When you read the column of Encrypted Text, you will know the details of the hit rating and the seeming lack thereof in Northrend gear. Let’s come to have a look:
This is what the author discovered on the way to my first Emblem of Heroism:
Doing the Daily dance
I'll admit it, I only ran 3-4 instances while leveling. My ret paladin partner doesn't enjoy mindless DPS rotations and so we focused on questing & grinding. So as a newbie to these new Northrend Heroics, I went with an obvious first choice: the daily! I walked my way over to Archmage Lan'dalock and checked what the flavor of the day was. My first Heroic at 80 taught me a few very important lessons, the first of which is that Blizzard has gifted EVERY giant dragon with both frontal AND reverse cone-based damage attacks. Secondly, that I can be seen through stealth by mobs with far larger weapons than I, as well as far angrier temperaments. Thirdly, that I hate Void Walkers and the flashbacks to Jin'do the Hexxer that they induce.
The Trouble with Trinkets
The ever-benevolent Cyanigosa (blue dragon named Cyanxxx, very clever Blizzard) dropped a fantastic Rogue trinket, and one that I was in dire need of. I leveled from 70-80 in nothing but Season 4 gear, and so I was desperately lacking the +hit needed to connect on many of my special attacks. Mark of the War Prisoner has 2.78% chance to hit on it alone, which will bring a Rogue with 5/5 Precision more than halfway to the special hit cap by itself. It also has a 346 spell damage Use: effect, making it a fantastic item for those casters who are in the same +hit drought that Rogues are experiencing at 80.
No +hit for you!
Blizzard and company (that sounds strange considering that Blizzard IS a company) has decided that Rogues no longer need any hit rating on our gear anymore. They've compensated us for this lack of our previous god stat with a relatively new creation: haste. I have been finding more and more gear with haste in place of hit, and it has caused my DPS to be far below what I expect. While it's true that hit is no longer the #1 stat as it was previously, it's still very important for every rogue to achieve the "special attack hit cap" as soon as possible, and the "spell hit cap" very soon after. The special attack hit cap is floating around 300 hit for those of us without Precision, and closer to 125 hit for those of you that picked it up.
Haste is a waste
While we're on the topic of Blizzard's stat choices, let's talk about Haste. It seems like they've thrown it on just about everyone's gear, and yet for every melee class, it is a bottom-tier stat.
A PvP tip
I'll leave you with something I found while helping a guildmate level her Inscription: the new Glyph of Preparation. Death Knights, Warriors, Hunters, Enhancement Shamans, and Paladins beware! This Glyph and its reset of the Dismantle cooldown will completely destroy arena play for the previously mentioned 5 classes.
Do you agree the with the +hit? One of my friends said to me: “Often times when I'm questing I'll stop paying attention for a minute, then look back and think 'shouldn't this guy be dead already?'. Then I realize what's happening...I'm missing half the time. Haste would be nice, if I could hit the target in the first place!”
