I don't understand. Why mastery is so bad?

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Back when Cataclysm was first announced, Blizzard talked up the Mastery stat.  The Mastery stat will be the stat everyone will want. The stat to homogenize gear so that casters and melee will want it. It will be the stat to rule them all. 

Unfortunately, now that it's implemented, critics agree, Mastery is one of the most useless stats for warlocks, destruction, affliction and even demonology. In all forms, it adds DPS to your game, but not as much as other stats, I guess? According to the data on EJ:

179.28 mastery provides a 1.35% increase to all fire damage we do. As 90%+ of our damage comes from fire spells, mastery is not a bad stat, however, the increase per point is low enough that we will not prioritize mastery over crit or haste until much higher gear levels.

Will Blizzard change this? They evidently didn't like that warlocks preferred the infernal vs the doomguard (in certain situations) so buffed Mr. Doom. I can imagine that this will eventually be 'fixed'. Otherwise, the loss of "Spell Power" to gain a more generic "Mastery" stat seems pointless. 
  • At what point will we change our entire prioritization from Int/Hit/Haste priorities to one that favors mastery?
  • Is there any class that stacks mastery to no end?

Comments

  1. ZinnMar 24, 2011, 7:15:00 AM

    To a couple of classes mastery is a good stat, for a few others it is really THE stat. Holy and disc priest is a good example of where mastery is about equally good to haste, kind of depending on your healing style. For enhancement shamans, mastery is the best stat by far, and you'd really want to convert any stat (except expertise and hit) to mastery. Same goes for all tank classes (uncertain about druids though) where mastery is considered better than dodge and parry by far. So there is hope in mastery yet!

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  2. MhorgrimMar 24, 2011, 9:56:00 AM

    I think it is a fine stat to have, but one thing I don't like is the homogenization of stats. General Purpose stats to me don't allow the specific class to really feel as if they have something that others don't. Just a thought.

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  3. ElkagorasaMar 24, 2011, 12:59:00 PM

    @Mhrogrim, maybe that is why Blizzard hasn't made Mastery that big of deal for all classes and builds. Spell power was the be-all, end-all for Wrath. Intellect is that now for casters, well, I guess primarily just dps casters??

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  4. AnonymousMar 28, 2011, 10:20:00 AM

    Elk - good post. I'm wondering if I should reforge mastery out of all my gear. And as I haven't done a ton of research yet, what's up with Spell Power? I still see some gear with it, but I get the feeling that SP is outdated or somewhere behind even Mastery?

    ReplyDelete
  5. ElkagorasaMar 28, 2011, 11:44:00 AM

    @Mortigan, Cataclysm has shaken SP off all our armor. It only stuck to weaponry (wands, sword and daggers). IMHO, I'd put spell power in the prioritization somewhere between Hit & Haste.

    Int >> Hit (to cap) > (spell power) > Haste > Crit > Mastery

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