hotfix notes (which I suspect didn’t technically appear until 11/30 YES I AM A STICKLER FOR DETAILS LEAVE ME ALONE):

Enchantments using the Real PPM system will now generate two buffs simultaneously, rather than simply refreshing the duration of an existing effect.

Assuming it is indeed working as newly intended, this should wrap up the whole “why have my Dancing Steel enchants suddenly stopped stacking when they proc on both weapons OMGWTFBLIZZ Y U HATE ROUGES GC DOESNT PLAY A ROGEU ELS EVERYTHING 4 US WUD ALAWSY WORK NOOBZ” thing from earlier this week.

For a full list of rogue patch changes and hotfixes in 5.1, I gotch’a cover’ed’.

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Forum Post: Daxxarri Clarifies New Dancing Steel Proc Mechanic (Updated 12/1: Proc Stacking “Restored”)

Oh, Dancing Steel, why dost thou disturb forum rogues so?

A number of folks have posted angry missives in the official WoW forums over the past few days, excoriating Blizzard for what some have suggested is a “stealth nerf” of the Dancing Steel enchant, the top weapon enchant currently available for rogues. In particular, people have had called out the fact that if Dancing Steel is was on both of a rogue’s weapons, it can could no longer “stack” — i.e., since 5.1 launched this week for a few days after 5.1 launched, there can’t couldn’t be two procs active at the same time, which means meant the effect can could no longer double. (Instead, if the proc is was already active and then procs again on either weapon, it refreshesd the duration of the sole active proc.)

Turns out this is was entirely intentional, and probably isn’t wasn’t nearly as catastrophic for our DPS as some were assuming. (People who play WoW overreacting to small changes with forum tirades? Unpossible!) [UPDATE 12/1: And, as of sometime late on 11/29, a hotfix made it so that Dancing Steel and other Real PPM procs *can* now stack just like the unReal PPM procs have long been able to.]

Here’s what Daxxarri posted in a General Discussion forum thread late on 11/29:

The change to Dancing Steel is actually part of its status as a Real Proc Per Minute (RPMM) system, which was in the patch notes.

• The Dancing Steel, Jade Spirit, Colossus, and River’s Song enchantments now use the Real PPM system utilized by Windsong and Elemental Force.

You can read more about how RPMM works here: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/6893549789#1

Dual wielding with a RPMM enchants means that you’ll get double the frequency of procs, but the system doesn’t currently allow for double active procs.

We’re happy with how the RPMM system has turned out, and we think it’s a stronger proc system than those we’ve used in the past, and offers more consistent results for players too. That said, we know that some players find double active procs fun, though, so we’re exploring the possibility of altering the system to allow for them in the future.

Later in the thread, Daxx posted an update on the no-stack issue:

Good news, everyone!

As I mentioned, we’ve been investigating the possibility of altering the Real PPM system to allow double procs. It hadn’t been done previously due to technical challenges, but we found a solution much faster than expected, and we’re currently working on a hotfix to allow Real PPM enchantments to proc separately per weapon.

Yes, this means that if everything goes smoothly, you’ll soon be able to have two simultaneous Dancing Steel procs, or (very rarely) six simultaneous Windsong procs.

[UPDATE 12/1:] And finally, the 11/29 edition of the official hotfix notes confirmed that:

Enchantments using the Real PPM system will now generate two buffs simultaneously, rather than simply refreshing the duration of an existing effect.

How’s THAT for service?

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Forum Post: Daxxarri on New “Real PPM” Procs in 5.1

New post from Daxx in a thread he started last month on the new Real PPM system they’re trying out for some procs. Initially they just implemented it for the Windsong and Elemental Force enchants, buuuut:

In 5.1, we’re migrating four additional procs over to the Real PPM system. Dancing Steel and Jade Spirit are 2 Real PPM, River’s Song is 4 Real PPM, and Colossus is 6 Real PPM.

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