OK - I'm sure that this question has been talked to death already within other threads, but as a typically impatient person, I'm thinking maybe a new thread that makes the answer easy to find might come in handy for others in the future, as well as just myself... cuz I'm having trouble finding it...

SO - before wotlk, it was basically common knowledge that by the time you reach 70, Rake was not energy efficient for the amount of damage, and many people including myself avoided using it almost entirely (with a couple exceptions like rogues in pvp, etc...)

But now, Rake seems to be mentioned quite a bit as a vital attack, to always keep up and active. What changed? I'm guessing I need to be moving this back onto my primary bar, but want to totally understand why. Thanks!

They buffed Rake so it has a brilliant damage per energy ratio, it provides the bleed effect necessary to maximize Rend and Tear, and it has no positional requirement like Shred.

The portion of your AP applied to Rake has increased since 3.0, making it your the highest DPE (damage per energy) move.

For questing, I open with Rake (after FFF). For group PvE, your goal should be to keep Rake up at all times, along with Savage Roar, Mangle Debuff and Rip.

wow. just... wow. Yeah, I musta missed that memo - in my 2.9 levels since lich king, I have Raked a total of zero times.

I also just noticed the bit about defense being worthless with Survival of the Fittest changes (which I neglected to spec at all - respec is first order of business upon next login)... Sitting down and "doing research" just seems like such a drag when you don't have a ton of time, and actually want to just "play" a game. but this is wow, i shoulda known better. hahaha

Looking forward to savage roar. that one sounds swell.

I also just noticed the bit about defense being worthless with Survival of the Fittest changes It isn't worthless, it is no longer required. You still get dodge from it. The anti-crit portion is wasted (though I guess it might help in PvP).

Also you get increased chance to be missed, which helps our avoidance since at this point we don't get block or parry.