Namely, I've realized the following, as have most Bear tanks:
50% of the time I crit, I proc Savage Defense. So having more Crit is good.
Savage Defense absorbs more based on your AP.
Mastery makes SD even *better* by increasing how much of your AP it uses to absorb.
Vengeance gives AP, and can get higher with more Stam, because it's capped by 10% of your max HP. So more HP, means higher Vengeance, means better SD procs.
Dodge is an amazing avoidance stat because it fully avoids all the damage of a strike, but then you don't get more Vengeance. No real downside to dodging other than that.
So my dilemma is this: I have run into a standstill as to wtf I should reforge, if at all.
If I reforge Crit into Mastery, my SD will absorb more, but I will crit less. Which means I proc SD less.
If I reforge Dodge into Mastery, my SD will absorb more, but then I (obviously) dodge less, and I think no matter how much Mastery you get... Dodge is better because it's 100% avoidance of that damage. SD will usually only absorb some of the strike.
I can't really reforge Hit or Expertise into it with my current gear (I did for some of it), because I'm Hit-capped, and I'm *right* at 10% Expertise... (which iirc, is where tanks want it). TBH, I'm still unsure if I need to be spell hit capped for taunting, or not, because I've never heard it being talked about...anywhere. And my taunts have missed before.
About the only stat I feel "safe" reforging is Haste. Because Rage generation is still a joke imo.
What do you higher-tier Feral Druids think about stat priorities right now?
I've read guides here and there, but most of those people still seem to have no particular opinion on how good the stats are. Most guide-writing Druids seem to still be playing with it.
Look for Reesi's guide on Bear tanking on these forums. It's not stickied yet, but you should find it easily.
And as a general rule of tanking, it's not how much damage you can take, it's how much damage you can withstand that makes you superior. SD is very reliable, up for the majority of attacks made at you. Anything that increases that value is reliable, solid mitigation. While dodge may avoid all of the damage, it's not reliable in the slightest.
Look for Reesi's guide on Bear tanking on these forums. It's not stickied yet, but you should find it easily.
And as a general rule of tanking, it's not how much damage you can take, it's how much damage you can withstand that makes you superior. SD is very reliable, up for the majority of attacks made at you. Anything that increases that value is reliable, solid mitigation. While dodge may avoid all of the damage, it's not reliable in the slightest.
I do believe his guide was the one I read.
I believe what he said was "Personally, I just zerged Mastery."
It sounded like he didn't really know whether or not it was better, but that he was just trying out this new thing and figured it'll be all right.
I have a lot of Crit rating I could easily turn into Mastery, but I can't really decide if I should go for bigger SDs, or SD being up more often.
Basically what I did in my tanking gear was reforge stats in this priority to mastery:
1. Haste. It's our worst stat in every regard.
2. Dodge. The only occurrences of this on our gear that's acceptable is from the strength tanking jewelry, which you should really try and replace with a good agility alternative.
3. Crit
4. Hit
5. Expertise
It looks like you've done that, so you look fine. I believe Reesi and everyone else did the same thing, although I haven't looked to see exactly. Should be rather easy, as these new forums support an Armory that shows their reforges.
Because at 80, it doesn't matter, though mastery is better than dodge at this time.
At 85, you're reforging haste off into Dodge. Excess hit and expertise into dodge. Crit/Mastery you're leaving alone. Mastery you're leaving alone. Any "undesirable" stat is being reforged into dodge.
That's pretty much the direction I was thinking, even on current gear. Leave alone the stats we like, and only reforge the ones we don't.
Basically what I did in my tanking gear was reforge stats in this priority to mastery:
1. Haste. It's our worst stat in every regard.
2. Dodge. The only occurrences of this on our gear that's acceptable is from the strength tanking jewelry, which you should really try and replace with a good agility alternative.
3. Crit
4. Hit
5. Expertise
It looks like you've done that, so you look fine. I believe Reesi and everyone else did the same thing, although I haven't looked to see exactly. Should be rather easy, as these new forums support an Armory that shows their reforges.
Definitely gonna go grab myself that Agi cloak. I never really thought too much on switching from STR jewelry to Agi jewelry, but I figure it'll be smart to get used to it where I can.
It's more of a question of "what's better" than it is of "what we like".
