After re-visiting my current gear, socket bonuses, etc, I find myself on the wrong side of the arguement.

Long story short, equiping a meta gem with my current set of gear gives me

-1 agi
+ 3% to crit damage

A clear win, though hard to put into actual numbers.


Last time I checked this out must have been before getting Rift Stalker Hauberk (+4 agi bonus) and Cobra-Lash Boots (+3 agi bonus). I always used the 10 agi gems as a benchmark, since Hyjal/BT were coming. Now that the gems can be purchased, there isn't any reason not to have the epic versions. This I just found out about, the vendors were implemented during my absence. I now own the gems I need, just need to get them cut.

In any case, without the agi bonus, that'd be an 8 agi loss, for 3% to crit damage. That makes it a mathmatical mess, trying to figure out what is actually better.

8 agi = 8 AP + 4.416 crit rating (or .2% crit) + extra Kill Command procs from the .2% (KC isn't really an issue anymore, since, I have between 30-40% crit chance when raid buffed, depending on the group). Not to mention, lower crit damage and lower frequency from old gear, a whole differant problem to solve.

Gearing hunters gives me such a headache. It doesn't seem like we are able to simply swap a single piece of gear in, ever. It's a package deal, always. To upgrade a ring, I have to downgrade my 2H, this deal nets me about 11 hit rating, 6 AP, and 126 ApR. Orrr, I equip my new 2H, keep my old ring, dropping 20 ap, and .1% crit, but would cap my hit rating... For now I'll keep the hit rating capped, and see how that goes.

That isn't even getting into haste, which was at one time considered nearly useless for hunters, but has gained some respectability. It all has to do with adjusting our ranged attack speed for various weapons... Oh, and we need differant ranged weapons depending on it's speed vs available haste gear. Otherwise, our shot rotations get jacked up.


Anyway, I've taken an interest in revisiting some of my old choices and beliefs.

I need 2 glinting Pyrestones, 2 Shifting Shadowsong Amethyst, and 6 Delicate Crimson Spinel cut at the earliest opportunity, I already have the gems. Yeehaaw.

You can mail em to me with the appropriate stat make ups you want and I can cut em if you want. Otherwise try to catch me online but with school and work that might be hard :-P

That being said I feel your pain. Personally I love the way hunters are geared like that since it truly adds another level to steady shot spam. I mean if they're going to take out shot rotations at least I have gear concerns to take into account. My personal favorite came from figuring out whether to use a fast gun which I could haste down with an ammo pouch/quiver and talents to allow steady shot spam or if I should go for the slower weapon and try to weave in stings/arcane shot to maximize dps. Of course its more mana efficient and brainless to just spam steady shot but finding a weapon fast enough to do that sucks without haste :-P

Oh ya I almost forgot - reading this reminded me of gearing a holy pally. Is crit better than m/5? How much power do I gain from crit to make up for any other m/5? Should I stack haste? What about int? How useful is +healing? And every time you figure something out the healing game changes or you get a new set bonus that completely fucks with everything :-(

<3 math

Sweet post convincing yourself on how to improve. Seriously.

the problem wasn't losing 8 agi for 3% crit, the gems you would have added were 2x green 5 crit rating 7 sta gems. so it was 16 agi vs 3% crit dmg and 10 crit rating and you'd have gained 2 socket bonuses doing it also. ;p