Mastery and higher level gear

[Beatrix Profile]

Hi guys,

As i am getting higher level gear through raiding, I am wondering how to reforge, I know from reading here that I should be hit and expertise capped. I am going to wowreforge.com to get the reforging summary as I also read on here that AskMr.Robot does not quite have the right stat weights for kitties. I also hate that it does not quite make me hit the caps on hit and expertise.

My question is this : does mastery get more important as my gear gets better? Also if someone could provide me with the correct stat weights with DoC and HoTW rotations (if they are different.

Here is the link to my toon
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/b ... oon/simple

Thanks in advance

[scorpio0920 Profile]

Pick first item level, and then compare the same item level secondary stats.

[Tinderhoof Profile]

There are some minor differences between DoC and HotW, but the order is still the same. Hit/Exp->Mastery->Crit--------->Haste. Mastery is really good, but it will never be better then Agility. You won't be gemming for Mastery alone anytime soon.

I haven't heard from Zoopercat in a little bit but I know he was in the process of adding the newer stat values into AskMrRobot. You can manually add the stat values we have on the sticky thread (stat weights) to AMR. If you want to force the Hit/EXP caps you will need to set their weight .01 higher then mastery to get the desired effect.

You can use wowreforge if you like, but it doesn't handle gear upgrades very well (real pain in the butt). AMR does that part flawlessly.

[Beatrix Profile]

Thanks for the replies guys

[aggixx Profile]

To answer one of your original questions, mastery does tend to pull further ahead of the other stats as you gear up, yes. Bleeds scale very well with mastery and AP so as you get more of each they tend to get a little better relative to everything else.

You can find some up to date stat weights in this sticky.

[Helistar Profile]

I stopped looking at stat weights some time ago, and now purely reforge for convenience, since the DPS difference is irrelevant in any real-world scenario, so my approach is:

- hit/expertise cap, to make the rotation smoother. An error in the rotation or a bleed which fails to apply while you're doing a lot of target switching will cost you more than the gain from reforging out of hit/expertise
- mastery to abuse the DoTs: there are several fights where you're forced off-target by mechanics, DoTs keep running even when you're not in melee range, moving out of bad stuff, etc. etc.
- crit because sometimes I use the gear for tanking, also crit makes big numbers and big numbers are nice to see
- all this at the expense of haste

[Beatrix Profile]

I stopped looking at stat weights some time ago, and now purely reforge for convenience, since the DPS difference is irrelevant in any real-world scenario, so my approach is:

- hit/expertise cap, to make the rotation smoother. An error in the rotation or a bleed which fails to apply while you're doing a lot of target switching will cost you more than the gain from reforging out of hit/expertise
- mastery to abuse the DoTs: there are several fights where you're forced off-target by mechanics, DoTs keep running even when you're not in melee range, moving out of bad stuff, etc. etc.
- crit because sometimes I use the gear for tanking, also crit makes big numbers and big numbers are nice to see
- all this at the expense of haste

Yeah I get what you are saying. I was trying to go for better reforging because I have been trying the DoC rotation with help from Ovale. Ever since using a DoC build I have found my DPS to be fairly lower than with a HoTW build and wondered if it was related to my stats. Of course I know that DoC is hard to master, add to that lag and having to learn the rotation, well I was expecting a difference but not that much.

Overall, since my guild is progressing through Normal content (halfway through HoF now) I have decided to forgo DoC and go back to HoTW. But if I do that would I be better with Nature's Swiftness or Renewal?

Another thing I am a bit unclear about is the following : even if I do not choose the DoC talent would I still be able to use the predatory swiftness procs on healing touch or Cyclone.

[aggixx Profile]

But if I do that would I be better with Nature's Swiftness or Renewal?

I personally much prefer Renewal simply because it's off the GCD, so it's a lot easier to use in a pinch. You can't always afford to stop DPSing just to drop a heal on yourself and with Renewal you don't have to make that choice.

Nature's Swiftness has a lot more healing potential if you use it on cooldown but I've never felt that Feral is hurting for personal defensive CDs so it seems pretty unnecessary.

Another thing I am a bit unclear about is the following : even if I do not choose the DoC talent would I still be able to use the predatory swiftness procs on healing touch or Cyclone.

Yes, you would be able to still. Since you wouldn't be using DoC you'd lose the (nearly) passive 25% healing buff granted by DoC but it's not a huge difference, especially because you're not "forced" to use your Predatory Swiftness procs when they might be completely overheal.

[Beatrix Profile]

Thanks Aggixx,
That makes it much clearer. And many thanks for all the great replies. Fluidduid boards are my main go to for feral information and thanks to you, Leafkiller and all the others my understanding of all things feral is much clearer.