Mastery, crit, hit, and expertise should all come on gear - with circumstances pushing towards hit/expertise reforging if your threat is godawful and you're doing everything else right - haste is the least desirable so it goes first.
Desirable is probably the word I was looking for, as opposed to "what we like."
Where I'm particularly baffled is how to Reforge if my options for Reforging are, say:
Crit into Mastery
Crit into Dodge
Dodge into Mastery
And all vice versas that come from them. My initial reaction is "don't touch it, unless you're having a hard time tanking." Mostly because I don't know *how* important those three stats are, in relation to each other - I just know they're all beneficial to tanking.
For reforging, get rid of haste first and foremost, at 80 and 85. Get dodge with it.
In other words, I'm lending my support to what others are saying in that dodge is obviously going to be significantly better than mastery. At 85, reforging dodge into mastery isn't a good idea. Crit into mastery is also not really desirable. You're basically, to look at old, removed mechanics, lowering your block percentage to raise your block value (SD is sorta like a block mechanic in which your AP, and therefore also your mastery, are your block value and your crit, or 50% of it, is your block percent or block rating).
The biggest problem I've run into is that in the t11 gear on beta, all our tier has dodge, stam and strength. Because of that, our crit is really low. That makes mastery kind of unappealing because the chance of getting a crit is oh, 25-30 percent, with LotP, if you actually aim for 26 expertise and/or 8% hit.
Reforging anything into mastery at 80 will likely be ok, but at 85 you're going to be looking at reforging everything except MAYBE crit and mastery into dodge. We'll have to wait and see more of the practical applications.
A lot of the Cata gear that has stam/agi ends up being better than gear with stam/dodge because the agi is in such large amounts that it equals the dodge, and you're also getting crit. The trade-off sometimes is less stam, but I think it gives some more creativity for each person. You can go for stam stacking and be a meat shield, go for crit and AP and try to depend on SD, or you can go for dodge like I did back in BC and see just how much damage you can avoid, but then each hit from a big bad boss will be a larger chunk of your HP pool and make your healers bite their nails.
For non-tier pieces, look at the DPS items, not the tanking items, as they have comparable or equal stamina in some cases and tons of agi, giving you even more dodge AND crit.
Be ready to drop crap tons of gem slots into just getting to the dodge expertise cap and/or hit cap. Those are just as important, in my book, as additional crit, as if you're not even hitting a mob, you definitely aren't getting SD procs.
Sorry, I didn't express myself correctly. What I mean is the necklaces, rings, cloak, bracers, boots and trinkets that go along with the tier 11 raid content. Those pieces, for tanking, are strength and stam based, whereas the DPS gear, which will likely be what druids go for, has agi. All I was trying to say is what many of us consider common sense, that we'll want to get the DPS stuff over the "tanking" leather gear, even when it has dodge on it, because the massive amounts of agi make the dodge amounts nearly a wash, plus the benefit of additional crit.
For example,
http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/65082/lightning-conductor-band/
vs.
http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/65070/bile-o-tron-nut/
Other stats will obviously play a factor, including hit and expertise as needed, but I think the agi gear will still end up being far better, if you're wanting to be anything other than a giant ball of HP for stuff to wack.
You get more dodge from the Agility ring then from the strength ring...as well as more AP and Crit!
http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/65082/lightning-conductor-band/
vs.
http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/65070/bile-o-tron-nut/
A choice like that is 100% dependant on what gear you have at the time. Personally i don't think the .12% dodge gain is worth it to pick Bile over Lightning, given how much you sacrifice doing so.
You get more dodge from the Agility ring then from the strength ring...as well as more AP and Crit!
Actually you get less Dodge from the Agi ring, but I don't think it's enough less to justify not taking it over the +Dodge ring. Especially when you can reforge the Crit and/or Hit into Dodge to make up for (and actually exceed) the difference.
I went by the stat conversions at 80
Agility
Grants AP, Crit, and Dodge. No longer grants Armor.
1 Agi = 2.1624 AP
1 Agi = 0.0129744% Crit
1 Agi = 0.02404% Dodge
Dodge Rating
Increases chance to dodge.
1 Dodge Rating = 0.0220982% Dodge
45.2525 Dodge Rating = 1% Dodge
---------------------
215 Agility x .02404 = 5.1686%
215 dodge rating x .0220982 = 4.751113%
What are the stat conversions at 85?
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