How important is strength? Re: H Shao-Tien Saber

So... I haven't thought about this for a while because there's been no shortage of good strength weapons, but I'm curious what people's thoughts are on potentially dropping some strength. My guild is working on heroic Siegecrafter, so the heroic Forge Hammer isn't available to me, but heroic Seismic Bores and Shao-Tien sabers are going to offspec (I actually have a saber I jacked for transmog). But, this is crazy talk, right? The extra 100 haste or so isn't worth dropping almost 900 strength?

Am I nuts for even considering this?

I haven't kept 100% up to date with the high end theorycrafting since I retired from serious raiding in Cata, but unless things have changed drastically then yes, yes you're crazy.

If I recall correctly, the haste gain needs to be higher than the strength loss. So you'd need to gain at least 900 haste, probably quite a bit more. But don't take my word for it, as mentioned I'm kind of retired into casualness... Lets see what the others say!

50% haste is a cap, not a goal. It's still our best secondary stat after hit/exp caps, but not worth taking agility for.

You could always sim it of course.

Weapon DPS plays a large role in Ret's damage, so it's possible that a higher level agi item could win out over a lower level strength one.

You might need to sim it though to absolutely make sure. If it's equal ilvl with a strength item then there's absolutely no contest.

Heh, the weapon he is referring to is a 1h agi weapon. Asking if an agi weapon with more haste is better than the equivalent Str one.

The answer is, of course, No.

You're giving up 984 base str (if rocking a WF 1h). That not only gives you a good amount of threat and dps, but also a large chunk of Parry. Also don't forget its actually more than 984 str, since you have to calculate our % bonus(Plate armour spec and Kings). While Haste is considered a huge stat for tanking, its not so much better than the others to warrant loosing all the bonuses we get from that much str.

I'm currently rocking a HWF Encapsulated Essence of Immerseus and wouldn't dream of dropping it for an agi weapon.