My chase for haste

I tend to be a lagging applicator (to coin a bad phrase) of whatever the hot new tankadin gear goal is. Whether it’s armor cap or CTC cap or whatever, I get there eventually, but it’s not much longer before the nerfs start rolling in or said goal otherwise reaches obsolescence. Now, this isn’t for lack of trying — believe me! — but mostly because I’m not on the same gear curve as those tanks who are currently strutting around with 30+% haste (and more!) when fully buffed.

But I’m getting there. I’m up to decimal points shy of 26% when our rogue is in the raid. Happily we also recently recruited a hunter, so between the two of them, I think I can safely assume that in any given raid I’ll have that wonderful 10% melee haste buff.

There are some changes I could make to pick up a few more haste percent, I’m still using Pandaren’s Step instead of Greater Haste, and I’m still using stamina flasks instead of a haste elixir.

As Theck wrote in his amazing stamina post this week, haste isn’t some survivability magic bullet, it’s a trade off of survivability for dps. And at this juncture I’m not 100% convinced that I’m ready to trade more guaranteed and passive survivability for some extra dps. I feel like I can still make good use of that extra health and even the passive run speed bonus of the boot enchant — I was always a fan of the old Pursuit of Justice talent.

Sure, that extra dps is helpful for my format of raiding (10mans), but Throne of Thunder is awfully dangerous. I need to find the proper balance and not just hastily charge ahead.

I have some great upgrades coming down the pike, thanks to Shado-Pan Assault, that should free up a lot of itemization for more haste. I’ll likely be grabbing the Thunderbreaker Legplates next week which will allow me to drop some expertise gemming that I’ve been saddled with. Though, if Horridon drops the Bloodlord’s Bloodsoaked Legplates, more’s the better.

Then in another two weeks or so, I’ll be at revered for Shado-Pan Assault and can grab the Gianttooth Chestplate, which I hope will be the end of my hit and expertise gemming needs once and for all.

But I digress with all this loot squawking. To get back to the point: I really do love having haste as an option, and I will surely be distraught when the hammer finally falls and Blizzard rips this glorious rug right out from underneath us. There’s just something that is so awesome about having my abilities come up and go out more quickly. It just feels so dynamic to be a haste-laden protection paladin.

It’s hard to describe, but the word “fun” always springs to mind. Something like driving a sleek, fast car with the top down. Contrawise, Treckie (paladin tank from Method) described his usual stamina-focused setup as “slowmo” mode. In this case, perhaps, one can describe haste-less stamina as like driving a box van. Sure it gets the job done, and you probably won’t get as many speeding tickets, but where’s the fun in that?

Back in Wrath I managed to achieve armor cap about a month before patch 4.0.1 came out. In Cataclysm it took me until late-Firelands to get enough gear to comfortably pull off CTC capping. Hopefully this time around, with this gearing “flavor of the xpac”, I’ll be able to enjoy my speedier self before the curtains come down.