How noticeable is the difference between reforging Dodge and Mastery?

[Bearshield]

I am one of my guild's two tanks and between all of the single tank fights and fights that don't require both tanks to actively be tanking something, I have found myself dps'ing the majority of the time. Since we're still learning the fights and our other tank tends to die from time to time, I often dps in my tank spec/gear. That being said, I have begun experimenting with reforging some of my dodge into mastery to boost my dps as a kitty. Right now in bear form, my dodge is just shy of 40% self-buffed.

I'm wondering for those of you in a similar position, how much of a difference would there be in my survivability if I reforged the rest of my dodge into mastery? (save for pieces that already have mastery on them of course) I already gem straight agi, save for my meta and my helm enchant. Am I going to be making myself overly squishy in exchange for a small dps gain or is it not likely to be too noticeable? Yes I know for straight tanking, dodge is more desirable than mastery, but since I'm spending so much time in cat form this tier, I feel like that's more where I should be focusing now.

Thanks for the advice. (sorry if it's an odd question, I used to have dedicated gearsets for everything but am trying to work with a hybrid set now)

[tangedyn]

My recommendation would be to simply reforge to mastery > exp > crit > hit, and see if your healers start bitching about healing you. If they don't notice anything bad, continue with it.
There are many feral bearcats that do this, myself included, so you shouldn't expect this to be a problem. Check out my armory if you like

[Deleted]

i believe for a offtank role with bear/cat in mind that some people are already doing this. Specially if they are the offtank and the majority of the time the mt is tanking. Squuezes some extra dps out

[Stevoman]

From my favorite bear (Fraya @ Enigma):

I'm a big fan of reliable incoming damage, and hate avoidance because of that. I'm reforged Mastery > Expertise (to 26) > Crit for maximum possible Savage D uptime. Swapping all my Crit forges into Dodge will net me 3% more dodge, but it'll take my Savage D uptime from 87->84. I'm taking more total damage, but less burst.

http://enigmadw.com/index.php?option...php&f=3&t=1449

I started following this philosophy in DS, and my purely anecdotal experience was that I was getting instagibbed far less than I was in Firelands. YMMV of course, and your healers should always have the last say.

[Arielle]

The difference goes wayyyyyy down once you get 2t13. Before that it's extremely noticeable if you're the first tank, especially during harder hitting phases (<20% on Blackhorn, stacks on beachball boss, etc.).

If you're the 2nd tank, I'd totally reforge to Mastery/Exp/Crit for maximum damage during cat phases.

[Bearshield]

Well I got my second piece of T13 last night and am often the second tank, so going by what you all are saying, I think I will try reforging Mastery/Exp/Crit like you're suggesting. Thanks again

[Braindwen]

I'm a big fan of reliable incoming damage, and hate avoidance because of that. I'm reforged Mastery > Expertise (to 26) > Crit for maximum possible Savage D uptime. Swapping all my Crit forges into Dodge will net me 3% more dodge, but it'll take my Savage D uptime from 87->84. I'm taking more total damage, but less burst.

I find that very weird, since mastery is the one rating we have that DOESN'T increase your odds of having SD up for any given attack (unless SD is fully absorbing hits, lol). If your goal is to lower the chances of going multiple hits in a row with no SD/Dodge, then mastery is a bad plan, though if you're getting procs galore it's great. Exp/Crit/hit increase crit frequency, haste increases melee crit frequency very slightly, dodge extends your shields to the next hit, mastery just increases shield size. In that setup, it's the exp and crit upping SD uptime, the mastery is just there so damage taken doesn't skyrocket .

That said, I'm doing exp to 26>mastery>dodge and enjoying it. Using the 2pc, and pretty well overgearing the normal modes, so I've been focusing on cat and bear dps a bit even as the MT. No complaints so far (but no one pays attention to my gearing anyway )

[Bearshield]

That said, I'm doing exp to 26>mastery>dodge and enjoying it. Using the 2pc, and pretty well overgearing the normal modes, so I've been focusing on cat and bear dps a bit even as the MT. No complaints so far (but no one pays attention to my gearing anyway )

Lol honestly I dont think anyone pays attention to mine either, in part cuz most of them know little about Druids. The other day we were on Hagara and the other tank went down so I went bear to pick it up. We had one dps down and the other tank, the RL calls for a brez on the tank and I'm like why not get the dps? I talked to him later and he had assumed because of the numbers I was pulling that I had to be in a different spec/gear than my tank stuff and that's why he called for the tank over another dps lol. So I suppose it's nice to have your dps noticed but yeah, they have no idea what I'm doing either lol and I dont think they really worry about it.