[Rizob]

-Separate trash from boss data when looking at damage output. Affliction dps on trash can lag behind if things die too fast but can fare better on long fights. Need to separate the 'sustained' vs 'burst' dps data to get a better idea of what's going on. Plus boss fight dps matters more.

It would be helpful to provide an example of your sustained dps (like a 5min dps cycle on Dr. Boom) or what your dps is on gruul.

-Wow web stats is a good tool to use in order to measure your dps and compare it with others. You can see how the other lock beat you in damage. For example, did he have a higher dot uptime, did they tick for more, was he doing Curse of Agony/CoD while you're on CoS/oE duty, etc? WWS compiles all combat data from your combat log (just /combatlog and it'll record everything into a combat log file in your wow folder). You can post this record online for free at WWS's site and it'll help to analyze your problem.

Nothing sounds wrong with cast order though might need to shadowbolt more on trash if corruption/UA isnt ticking for long. Also, perhaps you dont lifetap/darkpact enough and you go oom early (dps time should be 95-100% generally for aff locks) or drain life too much? Hard to tell--WWS reports really help with this.

As far as gear goes:

-Pick up a pvp weapon if prince isnt dropping one. Use your arena points on S2 weapon--better than prince/gruul 1h anyways.

-FSW and spellstrike set is basically t5 quality without the sta/int. They're really good at damage stat allocation. T4 is still decent but you'd probably have more damage with the tailor stuff (not sure how much and if it's even worth the monetary/time costs though and might not be worth the upgrade).

-Get trinkets with base +damage + damage uses--the green quest +damage trinkets from outlands are better than ToEP. The +shadow offhand is better for you as well.

-http://www.leulier.com/
Gives a decent idea of what your dps could be if 100% perfect with spell casts and can give you an idea of how much each stat is worth towards you dps. Basically:

Affliction scales mostly from +damage. Suppression can cap out hit early on so hit doesnt scale so well afterwards. Only 30-40% of your dps comes from shadowbolt anyways and thats the only damage spell to benefit from +hit after suppression capped. You will have a higher chance at soul shatter resists but with low dps you probably dont have to worry about threat right now. +hit still has a value though so you should still consider it when choosing upgrades and gemming.

-At starting gear levels, should try to go after 1000+damage (no fel armor); gear guide on this site lists stuff to get. I dont think it's even possible to have 202 hit rating AND 1000dmg unbuffed in early kara-type raid gear. There's just not enough early gear with an abundance of both stats and the tradeoff is substantial. Hit gets much easier to obtain later on in t5 and t6 zones.


edit: Not sure how badly high latency now affects instant/1.5s casts considering the GCD. A 500ms lag on dot casts can be brutal but 2.3 was supposed to alleviate the client-server casting delays (quartz with stopcasting macros are not necessary in 2.3, button mashing is ok now).