The new shields?

[Robbert]

I don't see either replacing my Merc Shield Wall any time soon...but I guess being rep rewards that would be a bit much to expect.

[halabar]

I don't see either replacing my Merc Shield Wall any time soon...but I guess being rep rewards that would be a bit much to expect.

Indeed. Esp since S3 gear will be available without a rating req once S4 hits.

[Dorvan]

I don't see either replacing my Merc Shield Wall any time soon...but I guess being rep rewards that would be a bit much to expect.

Yeah, they're meant to be on par with/sidegrades to the Nightbane shield.

[Strom]

WTB a shield upgarde between T4 and T6...... and no I do not think the ZA shield is T5 quality.

[Dorvan]

WTB a shield upgarde between T4 and T6...... and no I do not think the ZA shield is T5 quality.

Then perhaps you need to look again? It lacks crit-reduction stats, but it's a very nice shield. There's also the Merc Shield Wall, of course....I ground that out in about 8 weeks 2v2'ing with a prot warrior

[Strom]

WTB a shield upgarde between T4 and T6...... and no I do not think the ZA shield is T5 quality.

Then perhaps you need to look again? It lacks crit-reduction stats, but it's a very nice shield. There's also the Merc Shield Wall, of course....I ground that out in about 8 weeks 2v2'ing with a prot warrior

I know the ZA shield is nice, but you would think they would add in a T5 level shield in either SSC/TK or from badges. It just appears there is a gap in whats available.

[Robbert]

I was hesitant at first to pick up the Merc Shield Wall, but now that I have I'm more than happy with it. While it's missing avoidance/mitigation stats, it's got a ton of armor/stam and a good ammount of block value as well. Overall I think it's the best boss tanking shield until the T6 shields. I'm still hoping to pick up the ZA shield for AoE tanking, but until then the Merc Shield Wall will do.

I do think it's a shame that some of our better weapon/shield options come from PvP/Arenas while we're very much gimped at anything other than tanking Galv/Drek in AV.

[halabar]

I do think it's a shame that some of our better weapon/shield options come from PvP/Arenas while we're very much gimped at anything other than tanking Galv/Drek in AV.

You're good at defending towers too... but arenas?.. find a dps warrior and just keep healing him in a 2v2.

[Robbert]

You're good at defending towers too... but arenas?.. find a dps warrior and just keep healing him in a 2v2.

I'm currently teamed up with a lock...currently SL/SL but looking to go back to deep affliction as he's most comfortable with that spec. Now that I don't have any big gold sinks left with my epic fliers out of the way I've started respeccing holy/prot for 2v2 then back to prot for raiding. I've been tweaking the prot spec I'm using each time to try different combinations out. I'd be hard pressed at this point to go w/out both Imp SotC (with the Libram of Zeal) and PoJ as I've found both to be very much to my liking.

[Alixander]

Now, I'll admit there are some other stats that can be better, it's certainly not a bad stat. Or is there something about it I'm missing?

it's not bad, but it's not what a paladin really wants. And it's not really what anyone else using a shield wants either. That +8 spell hit is expensive, itemization wise; you could get another +12 spelldamage on there instead, and that would be great.

Now there's an interesting question. At what point does 1% additional chance to hit with spells (approximately 13 spell hit rating) equal the amount of spell damage given by the same amount iLVL points.

This is harder to count than one might think, since you can't just compare 1% to the amount of spell damage an equal amount of iLVL points gives. You need to consider alterations from Improved RF, Holy Shield's alteration, and how each spell is affected by the coefficients vs which spells are affected by spell hit. Honestly I think it'd be worth looking into (if it hasn't already).

[kalbear]

This is harder to count than one might think, since you can't just compare 1% to the amount of spell damage an equal amount of iLVL points gives. You need to consider alterations from Improved RF, Holy Shield's alteration, and how each spell is affected by the coefficients vs which spells are affected by spell hit. Honestly I think it'd be worth looking into (if it hasn't already).

Dorvan's already done an analysis of this to some degree. And really, you don't need to do that all that much; you can just look at the threat produced from an actual run via WWS and use that to determine what the effect on your threat spell hit would have vs. spelldamage.

[Hollyhell]

Defender for most "Main" tanking, Crest if I want to give up a small amount of defensive stats for some more threat.

I picked up Illidari Runeshield for this reason.