There Can Only Be One
There can only be one Best in Slot. Sure, there’s “this is the best for me until” and plenty of “definitely helps me-s”, but there’s only one true Best in Slot. Of course, some of them are going to come from Hard Mode. But let’s go over what Best in Slot really means.
Best in Slot – Currently the BEST POSSIBLE PIECE for a particular gear or weapon slot.
If that piece happens to come from something you’re never going to run, it is still Best in Slot. Maybe it’s not your best available piece, but it will always be Best in Slot until a new bit of gear is put into the game.
In our guild, we have a system of loot in which there are several phrases we say when we ask for gear. Here are the rules:
1. Link the item you are upgrading from in raid.
2. In the same /ra message, give us short but pertinent information regarding what type of upgrade this will be, if any. You should be using keywords like, but not limited to, the ones below:
“Best in Slot” – This item is something that you will not be replacing until new content is released.
“2pc”, “4pc”, etc – For Tier gear. This item grants you a desired set bonus.
“Desired” or “Major Upgrade” – You really want this item. This item is a fairly major upgrade for you, though perhaps not best in slot.
“Interested” or “Minor – Fair Upgrade” – You are slightly to fairly interested in this item. This item may not be the best upgrade for you, but still considerable enough for interest. You may also consider passing if others put their names in for it.
“Lowball” – You only want this item if it would otherwise rot/no one else wants it.
“Offspec” – Obviously.
So if someone says, “Best in Slot until the real Best in Slot”, what is that?? Certainly not the real Best in Slot. I’d say it’s a Desired/Major upgrade, but don’t be throwing around “BiS” like it’s candy at a parade.
After doing the math on the difference between the Envoy of Morality and the Siren’s Cry, I’ve found that it’s approximately an 8 DPS difference on a 7:00 minute fight, perhaps a bit less, especially taking into account that you lose 16 Attack Power by switching to Siren’s Cry.
8 DPS? I’d call that a minor upgrade. An upgrade, and a small one, but still an upgrade, and therefore still desireable. So when someone claims that it’s “BEST IN SLOTOMG!! (until hard mode)”, it’s a little frustrating when you’ve done the math and can very honestly say that it’s a small upgrade.
But we’re hunters. Small upgrades are big upgrades, and every hunter wants a few extra DPS. Always.
So when that slight upgrade goes to the hunter who’s been out of raids for over 4 weeks while you’ve been struggling with progression the entire time to even get to that boss, it’s a little frustrating. All because the other hunter claims it was a better upgrade than what I claim. And I can’t fault the Loot Council for that – they did what they did because it seemed right at the time – but as I said:
There can only be ONE Best in Slot. And that wasn’t it.
❤ Nass
Diaries of a Marksman Hunter 
Recently I figured out what would be my “best in slot.” I’d be interested in comparing notes.
I’m working on that right now, actually! I’ll shoot you an email when I’m done.
In this situation you are exactly right, there is a hard mode weapon that clearly -is- best in slot, making Siren’s Cry clearly not best in slot, sometimes for me it’s harder to distinguish. For example, right now I find my gear is extremely lacking in hit. If there are two pieces, one which is called the ‘best in slot’ and one that is a bit behind in pure DPS value but is drenched in hit, I would consider the hit piece BiS for me at the time.
There are BiS pieces that fit into the overall BiS set, and then there are BiS pieces which are BiS considering the rest of your personal gear. Which is why I never follow BiS gear lists without question like too many people I know do 🙂
Also I picked up Siren’s Cry myself last night. And it’s a way bigger than 8 DPS upgrade from my smelly ol’ Arrowsong! /squee!
Yes, I fully agree, which is why when we state that it’s a good upgrade, we state WHY it’s a good upgrade for us.
BiS requires three different parts – Spec, Composition, and Gear Arrangment.
However, there is always a set BiS – whether or not your current gear arrangement goes well with it is for you to decide.
BiS for everything requires you to have the best arrangement of gear possible. Assuming you get all the necessary pieces to the puzzle, everything will come together. Therefore, BEST.
Most of us don’t reach that point, and we have to choose carefully. But stating that a piece is the ultimate best when it is simply the best for YOU is a misstatement.
Awesome!! I’ll keep my eyes open for it Nass.
In my opinion, there are no Best in Slot items in terms of armor, trinkets, rings and necklaces, because in 99% of the case, you will trade in a good item for a worst piece of equipment, because you will be able to reach hitcap, remain on hitcap, etc.
The perfect example is Grim Tribute. It is one of the worst trinkets i have ever seen, it proccs (or procced…only seen results prior 3.1) barely, and even the procc is not that good. Armor pen? Pathetic. But it has a whooping 83 Hit rating, which enables X hunter, to replace 2 pieces of equipment for superior ones (for example Pack-ice striders for Boots of the Renewed flight).
I think the term should be “Best in sets” or “Best combination”, since the difference is in the min-maxing “If i get X with Y together i lose the Critical strike of Z, but i gain A amount of AP and C amount of Haste, which should be more useful to me, than the other combo”
Shadow- While I see where you’re coming from, my point is that the ultimate gear choice must be made, and BiS means you will not be replacing that piece until the next content patch. In this instance, that was not the case. That was my main frustration.
In the debate of DKP vs. Loot Council, DKP would have protected you and the guilds interest by your attendance and contribution to the raid group awarding you the item.
Loot Council only succeeds if the council is wise enough to take into account all the variables at play during any given situation. In this case your Council failed if they gave an item to someone who was MIA for 4 weeks over a dedicated raider such as yourself.
In my experience, if he was MIA for 4 weeks, he is going to disappear again and the loot that was given to him will therefore be wasted and your guild/ raid will ultimately suffer.
I’m sure your guild won’t change but I’d highly suggest moving to DKP, it is a lot easier to be fair with DKP unless you have a solid council on your side.
Either way, I’m sorry to hear about your loss and think you should MD something to him during the next raid then blame the wipe on him. Perhaps even try to get him kicked out of the guild by telling the GM that he was sexually harrassing you, and use Photoshop to simulate the chat convo.
Oh, and btw, I was just dropping by to see how your hot self was doing 😉
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