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

[Knievel]

I'm wondering about gearing priorities. The more I have researched what stats are important the more I realized that the absolute lowest priorities for a tank are surprisingly Parry and Dodge (in addition of course to Crit). For example, based on The Honorable Theck's calculations for Expertise and Hit, all of my gear is being reforged, including the parry and dodge.

So my question is simple: For tanking gear, should I be looking first for gear that does not include the Parry and Dodge stats at all?

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/k ... l/advanced

[econ21]

For tanking gear, should I be looking first for gear that does not include the Parry and Dodge stats at all?

That does seem to be the logic of the "control" gearing strategy: using that gearing scheme, in AskMrRobot, parry/dodge are rated 0.25 compared to 1 for haste/mastery and 3 for hit/expertise.

However, parry/dodge are the best stats for reducing your total melee damage, so I would not regard them as bad stats for a tank. They are good. It's just that they are not as good as hit, expertise, haste, mastery, spirit, spell penetration and intellect (sorry, strike those last three ).

I personally am rather loathe to turn down a higher ilevel tanking piece for some lower level one that has a better mix of stats (as the higher ilevel comes with more stamina, armour, strength and budget for secondary stats). However, when I get a choice of two pieces of the same ilevel, like the Klaxxi exalted quest ring, I do often avoid the one with avoidance.

[Sagara]

Opinions on two points! Link is in the sig, with desired stat priority: Hit/Exp -> Haste -> Mastery (and Stam, but that's a given, duh).
We're currently at 4/6 in MGV 10N.

I'll probably buy a new VP piece soonish, and I'm currently considering the DPS Ring - Ring of the Golden Stair (Exp/Crit) to replace Jan-Ho's Unwavering Seal. I should be able to hit the exp and hit hard caps without much trouble with it. I'm also considering the chest (hit/exp) or the legs (exp/dodge), or just pool my VP for item upgrades.

Second point being: Is anyone thinking I'm overshooting on Stam? I don't think I have "too much", but I'd rather have a second opinion.

[Nooska]

On the 2 pieces you are considering, I'd go with the ring - the chest is more likely to be replaced (and thus "wasted" VP).
On the amount of stam, and looking at your health, I'd say you could be safe to switch out some stam for control stats if you want - you are not low on health from what I've seen so far, and not spiky either - have you actually died without it being a mechanics handling failure (from the raid) or healers dieing so far?

[Sagara]

Not that I remember. Even then, I wonder if there even *is* such a thing as too much stam. I've had a couple close calls yesterday, where I was left < 20%, mostly due to a nasty unmitigated hit + high stack breath.

Here's one
And another

Healing is low, but my stam gives me the room to eat a series of hits AND a breath and still have a second to LoH myself, while they focus on the add's damage.

EDIT: BTW, I realize this explains why Gurzog dies from time to time - he's probably in a similar situation as myself, without the LoH to fall back on.

[econ21]

I'd be cautious about spending VPs on rings now, especially ones with Crit. In mind that with 5.1, there will be new dailies and some 496 rewards - ring and boots.

Personally, I've got my eye on that exp/hit chest. (Although the trinket would be an upgrade on my remaining Brewfest one).

[Nooska]

In that case, I don't think you are overshooting on stam - and really interesting spot with Gurzog, prolly have to talk with the healers about the importance of healing the tank(s).

[Sagara]

Just re-read the new rewards from 5.1 - the DPS boots are yummy and the tanking ring/belt aren't too shabby either...
Better hold until the chest, I guess...

AS for the healers, I think it's a question of communication: one keeps the tank out of the danger zone, the other works on the raid. The damage being growing over time, it's easy to get comfortable with light tank damage until a surprise breath-rape.

[theckhd]

Second point being: Is anyone thinking I'm overshooting on Stam? I don't think I have "too much", but I'd rather have a second opinion.

I'm biased, but my opinion is that you can never overshoot on stamina. More stamina rarely ever hurts - it's still a good survivability stat even when you're not getting 2-shot. You're not going to wipe a raid by stacking stamina, that's for sure. The only question in my mind is whether it's worth doing in 10-man, or whether it's worth gearing for more DPS (haste). That depends somewhat on your raid team, how often you die, and how solid your rotation is (i.e., can you take advantage of that extra haste?).

But really, if all you care about is surviving, you can't go wrong stacking stamina until blue gems are bursting out of your eye sockets.

[Sagara]

Groumph. Rotation's a bit clunky at times, so I'll probably stick to Stam. Or maybe try and fit in a dps piece or two. Or (even smarter) regem a couple of pieces - the Eyes are so plentiful I don't think I could use them all.

[Nooska]

Sag doesn't just care about surviving, but also about dps *nods decisively*

[Sagara]

Hey! I don't *try* to top the charts!

[Brokenone]

From a 10 man perspective, there have only been 2 times I wish I had more Stamina. Meng on Heroic Spirit Kings is brutal. I solo tanked Elite Protectors of the Endless. By the end, the little void zone that gives you a stacking debuff was pretty rough. Protectors wasn't really an issue other than on the first attempt. After we got the fight mechanics down, I think we killed it the 2nd attempt.

Meng is really the only boss I ever die to. We rotate all our CD's during his hard-hitting phase, and I still find myself wishing for more Stam (although I don't know if it'd actually make the difference. He starts hitting for 300k+ at 75% energy (without ShoR I'd guess).

What I'm thinking about doing is gemming for an equivalent of the Stam trinket I currently have and then swapping it in and out on a per fight basis.

[Nooska]

Hey! I don't *try* to top the charts!

That was more of a geas from your RL than an observation *whistles*

[Teloc]

Heroic meng is painful when he gets his stacks up..Thankfully lots of cooldowns help on him. Along with ShoR spam with HA.

Now my reason for posting...I think I can give up some of my pure stam gems for hybrid gems. Also not too sure if I should switch to haste over mastery or wait til I get my 4 piece. I am a 10man heroic mode tank.


http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/p ... c/advanced