Gear Check/Advice Thread (All Specific Advice Requests Here)

This thread serves as a place to ask quick gear-related questions that don't need their own thread, such as "Am I ready to tank Prince?" or "Which of these two items should I use?" In order to help answer questions, please include an Armory link (something like http://www.armorylite.com would be preferred).

As a suggestion, if you'd like others to review your armory, return the favor and toss some ideas someone else's way.

Thanks!

Q: Should I post here or create a new thread?
A: Are you asking for help specific to you, or in general?

Should I buy X? Post here.
How can I boost my health? Post here.
Is piece A better than piece B for me? Post here.
Is piece A better than piece B for everyone? Create a new thread or contribute to a recent one.
What is the best weapon enchant? Create a new thread or contribute to a recent one.
Why do people say mastery is better than avoidance? Use the search function or visit Basic Training.
How should I balance mastery and stamina? Use the search function.

Good idea! Maybe this is the place to ask:

What's the approximate drop rate on the cotton candy mace from Hyjal trash?

A few weeks ago it dropped 8 times for us in one night... haven't seen it since. Obviously I lost all the freaking rolls to shadow priests and 1 elemental shaman (who replaced it the next night for the dagger from Najentus ><).

I'll be the first to step up and be shot. (:

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-shee ... l&n=Kelaan
(Which, at the moment, actually has me in tanking gear!)

Am I shooting myself in the foot by trying to go for uncrushability as fast as I can? (I realize I'm not there yet, nor even uncrittable.) I don't have as much spelldamage as several others I've seen.

On the bright side, I haven't seemed to have any trouble with aoe tanking Shattered Halls or SV, which is always fun. (: Some of the pulls get a little hairy, but some armor and stamina upgrades will I think make those more feasible (esp the mortal-striking quadruplets). I just worry that my threat may be too low and that I'm ultimately gimping my group's output. Am I worrying over nothing?

Arthaal wrote:A few weeks ago it dropped 8 times for us in one night... haven't seen it since. Obviously I lost all the freaking rolls to shadow priests and 1 elemental shaman (who replaced it the next night for the dagger from Najentus ><).

Because shadowpriests need more aggro WAY more than the tanks do.

Kelaan wrote:I'll be the first to step up and be shot. (:

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-shee ... l&n=Kelaan
(Which, at the moment, actually has me in tanking gear!)

Am I shooting myself in the foot by trying to go for uncrushability as fast as I can? (I realize I'm not there yet, nor even uncrittable.) I don't have as much spelldamage as several others I've seen.

On the bright side, I haven't seemed to have any trouble with aoe tanking Shattered Halls or SV, which is always fun. (: Some of the pulls get a little hairy, but some armor and stamina upgrades will I think make those more feasible (esp the mortal-striking quadruplets). I just worry that my threat may be too low and that I'm ultimately gimping my group's output. Am I worrying over nothing?

Uhm ... You need a new shield, two new trinkets, new bracers, a new chestpiece, and engineering at 350 for the goggles.

Look at getting uncrittable first, and then work on uncrushable. Your two trinkets do NOTHING for uncrit/uncrush right now. Don't worry about spelldamage, either ... You have enough to carry you through Kara with the CFB + 40sd.

Shield - Aegis of the Sunbird from the Botanica (hopefully Laj will drop his shoulders for you, too)
Trinket 1 - Dabiri's Enigma from the Dimensius the All-Devouring quest in Netherstorm.
Trinket 2 - Either Figurine of the Colossus from SH or the Adamantine Figurine from Shadow Labs... And if Shoulderguards of the Bold happen to drop from Murmur, A) I'll hate you, B) those will do until you can get into Kara/ZA runs.
Belt - Go do How to break into the Arcatraz to get the Sha'tari Vindicator's Waistguard.
Chest - Get Revered with the Aldor ASAP. Vindicator's Hauberk will help you out a LOT... And the shoulder chant helps too.
Cloak - Run SV for the Devilshark Cape, which will last you a long while.
Neck - Get Revered with the Cenarion Expedition for the Strength of the Untamed.

Kelaan wrote:I'll be the first to step up and be shot. (:

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-shee ... l&n=Kelaan
(Which, at the moment, actually has me in tanking gear!)

Am I shooting myself in the foot by trying to go for uncrushability as fast as I can? (I realize I'm not there yet, nor even uncrittable.) I don't have as much spelldamage as several others I've seen.

