And how much does it affect the GCD?
Literally as stated. 1% reduces cast time by 1% of whatever the base value is (certain effects will reduce the calculated base value, for example when under the effects of backdraft chaos bolts “base cast time” is reduced to 2.1 seconds, so 10% haste would make this 1.89 sec rather than reducing it by 0.3 sec from chaos bolts unaltered 3 sec cast).
The GCD is reduced by the same but I understand it cannot be reduced lower than 0.75 secs.
Very valuable information, thank you.
Do you happen to know how much haste a player can reasonably expect to stack with around ~215 ilvl?
No idea I’m afraid, not enough to minimise the GCD at current levels. Given full versa gear from PvP can have people reach 30% or more I’d imagine a full haste setup could do the same as the values aren’t hugely different. Other players with that gear can probably provide insight here.
On my demo lock I can reach much higher haste but that’s due to implosive potential. My average haste during an aoe pack is about 50% and she is 198 ilevel but there has to be 3 mobs or more for this to be true.
Don’t forget that there are diminishing returns on secondary stats.
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Damn. That’s certainly disappointing.
If my only goal were to reduce the GCD on a specific spell, my efforts would then be wasted and I’m better off prioritizing other secondary stats if I understand correctly?
Yes. At certain haste rating it becomes less desirable.
Do they even kick in on our current gear? I’m not a minmaxer so I’m not paying attention to such things for now but would like the answer anyway 
No idea really, but I think it kicks in at ~1k haste.
Don’t forget the Shadowlands Stat “soft cap”
- From 0 to 30%, there’s no penalty.
- From 30% to 39%, there’s a 10% penalty.
- From 39% to 47%, there’s a 20% penalty.
- From 47% to 54%, there’s a 30% penalty.
- From 54% to 66%, there’s a 40% penalty.
- From 66% to 126%, there’s a 50% penalty.
Focusing on reducing the GCD to minim is inefficient as secondary scales scale worse after 30% and generally you need 100% haste to reach min GCD, or 70% factoring BL. That’s a huge investment.
Also class gcds vary, some have a 1 sec GCD which means you still have to invest a huge amount to minimise it but you don’t feel the benefit very much.
Most classes feel Tons smoother at 25% haste or more, varying. Depends whether the class has haste breakpoints you want as well such as an extra spell during X ability.
I’m levelling up my 2h frost DK ATM and at level 51 due to crafted gear and secondary optimisation I have around 30% haste which feels super nice to play with, more haste I think would make managing my procs a bit difficult but that may just be me pressing my buttons too quickly.
The lowest you can get a cast time theoretically is 0.75 seconds, since that’s the min gcd. I mean, you could go lower than 0.75 sec cast theoretically, but you wouldn’t reap any benefits.
It’s not gonna happen in this expansion though, unless they revert secondary stats changes, which i hope, and do some crazy stuff.
Honestly, i just wish the base gcd was 1 second instead of 1.5, and the min gcd was 0.5 seconds.
1 sec gcd just feels so much better than 1.5.
Energy classes would have a fixed 0.75 gcd instead.
Totally worth it if it can be achieved.
See, BFA added a 1.5 second GCD on a spell that had none in the first place (soothing mist), massively slowing down the gameplay and weakening the spec in PvP.
Every millisecond I can remove from Soothing Mist reduces the likelihood of getting interrupted on the one spell I’ll be casting 24/7 during an arena.
Thanks. I remember back in wotlk the soft cap was around 1300 or 1400. Not relevant, just a flashback I suddenly had.
Haste does not reduce cast time, it increases the speed you cast.
If it reduced the cast time, 100% haste would make all your spells instant cast, but it’s not like that. 100% haste means you cast 100% faster, so the cast time would be only halved.
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specs that have a 1s gcd do not get their gcd reduced by haste. it’s always 1s. i believe the list is all rogue specs, feral, windwalker and brewmaster, or in other words the energy specs.
Correct, you expressed what I was trying to say much clearer when I was going on about chaos bolt and how haste never results in instant casts!
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