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Darn it, I'm going on a KZ run friday. Sorry Ice :sad: .

Btw here are some specs:
 
Melee DPS: http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?talent=0ZE0Msfrd0eo0xuAo0Eczb
Tank: http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?talent=0ZxhGsfrdceRcxzNo0E0z
Healing: http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?talent=0VG0sZZf0IubuxVuAust (You might want to swap some points into Replenish if it turns out to be usefull).
Balance: http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?talent=0xRbsihsVdhVuotZbxcub (You can move the 3 points from Intensity to Lunar Guidance if mana doesn't turn out to be a problem; if mana does turn out to be a problem you'll need to 'steal' 3 points from somewhere else and put them into Dreamstate).

The talent trees aren't final yet and the Druids still need a polish/overhaul pass; so you can expect them to change before patch 3.0/WotLK hits.
 
Blizz already admitted balance it bloated and will be reworked. Feral is still 'broken' in a lot of peoples eyes. Additionally just about every viable spec needs to put a lot of points in the first 3 tiers of the restro tree, which is poor design if you ask me ....
 
Rolling a Deathknight might indeed be a good option if Feral doesn't turn out to be any good.

It's mainly a badge farm / alt gear-up place these days. I don't think many people are doing it 'just for fun' anymore, since they've cleared that place out at least a dozen times :sideways: .

This is true however i also reckon the loot tables will be smaller so it will drop more often which means the chance of getting it is bigger, since it will drop more.

Yep, that's true; unless Blizz decides to let bosses drop a bigger variaty of items. But regardless, the chances of someone being able to use a certain item drop should be larger in any case.

I'd say need before greed. If something drops which someone can use for his/her main spec they should get priority. Although in PuGs there often is a Free-For-All mentality; in which case it depends a bit on the situation. Although, generally, I'd pass if someone needs it.
 
On the other hand, who cares so much about 5 man/heroic drops that it's worth starting an argument about and/or snatch them from someone that has a better use for them? It's not like they're special or anything. You'll replace most of them (with few exceptions) before you know it; be it by craftables, rep/badges stuff or otherwise.
 
P.S.: In WotLK, this main/off-spec stuff might get a bit more complicated with the whole 'dual-spec' thing Blizzard is planning to introduce. Additionally gear is being consolidated, +dmg and +healing is being replaced by +spellpower for example. People will be after the same stuff more often, so meh ...

That would be really cool. Personally I'd still like to see AQ40 from the inside. However, unfortunately for me, I'm usually not available during the evenings :sad: .

You mean you still don't have one Vang :blink: ?

It's still true that, generally speaking, 1 haste > 1 +damage > 1 spell crit. But it all depends on how much of each stat you get per itembudget. Looking at the gems, the order of expensiveness is probably in the same as they're usefullness. Making what's best in a specific case completely spec and gear dependent.
 
But like you said, since SP gear is loaded with haste rating, and you'll quickly have a lot, it's probably the best way to go in the end.

I think you're confusing defense rating with actual defense. You'll need 2.36 defense rating per point of defense; this is where the difference is comming from.
 
(502 - 350) / 2.36 + 350 = 414.

I recalculated the difference manually to check if it's a bug or not, but it seems to be correct.
 
Haste:
(1 / ((1 + (180/1570)) * (1 / x))) - (1 / ((1 + (185/1570)) * (1 / x)))
(1 / 1.114... * x)) - (1 / (1.117... * x))
0.8971...x - 0.8945...x = 0.002857... ~= 0.2857%
 
Fireball damage (untalented):
(649 + 821) / 2 = 735
(((1244 / 3.5 * 3) + 735) / ((1238 / 3.5 * 3) + 735) - 1) / 100 = 0.2863%
 
Fireball damage (talented):
(649 + 821) / 2 = 735
((((1244 / 3.5 * 3) * 1.15) + 735) / (((1238 / 3.5 * 3) * 1.15) + 735) - 1) / 100 ~= 0.3024%
 
 
Thus 6 +damage is slightly better then +5 haste rating in this case. However haste scales a lot better then +damage, so the more you have the better it gets, where as for +damage it's the opposite (every extra point becomes slightly less usefull then the one before it). On the other hand haste also amplifies the effects of lag and such with an equal percentage as it does damage; so you'll need to go a bit over the break even point to see a 'real' benefit.
 
I have to say, this is totally unexpected for me as well.
 
 
By the way, it did forget to add the +12 crit rating of the Chaotic Skyfire Diamond to the calculations in my previous post (it didn't automaticly add it is you select the gem). So the difference between the two gems is a bit bigger.
 
Current fully buffed DPS: 2033,99
-Swapping 6+damage: 2056.61 (+1.1112%)
-Swapping 5haste: 2056.73 (+1.1118%)
-Swapping 12+damage: 2050.74 (+0.8235%)
-Swapping 10+haste: 2050.87 (+0.8299%)
 
Definately worth the upgrade. 0.8ish% is quite a considerable difference (provided that what the sheet says is correct).

though the reason they beat nihilum is that nihilum is no more, they have disbanded.

D&T disbanded, Nihilum is still around as far as i know (they're still in the armory with 60 players). They did disband as an April fools joke though :flirty: .

I hope you don't mind, but I took the liberty of recalculating your results using Lhivera's Theorycraft-o-matic again, with the stats from your most recent armory profile (543int, 185haste, 111hit, 319crit, 1244+firedmg). (I hope they're right).
 
With full buffs, I got 2033.99DPS as 'current' score and 2048.25DPS with the [item]Choatic Skyfire Diamond[/item], by replacing one red gem by a purple one (you already had a purple one is your shoulder slot for the gem bonus) or 2048.37DPS if you swapped one yellow gem for a green one. It's only a 0.7% increase, but it's still fairly nice. However if you would have had to drop two red gems the difference would have been a bit smaller (0,41% (red->purple) to 0.42% (yellow->green)).
The unbuffed results where a bit higher, but not by all that much.
 
You'll lose 11 or 12 int as well, but I think that's definately worth it.
 
P.S.: One thing that definately suprised me is that +6 spell damage is worth more then +5 haste rating; even with your stats. I expected it to be the other way around, since haste scales a lot better then +damage :g: . So I was wrong about that in my previous post.

Haste = 15.7 spell haste rating per 1% increase in casting speed, so the sockets you get to use when not trying to fit the crit metagem requirements allow two more yellow haste gems, 10 haste each, so 20 haste total and an increase of 1.27% in casting speed and all crit or non-crit dps.

You'll only need to lose 10 haste rating, if you swap two [item]Quick Lionseye[/item]'s for two [item]Forceful Seaspray Emerald[/item]'s. But the 'cheapest' thing to do is probably swapping two [item]Runed Crimon Spinel[/item]'s for two [item]Glowing Shadowsong Amethyst[/item]'s, since 10 haste will most likely be worth more then 12 +damage.

Hmm, I didn't think about haste gems; probably because I haven't followed recent changes closely enough. 10 spell haste is at least 0.7% damage (depending on how much you already have ofcourse). But that still leaves a 1.4ish% difference, of which I'm not sure Ember's bonus can fill :g: . Naturally it all depends on spec and gear, but I think the [item]Chaotic Skyfire Diamond[/item] will outedge the others in most cases.
 
Anyway, putting your data in Vontre's mage DPS sheet is probably the easiest way to find out what's best, in case anyone is interested. No point in guessing without specifics .