On the bright side, I haven't seemed to have any trouble with aoe tanking Shattered Halls or SV, which is always fun. (: Some of the pulls get a little hairy, but some armor and stamina upgrades will I think make those more feasible (esp the mortal-striking quadruplets). I just worry that my threat may be too low and that I'm ultimately gimping my group's output. Am I worrying over nothing?

Throw some superior wizard oil on your weapon and you should be fine threatwise as long as you aren't tanking for people severely better geared than you.

I'd also look into upgrading your shield for more armor. [item=29176]Crest of the Sha'tar[/item], [item=29266]Azure Shield of Coldarra[/item] and [item=28358]Gladiator's Shieldwall[/item] are all pretty easy to aquire and will give a substantial increase in survivabilty.

EDIT: Looking at your spec I'd say you need to get One Handed Specialization. That is hands down our best talent for Threat. I'd also look grab that last point in Toughness. More armor is ALWAYS good.

Don't worry about spelldamage, either ... You have enough to carry you through Kara with the CFB + 40sd.

Thanks -- that was my main worry. (:

Guillex wrote:Uhm ... You need a new shield, two new trinkets, new bracers, a new chestpiece, and engineering at 350 for the goggles.

Haha No kidding. I turned 70 roughly two weekends ago, and haven't been able to play as much as I'd like. (And, as I already am short on funds and have another engineer character, I am hesitant to do engineering yet on this guy. )

- I didn't have my Wayward Footman (+BlockRating) shield equipped. I realize this isn't optimal.
- I'm currently working on quests in Netherstorm, both for money to buy a flyer and for the Dabiri's trinket, as well as the Arcatraz keychain.
- I've been prioritizing Shattered Halls tanking trips, as the 4% block rating will be a very big upgrade for me.

Get Revered with the Aldor ASAP.

Any suggestions on how? At this point, I'm having to choose hard between (a) tanking instances for upgrades from drops, (b) questing in netherstorm to get gear/money/a-chance-to-go-to-Botanica, and (c) farming demon hunter supplicants (which is damnably easy, and will be even easier once I get the Figurine of the Colossus) for rep tokens to sell/trade for Aldor ones.

Also, why is Strength of the Untamed better than the Steam-hinge? I realize I will get it eventually (esp since I need the runs for the Devilshark cape and such), but is it really that big of an upgrade?

Avoidance > Mitigation most of the time.

Kelaan wrote:

Get Revered with the Aldor ASAP.

Any suggestions on how? At this point, I'm having to choose hard between (a) tanking instances for upgrades from drops, (b) questing in netherstorm to get gear/money/a-chance-to-go-to-Botanica, and (c) farming demon hunter supplicants (which is damnably easy, and will be even easier once I get the Figurine of the Colossus) for rep tokens to sell/trade for Aldor ones.

You got it ... That, and do Aldor-related quests. Pretty much all you can do.

Kelaan wrote:Also, why is Strength of the Untamed better than the Steam-hinge? I realize I will get it eventually (esp since I need the runs for the Devilshark cape and such), but is it really that big of an upgrade?

Strength of the Untamed
Binds when picked up
Unique
Neck
+27 Stamina
Requires Level 70
Requires Cenarion Expedition - Revered
Equip: Increases defense rating by 19 (8.03 @ L70).
Equip: Increases your dodge rating by 18 (0.95% @ L70).

Steam-Hinge Chain of Valor
Binds when picked up
Neck
+26 Stamina
Requires Level 68
Equip: Increases your shield block rating by 19 (2.69% @ L68).
Equip: Increases the block value of your shield by 29.

The steam-hinge does absolutely nothing for you in terms of uncrittability. Also, defense rating means that your dodge/parry, and I believe miss, goes up.

While stacking Block Rating is the quickest way to reach uncrushable, you're really aiming towards uncrittable right now. It's going to help you the most in 5mans... And is easier to get to than uncrushable is.

Elvidnir wrote:Avoidance > Mitigation most of the time.

I'd disagree. I'd say they are about even. You need enough avoidance so your healers don't go /oom but you need enough mitigation to live through spike damage.

Elvidnir wrote:Avoidance > Mitigation most of the time.

Hi there nearly irrelevant, completely unsubstiantiated, undirected post! I think if you actually browse these forums you may come across some opposition to this idea. Ideas that provide actual math backing them up, many pages of discussion, logs of damage intake rates, etc.

Questioner wrote:

Elvidnir wrote:Avoidance > Mitigation most of the time.

