Legendaries not getting recommended, despite being a higher DPS increase

Ask Mr. Robot
1

If I create a generic character, select Outlaw rogue as my spec (in TBC, it should be called Combat, but I’ll let that slide):

Then, scroll down to Best in Slot, select Phase 5 (Sunwell) as the release phase, then leaving everything else, I select Find Best in Slot.

The two weapons for the “Outlaw” Rogue are Muramasa and Dragonscale-Encrusted Longblade, which says it is a 26.58% DPS increase from the default gear that is currently set.

BiS Rogue - No Legendary
BiS Rogue - No Legendary1684×857 181 KB

However, if we then replace those weapons with Warglaive of Azzinoth, then reoptimize, we get a 33.78% dps increase.

If we then select the bow and select Thori’dal legendary bow instead, then re-optimise again, it increases the DPS to 34.12%.

TBC BiS Rogue - Legendary
TBC BiS Rogue - Legendary1659×872 181 KB

So, why aren’t these items being recommended as Best in Slot, if selecting them manually results in a higher dps increase when re-optimised?

This problem appears with Hunters as well. If I select Beast Master, select release phase 5, select the 53 dps arrows, find Best in Slot, it says a 16.89% dps increase.

Hunter BiS - No Legendary
Hunter BiS - No Legendary1658×800 189 KB

If we manually replace the epic bow Golden Bow of Quel’Thalas with Thori’dal, the Stars’ Fury then re-optimize, then we reach a dps increase of 26.39%.

Hunter BiS - Legendary
Hunter BiS - Legendary1784×823 192 KB

So, why is this happening?

2

Best in Slot will not choose legendaries unless you lock them in. Legendaries are almost always better, but are also very difficult to obtain – most people don’t have access to them.

It would be far more annoying for 9 out of 10 users to have to exclude the legendaries after optimizing than for 1 out of 10 players to lock them in after optimizing, so that’s the route we went.

3

Maybe you should have an optional tick box to include legendaries?

I think it doesn’t make sense if a “Best In Slot” program, isn’t actually best in slot - especially if it’s sole purpose is to provide that information.

Would be good if that was listed as an option of some sort.

4

The locking mechanism is designed precisely for these cases – there are very few legendary items and it is a pretty rare use case. Go ahead and lock them in to get a BiS designed around the legendaries. It is more or less implied and assumed by all that legendaries are best in slot – you don’t really need an optimizer to help you on that choice!