Arcane questions (POF, Haste, opener)

[Qybern]

Hey, 3 part question here. Arcane mage, 741 ilvl, armory: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/T ... n/advanced" target="_blank

Question 1. Why is it more beneficial for MoD to proc on the crystal than the boss? I think I might be misunderstanding the mechanics of the trinket but here's how I see it.

Scenario 1: MoD on PC. 1 arcane missile tick hits the crystal causing an explosion. Explosion hits boss for 1.0 doom nova damage, Explosion hits crystal which in turn hits boss for for 1.3 doom nova damage. Total doom nova damage on boss is 2.3

Scenario 2: MoD on Boss. 1 arcane missile tick hits boss causing an explosion. Explosion hits boss for 1.0. Explosion hits crystal which hits boss for 1.3. Total damage on boss is 2.3. Am I missing something here?

Question 2. Haste caps & Ideal haste values. I know this topic has been beaten to death, I know there's no magic value to aim for, I just want a sanity check to make sure I'm drastically under where I should be considering my mastery is so much higher than my haste. I currently have 1700 (25% when raid buffed). I stopped at 25 because that puts me well above the 20% "breakpoint" and gives me some slop for latency. The reason I'm getting a sanity check is that my rating seems much lower than what I've read in various posts (some say 1800 some say 2100+). Basically just checkin to see if I have way too low haste. Mastery is currently 3500. Side note: is there a known value where I'll start GCD locking myself with haste + AP up?

Question 3a. Is there a consensus on what the most effective opener is in terms of when to drop PC? From what I gather from reading around, PC0 is behind, PC1&2 are highest average, PC3&4 are lower average higher cap.

Question 3b. Just want to confirm that ideal AM usage during burn is to use just enough to make sure you dont run out of mana, otherwise sit on them (even if that means overcapping). Use them earlier in burn rather than later.
Thanks.

[Norrinir]

Answer to 1: because your Arcane Missiles do 30% more damage. PoF explosions do the same damage, yes.

I cannot with absolute confidence answer 3b, but that's the general idea. You want to use only as many AM procs so that you don't run out of mana and you also want to use them as early as possible without capping mana (not sure how PoF proc factors into this).

[Qybern]

Re: #1, wow... duh. I was really racking my brain trying to figure out how POF would do more damage if it ended up on PC.

Also, just though of another question. If at the end of your burn you have 3 stacks of AM, do you want to AM then evocate or evocate then AM? If you AM first it will be buffed by your 4 arcane charge(+200%) but you lose out on the mastery(-~75%) and will not gain an arcane charge. If you use it after you obviously lose 200%, gain 75, but you also get an arcane charge out of it? My inclination is to AM first evocate second.

[Curnivore]

I think we can very safely assume that if you are on the first 3-4 seconds and no doom is up yet and you have arcane missiles, don't use them of course because a doom is very imminent. After doom is down and you have missiles, I think if you get the tier bonus is a big boost, and on average is better to use them, and you might run out of mana if you never use them though the ideal is to not spend most of the time on missiles while on arcane power.

The main problem with that kind of game design concept is that we can't exactly figure it out without simulation.

[DyLemma]

As for the haste thing...mastery is just better. I think it always has been since decent ilvl/rings. Mastery is king when it comes to damage gain, however I do think that warsong is better if you're not troll. Even as a troll if you have really low haste warsong is probably better as well. You get double the stats (not exactly because it takes less mastery per 1% gain then haste) compared to bleeding hollow. Also warsong will last the whole ring duration and more, where as unless you get a lucky reproc, bleeding hollow will only last 12 seconds, which you'll get full effect on crystal if you use at PC0- about 10 seconds worth on PC1. Although both enchants are quite equal so either one you pick, you can't go wrong. Easier to use bleeding hollow for off spec fire as well unless you have 2 weapons. I think mastery enchanting is just better, unless you are a gnome haste might sometimes be above mastery w/ racial passive.

[Curnivore]

Why do you say that if the sims show it differently? I was thinking lately that the sims I run do not exactly reflect what I do. e.g. to increase DPS on a fight with imps being mass gripped, mastery might play a role there since I supernova on Max mana usually. The stars aligned on my gear to have me at very low haste, sub-1400 and most sims, even on 3-4 targets show me not having to adjust that. Berserking might sustain it that low and without it haste might have had to be higher.