That New Leather Smell

Given all the DPS research and feedback I've been collecting recently, it was becoming clear that I needed to start looking beyond AP and crit for ways to improve damage output.

Raw stats are always good since they scale with Blessing of Kings (and we seem to have an abundance of Paladins around), but now that I've crossed the 1200 AP/25% crit range it's also time to stop neglecting +hit as much.

The biggest problem is gear itemization, especially when it comes to accessible gear for the casual player. I'm sure there's some megaphatlewtz in Mount Hyjal and Sunwell Plateau, but umm... I'm still LFG Kara, and intellect/mp5 does nothing for me. And I'm not a badge farmer either. PUG'ing 'roics gives me the hives.

So what kind of gear has hit rating and raw stats? Leather. Oh yeah baby, I said it. Mail armor isn't going to save my blue bacon in a heroic or raid anyway, so why not get back to my roots? For the past few weeks I've been monitoring both the Leather and Mail categories for good buys, and today a Shadowprowler's Chestguard showed up in the AH for relatively cheap.

/buy

So yes, this is definitely a kittydurid piece, but look at those raw stats when including the +6 All Stats enchant and three Bold Living Ruby's: 62(!) strength, 46 agility and 18 stamina - plus a bit of hit rating as well. Zomg now we're talking! (Also picked up a Cloak of the Craft for the additional hit rating and slapped-on the 12 agility 'chant.)

Took this new getup into Kara tonight, and while it's not completely scientific (mostly went up against Aran and Prince, so not so much trash), there did seem to be a pretty significant improvement in my DPS. Recount was showing ~625 DPS, up from ~550 on the previous report. Next time I get to participate in "night one" of a Karazhan run I'll update this post for more of an oranges-to-oranges comparison.

UPDATE 05/13: tonight we ran the first bit of Kara (up through Curator), and Recount showed an average of ~675 DPS, compared to my pre-leather average of ~550. Not bad!