Shadow Panther's Frequently Asked Questions

I created this page to answer common questions about my site and to clear up some confusion about how to properly use my charts.

First, let me provide a little background. When I first put together the charts on my site, they were for my own personal use but I soon realized that many others could benefit from the results of my efforts. Over time, I've tried to make my site as useful for Rogue players as I possibly can. I'm constantly looking for ways to improve the content on my site to help others get the most enjoyment out of their Rogues.

My site is designed to be useful throughout your Rogue experience, from low level to high level and everywhere in-between. Rather than focus my efforts on creating a specialized resource for a very specific purpose (like squeezing the last 0.1 DPS out of your raiding gear) I divide my time between numerous items of Rogue interest, to include PVE, PVP, Twinking and Leveling. I spend more time thinking up ways to improve my site to help other Rogues than I do actually playing the game!

There will always be players who never truly appreciate the wealth of resources I freely provide on my site. No matter how many improvements I make to the site, they'll never be satisfied and will continue to bash me and my contributions to the Rogue community. I've worked tirelessly for many years to provide a variety of useful resources to Rogue players, but for some it will never be good enough. If you don't like my site, then fine, don't use it. But that doesn't mean you should bad mouth my site and belittle the players who do use it to somehow feel better about yourself.

You can use the MAEP ratings in my PVE Armor chart to give you a general indication of the relative DPS output of items when planning out your PVE upgrades, but the results will never be perfect. Since my charts are mostly static (aside from the customizable XLS versions I provide), they don't factor in talent specs, attack rotations, relative increases in gear, etc. A general rule of thumb when using my charts is that any item that scores within 5 AEP/MAEP of another item can be considered a virtual sidegrade. I'm constantly revising my AEP/MAEP formulas to improve their effectiveness, but if you're expecting precision to the nth degree then you'll probably need to look elsewhere. As always, if you disagree with the AEP/MAEP values I've used in my charts, you're welcome to use the customizable XLS versions and enter whatever AEP/MAEP values work best for you.

Yes. My charts assume that you're using the best epic gems in each socket and those gem AEP/MAEP values are built into the total AEP/MAEP value of each item (unless the item has blue sockets - - see socket bonuses below.) I assign gem values as determined by my Gem charts (PVE / PVP). If you don't have access to epic gems, then you'll need to adjust those AEP/MAEP values accordingly.

Yes. Socket bonuses for items with sockets have been added into the applicable stat, listed in italics on my charts. The exception to this rule is when an item has a one or more blue sockets, in which case the better move is usually to ignore the weak socket bonus and instead socket superior red or yellow gems in those blue sockets (unless you need to meet a metagem requirement.)

No. The AEP/MAEP values I've assigned for set bonuses can be found separately on my Armor Sets chart but I leave it up to you to factor in those bonuses when evaluating gear for upgrades.

No. If you're approaching the Hit Cap, the Expertise Cap, or any other cap, then you'll need to manually adjust for that when evaluating gear upgrades.

I score most trinket abilities on an "averaged effect over time" basis. Other ability scores are extrapolated from similar abilities that I've scored in the past. Scoring trinket abilities and proc abilities has always been a tricky process, so I do the best I can. I'm constantly reevaluating those abilities and tweaking their values as new information becomes available.

These effects are even harder to score than measurable trinket proc effects. Oftentimes, what I do is assign an "opportunity cost" value to that effect. What this means is assigning a value that is equal (or better than) the AEP/MAEP rating of the next best alternative. An example of this would be the AEP value I've assigned to Minor Running Speed effects. Pre-Burning Crusade, players often had to choose between two enchants for their boots - - 7 Agility or Minor Speed. With this in mind, I used to give Minor Speed a general value of 7 AEP to make it equal to the 7 AEP you would have gotten if you'd chosen 7 Agility. Now that I've recently added separate PVE & PVP columns to my charts for special abilities, I've assigned two different values for Minor Run Speed effects to denote their differing value in PVP vs. PVE.

In an effort to reduce chart sizes and download times, I often remove old & inferior items from my main armor charts. All of the old & inferior items can still be found on my all-inclusive Armor Locations Chart.

Not necessarily. Your talent spec plays a major factor in your potential DPS. Combat Swords is a better DPS build for PVE than Combat Maces with comparable weapons because Sword Spec gives you more DPS than Mace spec. What this means is that you can potentially do more DPS with a lower rated Sword than you might with a higher rated Mace.

Not necessarily. Those values only show the % of talent points put into each Talent Category and do not reflect a true DPS comparison. I calculated those percentages by dividing the number of Sustained DPS Talent points by the total number of Talent Points used. So that value is nothing more than a percentage breakdown of how many Talent Points went into Sustained DPS talents, and does not make any claims as to which build actually puts out more Sustained DPS. Five points in one Sustained DPS Talent might put out more DPS than five points in another Sustained DPS talent.

Yes. I update my guide as each major content patch is released. If you have previously purchased a guide, you can continue to download the most recent version using the download link provided in your Order Info email.