I wish the Beta realms were still up so I could confirm my following statement:

I try and gem my classes and specs to the best of my understanding of the class and its mechanics, so while I did attempt to outfit a Retribution Paladin with stat-appropriate gems, I also tried to outfit it with gems of the right color to always unlock the socket-bonus of a given piece of equipment. If memory serves, the equipment that came with the pre-made Retribution Paladin did indeed have more Blue Gem Sockets than Red; I think roughly one or two more, not a whole lot.

From that, I can make a couple assumptions.

1.) In outfitting the mentioned Ret. Paladin and a Mage I was also experimenting with, Hit Rating was difficult to cap. Using the built-in stat calculators, it was difficult to reduce to 0% the chance to miss against a Skull-Rank enemy (ie. bosses), even when I outfit every blue slot with Hit Rating. However, I believe the Ret. Paladin was easier to hit that 0% with than the Mage. Hit Rating is a Blue Gem, you need lots of Blue Gems to unlock that Meta Gem, you fill your Blue Sockets with Blue Gems, rather than another color and benefit from the Meta, as well as the socket bonuses.

2.) Survivability is a big deal in Cataclysm. The less of a chance you have of dieing, the better you are off and the more your Healers can focus on other people. While I wouldn't at all expect a Melee DPS to gem Stamina, I could see them going half way and using Sovereign (Purple Strength+Stamina) Gems.

3.) Purple Gems in general. You can mix-and-match Strength, Expertise, Hit-Rating, and Stamina depending on what you want your gems to fill out for you.

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