"In the next minor patch Serpent Sting tics will automatically be able to crit. The T9 2-set bonus will be modified to increase the damage of Serpent Sting critical tics by 5%"
See? Not real and certainly not funny. So my question is this. Is it time for Blizzard to make Serpent Sting crit without the need of a set bonus? I think so.
Right now the two-piece T9 set bonus is just awesome. This is due to the two-piece T10 bonus and the way Chimera Shot refreshes Serpent Sting. Remember it refreshes the sting with any percentage damage modifiers that were in place when the sting was cast. It also got buffed in patch 3.3.3 and the crit. damage is even higher now.
Very high-end hunters are able to reach the ArP hard cap and retain two pieces of item level 258 T9. And us mere mortals are seeing huge dividends in our item level 245 pieces. Here's a look at my Serpent Sting numbers from this week's Festergut (25). The crit damage was averaging close to 3K, well more than double the average non-crit damage.
Furthermore, I didn't even have the best possible Serpent Sting applied. As you can see my stings were only critting 60% of the the time. I've gotten that well over 80% before, and I've seen others get the crit chance as high as 90%.
When a new tier of gear is added to the game I think the intention is for players to fully upgrade to that tier. Okay, trinkets may be an exception, but certainly not the other armor pieces. Now that doesn't mean that everyone should opt for four pieces of their tier set. Depending on the spec two-pieces and off-set pieces should be a viable option. But having to dip down to a lower tier because it gains you more dps just doesn't make a lot of sense.
I doubt will see any changes for Wrath, but I'm hopeful that it will become standard fare in Cataclysm. What do you guys think, is it time for Serpent Stings tics to have the natural ability to critically strike, or should we just enjoy it while it lasts and be prepared to remember it fondly come Cataclysm?
