Does Race really matter?

[Evolixe]

Which is a larger gain than almost any enchant... yet guilds require you to be fully enchanted and no one complains. It's just 300 DPS, right?

It just depends how much performance means to you. Is it really important? Then race should be important too. If it not really important? Then play whatever you want, who cares. Lots of people care about performance so they pick an optimal race. Whether it really matters or not depends on your perspective. If you mean does it really matter for doing the best DPS you can do? Absolutely. It has nothing to do with playing perfectly. Going Orc gives you what amounts to a free 1% DPS as SV/Marks and a free 2% DPS as BM. That's without changing anything. If you use Blood Fury it's higher. Same goes for Troll. If you suck you can bind Berserking to some shot and go about your merry way and see a DPS increase. If you're smart about cooldown stacking you'll get much more out of it.

The only thing that matters is how much you care about performance. People arguing that race doesn't matter don't care about performance. It doesn't matter how much they claim they do, or claim the differences are small. Racial choice is more important than regemming a new piece of gear, or enchanting it. (Note: Monetary concerns are another issue entirely. RL should always come first.)

I care about preformance, but i wont sacrifice having to look at an ugly character for over 2 years for that tiny bit of dps.

[harky]

Let me clarify my stance a little.

It doesn't matter how much they claim they do, or claim the differences are small.

[Will]

So I just joined the top Horde guild on my server for Cataclysm, and Im trying to min/max my character to a degree.
Today when I logged on I took a long look at my Orc and realized how much I dont like it and that I want to go back to BE
I know I know Blood elf QQ omg gay race blah blah blah
Flaming aside.
How much dps wise do you think id be losing at 85 changing back to BE?

once you go troll you never reroll. plus berserking is the best hunter racial. 20% attack speed is a fair damage boost and allows you to regenerate focus at exceptional rates, assuming you're not already capping it out. unleash more specials!

[Deleted]

i cant live with the 15 focus regen from arcane torrent rly.

[Cobrakai]

The OP's question doesn't really make sense -- you're interested in min/maxing but you want to pick a race that, by definition, would not serve that goal. So really, you're not interested in min/maxing. Seems like you've answered your own "question" already. It doesn't matter how much dps you lose or gain at that point.

[siegemaster]

Just plugged an hunter from my guild into femaledwarf. It was a +20 pts of dps in identical gear for a BE compared to an orc.