Formula for single hit damage

[vor_lord]

Edit/Addition:  Meh.  Silly Zar forgot that attack power adds DPS and not straight damage (why, I have no idea Blizzard).
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The reason is to not favor fast weapons. If the attack power portion added straight damage, we'd all be wielding 1.3 speed weapons.

As it is, the current setup clearly favors slow weapons in many ways due to the prescence of instant attack abilities and big one shot abilities.

You could argue not to have a second term in the equation at all. I imagine that could be made balanced -- you'd have to make attack power be some kind of multiplier effect instead:


((WpMin + WpMax)/2)*some_formula_like_attack_power


There are four classes of effects to consider with weapon speed (ok so I'm making these up on the fly for purposes of discussion, please be gentle):

1. Instant or one shot attacks.
These include Overpower, Mortal Strike, Reckoning, Sinister Strike, and Ambush. These favor slower weapons, due to the use of attack power. You don't really get more of these using a fast weapon, so making them count favors a slow one.

2. Straight chance to proc on every attack with static effect on damage
These include +dmg weapon enchants, paladin judgments, and rogue poisons. Because the effect of the proc is the same regardless of weapon speed, more procs = more damage. Because the chance to proc (things like +dmg enchant are 100%) stays the same, more attacks = more procs. So these favor fast weapons.

3. Straight chance to proc on every attack, but effect varies on weapon itself
These include all shaman weapon buffs, and chance to proc extra attack talents (such as warrior Sword Spec). Flametongue, rockbiter, and frostbrand all scale appropriately to not favor any weapon speed. A similar balanced result is obtained with Sword Spec, as you'll get more extra attacks with a faster weapon, but they are smaller, so it evens out.

Windfury is an exception in this class -- while it is a straight chance to proc, and you'll get more procs and therefore more extra hits with a fast weapon, it is skewed toward slower weapons due to the big attack power bonus that the extra attacks obtain.

4. Proc per minute effects
These generally tend to be balanced for any weapon speed, but as the effects vary this may not be true. In particular, when the effect itself changes depending on attack power (like Seal of Command) it will continue to favor slow weapons. A few PPM effects theoretically may have a higher enough procs per minute to require the use of a faster weapon to obtain the full expected number of procs -- however I'm not sure if any of these exist.