I haven't really seen it stated yet in this thread or others, but is the general consensus that TG outperforms Arms at 80? Are they about equal? Is there even enough data compiled yet to support either being superior? I'm 74, specced Arms, and loving the dynamic playstyle; it's so much more engaging than the TG rotation.

Anyone have a clue? I've been looking around, and still haven't really found an answer.

I would argue your damage is more severely gimped if you take enrage on fights like Patchwerk where there is no extra damage thrown around. Why should we take talents that only work some of the time when we can take talents that work all of the time?

This is something I had to deal with for years as an Enhancement shaman.

First, you get a lot out of each point of AP: damage from the main hand and the offhand, Whirlwind, Bloodthirst and Slam and it's all multiplied by 10% for kings and another 10% for Imp 'Zerker Stance.

Second, when you spec TG, you're essentially increasing the multiplier of AP's value to both Whirlwind and slam because neither is normalized, and their proc rates are (relatively) static. Moving from a 2.6s weapon to a 3.5s weapon is a 34% increase in damage from AP from these talents, with only a 5% penalty in total damage due to missed hit rating. Thus, for these two talents, AP will always be better than hit rating.

Third, you aren't getting as much out of hit rating as you think. Adding 1% hit doesn't add 1% damage, it adds a little less than that, as the white damage attack table means that damage from crits is unaffected by your hit chance.

When you gem or 'chant for hit, you're sacrificing one source of potential damage (bigger hits) for another (more hits). As it turns out, you get more benefit from big hits then you lose from the misses. Yeah it's a shame to miss a 6k Bloodthirst, but it's even more of a shame to have a lot of pussy little bloodthirsts that hit all the time.