I have heard both sides

1. after 1200 Expertise balance your classes key stats

2. Have your expertise as high as you can get it

Hoping to get to clarification

Percentage increase > Additive increase. At the current gear level, there's really nothing that beats Expertise because it has such a soft DR curve. If you could get to like 2000+ Expertise you'd probably be better of going Power, but as it stands, the difference between 1200 Expertise and 1300 Expertise is ~2% damage on all abilities, whereas 100 Power gets you +23 damage on all attacks.

So if your attack does 2500 damage on a standard hit, then:

2500 x 1.02 = 2550

2500 + 23 = 2532

So even at higher than 1200, still worth it. Additive increases are better for small damage numbers like DoTs, percentage increases are better for high damage numbers like your class' big hitter (Railshot, Back Blast, Death Field, Heat Seeker Missile, etc.).

That's how I look at it, but obviously you need a decent starting point for the percentage increase to be worth it, but even with 1300+ expertise you have plenty of room to stack Power to get your base damage high up there.

I have heard both sides

 

1. after 1200 Expertise balance your classes key stats

 

2. Have your expertise as high as you can get it

 

Hoping to get to clarification

1. Depends on Advanced Class
   
2. Depends on Specialization
   
3. Depends on your role and play style.
   

For instance, an Annihilation Marauder who is often guarding and offpoint for the majority of a game is better suited to stack all Expertise. With their bleeds that heal, and defensive cooldowns it is better because they can mitigate internal and elemental damage better than someone who only stacked 1200 expertise. They can better use undying rage with less HP than a marauder with less expertise

The same marauder who finds they like to get into the action would better benefit from more power to deal more damage.

.

Percentage increase > Additive increase. At the current gear level, there's really nothing that beats Expertise because it has such a soft DR curve. If you could get to like 2000+ Expertise you'd probably be better of going Power, but as it stands, the difference between 1200 Expertise and 1300 Expertise is ~2% damage on all abilities, whereas 100 Power gets you +23 damage on all attacks.

 

So if your attack does 2500 damage on a standard hit, then:

2500 x 1.02 = 2550

2500 + 23 = 2532

 

So even at higher than 1200, still worth it. Additive increases are better for small damage numbers like DoTs, percentage increases are better for high damage numbers like your class' big hitter (Railshot, Back Blast, Death Field, Heat Seeker Missile, etc.).

 

That's how I look at it, but obviously you need a decent starting point for the percentage increase to be worth it, but even with 1300+ expertise you have plenty of room to stack Power to get your base damage high up there.

Power isn't simply additive. Each ability has a proper formula which uses the Total power for said attack type which includes Mainstat, Power, Tech/Force Power or Weapon damage (I will oftenly use the terms of Total power with this as a defenition). If an ability has a formula that says that the damage are 2 x Total power, increasing +23 damage in the Total power will give +46 on the said ability. An other ability could have only a 1.3 ratio, increasing its own damge of only +30.

In fact, what should be compared is not how much damage it adds on the statsheet, but how much percentage of Total power you gain from Power. If you're a tank, with low Total power, adding 100 Power *can* imply a percentage bonus higher than the said 2% Expertise gives... I said can because I'm not aware of how much it represents. But the more you already have Total power for exemple as a healer who has much main stat and much power, the less likely putting some Power will help better than expertise. But you also have to take in account the fact that it doesn't increase suvivability like Expertise does, so Power has to give a damn big bonus in order to be better than Expertise.

So if your attack does 2500 damage on a standard hit, then:

2500 x 1.02 = 2550

2500 + 23 = 2532

Pretty sure something doesn't add up. No pun intended

Percentage increase > Additive increase. At the current gear level, there's really nothing that beats Expertise because it has such a soft DR curve. If you could get to like 2000+ Expertise you'd probably be better of going Power, but as it stands, the difference between 1200 Expertise and 1300 Expertise is ~2% damage on all abilities, whereas 100 Power gets you +23 damage on all attacks.

 

So if your attack does 2500 damage on a standard hit, then:

2500 x 1.02 = 2550

2500 + 23 = 2532

 

So even at higher than 1200, still worth it. Additive increases are better for small damage numbers like DoTs, percentage increases are better for high damage numbers like your class' big hitter (Railshot, Back Blast, Death Field, Heat Seeker Missile, etc.).

 

That's how I look at it, but obviously you need a decent starting point for the percentage increase to be worth it, but even with 1300+ expertise you have plenty of room to stack Power to get your base damage high up there.

^^

This explains it pretty well for the majority of classes. Yes, some classes will benefit from power more, especially if low, but overall expertise now has an easy curve that makes investing in it a good idea.

Also of note is that even if you are pure dps, the expertise not only increases your damage by percentage instead of a lower flat increase, but it also allows you to mitigate more damage which will invariably increase your dps even more since your up time is longer -- a win/win.

Overall, do the math to see if dropping 25-50 expertise on a piece for a bit more end/main stat is worth it for you, but as a rule, have no fear to go high expertise... it's worth it.

