WoW Theorycraft: Basic Statistics
Okay, I had at least a couple people say they were interested in reading posts about WoW game mechanics and theorycrafting. So I'll start with the basics. If anyone has anything they're really curious about, please post and I can try and answer that in a comment or a new post.
Characters have both primary and secondary characteristics. The primary characteristics are called "Attributes" and are found under the "Base Stats" section of your character screen. They influence the secondary characteristics, which comprise pretty much everything else (HP, Mana, attack power, critical strike, etc.) Each attribute increases one or more secondary characteristics by some amount, which varies based on the level and/or class of the character.
Strength: Strength increases your attack power. Warriors, Shamans, Druids and Paladins gain 2 melee attack power per point of strength. Rogues, Hunters, Mages, Priests and Warlocks gain 1 melee AP per point of strength.
For classes that can equip shields (Warriors, Paladins, Shaman), Strength also affects how much incoming damage is reduced when you block with your shield. This is based on the following formula:
X = [(Shield block value) + ((Strength / 20) - 1)]
where X is the amount of damage subtracted from the total amount dealt by the attack (after other mitigation such as armor). I'll discuss how shield block works in more detail in a later post.
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Agility: Agility does a number of things dependent on class.
Warriors, Hunters and Rogues gain 1 ranged attack power for each point of agility. Note: ranged attack power does not affect wand damage.
Hunters, Rogues and Druids in Cat Form gain 1 melee attack power per point of agility.
Every point of agility increases your armor value by 2.
Agility increases your chance to critically hit with melee and ranged weapons. The amount of critical hit % that agility adds is both level and class dependent. As your level increases, the amount of agility required also increases, which would explain why after you level your crit % goes down.
At level 70, the conversion rates are as follows:
Rogues, Hunters - 40 agi = 1% crit
Warriors, Shaman, Paladin - 33 agi = 1% crit
Druid - 25 agi = 1% crit
Agility also increases your chance to dodge. The amount of dodge % you receive is similarly level and class dependent.
At level 70, the conversion rates are as follows:
Rogues - 20 agi = 1% dodge
Warriors, Shaman, Paladins - 30 agi = 1% dodge
Druids - 14.73 (15) agi = 1% dodge
Hunters - 25 agi = 1% dodge
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Stamina: Stamina increases your hit points. You get 10 hit points per point of stamina. Tauren get 10.5 hit points because of their racial ability (max health increased by 5%).
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Intellect: Intellect increases your mana points. Each point of intellect gives you 15 mana.
Intellect increases the rate at which you learn weapon skills. I don't know any exact number for this but it isn't very important. Just get a mage to buff you with AI if you need to train up a new weapon. ;)
Intellect increases your chance to score a critical hit with spells. Like agility, the actual increase is level and class based.
At level 70, the conversion rates are as follows:
Shaman, Priests, Druids - 80 int = 1% spell crit
Mage - 78.5 int = 1% spell crit
Warlock - 83.33 int = 1% spell crit
Paladin - ~75-80 int = 1% spell crit (however, Paladins start with a base 3.33% spell crit that the other classes do not. There doesn't seem to have been a lot of testing on paladins in comparison to the other classes so I've found somewhat varying numbers)
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Spirit: Spirit increases your health and mana regeneration. By default, health regeneration will not work in combat (unless you are a Troll--Trolls recieve 10% of their normal health regen in combat and 110% of normal regen out of combat). Mana regen will not work for 5 seconds after casting a spell (called the 5 second rule).
Health and mana regen "ticks" occur every 2 seconds.
The conversion rates for spirit to health regen are based on class, but exact numbers are not readily available (because honestly, it doesn't matter much-if you're out of combat you can just eat, heal, or bandage to get health back anyway).
The conversion rates for spirit to mana regen are also based on class:
Mana gained per tick
Druid (Caster Form): Spirit/4.5 + 15
Druid (Feral Form): Spirit/5 + 15
Hunter: Spirit/5 + 15
Mage: Spirit/4 + 12.5
Paladin: Spirit/5 + 15
Priest: Spirit/4 + 12.5
Shaman: Spirit/5 + 17
Warlock: Spirit/5 + 15
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(note: all of these numbers may not be 100% accurate as they are based on player testing and not Blizzard information, but they have been extensively tested)
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As you can see, different classes gain varying benefits from different stats. For example, cat druids are much better off stacking strength than their rogue counterparts, because feral druids recieve 2 points of attack power for every 1 point of strength, and even if they have lower agility, they need much less agility to get 1% critical strike or 1% dodge (in comparison to a rogue). Even better, if they have the Heart of the Wild talent, they will get 2.2 AP for every point of STR.
In another example, priests get a much greater benefit from spirit because their conversion rate is Spirit/4 instead of Spirit/5 like most of the other classes. Mages also recieve more benefit from spirit than other caster classes do.
There is a mod available, called Rating Buster, which will display in item tooltips how much benefit you will receive from different stats, based on your class and level. It even takes into account spent talent points and racial abilities (such as the Heart of the Wild talent for Druids). It is available here: http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info5819-Rating_Buster.html
In the next post I'll talk about secondary stats and combat ratings.
Let me know if you have any questions, corrections, or suggestions!
