Post by Kokorazashi
Having to sacrafice to much Haste and Mastery for Hit seems to affect fire more than frost.
No offense, but you must be doing something wrong. The theorycrafting freaks at Elitist Jerks have this start priority chart up for Fire mages:
Rank
Name
Relative Value
Notes
The Relative values below are subject to change. Simulationcraft and Rawr disagree on the value for Haste - Watch this space for updates when we get more information. The most important thing to take away from here is the general order, whilst being mindful of the actual numerical value and that Haste is still being finalised. Last Table Update: 22nd December. Simulationcraft is source, to view more detailed information:
1 Intellect 3.96 Intellect is King - the strongest stat by far. Much stronger than even Hit. Intellect increases our Spell Power, Critical Strike Chance and our Mana. Due to the strength of intellect: We aggressively Gem, Enchant and Gear towards maximising the amount present on our gear.
Haste before Soft Cap The Haste "Soft Cap" refers to the value required to reach +12.5% Haste raid buffed.
The soft cap with 3/3 Netherwind Presence and 5% Raid Haste Buff is: 516 Haste from gear. Due to rounding errors, you may need to have a couple more Haste rating than this ingame. Click here to see how this value is derived.
The soft cap with 2/3 Netherwind Presence and 5% Raid Haste Buff is: 646 Haste from gear. Due to rounding errors, you may need to have a couple more Haste rating than this ingame. Click here to see how this value is derived
The Soft Haste cap for Goblins with 3/3 Netherwind Presence is 384
Haste is a very strong stat before the Soft Cap, but a weak stat after. The values required to reach Soft Cap is very easy to obtain with entry level raid gear. Why is this 12.5% raid buffed number so important?
Living Bomb, Pyroblast (Dot) and Frostfire Bolt (DOT) all gain an additional tick at +12.5% Haste. With 3/3 Netherwind Presence and the 5% Haste Buff present in your raid (Moonkin, Shadow Priest, Elemental Shaman) you'll only need a further 516 haste from gear to reach the soft cap. The value for Haste falls off sharply after this point, as 3476 haste is needed for a second additional tick. This is well out of reach for current gear levels.
After the Soft Cap, Haste is considered the weakest stat. For more details on this topic: see the "Haste and DOT's" section.
2 Hit 3.1209 Hit is a very strong stat, but still weaker than intellect. You'll need 17% hit (1742 rating) for Tier 11 boss mobs. Read the section below for a strategy on how to cap Hit rating. The value of Hit falls off once you're Hit capped.
3 Spell Power 2.6208 Spell Power can still be found on weapons and trinket effects. Spell Power is a very strong stat.
4 Crit 2.2168 Crit is a strong Fire stat. Why? Because the Fire spec is built around Crit: Hot Streak relies on crits. Flashburn Mastery is more effective when spells Crit (They leave an Ignite, which Flashburn can amplify). Crit rates boost the amount of mana restored by Master of Elements, which in turn allows for more Fireballs to be cast. Combustion is a more powerful (and more easily used) cooldown when spells crit often. Crit is the heart of the Fire spec.
5 Mastery 1.4517 Mastery and Haste (After Soft Cap) are both considerably weaker than Crit. They are both of similar value, but Mastery is slightly better. These are the weakest stats you can reforge into Hit.
6 Haste after Soft Cap 1.3722 Mastery and Haste (After Soft Cap) are both considerably weaker than Crit. They are both of similar value, but Mastery is slightly better. These are the weakest stats you can reforge into Hit.
While they do say that Haste is the second most important stat, it's only until the soft cap of 12.5%, afterwhich the value of it sharply declines. Mastery, as shown in the table, says that it is an extremely weak stat and shouldn't be prioritized. So I'd suggest (Not in a rude way), to check out the Elitist Jerks post on Fire Mages below, to make sure you're getting the most out of the spec:
Fire Mage Compendium - Elitist Jerks