Ret in prot gear while leveling.

[Cafisho]

Hi, i was wondering if i could level quite fast in WOTLK with this kind of equipment (t4 simil or lower...) since i don't have any ret gear available. Even though it should be replaced quite fast while leveling, is it worthy? Any spec in particular?

This is my toon: http://www.wowarmory.com/character-shee ... &n=Thorian

Thanks!

[Dork]

Edit: Misread your post. You were wanting to go Ret with that gear instead of vice versa. Sorry for the confusion, going to leave my post just in case it gives you any other options.

I've been tanking in full dps gear lately for fun/out of boredom. The gear set I have fully itemized for leveling as prot is basically ret gear with heavy str gems/enchants.

I think I have like 2350ap in said gear. (ret t6 belt,boots,bracer, immortal dusk gloves, darkmoon trinket, zerker's call, etc) I did ZA for some guild alts the other day and was top dmg done while tanking (obviously not actually a high dps number, just dmg build up over time).

My plan with the gear is to aoe tank/power through the non heroic leveling instances. I have a set group ready to go right after midnight release, so we'll see how it goes. Just make sure you healers know what you are doing.

I'm not camped out in the gear currently, but I can assure you it can be fun and it's not bad to level with. Right now I'm in some gear I used to power through BT last night. We got 1hr 24mins on our clear haha.

As far as spec goes, just sacrifice some tank talents for more dmg. The spec I'm using right now will most likely change tomorrow before I get started leveling, but it will be similar.

Possible changes I've been considering/thinking of ways to get:
Kings, Benediction, HoJ over the half ass 2/3 devo I have right now(for utility/interrupt).

In short, sure give it a try. You'll be surprised what kind of dmg you can do while tanking if your healer is down for some fun. =)

[Squishums]

If you leveled to 70 prot doing the whole aoe thing, you will probably find it easier to just level to 80 the same way. Prot gives you a way to tag 3 mobs at once from max range, which will be awesome early on when everyone is zerging mobs. It will also be super easy to get instance groups, and although ret is a bit better now, prot has traditionally always been more self sufficient when soloing.

If ret is how you want to level, Im sure you will get decent gear very quickly, and your prot gear will do ok till then. Even if the starting quest rewards are bad, they are the gear-level that blizzard assumes people will be at for all the following quests....so they will be fine.

I actually plan on leveling prot wearing lots of ret gear though =D

[Dinedan]

I have been finding the opposite to be best (at OP).

I have been putting on all my DPS gear in Prot Spec except using Heartless and a Shield and it seems like I can mow through my dailies like that. I plan to do the same in Northrend.