Fluctuating Hit Rating (Balance Druid)

[JessRainbows]

Hi,

I've only been playing WoW for about 4 months so there is a lot that I still don't know, so please bear with me.
I'm leveling a Night Elf Balance Druid and from about level 48 or so, I had constant problems with my spells "missing". I learned that I would need to equip things that had increased hit, but I would and it wouldn't help much. It got to the point where I had to sacrifice intellect for agility or strength because they had the hit+ for at least 3 slots.

...until I hit level 64. I logged in one day after just reaching level 64, hadn't changed any gear, and suddenly my hit rating was like 16% or something! YAY, I could equip for int, crit, and spell power and get rid of those agility gloves and boots that had the hit+, and still have pretty good hit. (Incidentally, I asked a friend about this the day before it happened and she and I both looked up my toon on the website. The next day, I had the great hit rating. Like magic!)

Except now I'm level 66 and suddenly my hit rating has dropped again, specifically my spell hit (not so much the ranged/melee). Can anyone explain why these sudden fluctuations happen? And is there anything I can do other than obviously equipping gear with hit+? I think the only items I changed from then had int or spell power increases, and I actually just equipped a trinket for +22hit. Still have a 8% spell hit.

Thank you for helping.

[Makuul]

Once you hit level 64, you get a Spirit > Hit conversion ability that treats all Spirit as Hit rating at a 1:1 value. So all the int/spirit spell leather you're wearing all of a sudden converted into Int/"Hit" while still retaining the Spirit stat (should you have a Resto offspec, say) to function normally. However, as you level, each successive level requires an increase in your hit to stay at a static percentage. So, say, it takes 800 Hit/Spirit to be hit capped (when you never have a miss percentage) at level 64 (totally made up number, I have no idea what it actually is), as soon as you level to 65, it may take 825 to stay capped. This is to account for gear inflation as you level.

[JessRainbows]

Once you hit level 64, you get a Spirit > Hit conversion ability that treats all Spirit as Hit rating at a 1:1 value. So all the int/spirit spell leather you're wearing all of a sudden converted into Int/"Hit" while still retaining the Spirit stat (should you have a Resto offspec, say) to function normally. However, as you level, each successive level requires an increase in your hit to stay at a static percentage. So, say, it takes 800 Hit/Spirit to be hit capped (when you never have a miss percentage) at level 64 (totally made up number, I have no idea what it actually is), as soon as you level to 65, it may take 825 to stay capped. This is to account for gear inflation as you level.

Wow, that's genius! No wonder it changed without doing anything as soon as I hit level 64. Now that I know this, I will equip more Spirit. That may be why I am having this problem. My mana very rarely ever drops to any significant level (since I'm soloing/leveling, not in a guild, not doing many dungeons, only it in for the story/fun) I have been thinking, "Who needs Spirit?" and not been equipping for it. Let's see if that helps. Thank you for your helpful and concise reply!