Originally Posted by BWarner

What the heck does "top end" have to do with anything? No matter the damage range, the DPS (or rather, average weapon damage over time) is what's important. Hit can be made up elsewhere, so really isn't really a deciding factor.]

You also did not take into account the item budget allocation disparity between Str and Agi/AP items in favor of the latter, though this is somewhat negated by the Str multiplier as Fury.

There's also the issue of weapon speed. While the total rage gen between two otherwise identical weapons with differing speeds would be the same, the intervals and "doses" of the rage are quite different. A faster OH would provide its rage in a "smoother" fashion, compared to a "chunkier" type of rage from a slower one. On the other hand, the slower OH would provide more damage when it hits in a Whirlwind. Plus, one of the weapon speeds being considered is synced with the mainhand, and one is not. The benefit of a synced weapon is that, if you can de-sync the attacks, then you can effectively prevent the two weapons from ever hitting too close to each other (causing a massive rage spike, most likely capping and wasting rage, and then resulting in a drought of sorts in terms of energy intake). The downside is that it takes rather deliberate effort to de-sync weapons, and is supremely annoying to deal with on a regular basis. If the weapons are not the same speed, this matter is a non-issue.


(And, at the risk of getting a warning for saying the same thing that's being said every other post, but still doesn't seem to be taken heed of...)
Ultimately, look to Rawr and/or Landsoul's spreadsheet for answers regarding the weapon and gemming questions, and any other sort of gear choices that come up. We DON'T know all the gear you have available, we DON'T know what buffs you have (or don't have) available, we DON'T know enough variables for us as outsiders to be able to recommend what your gearing choices should be. Test out your gear with ArP gems and with Str gems. Test out your gear with the sword and the mace in the OH. That's the entire reason those tools are available, to help you make "difficult gearing decisions" in a dynamic environment.