New Shaman - Buffing
 

Hiya. I'm a first-time Shaman that's really enjoying the class. Playing in groups is much more enjoyable to me than soloing so I try and do that most. I don't have much experience playing a lot of classes so I'm confused as to who I should be buffing and why. I just turned 11. I SoW everyone in my group but beyond that I've been calling for group members to ask for buffs. Some know what they want and others want everything. For mana efficiency I'd rather just buff based on class and ask for re-applies. So, which classes should I be buffing and with what?

Looking through my spell-line I have buffs for:
HitPoints
AC
agi
dex
str
sta
cha
resists

Thanks

It's been awhile since I buffed an under 60 group, but ...

AC, Stamina, strength and maybe dexterity for the tank. Also HP once you get it

Strength and maybe dexterity for other melees

Maybe Charisma on Bards/Enchanters

Everyone else (low priority): stamina (and HP once you get it), and maybe AC if you're bored/full of mana

Agility is basically worthless, and you should only do resists only when specifically needed (eg. you're about to fight a bunch of casters).

Tank here- I want dex dex dex!!!

The dex maybe's I'm guessing are depending on whether they are carrying a proc'ing weapon? And the maybe on charisma for Bards/Enchanters is if they're charming? I think cha affects mez's for Enchanters too, correct?

I'm confused about agility. Doesn't that raise AC and help with defense? Seems like that would be a good buff for a tank.

Also, what about pets? I often duo with a Necro. Should I throw the tank buffs on his skelly or not bother? Also, he personally asks for the stamina buff too. Something to do with his ability to convert HPs into mana/heals. Is this a legitimate request?

As far as i knew, agility has no real benefits above the soft cap of 75.. If you were below the cap, then agility would add significant AC. Above that soft cap, agility really isn't going to help a tank.

Correct, but I thought maybe Charisma helped Bards with something other than charm? Not sure.

As BigJeff100 said, below 75 Agility matters. After 75, it's extremely insignificant. It does add AC, but at a terrible ratio (your entire Agi buff might add 2-3 AC; try casting it on yourself and see), so it's not usually worth it.

When you're just duoing you have less people to buff, so the "should I waste mana on this buff?" bar gets lowered, but even if it wasn't I think all the tank buffs will benefit a pet.

As for the necro they (like Shaman) have a spell that let's them convert HP to mana, so that's why he (legitimately) wants stamina. Plus everyone likes more HP :) However, once you get Chloroplast/Regeneration that's when Necros will really love you, because their HP => Mana spell is passive, so passive regeneration balances it perfectly.

Thanks for the replies everyone. After reading here about the uselessness of agility I've been trying to figure out exactly why it's useless. From what I can gather, agility contributes to AC in the form of avoidance, where as worn/natural AC is seen in mitigation. What's confusing to me is that avoidance would be 100% mitigation. That doesn't seem useless unless the number of hits being avoided is insignificant. If my casting of Feet Like Cat helps a tank avoid 3 hits in a fight, I'd say that's worth it. If it only helps them avoid 3 hits over its duration, that would be a waste of mana. With as math-nerdy as people seem to be around here, I was surprised there isn't a clear answer (at least one I can find) as to exactly how much 1 point of agility contributes to the chance of avoiding a hit. I'll defer to those who know better and not cast it, but I'd still love to know why.

TL;DR most of the thread but you guys are completely wrong about agility.

Parses over the course of 200 minutes in combat, with 100 AGI and 200 AGI respectively, indicate that every 10 points between 100-200 gives roughly 1% damage mitigation in avoidance.

10% mitigation from just an avatar proc, or 5% from a 52 point Deliriously Nimble is in no way negligible.

Edit: Between 75-100, you gain even more avoidance per point.

Values applicable at level 60*

On my monk the difference between 100 and 255 agility can definitely be felt even without a parse. Huge avoidance.

I believe the AC buffs raise your softcap so it's also worth throwing on for min/mix.

We're not talking about raid buffing, we're talking about a level 11 Shaman here. Agility above 75 is meaningless (as are the Agi buffs low level Shaman get).

But yeah, someday it can be worthwhile, and that is worth mentioning.