Is it me or...

Can't say I honestly see that much of a difference in Sunwell so far, as people have said - so much healing is incoming, it doesn't really seem to matter much who is tanking.

Now that the healing is sorted on brut, I never die due to horrendous burst damage. With Scroll of Prot V and Ironshield, and the frequent MH ring proc/Inspiration, the 4% difference quickly becomes obsolete. Our warrior tank is not crap by any means, he outputs very sick threat in Sunwell as he should be, but except for last stand/SW on Kalecgos enrages you don't really notice too much difference survival wise. I even got more HP than him buffed due to the ridiculous HP scaling difference heh.

With my recent upgrades (T6 chest/bracers) I think that puts me at 19.1k unbuffed AC, with a buffed HP close approaching 24k, with around or just under 26k with a Nightmare Seed/SM Insignia use (seperately) used on each stomp. That ensures reliable survivability during stomp which is what matters (on top of threat/general survivability ofc). On paper we reduce the least damage, but as Lore said, 4% more dmg inc is just 4% less overhealing (modulo some decimals) as healing incoming is not changing regardless, and insane burst damage is still insane burst damage.

It is also true that you do not *need* the insane extra threat a pally can bring (Brut), as a warrior can produce more than enough without a shaman. But with shield block being eaten basically instantly every 5 seconds, and redoubt/holy shield/BV Libram combo producing a ridiculous amount of blocked attacks for a good amount it soon adds up to equal or better damage reduction.

Checking the WWS's for our decent Brut attempts, I have concluded the following:

Holy shield is always my highest damage ability (and so is highest threat by a LOT);
Mine and the warrior tanks max hit received were always about the same (10.5k-11.7k);
Even though I have about 17% block default and the warrior I can only imagine has at least 21% or so (complete guess, he's wearing 4/5 T6 (inc helm, no faceplates)), I am blocking between 46 and 49% of all attacks (this is with skipping Holy Shield for a second or 2 to make a more efficient threat cycle too) and he about 44-47%;
From partial blocks, I typically mitigate 2% more damage than him (and so overall), around 6.7-7.6% vs his 4.9-5.5%. This reduce the damage taken gap from 4.444...% to around 2.44...%.

This is not a rigorous statistical anaylsis of our WWS, just some basic observations, but I really don't think it matters who is tanking on him, as long as they can work out how to most effectively and reliably reduce their incoming dmg, and increase their outgoing threat.
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I really don't see how people are saying 4% does not matter, when it's so similar to armor, and armor is such an important part of effective health. Of course it's not exactly 4% reduction but it's in the same vein.. so quite noticeable imo.

And I 'm not talking about theory only. In practice, I 'm beginning to feel like the most fragile tank. I 'm the one who dies. And this is truly gutting for me because in previous content I was used to being the most solid tank - but then, I was overgeared for it thanks to badge loot. Now, my guild hasn't been farming bt/mh for months and I 'm not fully kited out in gear from there. Similarly geared to our warrior however, yet I 'm the squishy. Not just because of slight mitigation differences but he 's also able to pop last stand/shield wall, especially during those stomps - I only got a trinket (giving up dual stamina for it) and seeds. We commenced our tries with me tanking first but we had to switch because I would die during the first stomp and we wanted to practice.

A tank dropping in AD range dies anyway ? I somehow doubt that. My healers once told me that they healed me up from 0%. I also notice my commendation proc, not only on brutallus but other bosses too, even when I 'm seemingly at full health all the time. This is just the effect spam healing has, but the truth is tanks do drop low quite often.
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In my experience with the fight so far I am not the one that is dying most often. The totally geared out warrior is. I think the biggest difference is the fact that he decided to go with kael commendation as one of his trinkets.

I run with the watch and the ancient aqir artifact. I tank second so the first stomp is one trinket the second another then by the third stomp it is timed such a way that it hits him and then I taunt. My trinkets are then back up for the next stomp.

I really think it is just so important to have a trinket up for when stomp occurs. Would 4% extra be nice? You bet but it is what it is.

I am sitting right around 22.5k raid buffed in my Brutallus gear. Which has been plenty of life to handle any stomp burst so far as long as I can hit my trinket. It really is all about the healers. As long as you don't die in one round it is your healers fault most likely. Or the healing setup needs to be adjusted.
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http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Demon+Soul&n=Havn

If you keep dying and you're not really sure why, start frapsing. I noticed that when our tanks dies, its usually because of confusion among our healers. They start panicking and healing people they shouldnt, ie tank healers healing burns, people not moving out of slashes when they got burn etc...

I dont even bother encoding, I just watch the raw material and delete it when I'm done with it.

It's very useful for spotting mistakes all over the raid during encounters and I find it especially useful for Brutallus since when things go wrong, they go wrong FAST

I also recommend using GrimReaper.
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Well 4% less damage taken is not just more overhealing it is 4.444...% more effective health. I think it matters more than people give it credit... that being said in many situations with no insanely hard hitting enemies that doesn't matter due to ardent defender.