Beta Feedback, Part Two: End of Expansion

EDIT 09/03/2014: New videos with better accuracy have been uploaded to part 2.5.

EDIT 08/14/2014: It was recently discovered that the "average combo" counter is counting every empty GCD as its own individual 0-length combo.  If our intention is to count only unbroken chains of attacks towards this statistic, the average combo for all videos should be significantly higher than displayed.  We will aim to redo these simulations before proceeding with Part 3 of the test.

Last time, we used an interactive monk simulator to see how the changes would play out between live and beta.  We concluded that beta monks are slower (measured in APM) and less fluid (measured in average consecutive actions) than their live counterparts, despite having more haste.

Those comparisons were made under Proving Grounds conditions, with 3000 haste rating, in start-of-expansion gear.  This time, we'll look at how monks will play in end-of-expansion gear, with 12000 haste rating.

Here's how my live monk plays in the gear I'm wearing right now.

* there is one very significant thing I've failed to mention, but we'll talk about that next time.

After ten minutes, my live monk has 56.3 APM and an average combo of 7.7.  Note that, despite using Fists of Fury and Energizing Brew regularly, I still have 7.2% downtime due to lack of energy.

For comparison, at 3000 haste, I had only 48.7 APM, average combo of 3.4, and 16.9% downtime.  The extra 9000 haste made a palpable difference in terms of fluidity.  Average combo has more than doubled.  Even though I'm still not 100% GCD-limited, I'm still stringing together twice as many actions on average, and I'm waiting half as long between combos!  This is Fun.  Windwalkers are the Fun class.

We will remind you that the simulator was set to Live.  We will now set the simulator to Beta.

After five minutes, my beta monk has 52.5 APM, average combo of 3.7, and 10.7% downtime.  For comparison, at 3000 haste, I had 46.7 APM, average combo of 2.8, and 17.7% downtime.

We can see right away that average combo (fluidity) did not improve much at all when we added 300% additional haste.  That's a problem.  Recall that 3.7 average combo is just barely higher than the 3.4 average combo we had in live start-of-expansion gear.  This is Not Fun.

Recall also that if we wanted to be invited to raids, we would use Chi Brew and Chi Explosion instead.  This is what Chi Brew + Chi Explosion looks like at 12000 haste:

I don't even last five minutes this time before giving up.  44.5 APM, 1.6 average combo, and 27% downtime (up from 39.4 APM, 1.3 average combo, and 32% downtime with 3000 haste).

Final thoughts:

It's been fun.  Emphasis on "been".  Maybe I'll see you in-game on my freshly rolled Enhancement Sha--

.@gameshunter Two other big highlights... 5% extra haste for Frost DKs, and 45 energy Jab for Windwalkers.
— Celestalon (@Celestalon) August 13, 2014

...

...Well then.  Part 3 to follow.