Gemming
I'm splitting this off from the conversation in Megabluntman's application: Here's my opinion on the 10 agi / 5 agi 5 hit / 10 hit gem situation (also applies to 10 str / 5 str 5 crit / 10 crit) For a given toon on a given fight, either 1 Agi or 1 hit rating is better. Likewise, either 1 strength or 1 crit rating is better. So it doesn't make any sense to mix 10 of one and 10 of the other, in gems. If the Agi or Strength is better, then all red sockets should have pure Agi or Strength, and all yellow sockets should have 5+5 gems (if the socket bonus is worth it, ie not stamina). If the Hit or Crit is better, then all yellow sockets should have pure Hit/crit and all red sockets should have 5+5 gems. If you're not going to match for socket bonuses at all (ie DPS gear with blue sockets), then you should go with +10 gems, of whatever gives you the most DPS. The only reason to violate these rules is if you're at the exact breakpoint where 1 agi gives you the exact same dps as 1 hit, or 1 strength the exact same as 1 crit. When I see Talliara's chestpiece, for example, it has 1 red and 2 blue sockets, and is full of orange 5 str/5 crit gems. If he knows which is worth more DPS, 1 str or 1 crit, shouldn't the gems all be changed to +10s? Let's have some discussion about this, it could get interesting.

Yes.

If you can achieve the same stats with +10's as 5+5's, then thats fine, because the stats will be the same. Using an over abundance of +10's for a single stat, I just don't agree that this is a good thing. If you have 15 gem slots and have all +10 agi, but you are low on hit, you can go with 7 10 agi and 8 10 hit, or vice versa, or 5/5 on all. For me, crit and strength are pretty equal, crit slightly outweighs strength point for point (theoretically) because my haste (flurry) procs on crits. This, to me, is theoretical because crit is a chance and not an absolute value; IE: kalecgos, my crit % is almost right at 33% unbuffed, but on kalecgos I've yet to crit more than 22-25% of my hits, sometimes going as low as 11%, in this case strength would benefit me more because it is an absolute stat and gives a set amount of attack power that is not based on chance. So basically, RNG is the decider on certain classes. 5hit/5agi is nice (for classes that get ap from agi) because it gives 1absolute stat, a semi absolute stat (hit is semi absolute because until you are cap'd your miss rate can actually be higher than your miss chance according to numbers), and a chance stat.

For casters some things are different. Namely 1 spell damage isn't worth 1 stat point (its worth about .833) so at different levels of gear, different gems are more valuable. For example while a blue(quality) hit/dmg gem is better then a blue dmg gem the reverse is true when talking about epic gems. Also straight haste and straight hit gems are always lower dps then the mixed gems (and even if they were the same dps you probably wouldn't want them anyway*). Though on the other hand, all caster stats scale fairly linearly until they reach some sort of cap (hit in particular). So while most casters will use hybrid type gems, its not in order to balance stats, but because spell damage is screwy and makes those gems better. If 1 spell damage was worth 1 stat point even, it would be best to spam +10whatever gems (taking socket bonuses into account) until you reached the whatever cap and then go for the second best stat. While its true that there are such things as bad hit rolls and bad crit rolls, you are always going to have days where that happen, it evens out in the end to the point where its really not worth being worried about. Sure some days I don't hit/crit much, but thats just bad luck and had I geared for less of those stats it would just mean that my hit/crit would be even lower on bad days and I'd still be taking the dps hit from bad luck. *Edit I should clarify this point. In a situation where Haste or Hit are equal to spell damage, the reason why you would avoid gemming for it is because: 1. Haste hurts your dmg per mana, where most other stats do not have any negative side effect and 2. At a T5+ level there is enough hit on gear that socketing solely for it would leave you above the hit cap, if the hit cap was a lot higher, or you are stuck at a lower gear level socketing solely for hit in a situation where it scales equally or better with every other stat would make sense.

And healers vary all over the place due to class and the different roles played in a raid situation. For example, holy pallies don't concentrate on any one stat because they need a happy balance of int, crit, bonus healing, and mp5. (I hope I learned something from all the babbling Az has done.) Holy priests are a lot less "balanced." Holy priests stack spirit wherever possible until they reach a certain benchmark (where they can comfortably heal through farm bosses with mana to spare at the end) that matches their progression level; upon entering Sunwell, for example, the benchmark is 1000/400 raid buffed mp5 outside/inside 5-second rule. Once you hit 1000/400, stack 22 bonus healing in red slots and 10 haste in yellow slots while maintaining 1000/400 regen with 10 spirit in blue sockets. It's best to start gemming for haste in yellow sockets once haste begins to appear on gear (i.e. in Sunwell) because by that time you've hit 1000/400, which can support the increased haste. (Yes, there's haste gear in BT/MH, but that haste gear is not otherwise itemized for priests; it's for pallies and shaman. A good example is JJ's cloak she got last night - stam, int, healing, and haste. Not a point of spirit. Not a priest cloak.) Besides, haste really makes the most difference once you're at 100+, and that's very difficult (not to mention gimping) to do with gems alone pre-Sunwell. That means 11 healing+5 int is the best gem for yellow sockets pre-Sunwell, and no, it's not that great, but thankfully there are few yellow sockets pre-Sunwell. Talisee can won't agree with me about the gemming of yellow sockets, but that's because he's got some silly obsession with it. :P

The better player you are, the better haste is for you.