Originally Posted by Psychophan7
I understand the logic of taking runspeed over other enchants. Yes, you will be able to move between targets or get back to the target faster, but your actual damage will be lower because of it. The only thing runspeed does is reduces the time it takes for you to return, and thus meters will report an increase in DPS. That's really all the enchant does, is pad the meters by slyly reducing the time.
Furthermore, playing a class/spec where power resources are regenerated, such as DKs (runes) or rogues/feral cats, your DPS output will be hampered. If you get back on target faster, you won't have as much energy (or runes) as you would had you gotten back at normal speed.
Lastly, runspeed is subject to the player. It does not promise increased survivability or more DPS. If the player doesn't move out of the fire, then runspeed didn't do anything to make them survive more. If the player doesn't start moving within one-third of a second in order for them to get back faster than normal. One-third. That means if you were to blink your eyes as soon as you landed, then you'd have to be moving before your eyes opened. And then there is the all powerful variable that spits in the face of runspeed: latency. The average latency in WoW is around 180ms. If you're lagging by so much as half a second when you land, then the increased runspeed isn't going to get you back any faster than if you didn't have the enchant. There's one for the ages: How good is an enchant when it can be affected by latency?
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So, Hit/Crit isn't affected by latency? After all, if you're lagging so hard that moving your character is hampered, then you're probably lagging pretty hard ability usage-wise, too. If it's enough to encumber your movement, then you're most likely over the 250ms (have also heard 300) server-side allowance between abilities, so your actual time between abilities is wasted, thereby lowering the relative value of Hit/Crit or AP.
I absolutely agree that runspeed/stam won't play your character for you. If you stand in your own Legion Flame, you're going to die, runspeed or not. If you stand in Anub's friendly ground spikes, you're going to die, runspeed or not. If you stand in [generic void zone or otherwise bad place to be], nothing aside from a) bubbling if you're a Paladin or b) moving out of it will help. Runspeed will assist you in the running out part, and assist you in getting back on your target and doing your damage to the boss faster, but won't do the actual moving for you.
I will object that it's good for Rogues / DKs to be off-target for longer, even if they are starting with an empty resource tank. 2K auto-attack damage is significantly higher than the 0 running damage. Plus, if you're having to run in the first place, you're still going to be experiencing downtime, allowing your resources to regenerate either way.
It also seems that there's a discrepancy between what everyone here is defining as "DPS" (the value, not the role), and is leading to muddy discussion due to a blurry definition between different people. There's a number of definitions for "DPS": effective DPS (total damage you do over the course of a fight divided by the total duration of the fight), active DPS (the damage over time that you put out, ignoring any downtime of no ability usage), and DPS as a metric (a theoretical damage over time capability obtained through calculation, used as a metric). Runspeed increases your effective DPS (by increasing the total damage that you are capable of doing, due to higher on-target time), and typically does nil with your active DPS (highly situation-dependent, though can go up in situations where you can get to a set of AoE targets before they go down with a WW in the nick of time, or go down in situations where you are low on a resource and are auto-attacking / using cheap abilities while waiting for regen). DPS as a metric is useful for comparisons and further (derivative) calculations, which is how I used, for example, DPS numbers in my original article - as a means of easy comparison.
All that mess of 3AM words really meant to say is... runspeed can potentially lower your DPS, but it
will increase your Damage Done. Increasing your damage output is really the goal, right? To get the boss deal more efficiently? I'm confused by this statement: "The only thing runspeed does is reduces the time it takes for you to return, and thus meters will report an increase in DPS. That's really all the enchant does, is pad the meters by slyly reducing the time." The whole point of the runspeed enchant is to get you back on target faster.
If you have to switch from dark to white and back to dark and then get back on the boss on Twins, that's a lot of running time, or rather, a lot of time you're not dealing damage to the boss(es). That entire sequence can easily last 8 seconds - that's a lot of time you're not dealing damage. If you take a portal to Yogg's brain room, you're in constant motion for 20+ seconds, each and every time. That's a lot of time you're not dealing damage to tentacles or the brain.