Most already answered the question. But no one really talked about your attitude.
You are playing with your friend and made him so mad, that he rage quitted and ignored you. This sounds like a big attitude problem, that you come here to us and ask if you were right to find confirmation.
In leveling, gear does matter and so does it not. 2-3 Stamina on a ring doesn’t matter for you. It’s better than nothing, but it’s not better to make a friend mad for this.
If you talk about the blue ring(7str/3sta) dropping from baron, my warrior was still using it until around 40. And it was a PvP twink, with epics and blues from the current level and I still used this ring, because it just had good stats and perfect stat destribution is hard to find on rings, maybe not as hard anymore with more options in the AH.
But… for you. It’s better than nothing, but let me tell you. It is much easier for you to find another ring to fill your empty slot. Or even with your current ring, how difficult is it, to find ANY other ring with 3 stamina or more.
Let’s talk about this:
You definitely didn’t go in detail with the reasons WHY those stats are ranked like that, so you shouldn’t talk like you informed yourself. I took a second and scrolled down to read their reasoning why stamina is better. It’s a raid setting and their reasoning is for you almost completely irrelevant.
The description why intelligent is bad is also just saying, that most crit comes from spellcrit (which you probably never find while leveling) and lifetap is more effective than the mana gain from int.
This is irrelevant for you at leveling for a warlock. They rate stamina just so high to give healers more time to heal them up while raid encounter, while also downranking intelligence for the sake of spellcrit and lifetap as manasource, which also explains why SPIRIT, which is an absolute AMAZING Stat for leveling, is not even listed… I would really stop blindly following your stat prio without understanding the reasoning behind it and then go in on an argument for why you have a valid reason to roll on an item, that is clearly better for someone else.
But lets talk about stats priorities and why I think you should go back to your friend and tell him, that you stop being selfish and start thinking.
DPS Warrior in a raid setting would put str over agi or crit over hit. But leveling BiS stats would probably be Str>Stamina>Agi. In leveling, you are actively taking hits and as a warrior without any ranged attack or selfsustain, his hitpoints limit the duration of a fight. Also, taking more damage as warrior increase the potential rage they can generate, which is not a small part in his rage generation during a fight, just because their rage generation from autoattacks is so horrible at low level/bad equipment.
Strength gives 2 attackpower per Point for a paladin and warrior.
A rogue for example gets only one attackpower.
Strength is basically a worse version of agility for a rogue, while agility grants no attackpower for both pala and warrior, just crit and mitigation.
And if there is a friend playing a retri/prot paladin or a warrior, I wouldn’t even roll on the ring with Str/Stam even if the slot is empty.
If a class can get the DOUBLE effect of a stat, it’s already not worth it for me to take it, just to fill a slot. There are enough items that drop over the levelphase and this one ring slot is just filled by you with SOMETHING.
You basically just recieved a few HP points, which most likely won’t even matter in most Scenarios, because your paladin friend or your pet tanks.
So why do you think you have the same need on the item as the person you call A FRIEND?
It’s called NEED, not “I have an open spot on my desk and I put a random sock from my
drawer on it, so it’s not empty anymore.”
I would understand a random stranger, even if I wouldn’t even do it to them, if they are nice. But a person I know? A person I am leveling with, that I am interested in being better geared, so we both have an easier time leveling?
I really recommend you to work on your attitude. It is not a good thing to go into an argument with your friend or pretty much anyone you want to play with.
Items are just an ingame product, but it doesn’t change the ingame relationship people have. Especially, don’t argue with people about any game knowledge, you are not familiar with yourself. You talk about a stat priority for max level 70 raiding and start the “gearingprogress” with a level 21 ring… There is just something wrong.
Stamina is also 2nd to last on this priority list. So from all viable stats, stamina is the 2nd worst. WL will be the only class besides tanks, that actually will show stamina as a valid stat(RAIDSETTING), just because they can convert life into mana which will be converted into dps.
Stamina is also only viable to life tap more often, not better. The amount of Life you lose and mana you gain doesn’t change in TBC with extra Stamina.
This is a lot more interesting for a healer that heals you than for yourself.
If you lifetap with a low HP pool, your % loss of HP seem more dangerous, than the lifeloss of a lifetap with double the HP.
Having more stamina is just to give healers more time to heal you up.
That said, your paladin was tanking anyway, so a healer would appreciate the extra stamina on a tank probably more than on a warlock that lifetaps once in a while.
So… your reasoning why you think you are a valid need roller is already build on misinformation and lack of knowledge.
And no, your mindset is completely wrong here.
Anything can fill an empty slot, why do you think it has to be the very next item you find.
Replacing a slot that is already good, is much harder.
You can find replacements anywhere, with or without the ring, but he will take a while to find a replacement for that ring that you took. And I tell you that, because leveling is a learning phase. If you carry over this attitude, you won’t make friends in the long run.
So please, go back to your friend. Say sorry for ninja looting and being stubborn. And level and gear together, like it should be. Consider the needs of the player around you and people will consider your needs. There is no personal loot in classic and sometimes you have to trust in the decisions others make, the same as people have to trust your decision making. And this time, you failed.
This is one of the urban dictionary discriptions of “Classic Andy”, don’t become like that please.
Btw. you don’t have to lecture streamers anymore to fall into this category.
And keep telling others that you think you are right, when all you did was not even reading the complete stat priority guide you based your knowledge around… I just give you the benifit of a doubt, because you seem new to the game.
But Classic and also TBC is full of ressources for free and easily accessible.
And a lot more people have been and will be raiding on a high level. You will keep on running into problems with groups and other people, if you keep insisting on being right on topics you haven’t researched enough yourself.
Even if you would be right for the wrong reasons, this is still not the way to handle this. You are looking here for comfirmation that you are right, to tell your friend, that he never had a reason to be mad in the first place.
But that is not how it goes. Reading how you react and answere other peoples opinion really seem like a way to win the argument over your friend instead of learning from the situation and making up with your friend.
Seeking answeres is something completely different than seeking answeres.
It is just a game, but it’s still an RPG with real people behind it. Just be a better person instead of being right.