Damage vs Crit Hit

My lvl43 ranger has lvl37 legendary arrows with 43 damage and 4 gem slots. I have just identified a lvl43 legendary arrow which on the face of it looks nice;
238 critical hit and 16.8% critical damage with just 2 gem slots. So already I'm going to be down on something. Checking my stats when I changed them though, I am actually losing 64 base damage ( before moving gems). What should I do? I have identified legendary arrows at every level and never found any with damage since these lvl37s they are all crit hit. Have I got it all wrong? Should I be looking at critical damage?
HELP!

 

I would keep your high damage arrows for now until you find more gear with more crit damage %'s. Crit damage is important as it buffs your crit hits exponentially. End game, for bosses and especially PvP you need tons of crit and crit damage. You'll be able to make up any lost damage down the road with gems.

 

I'd hold one to the LVL 37 ones for the time being and then just upgrade them until you find better LVL 45 ones (or a LVL 8 one that you can eventually upgrade to LVL 40-45)

 

Brill, thanks. Shame I can't get my CoT's back - I have spent loads on identifying arrows which haven't been as good as the ones I've got. Still, at least I won't bother with lvl44 now.