str/agi/attack power/defense and what they do

http://forums-en.wow-europe.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-blizzard-archive-en&t=7&p=1&tmp=1#post7

I have been wondering this for a long time.

We asked the devs for a short explanation of Attack
Power and Defense in relation to Agility and Strength. The following
should be of some help to those wondering e.g. whether their new +x
Attack Power weapon is better than their old +y Strength / +z Agility
one. 🙂

Agility

– Increases Armor Class by 2 for every point of AGI.

– Increases the chance of a critical hit with melee and ranged
attacks. The amount of the increase is dependant on both class and
level. For most level 60 character classes, approximately 20 points of
AGI will increase your critical hit chance by approximately 1%. Rogues
require 29 AGI for an additional 1% critical hit chance, and Hunters
require 53 AGI for an additional 1% critical hit chance, but both of
these classes also gain attack power from agility and the items
available to them typically have much higher amounts of AGI.

– Increases the chance to dodge an attack. The amount increased is
dependant on both class and level. For most level 60 character classes,
approximately 20 points of AGI will increase your chance to dodge by
approximately 1%. Rogues only require 14.5 AGI for an additional 1%
dodge chance. Hunters require 26.5 AGI for an additional 1% dodge
chance, but Hunters typically have a high amount of agility, as well as
an Aspect spell that further increases their chance to dodge attacks.

Defense

– Increases the chance of being missed by an attack.

– Increases the chance to dodge, parry, and block.

– Decreases the chance of being affected by a critical hit.

– Decreases the chance of being affected by a “crushing blow”.
Creatures that are higher level than your character can land crushing
blows that deal increased melee damage. The chance of a crushing blow
increases as the level difference between you and the opposing creature
increases. Players never deal “crushing blows”, only creatures.

Attack Power

– Attack power increases your base melee DPS by 1 for every 14 attack power.

– Strength increases your melee attack power by 2, except for
rogues and Hunters. Rogues and Hunters gain 1 attack power per point of
Strength, and 1 per point of Agility.

So going sta/str for feral makes sense. Agi for more crits? Meh, I have 5/5 in “more crits in feral forms” anyway. Many many tests will have to take place for me to find some kind of optimal balance between str/agi for cat form, and I’m just too lazy. Since str is a great help in bear (the more str, the more aggro you get), and it does help cat, the more str the better anyway. In caster gear, my cat dps is 60. After going to my current feral gear, my cat dps shoots up to 82. Of course, see Pom, level 47 (9 lower than arala), who has 90+ base dps. Oh well. I don’t even want to know Mif’s base dps, not to mention that his actual dps is probably 1.5x that becuase of his ridiculous crit rate. What will it take for cat form to get up there? If I want 100 dps, 100 * 14 = 1400 attack power, 1400/2 = 700 str. RIIIIIIIGHT. UH-HUH. Of course those numbers aren’t really right, because cat form has an innate boost to DPS anyway, I’m unsure of the exact number. Or maybe I should experiment other ways of fast farming with warlock, dots, and fear… farming is VERY SLOW for me. Makes me wish I had a rogue. Cat dps just isn’t comparable… at all.

Going +defense on pom is very, very tempting. But she’s so spoiled, a whole set of ornate mithril, and now a whole set of imperial plate (sta/str and makes you look like a SW guard! How could you not love it?) that will do superbly until full Valor. Hee hee hee. Guess she can go with the +3 defense bracer enchant and her current +10 def cloak, maybe find a +defense necklace? She does have 5/5 in that prot talent resulting in +10 defense too. Also, from reading the “leaked patch notes,” heroic strike/revenge (as well as sunder armor, mocking blow) cause more threat–I only knew about sunder armor causing lots of extra threat. Sunder works so well as a spammable taunt. No, Trogg, don’t look at Rutabaga, look at MEEEE sunder sunder sunder. Guess I can try using heroic for dmg output after I’ve sundered them to the max, too. Dan has inspired me to make a macro that says HA YOU ARE USELESS NOW whenever I disarm someone, because the red glow around the hand is just not enough. Might be worthwhile to invest in a weapon chain for immune disarm, too, but forsake pretty glow for that?? Nahhh