I've done some maths, and without taking in account healing bonus from Expertise and assuming adding power will increase the damage of all abilities homogeneously (percentagely speaking), the bonus from Power must exceed 2.20% of the Total power* you already have before, in the case you would trade the next 100 Expertise when already at 1200 Expertise.

*As a reminder, I call Total power the total damage bonus which includes Mainstat, Power and Weapon Damage or Tech/Force Power.

I have heard both sides

 

1. after 1200 Expertise balance your classes key stats

 

2. Have your expertise as high as you can get it

 

Hoping to get to clarification

Your not going to get a definate answer on this.... It really does come down to what you prefer. Just switch back and forth between expertise, and power/Endurance mixes to see what works for you. Thats probably going to be the best way for you to find peace on the topic.

To many variables like others have said..Depends on AC abilities, and playstyles you favor as to whats the best combination of stats v. Expertise.

Im not going to even get started on the "Effective HP" discussion, and then you can also consider Power vs. Main stat increase w/Buffs and Percentage increases from Spec etc....Its really a trial and error question once you reach 1200 Expertise its a crap shoot.

The differences is of at most a couple of % points, there is no way to discern them apart from a mathematical approach.

This ^

The theorycrafters can chime in all they want, but in the end, the difference is so small, it doesn't even matter anyway.

Power crystals over expertise crystals, anything else is a sidegrade in some way (expertise is both defensive and offensive, any other stat is either/or)

crystals are 1:1 in stats, anything else isn't (IIRC)

Yeah seriously. I have never once, in years of playing MMO's seen a fight that's so intensely close that a .02% increase or decrease in damage or mitigation is the difference between victory and defeat.

You're either going to win or lose by much more than the difference is anyway. Obviously if you have 0 expertise and the other guy has 1500, that's a problem. But if you have 1250 Expertise with more main stat/end and he has 1500 with less mainstats/endurance, you would have to be basically identical in skill (to within a 1% margin) for it to matter.

Power isn't simply additive. Each ability has a proper formula which uses the Total power for said attack type which includes Mainstat, Power, Tech/Force Power or Weapon damage (I will oftenly use the terms of Total power with this as a defenition). If an ability has a formula that says that the damage are 2 x Total power, increasing +23 damage in the Total power will give +46 on the said ability. An other ability could have only a 1.3 ratio, increasing its own damge of only +30.

 

In fact, what should be compared is not how much damage it adds on the statsheet, but how much percentage of Total power you gain from Power. If you're a tank, with low Total power, adding 100 Power *can* imply a percentage bonus higher than the said 2% Expertise gives... I said can because I'm not aware of how much it represents. But the more you already have Total power for exemple as a healer who has much main stat and much power, the less likely putting some Power will help better than expertise. But you also have to take in account the fact that it doesn't increase suvivability like Expertise does, so Power has to give a damn big bonus in order to be better than Expertise.

Your "Total Power" is just the Bonus Damage stat, which encompasses all sources of +damage. Just Power, however, adds an additive increase to the Bonus Damage of 0.23 damage per point of Power, hence +23 Bonus Damage for 100 Power.

I see your point about the Coefficient though, I'm just wondering if Expertise damage modifier gets added on at the very end of the formula and whether it's before or after a Critical Hit? These kind of specifics are a mystery to me, but I still think the Expertise trumps the Power at all currently-attainable stat levels.

Yeah seriously. I have never once, in years of playing MMO's seen a fight that's so intensely close that a .02% increase or decrease in damage or mitigation is the difference between victory and defeat.

 

You're either going to win or lose by much more than the difference is anyway. Obviously if you have 0 expertise and the other guy has 1500, that's a problem. But if you have 1250 Expertise with more main stat/end and he has 1500 with less mainstats/endurance, you would have to be basically identical in skill (to within a 1% margin) for it to matter.

It's not about the 1% difference in the fight overall, it's about the few percent difference on EVERY ATTACK during the fight. That adds up quickly, just like adding 10 Power to every piece of your equipment adds up to a nice sum at the end, such as going from Battlemaster to War Hero for example. The difference per piece is small, but it adds up. The damage difference per attack is small, but it adds up.

it doesnt really matter. the difference is about 25 damage between the two

Per attack, using 100 stat points. But continue being short-sighted

I'm just wondering if Expertise damage modifier gets added on at the very end of the formula and whether it's before or after a Critical Hit?.

It seems it works multiplicatively, just like a second mitigation calculation. The multiplication can occur before crit or after, it doesn't matter at all.

Per attack, using 100 stat points. But continue being short-sighted

Does it matter? TTK in this game is so low you're almost never going to have enough hits for it to 'add up over time'. You're talking about having to hit someone 100+ times to add up to even one more extra non-critical hit.. Sure, over the course of a warzone it adds up to nice padding on your scoreboard. But how many fights do you ever really lose where you had your opponent to under 1.5k hitpoints when you lost? I'm betting not many.