Retardins and ArP.

The other night, I was hosting a PuG to Ulduar - Razorscale was the weekly raid boss and I wanted my emblems. Clearing through 10-man lootmobile and Razor at a speed that granted everyone not already having it the achievements for full nuke and no repairs, we arrived at loot and Razorscale drops his melee DPS ring.

Since I hit 80, I've had little to no luck in the department of decent rings. Still sporting a blue ilvl200-ring from heroic Nexus, I naturally rolled. Agility and ArP on it, OK, but the total attack power, crit and haste on it makes it a decent upgrade nonetheless. I roll 42, the rogue in the group rolls 30, I award it to myself. And then it comes: "arp for paladins? friggin moron", before he promptly leave the raid group, not even waiting for a mage portal before HS'ing out.

Normally, I wouldn't particularily mind this, especially not from a guildless rogue in last season's PvP gear. But then I see this flowchart posted on a blog I much enjoy, and while I appreciate the humour involved, I kinda felt it sting that extra bit. I'm now officially a knob. Especially since I'm already wielding the DBB, crafted myself the ilvl245-bracers the other week and just got the Frost badge-cloak. Silly me, I even use the paladin tier 9 chestpiece. All of these items with ArP on them. Am I a knob, or what?

And don't even get me started on that whole Shadowmourne-debate again. Yes, it has ArP. Yes it'll still be best in slot for paladins. Deal with it.

Luckily, I had the Recount numbers from doing The Twilight Zone this Monday. We couldn't get a kiter, so just had to zerg it, effectively making it even more of a DPS race than the kiting tactic. And looking at my Recount, I realize that of my damaging abilities, white melee, Crusader Strike and Divine Storm are all in my top 4. I wonder if that ArP had any effect on those number at all? Surely not? Everyone knows that paladins using ArP are knobs and friggin morons. Right?

I know my class. I know my abilities. I know that over the course of a full raid, ArP will affect roughly 35-40% of my overall damage done. I'll be the first to agree that ArP as of today, is my least desired DPS stat (unless you count spellpower, which we do not, except from Fish Feasts). If it was my choice, I'd much prefer haste. However, tier 9 and 10 itemization ultimately define ArP as a stat to count, simply because you can't avoid it. ArP is everywhere. On your expertise cloak, on your two-handed weapons, on your rings and necklaces. In fact, apart from the ever-present hit rating, ArP is probably the single most common melee DPS stat out there today, trumping even crit rating. And still you want us to pass on items with ArP.

Let's make a deal, then. I'll pass on everything with ArP, you pass on everything with haste. Oh, but haste is still good for you? Well, yeah, ArP is still good for me. It's just not that massive. Haste is. So pass me that Battered Hilt, yes? Quel'delar is poorly itemized for you anyway, clearly a ret weapon. You all realize how silly this is, don't you?

So let's just end the debate right here. I'll roll on ArP if it's an upgrade. That does not make me a knob or moron. If you think otherwise, you probably think I should bubble out of shit when my wings are up as well. And to that, I have but a single answer:

l2paladin

That'll be all.