Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men

Around the dawning of 3.3 I posted a buy order for EoFrost gear. I've also got an overall gearing goal I'm aiming for. It has sifted slightly since I originally posted (and probably needs updated now that the new boss gear is solidly in place), but it's pretty close.

If you were to ask me, I'd tell you I am pretty far along in my gearing (pieces wise. Stupid iLvl 200 Trinkets :(). But I have come to a crossroads. Down one road lays my new belt of choice, Waistband of Despair; down the other road lays my fourth piece of T10, the pants. Both are bought with EoFrost (60 and 95, respectively).

Here's the problem. I am about 50ish points over the hit cap (assuming a Boomkin or SP in the raid). If I buy the belt, I'll "lose" 51 points of Hit and pick up haste (tasty). Here's the breakdown. If I get my 4P T10, I'll lose haste, lose the 2P T9 (I'm not wearing my third piece of T10 yet) but I'll gain the 4P T10 and about 100 crit (meh). Again, here's the breakdown.

And to throw another wrench into the equation: the pants can be obtained through other means, namely VoA (10m for 251, 25m for 264). I am really heavily leaning towards picking up the belt when I can and hoping my pants drop in VoA. Being basically the only Elemental Shaman in my guild, and doing VoA 25m weekly (with the guild) pretty much guarantees I'll get the pants if they drop. This will mean I won't have to spend 95 EoF, or pick up a token to upgrade them.

The VoA argument, coupled with losing extra baggage to pick up things which are beneficial to me makes up my mind. Even though the 4P T10 would be a better "status" symbol, I think the right move in this situation is to get the belt.

Bottom line: Plans are nice and all, but you've got to be able to adapt to the current situation.