Mistweaver Monk Frequently Asked Questions — The War Within Pre-Patch

Generally, stat caps will not be a major concern until closer to the end of an expansion. The new diminishing returns on stats only kick in once you reach 30% worth of rating, which is not the easiest thing to do. That being said, stats gain or lose value based on their relation to each other. For example, imagine you have 5000 Intellect and the choice between two hypothetical trinkets: one gives 10% Critical Strike, and the other gives 750 Intellect. On average, the Crit trinket would increase your throughput by 10%, whereas the Intellect trinket would increase it by 15%; however, after a few weeks pass, you will gain better gear, and now you have 8000 Intellect (excluding the trinket). Now, that same 750 Intellect trinket only provides a ~9.3% throughput increase, as opposed to the 10% of the Crit trinket.

Haste, specifically, is somewhat different. Haste increases cast speed, as well as the rate at which HoT and DoT spells tick. There used to be breakpoints for HoTs, in which it would tick quickly enough to gain an additional tick. Thankfully, Blizzard deemed this to be a pretty negative gearing experience because any haste rating that you had that did not reach a breakpoint was essentially wasted stats. Instead, now all HoTs and DoTs gain an additional tick at the end which is equal to the amount that would have been healed in the time remaining. So, if Renewing Mist falls off when it was 50% of the way to the next tick, then it will heal one last time for 50% of the normal amount.

Finally, as for casting breakpoints, there technically are still some breakpoints you could reach, such as fitting extra casts inside of Mana Tea, or Enveloping Mist windows. However, the gain that these niche situations would net you is often less than what you would lose for gaining other stats.

Right off the bat, the difference between the very best and worst race is roughly 1%, so you do not need to feel compelled to play an "optimal" race.

Currently, Pandaren are the strongest race due to them gaining a double food buff. However, this is tremendously punishing if you die, and it is only about 1% stronger than the next 6 races. To be clear, Pandaren is about 1% stronger than having no racial at all, whereas the next 6 races are about 0.99% stronger than having no racial.

Ultimately, the best option when choosing a race (outside of personal preference or aesthetic choices) would be to pick the best racial utility. For example, Night Elves and Blood Elves are both very strong in Mythic+ Dungeons, the former being able to skip trash packs with Shadowmeld and the latter being able to purge enemy buffs with Arcane Torrent.