Related to:
http://kamilahhauptmann.blogspot.ca/2012/04/wow-dungeon-etiquette-for-noobs.html
In this post I'll be discussing dungeon roles, gear bonuses and class specs.
Primary bonuses:
Str: Strength. Some melee types need this. Paladins, Warriors, Death Knights.
Agi: Agility. Some melee types use this instead Rogues, certain Monks and Druids. Hunters use this as well.
Int: Intellect. Every spellcaster can use Int.
Spi: Spirit. Healer spellcasters need this more than a damage spellcaster.
Sta: Stamina. Everyone gets this with gear upgrades, though tanks and soloists make more use of it than others.
Secondary bonuses:
Dodge: Of special interest to tanks.
Parry: Same.
Expertise: Of special interest to tanks, although other melee classes can benefit
Hit: Everyone needs some of this except for healers. Although late game a healer might take some anyway. Taking too much Hit means not only you'll never miss, it means you'll never never never miss. Hooray for you. You can visit an Arcane Reforger and have that shifted into something else of use to you.
Mastery: This does something cool for everyone.
Crit: This helps you do double damage, even healers can use this as it does double healing. Tanks might not have as much of this as DPS or healers since they tend to focus on not getting clubbed over the head as much.
Haste: This benefits classes that have cast times involved before their action takes effect. Mages, Shaman, Priests, even Warriors when they do a massive wind up and swing maneuver. It is of less use to classes where most of their actions are instant effects on button push.
PvP Resistance and Offense: Of importance in PvP situations, but no help at all in dungeons or questing in world.
Common situations:
Paladin. Protection spec. Active in dungeoneering.
- Your primaries should be all Strength. Agility, Intellect of Spirit are of little use to you. Your big three are Dodge, Parry and Hit. Some expertise. Don't sneer at Mastery, that can help you. Crit, maybe. Extra Stamina, maybe but could better be used elsewhere. Haste, you don't need at all. Here's how the flow works. Healers convert their mana into your health supply. If you buried yourself in stamina gems instead of more dodge and parry, congratulations, you have more health, but did that give the healer more mana, or help them generate it faster as you're losing it faster then having not taken the hit in the first place?
Hunter. Beast Mastery spec. Generalist, sometimes dungeoneers. - All Agility. Strength, Intellect and Spirit are of zero use to you. Haste, Crit, Mastery. Mastery makes your pet tougher and scarier. Haste makes your steady shot fire faster, thus regaining your focus faster. Crit is Crit! :D Remember to turn off your pet's Growl ability when entering the dungeon. Remember to turn it back on when exiting.
Monk. Windwalker spec. Generalist, often dungeoneers. - All Agility. Strength is of little use. Int and Spirit are of none. Hit (enough to not miss), Crit and Mastery. Maybe some Expertise, but you should be attacking things from behind while the targets face the tank. When you attack from behind, the targets have troubles avoiding your shots, making Expertise of less use. Haste is of little use, as you have no long cast time abilities. You're Jackie Chan, not Gandalf.
Druid. Feral Combat. Agility. From this it can go two ways. Cat form is made for handing out the slice and dice. Bear form is to absorb abuse. Ergo, a Bear wants Dodge, Parry and Expertise, like a Protection Paladin, while a Cat should build more like the Windwalker Monk. Neither bear nor cat need Intellect very much, and need Spirit even less.
Shaman. Elementalist. Soloist, and dungeoneers. Raids when can. Intellect. Spirit of of less use as this class does not have a mana problem at all. Don't turn nose up at it, though, because an elemental Shaman sometimes needs to emergency heal things around them. Does not need Strength or Agility. Haste is king. Just about everything an elemental Shaman does takes a second or two of mumbo jumbo casting. Hit, until you're not missing targets, Crit, Mastery.
Priest. Holy. Dungeoneer. Intellect. Spirit. Both important, the more spirit you have the faster your mana regenerates, and if you end up healing the Paladin above who decided more health was more important than not taking damage, you'll need it badly. Haste. Crit. Mastery. Hit is of little use until late game when you're heavily loaded up in all your other areas.
This is a general guide. Want an assessment of your Class and Spec? Ask away.