(Also, is there a tag that would work well for these kinds of posts? If not, can I suggest a "theorycraft" tag or something similar?)
Characters have both primary and secondary characteristics. The primary characteristics are called "Attributes" and are found under the "Base Stats" section of your character screen. They influence the secondary characteristics, which comprise pretty much everything else (HP, Mana, attack power, critical strike, etc.) Each attribute increases one or more secondary characteristics by some amount, which varies based on the level and/or class of the character.
Strength: Strength increases your attack power. Warriors, Shamans, Druids and Paladins gain 2 melee attack power per point of strength. Rogues, Hunters, Mages, Priests and Warlocks gain 1 melee AP per point of strength.
For classes that can equip shields (Warriors, Paladins, Shaman), Strength also affects how much incoming damage is reduced when you block with your shield. This is based on the following formula:
X = [(Shield block value) + ((Strength / 20) - 1)]
where X is the amount of damage subtracted from the total amount dealt by the attack (after other mitigation such as armor). I'll discuss how shield block works in more detail in a later post.
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Agility: Agility does a number of things dependent on class.
Warriors, Hunters and Rogues gain 1 ranged attack power for each point of agility. Note: ranged attack power does not affect wand damage.
Hunters, Rogues and Druids in Cat Form gain 1 melee attack power per point of agility.
Every point of agility increases your armor value by 2.
Agility increases your chance to critically hit with melee and ranged weapons. The amount of critical hit % that agility adds is both level and class dependent. As your level increases, the amount of agility required also increases, which would explain why after you level your crit % goes down.
At level 70, the conversion rates are as follows:
Rogues, Hunters - 40 agi = 1% crit
Warriors, Shaman, Paladin - 33 agi = 1% crit
Druid - 25 agi = 1% crit
Agility also increases your chance to dodge. The amount of dodge % you receive is similarly level and class dependent.
At level 70, the conversion rates are as follows:
Rogues - 20 agi = 1% dodge
Warriors, Shaman, Paladins - 30 agi = 1% dodge
Druids - 14.73 (15) agi = 1% dodge
Hunters - 25 agi = 1% dodge
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Stamina: Stamina increases your hit points. You get 10 hit points per point of stamina. Tauren get 10.5 hit points because of their racial ability (max health increased by 5%).
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Intellect: Intellect increases your mana points. Each point of intellect gives you 15 mana.
Intellect increases the rate at which you learn weapon skills. I don't know any exact number for this but it isn't very important. Just get a mage to buff you with AI if you need to train up a new weapon. ;)
Intellect increases your chance to score a critical hit with spells. Like agility, the actual increase is level and class based.
At level 70, the conversion rates are as follows:
Shaman, Priests, Druids - 80 int = 1% spell crit
Mage - 78.5 int = 1% spell crit
Warlock - 83.33 int = 1% spell crit
Paladin - ~75-80 int = 1% spell crit (however, Paladins start with a base 3.33% spell crit that the other classes do not. There doesn't seem to have been a lot of testing on paladins in comparison to the other classes so I've found somewhat varying numbers)
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Spirit: Spirit increases your health and mana regeneration. By default, health regeneration will not work in combat (unless you are a Troll--Trolls recieve 10% of their normal health regen in combat and 110% of normal regen out of combat). Mana regen will not work for 5 seconds after casting a spell (called the 5 second rule).
Health and mana regen "ticks" occur every 2 seconds.
The conversion rates for spirit to health regen are based on class, but exact numbers are not readily available (because honestly, it doesn't matter much-if you're out of combat you can just eat, heal, or bandage to get health back anyway).
The conversion rates for spirit to mana regen are also based on class:
Mana gained per tick
Druid (Caster Form): Spirit/4.5 + 15
Druid (Feral Form): Spirit/5 + 15
Hunter: Spirit/5 + 15
Mage: Spirit/4 + 12.5
Paladin: Spirit/5 + 15
Priest: Spirit/4 + 12.5
Shaman: Spirit/5 + 17
Warlock: Spirit/5 + 15
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(note: all of these numbers may not be 100% accurate as they are based on player testing and not Blizzard information, but they have been extensively tested)
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As you can see, different classes gain varying benefits from different stats. For example, cat druids are much better off stacking strength than their rogue counterparts, because feral druids recieve 2 points of attack power for every 1 point of strength, and even if they have lower agility, they need much less agility to get 1% critical strike or 1% dodge (in comparison to a rogue). Even better, if they have the Heart of the Wild talent, they will get 2.2 AP for every point of STR.
In another example, priests get a much greater benefit from spirit because their conversion rate is Spirit/4 instead of Spirit/5 like most of the other classes. Mages also recieve more benefit from spirit than other caster classes do.
There is a mod available, called Rating Buster, which will display in item tooltips how much benefit you will receive from different stats, based on your class and level. It even takes into account spent talent points and racial abilities (such as the Heart of the Wild talent for Druids). It is available here: http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info5819-Rating_Buster.html
In the next post I'll talk about secondary stats and combat ratings.
Let me know if you have any questions, corrections, or suggestions!
(Also, is there a tag that would work well for these kinds of posts? If not, can I suggest a "theorycraft" tag or something similar?)