Agi Vs (R)AP - Gems, Enchants and scaling.

The two most imporant stats for a hunter are Agi and (R)AP. Agility is the bane of all hunters, without agi we would hit like a holy pallly.

Agi is in most cases better than Rap for two reasons. One is that agi gives more stat bonuses. At level 70 each point of agility increases RAP by 1, .552 critical strike raiting, 2 armor, and a marginal amount of dodge. RAP however, only increases - you guessed it - RAP.


As a rule of thumb, for every 1 agi you should have ~ 2 rap
It is best to find a balance between the two. (thanks to kyo for helping out with this.)

Now lets look at scaling. One of the best buffs for hunters in the pally buff Blessing of Kings that increases all stats by 10%. The problem with BoK is that it does not stack with RAP.

Lets say a hunter raiding Kara has 400 flat agi unbuffed. Once he takes an agi pot (+35 agi) and buff food (+20 agi) (I know these are off, but it makes it easier for the example) he comes out with 455 agi. 455 agi x .10 = 500 agi. Just by taking agi buff food and pots you come out with +100 rap. That comes out to more than stacking AP food, which results in more DPS.



Gems
Once you hit your hit cap of 142, stack as much agi as you can. The best right now is the +10 agi from the SSO. The problem is that it costs 15 gems and a tip if you're not a JC / can't find a guildie to cut it for free. Although you may be tempted to get those socket bonuses by sticking green quality yellow gems in there don't do it! +4 int or minor increases to rap is not worth it.

Enchants
Again, do whatever you can to get +agi. If there is no +agi avalible due to lack of mats / recipe / piece of gear your enchanting go for +rap then + crit.