zork, my testing of Agility suggests that the dodge given IS subject to diminishing returns. It's quite easy to test. Using Battle Shout while naked gives a bigger change in dodge % than using it with all of your gear on. The agility change is the same, but the dodge change varies depending on current levels of agility and dodge rating.

I used the numbers from the Combat Ratings thread, and applied the agility dodge to the same diminishing returns formula as the dodge granted from dodge rating, and the formula matched exactly -- in most cases.

If I went from naked to a bunch of agility (with no dodge rating), the formula (with diminishing returns) correctly gave my new dodge value. I did the same process and found that putting on a bunch of dodge rating gear with no agility also follows the formula exactly.

However, when I put on a set of gear with agility AND dodge rating on it, the formula was a bit off. I was getting 11.82% where the formula would have predicted 11.88%. Tiny difference, but it's enough to be frustrating. It almost seems like there is some negative interaction term between dodge rating agility (As far as their contribution to dodge percent) but that seems very counter intuitive, and if it exists then the effect is so slight that I'm surprised they bothered to include it.

Nevertheless, some additional clarification about how dodge from agility works would be ideal. The combat ratings thread suggests that dodge from agility isn't based on diminishing returns, or that it's subject to DR independently of that which dodge rating is subject to, but the only formulas I can make which even come close to my accurate dodge rating involve adding up pre-DR dodge from both sources, then plugging them into the DR equation as one chunk.

In my sig there is a link to a spreadsheet I've been working on, and I think I have the dodge calculation figured out (took me a lot of trial and error).

You need three values to calculate it.

Dodge rating, Base Agility for your race (your naked Agi value), and Agi from gear.

Summary of the formula:

Dodge from Base Agility Dependent on Race
PLUS Diminished Returned Dodge from Agi and Dodge Rating on Gear
PLUS Dodge Constant (3.758)
EQUALS Full Diminished returned Dodge %


The full formula I am using is:

ABase: Base Agility
AGear: Agility from Gear
DRating: Dodge Rating on Gear

Dimished Returns Dodge Percentage = ((ABase * 0.00232184) + (((DRating / 176.71899)+(AGear * 0.00232184))/((((DRating / 176.71899)+(AGear * 0.00232184))/65.63144)+0.956))+(3.758))/100

I really disagree with the theory that you should reforge using the Mastery>Parry>Dodge stat priority. One of the main gearing ideas right now is to smooth out incoming damage rather than just reduce incoming damage. By balancing your dodge and parry you will push your unhittable % higher and make your incoming damage a lot smoother.

Nothing gets you unhittable faster than mastery. It has no diminishing returns. We agree.

However, between dodge and parry, you are not taking into consideration the Hold the line proc which makes parry far more important than dodge.

The recommendation is reforge dodge into mastery and leave parry alone. Mastery > dodge, don't you agree?

I never said avoidance over mastery. I'm saying that rather than prioritizing parry over dodge you should balance the two stats to get an overall higher unhittable %.

H DM: [Cookie's Tenderizer]

As we currently all agree mastery is the way to go when it comes to avoidance stats. I've been looking into the protection tier set for a bit now and as the leggings from al'akir haven't dropped yet I've been wondering whether the DPS leggings (tier) aren't better than the Protection version as they can be stacked with a huge amount of mastery in combination with enough hit to allow me to interrupt on nefarian without having to switch to impossible accuracy elixirs or switch out a trinket.

Earthen Legguards - Item - World of Warcraft
vs
Earthen Legplates - Item - World of Warcraft

The sockets on the protection version are red and blue (socket bonus providing 30 stamina) which obviously unless you want to sacrifice the bonus can't be stacked with 2x40 mastery. The dps leggings have 2 yellow slots (alright the haste bonus ain't all that but it adds up to what's coming next).

It's pretty much an idea to get maximum mastery in your set. Hit surely isn't a bad stat and you can reforge 75 out of it into parry.

I kind of find the 4 set bonus a bit lackluster and I don't really see any proper use for it currently.

In the end you're sacrifing some parry and dodge + 30 stamina for a huge amount of mastery, hit and a small portion of haste.

Could be wrong but seems to be a bit underbudgetted.

Maybe not.

With Enchant Boots - Mastery - Spell - World of Warcraft
you gain 15 more mastery over Enchant Boots - Lavawalker - Spell - World of Warcraft

so that's 69 mastery vs 81 stam 2%armor

With current boss fight mechanics, the run speed increase is handy and can make the difference in taking an extra tick of some high damage aoe spot on the floor.

In other words, the run speed should smooth out more damage spikes than the 15 mastery rating will.

*edit*
Wished I had read your post in the context of the discussion. Ignore what I just said.
*/edit*

A set bonus should be useful all the time, not something tied in to a panic button. The number of situations where these 6 seconds are going to make an impact on an encounter's outcome is miniscule by comparison to many other possible bonuses.

Anybody else think the set bonuses are remarkably similar to T7 gear?