Cataclysm Itemization Pt. 2: Hit/Crit

I left this out of the post the other day because it was already getting pretty damn long. This is something I expected from past statements about bosses scaling instead of just gear and hit/crit chances being added to mob tooltips, but this is the first time that it's actually been confirmed.

Ratings will be steeper in Cataclysm, and creatures in later tiers of content will be harder to hit or crit, similar to how level-83 mobs are harder to hit or crit than level-80 mobs.

So, just to theorize, let's say the tier 11 hit cap is still 17%. That might suggest a 19% hit cap for tier 12, 21% for teir 13, and so on. I'm actually going to guess tier 11 will end up having a lower hit cap than current content, and the old standard will be about mid-expansion, with Deathwing's raid having a higher hit cap (Let's just toss out 22%, check back in two years to see how far off I was).

This means having reserve hit gear is more important than ever - that extra ring in the bank isn't just covering for the one day the shadow priest doesn't show, but for the next tier's increased cap as well.

The crit bit is interesting too. Level 83/skull elites have a built in crit suppression that lowers your chance to crit against them. In theory it doesn't look like it'll have much effect on warlocks as-is, we're not crazy about crit but we've geared considerable amounts all expansion, so while we'll see a drop in crit rate every teir, I don't expect we'll be stacking crit specifically because of it, unless the suppression is bigger than the normal growth in crit rating. This change will mean a lot more for melee than casters due to the single roll miss system they use. Dual wielding classes in particular will be affected by this, as they already have to deal with very real (and surprisingly low) crit caps where their white damage no longer benefits from crit without cranking up hit.

Similar applies to avoidance, as well, meaning a smoother progression of gear from tiers. In theory, properly balanced, this new system could work for at least several more tiers than the existing system before stat bloat starts breaking the game and forcing brute force adjustments like Sunwell and Icecrown both saw. Imagine instead breaking Chill of the Throne into thirds and putting parts in Ulduar and ToC so it's a gradual change instead of suddenly Arthas says dodge less.