Hi there nearly irrelevant, completely unsubstiantiated, undirected post! I think if you actually browse these forums you may come across some opposition to this idea. Ideas that provide actual math backing them up, many pages of discussion, logs of damage intake rates, etc.

I would rather dodge an attack than block an attack. Why do I need to make a thesis statement and dissertation to validate personal preference? I may not have stated it as such, but everyone misses words from time to time.

I guess the internet is serious business.

Am I ready to tank Prince?

Elvidnir wrote:

Questioner wrote:

Elvidnir wrote:Avoidance > Mitigation most of the time.

Hi there nearly irrelevant, completely unsubstiantiated, undirected post! I think if you actually browse these forums you may come across some opposition to this idea. Ideas that provide actual math backing them up, many pages of discussion, logs of damage intake rates, etc.

I would rather dodge an attack than block an attack. Why do I need to make a thesis statement and dissertation to validate personal preference? I may not have stated it as such, but everyone misses words from time to time.

I guess the internet is serious business.

Avoidance stacking...
EH...
Mitigation stacking...

It's all situational. Plus, in Kelaan's case, he/she's not even uncrit yet ... and the Untamed will do MUCH more in terms of reaching that first goal than the Chain will.

Invisusira wrote:Am I ready to tank Prince?

No, you got too low spelldmg

Lothlan wrote:I'll go second I guess. Only been 70 for a little under three weeks. Armory is linked below. Got lucky last Kara

Our usual tank Full T4 druid has re-rolled a warrior to MT since we didn't have a reliable one who is also just 70 so I'm having to MT Kara tonight. Just want to make sure I look fine for Nightbane/Prince

Yup.

Guillex wrote:It's all situational. Plus, in Kelaan's case, he/she's not even uncrit yet ... and the Untamed will do MUCH more in terms of reaching that first goal than the Chain will.

Guillex wrote:While stacking Block Rating is the quickest way to reach uncrushable, you're really aiming towards uncrittable right now. It's going to help you the most in 5mans... And is easier to get to than uncrushable is.

Thank you for the reality check. (: I had lost sight of that. In that case, I really should have my Mark of the Ravenguard on until I get the Revered neckpiece, since the +defense will help me avoid being critted, right?

(also, it's a He. )

Kelaan wrote:

Guillex wrote:It's all situational. Plus, in Kelaan's case, he/she's not even uncrit yet ... and the Untamed will do MUCH more in terms of reaching that first goal than the Chain will.

Guillex wrote:While stacking Block Rating is the quickest way to reach uncrushable, you're really aiming towards uncrittable right now. It's going to help you the most in 5mans... And is easier to get to than uncrushable is.

Thank you for the reality check. (: I had lost sight of that. In that case, I really should have my Mark of the Ravenguard on until I get the Revered neckpiece, since the +defense will help me avoid being critted, right?

(also, it's a He. )

Yessir. Be 485 defense for normal/heroics (though 490 is a bit better for the heroic dungeons), and then start working on uncrushability... Once you have your defense capped (ie: 485/490), it's easier to see where you can juggle avoidance/mitigation/stamina instead of defense.

Take this:

You're sitting at 102.4%, but are still 489 defense... You're gonna get critted in raids, bar none.

But, if you're sitting at 500 defense, and are 2% crushable ... you have a bit of room to play around with your defense rating (about 10 points) so that you can make up that uncrushable, and still be uncrittable.

See what I mean? (Rough numbers, I know...)

Erendis wrote:Ok, I guess I'll be next.

Here is my armory link Karura.

My guild is currently gearing people up to start running our own 25 man raids. We are looking at doing Gruuls, Magtheridon and maybe poking our noses into SSC and TK for the early bosses. Am I ready to start tanking at that level?? I have tanked all of Kara, the first two bosses of ZA and been OT/Hatefull Strike tank for Gruuls with no issues.

What upgrades should I be looking for next. I know the PvP mace would be an upgrade but I hate PvP so my motivation fades after 1-2 BGs. So other than that what else should I be looking for the most?

If you're doing the first two bosses of ZA ... try for a timed chest run, and hopefully you'll get the Pauldrons of Stone Resolve.

Also, get the Amani Punisher from the eagle boss.

Try and get the shield changed ... Either the one from ZA (Bulwark of the Amani Empire off of Akil'zon), or an ALD from Gruul's.

If I were you, I'd actually change the enchant on your cloak to either Defense or Dodge, if you can get either on your server. That should give you some wiggle room with gems for more stam.

Try for Maiden's gauntlets, as they're a better MT piece.