Yo Donatelo, it's Nokitatsu. First, just so ya'll know, this guy is a beast. We were in Dalnir for like 8 hours the other day getting crescent, and neither of us died even once. The casters barely got skills off against us. Killed them like clockwork, about 16 mobs every 12 minutes the whole time, mending and, rarely, bandaging in between. Not too bad for fighting light-blue to blue wizards and shamans.
I too started back around 2011 and have taken a few breaks. I've taken Nokitatsu very slowly and switched up weapons a lot. I'll share with you what I've learned over time.
Question #1:
Haste is nice, but if you already have 17%, then you aren't gaining much by upgrading to an FBSS. 4% more haste is not quite 4% more dps, since it doesn't affect kick, and there are likely better places to spend the 8k+ plat. Tinker Bag is a great investment.
I personally wouldn't prioritize strength to the exclusion of other stats, since our first job as monks is to be able to pull effectively (meaning stay alive). My gear before crescent was very heavy on the survival end, which left my character a little lopsided. Right now, I'm wearing a balanced set, with items like fire platinum wedding rings and targishin's bone mask for survival and the crescent set + fbss for damage. This seems to be optimal for me, though I'm working on improving my saves as my next big priority. After seeing what the casters in dalnir did to us when they
did manage to cast, I'm sure you can see why. Will likely buy Crown of the Froglok Kings next, after tinker bag, to that end.
So, short answer is that STR, AC, HP, Saves, and Haste are all important, and I wouldn't personally prioritize one to the exclusion of others (though if I did, it would be saves, since a dead monk does no damage). Dex and Sta are good stats, too, but are not as influential in my experience. If you find yourself soloing most of the time, then AC, STR, and Haste are what will reduce your downtime the most. But, at our level, solo is likely inefficient (duo, particularly with a shaman, is probably still best xp).
Question #2:
First off, one of the most reliable sources of monk weapon damage is this chart:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwLk...JtaGVsanM/edit
I agree with the others that dual-wield vs. 2hb is often a tricky subject. It switches around depending on level. At 1-20, dual wield shines due to damage cap. A monk using IFS from 20-30 is nuts because there's still a damage cap that prevents it from doing truly good dps. At our level, the caps are gone so we can use whatever we think is best.
As you noticed, dual wield works well for interrupting casters. That said, it's a poorer option vs. melee types who are facing us. We proc more of their ripostes, and when they proc our riposte, our riposte does less damage. This is actually quite significant. For this reason, 2hb is typically the way to go for solo past 30.
A lot of monks will recommend a pair of Tsticks (wu's trance stick) for interrupting casters. While the delay is nice, I've found the stun almost never procs when you want it to, and haste doesn't increase the proc chance (it's procs/minute, so only dex increases). Even worse, the kinds of mobs you really want to stun, casters, will resist it frequently.
There is some debate as to whether 1h/fast weapons benefit as much from haste. I've heard they don't, but can't confirm.
Dual wield is less subject to bad RNG. On the flipside, a good 2h will blow the mob sky-high on a good role.
Mainhand damage bonus is important to keep in mind. It's higher for 2h weapons, and apparently scales somewhat with weapon delay. If it weren't for that, dual wield would outdps 2h consistently, which isn't the case. Offhand attacks don't get this bonus, and offhand attacks proc less often the lower level dual wield is. It seems to be generally agreed that dual wield chance is about 78% at 60, and lower the further you are from cap.
Finally, straight dps. I recently upgraded to IFS from JM+KD and can confirm that the damage is better. However, dual wield will become more appealing the higher level I go, particularly since I'll be spending less time in front of my targets as I group more in the 45+.
As for your current combo, there's a good reason it's so expensive. I suspect its damage is superior to IFS, even before 50. Assuming dual wield chance is over 61% at 45, your combo's damage would be superior according to the chart I linked. At 60, I hear the best dps available is Epic Fist MH / SoS offhand, so definitely hold onto that staff. My only concern is that AC will turn into an aggro stick once you hit 50, but we have FD for a reason =)