I think you're misunderstanding the intent of the reference to Ignite. The way "Ignite-like" DoTs work is that a further proc will add its damage to what was left of any currently running DoT and refreshes its duration, it does not (and this is the important bit) make any difference if you refresh the DoT or if it falls off and you apply a new one: the total damage done is the same. The pre-TBC behaviour of Ignite did indeed promote rolling the DoT, but when Blizzard references Ignite now, I think its safe to assume they're talking about the modern behaviour.

Ignite-like DoTs are specifically designed to work equally when in scenarios where they're refreshed or where they fall off: there's supposed to be no benefit and no penalty for clipping or rolling and "stacking" is meaningless. Ignite has some well-known bugs that sometimes affect whether this design aim is achieved of course, but we can hope that the T12 bonuses will avoid them!

As combat, maybe. I would be very surprised if that was a better ranged attack option for Mutilate than just keeping DP stacked up and proccing IP a la Atramedes or P2 Nef. That said, Blizzard has been pretty good about avoiding situations where we have literally nothing to do but plink away with a ranged weapon so it seems pretty minor either way.

New set of items released today and as always updated here. The 2.0 speed dagger is reintroduced but only to be overshadowed by its 365 iLvl. We're also starting to see items to compare with T12 and our tier chest is absolutely crushed by over 150 EP (for Assassination) if the current stats see release. Previously, tier differences never amounted to more than 30 EP by comparison so this is quite foretelling as to how insane iLvl will affect future gearing decisions.

And the chest isn't always going to be the best off-piece. If you find yourself with a lot of hit, then the legs will be the better off-piece. At least with stats as they're weighted now.

Last year, there was an announcement that Cataclysm raid bosses will require increasing amounts of hit rating as we progress through tiers. The last blue post on the topic I remember was back in September, and after that I didn't find any additional info. So now that we've got Firelands on the ptr, has anyone done any testing of how hit scaling actually works, or whether it's implemented at all?

I cannot say with absolute confidence but it does not appear to be implemented at the moment. Raiding on the PTR with no mods, I have not noticed any yellow misses pop up from missed poisons though, I am not specifically looking for them. While Blizzard to my knowledge has said nothing about it since this discussion, it is the PTR and things are in constant flux so we may need to just sit and wait.

I may have missed the discussion, but this seems to need a bit more attention. As far as I can tell, this is a pretty significant buff to DMC:H. A raw 40% damage increase would seem to outweigh the removal of any crit damage we might receive. Even at 40% crit raid-buffed, the removal of critical strikes from the trinket should only be a 20% reduction.

40% crit chance * 50% damage bonus from crits = 20% crit damage

So in the end the change looks like a 20% buff, clearly enough to be worth talking about. But perhaps there's something I'm missing here - any thoughts?

As far as I remember, the "modifiers to its damage" bit refers to classes with +elemental damage mastery/talents, which in this case is enhancement shamans and survival hunters. This part of the change was never relevant to rogues.

I'm pretty certain that's correct, which is why I didn't feel the need to address that part of the change. Rogues lack any damage modifier that would affect DMC:H's damage.

But upon further consideration I think I made a pretty stupid mistake in the way I structured my first calculation. The trinket's base damage has to be used as a starting point, which I didn't do. This would make the pre-4.2 trinket with critical strike bonuses a 120% output (assuming 40% crit chance) and the post-4.2 trinket a 140% output:

1.4/1.2 = 1.166 or 116.6%

So the actual difference would be closer to a 16.6% damage increase rather than 20% as I first guessed. Still pretty significant nevertheless.

Using the EP value given for DMC:H in the Combat thread (1333.7) and the EP value for Agility set at 2.7, the EP value for the proc on live is 467. Adding 16.6% damage increase to the EP bumps it up by 77.5, giving the final trinket a value of 1411 in 4.2 for combat, putting it ahead of normal Machination and heroic Cyclone, but still below Fluid Death and heroic Machination.

For Assassination, the values 1180.97 and 2.6 are given. Proc component is 346, EP buff is 57.4, final value in 4.2 is 1238, closely following heroic Tia's Grace and still below normal Machination, heroic Cyclone, Fluid Death and heroic Machination.

However, 4.2 will bring new trinkets which will probably be better than our current best in slot trinkets. Overall, assuming these values are correct it's a neat buff for the card in relevance of the first tier, and a decent investment for new Combat players at least.

With friendly reputation, you can purchase Matoclaw's Band (359 agility ring), this is the vendor.