I continue to upgrade gear, and just got lucky in an ICC 10 man run, where I got a nice axe and some gloves.
In the mean time I've also acquired a PvP neck and back.
And this is where things get interesting and difficult for a couple reasons:
1 - As you upgrade from one gear "set" (ie, I have a 4 pc T9 set, and am starting to get T-10) does losing a set bonus negate the benefit of single item bonus? According to Rawr, I should keep my T9 gloves and NOT use my new non-set pieces (THESE, if you're interested) I will need to spend time on an attack dummy to see if that's the case or not. It is entirely possible that the set bonus will make it such that having LOWER gear actually gives me better DPS. Sucks, but it can happen
2 - Different gear sets (especially going from PvE to PvP) will have different stat balances. For example, for my PvP set, I have my Herkumel War Token and the Medallion of the Alliance. (My PvE set still has the Pyrite Infuser)
Now, the medallion is an essential PvP item, but there's a hitch: the Pyrite Infuser has 95 hit and the medallion has none. And so, until today, I had been entering PvP (BGs) without being hit-capped: HUMONGOUS OOPS!!!
Fortunately, I noticed this before I bought my PvP cloak, and chose one that had hit on it.
So, all I'm saying is don't just buy or equip the highest ilevel piece you can without looking at your current gear in its entirety. And sometimes even tools like Rawr won't tell you everything, and you will have to spend 30-60 minutes beating on an attack dummy ( fully buffed, if possible!)
One last thing. I will be t4ravelling for the next several days. Granted I'm not a "post every day" blogger, but it will likely be a full week before I get back on.
Toodles!
EDIT -
The new gloves beat the old gloves by about 300-500 DPS, depending on fight to fight variability.
Also, as a friend recommended switching from Barbed Ymirheim Choker to the Wrathful Gladiator's Pendant of Triumph. That was also another 100-300 DPS better.
In both cases, Rawr said recommended the opposite.
(one other interesting thing - I couldn't measure a significant increase in DPSwith my food/elixir/scroll buffs and without. If there is a difference, it's less than 300 DPS for me)
Oh yeah, gear is a big "shuffle". One piece changes and all those precious caps are suddenly shifted. This is why I keep things that I consider "sidegrades" or even "downgrades" in the bank, just in case. For the longest time, Rawr was telling me that 2pc t8 + 2pc t9 was actually better than the 4pc t9 bonus for cat dps (Rawr was right, by the way, but I was still a little embarrassed to be seen in t8.)
ReplyDelete@Zelmaru - Thanks for the remider to keep stuff in the bank. I'm a hoarder, so that's not usually an issue for me, but for the efficient, space conscious folks, that could be a big thing.
ReplyDeleteThe good news is that in kitty form, we can't see your armor ;)
I just did some quick n dirty testing and in this particular case, Rawr was wrong, at least about some stuff. (I edited the blog post to say that.