I was fortunate enough to go into Wrath of the Lich King with 5 pieces of Tier 6 gear, all of which lasted me right up through level 80. I%26#39;m starting to see upgrades now, but the upgrades mean breaking the%26#0160;amazing T6 set bonus. Is it worth it?
- 2 pieces: Reduces the energy cost of your Mangle ability in Cat Form by 5 and increases the threat generated by your Mangle ability in Bear Form by 15%.
- 4 pieces: Increases the damage dealt by your Rip, Swipe, and Ferocious Bite abilities by 15%.
I think it%26#39;s safe to say the T6 set bonuses aren%26#39;t very important or bear tanking. Our threat is so enormous we don%26#39;t really need the extra help. There may be a modest exception for Swipe AoE tanking, but I%26#39;m doing OK without the 30% Swipe bonus from talents so I%26#39;m guessing the 15% from the T6 isn%26#39;t crucial. Upgrade away!
The story is a lot more complex for cats. Toskk%26#39;s calculator is a bit confusing in how it reports set bonuses, so I worked it out in simplicity with my reference settings. Here%26#39;s the standalone incremental value of the T6 set bonuses as calculated in Toskk%26#39;s 4.2.3 model:
- 2/8 T6: 110 kittypoints (+1.5% dps)
- 4/8 T6: 320 kittypoints (+4% dps)
- 2/8 T7: 160 kittypoints (+2% dps)
So breaking the 4 piece T6 bonus costs you 320 kittypoints. For the shoulders alone it%26#39;s not worth it. The stats on the T7 Naxx/10 Shoulders make it 73 kittypoints better than the T6. A nice upgrade, but not worth losing the set bonus. The T7 Naxx/25 Shoulders are a 110 point upgrade over T6: again, not worth breaking the set bonus for by itself. It%26#39;s probably worth it when you get a second piece of T7, at that point the 2 piece T7 bonus along with the better stats will make up for the loss of the T6.
Note the total value of T6 is 110+320 = 430 kitty points above and beyond the value of the stats on the gear itself. And that bonus actually scales up nicely as your stats improve since it%26#39;s all percentage increases to damage and saving you energy. You may want to keep that T6 around for a long time.
A word of warning: all this theorycrafting is just starting, no one really knows how feral DPS exactly works yet. Every time I use the Toskk calculator it%26#39;s been updated and I get different gear weightings, +/- 10%. Also some things are still not fully figured out, like proc cooldowns. Use these rankings as broad guides, not 1% fine-tuning.