Downgrading to upgrade?Follow

Sidenote: My guild doesn't do ToC25 (not enough people, plus anything I DO do with guild I have to go on prot warrior because they need me to tank) so my lock's only raid options are "pug or don't raid" unless I want to join a different guild on my lock (which I haven't ruled out if anyone on Arygos is recruiting) than my warrior. I have not won a single trophy and have a history of low rolling, plus rolling against 24 other people... Don't even bring up the 245 T9 or the ToGC stuff since it's nigh impossible to get into a pug for that. From here on out, when I say "T9", I mean "The 232 set you buy for badges" unless I get a lucky drop in VoA25 (25 Man Koralon is the only way I'll see ilvl 245 Gul'dan gear, period.)

Ok, so my previous set was:

Nemesis Skullcap(245)/Pauldrons of Catastrophic Emination(245)/T8 Body(226)/T8 Hands (226)/Relentless Legs (251)

Don't ask about the legs. They were an upgrade from the 226 ones I got with badges so I got em. Pauldrons of Catastrophic Emination hereafter referred to as "PCE" for short.

Out of that set, I get hit on shoulders, body, and hands, and I'm just ever so slightly over hit cap (14% + 3/3 Suppression) so I'm fine.

Here's my dilemma in upgrading... bear with me, now.

I upgrade my T8 body and hands to T9. Better, keep the hit, but I've lost my 10% immo/UA/corr damage boost for a 10% pet crit rating. If I want to get it back, I either need 2p8/2p9 or 4p9.

This is where the problem comes in.

Replacing relentless gladiator pants I won in VoA with T9 232 is an easy choice and is the next item on my menu. Body/Legs/Hands is 3T9 and I need ti either downgrade my Ony 25 helm or my 245 PCE to 232 to get the 4T9. I did the weighted math math and either way it seems like I'm losing out, but the "less bad" (won't call it better) option is replacing ony head with T9 just because the shoulders have hit whereas T9 shoulders don't. That would leve me with T9 head/body/hands/legs and PCE which would work, I guess. I'd lose the purple gem in my pants though and have to resocket to get a purple in probably my wrists (blue socket +5 SP with a red +23 in it) to make my chaotic work.

Then I come up with another option. Merlin's Robe.

Debated it, long story short I get the robe made for me but it isn't till after I put it on and watch my DPS go DOWN that I notice two glaring oversights I seem to have missed.

1) Gul'dan robe > Merlin's robe cost me 70ish HR.
2) Now, in order to get 4T9, I'll have to replace my Ony head AND my PCE with 232s, which means I lose even MORE hit from the PCE.

So now I either have to:
1) Not use Merlin's, or
2) Gem for Hit, or
3) Replace my Abyssal Rune with the 50 Triumph hit trinket to make up for the lost hit from the Guldan's robe and PCE.

None of those options I like.

FOR NOW my solution has been to just buy a hood of smoldering aftermath (I miss my Ony head already) to compensate for the lost hit from Gul'dan body, and call it a day with plans in the works to replace my pvp legs with 232 T9 for the 2 set bonus.


Here's my quandary though, as I look out to the future...

Should I get the T9 (232) head and shoulders and compensate for the hit by gemming/hit trinket?
Should I keep running VoA25 (Not that I wouldn't anyway) and hope for T8 legs from Emalon and just go back to the T8.5 set bonus with the T8 gloves I already have + legs if I get them?
Should I just stick with Hood/PCE/Merlin+2T9 and call it a day?

Given that, as I said earlier, my only option for raiding is pugging it (which is totally luck of the draw), go ahead and pretend my only options for gear are 10 man raids up to ToC10 non heroic (since I can't seem to get any luck with an IC group who doesn't wipe horribly to Marrowgar) and 25 man raids up to Ony (no Uld25, no ToC25), just go ahead and limit me to triumph gear and lower plus those raids and tell me what you think I should do. I have afflic spec and destro spec so feel free to factor either or both into your decision, while also factoring in that pugging raids means I don't have the luxury of planning for a shadow priest or a druid with IFF, so I need to keep 14 hit.

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Arygos&n=Acriel

Already got the caster Quel'Delar; I've passed on Seethe like 3 or 4 times now.