Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Hit and Gear for Moonkins - Tit for Tat


As I mentioned in an earlier post, I always try to have my gear list in front of me for whatever role I'm playing.  Now that I have an IPad, this is even easier.  I like to give props to the gear list that I currently use and really like.  For moonkins, I recommend Grey Matter's list, which can be found here.  When tanking, I really like Think Tank's list, which can be found here.  Yes, I do also use programs like Rawr to look at my particular situation, but I am also not a math person so I appreciate the fact that some people can look at the gear and say what is better.  I'm still looking for a good arcane mage gear list, so if you have any recommendations, feel free to post them in the comments.

Now, with tanking, it is incredibly easy to be hit capped.  Not that it is really needed since we do a lot of actions very quickly, but since bears use rouge gear for tanking, it tends to have a lot of hit on it.  It also helps with threat generation.  However, with moonkins and mages, hit becomes a bigger issue.  It is their number one stat that must always be maintained and a requirement to be capped.  The difference in DPS between a hit capped and a non-hit capped moonkin is drastic. 

Some of the recommendations that I see from both moonkins and mages say they depend on other people to be hit capped.  While I'm not saying this is necessarily wrong, it doesn't feel right for me.  Sure, I have a Draenai and a shadow priest in my 25 mans that would make it very easy to be hit capped, but what about 10 mans or even 5 mans.  I want to know that I'm not dependent on another person for my damage to matter.  Plus, I don't want to be the person to say that I have to have a Draenai in my group for me to be able to DPS. And yes, I know I get buffs from other classes that increase spellpower, crit, or haste.  But I want to know that I could do the damage needed without them.  Those help to improve it.

This is where the value of gear list and what I value come into contrast.  Let me give an example with my moonkin.  I had the Crushing Coldwraith Belt on my moonkin gear and I was using the Shard of the Crystal Heart as one of my trinkets, since it has hit.  However, I had a decision to make with hit.  I could definitely get a better trinket than Shard of the Crystal Heart in ICC 25, however, this means that I would not be hit capped.  I tried to use the Maghia's Misguided Quill, but when I used it, I found that my DPS was not getting better.  So this lead to a decision.  I decided to not use the Crushing Coldwraith Belt anymore, get the T10 legs plus the Belt of Omission so that when a better trinket, like Dislodged Foreign Object dropped, I could trade the Shard of the Crystal Heart for it and be hit capped without gems or enchants.  Is the Belt of Omission the best in slot for moonkins? Not even close.  Is it the best for me?  Yes, because I can use a better trinket than a 245 haste/hit trinket.

This is why it is important to look at your situation.  I was looking at a mage list of just the best in slot gear.  It ended up with a hit rating in the 220s, not even close to being hit capped.  They argued that with other buffs from other classes, you would be hit capped.  I would much rather trade a BiS piece for a lesser piece if it means that I'm not dependent on another person for damage output.

I would love your thoughts on gearing for your class.  Is my fear of being dependent on other people for my hit rating completely insane or do you feel it is well founded?  I would love your opinion on this.  

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