Hunters and Leather, Opinions Please

[Jonmcslain]

I wanted to get some opinions on the use of leather. It looks like certain pieces of leather have a good dps bump on maxdps.com Ive got some leather pieces and tend to think that the stats of certain pieces put together will outweigh the mail specialization bump.

Pieces such as Assasins Chestplate, Liars Handwraps. Of course there are mail items that could replaced them when you have enough points to do so or get a drop.

At an agility of say 3800 the bump would only be 190. As a JC I make this up in JC specific Agi gems.

What are your thoughts?

[Lupis]

I know my hunter is wearing a piece of leather armor from DM. It just had better stats. However, I haven't look too deeply at the numbers and how Mail Specialization shifts with it.

[Magli]

As you say, mail specialization is worth about 190 agility. So if you pick up a piece (or set) of leather gear that's more than 190 agility better than the mail that you're wearing, it's worth doing.

[Lisaara]

Yeah, it sucks but Mail is the best option. Leather is only if its a HUGE upgrade.

[Jonmcslain]

The main piece is Assasin's Chestplate with + 183 hit, and + 253 crit vs Dragonkiller Tunic +259 haste, +173 mastery The Assasins dps is + 62 vs Dragonkiller. Both have same Agi and Stam.

dps based on Maxdps under BM spec. Dps is +100 over Dragonkiller in MM spec.

Since I lost the mail anyway.. Liars Handwraps are a pretty close to Gloves of the Passing Night with either a 15-25 dps bump.

I would replace these with mail pieces later on, but for now this seems to be a litte better option or at worst a wash.

Opinions

[Cozzene]

If the leather has the same agi as the mail. NO. 190 agi is 380 attack power (ish). Does maxdps.com take the mail mastery into account? I cannot believe that secondary stats could account for the same dps as nearly 400 attack power.

Sorry, BIG supporter of Hunters Against Leather (H.A.L.) Blizzard made it very clear they don't want hunters wearing leather after they hit 50 (when mastery kicks in). You may be a JC, but think; you could hve the 15% bonus PLUS the JC gems.

[Cialbi]

If the leather has the same agi as the mail. NO. 190 agi is 380 attack power (ish). Does maxdps.com take the mail mastery into account? I cannot believe that secondary stats could account for the same dps as nearly 400 attack power.

Sorry, BIG supporter of Hunters Against Leather (H.A.L.) Blizzard made it very clear they don't want hunters wearing leather after they hit 50 (when mastery kicks in). You may be a JC, but think; you could hve the 15% bonus PLUS the JC gems.

190 Agi is also going to net you something like .6% additional crit chance on top of the 380 AP (btw, the ratio of AP gained from Agi is 2:1 exactly)

[Gimlion]

If the leather has the same agi as the mail. NO. 190 agi is 380 attack power (ish). Does maxdps.com take the mail mastery into account? I cannot believe that secondary stats could account for the same dps as nearly 400 attack power.

Sorry, BIG supporter of Hunters Against Leather (H.A.L.) Blizzard made it very clear they don't want hunters wearing leather after they hit 50 (when mastery kicks in). You may be a JC, but think; you could hve the 15% bonus PLUS the JC gems.

190 Agi is also going to net you something like .6% additional crit chance on top of the 380 AP (btw, the ratio of AP gained from Agi is 2:1 exactly)

After the first ten points...

[Jonmcslain]

Sounds like a plan. Ive got a fullset of Bloodthirsty pvp, Ill change out the chest and hands and get the set bonus of +70 Agi, a trap cd of - 4 sec, and the mail specialization. Or I can get a Dragonkiller Tunic and use Gloves of Passing Night and get the mail spec. The additional sockets on the chest would be a plus however.

Wadda ya think would be a better option?

[Felidire]

I think it's better to stick with mail, after you've replaced the first crusty mail item with a nice shiny 85 heroic leather item it becomes all to easy in the future to say: "well this leather drop is slightly better than my current mail armor, and i'm not getting the bonus anyway so what the hell! /need <3" -- before you know it, you have 4-8 leather items on and you're in for one heck of a fun time trying to replace them all with mail!

My hunter had 5 leather items on, prior to lv.85 it's not much of a problem but at 85 it really is best to go all mail.

[Jonmcslain]

I got my Blood chest and gloves on but forgot I had leather H boots. Luckily I got exaulted with Hyjal and got Treads of Malorne, Now finally all mail that got me the bump. Does anyone know if the Blood Chain Gauntlets also reduce the Black Arrow cool down?