5 Man drop rates

[Bluezooadin]

So I just hit 70, and been running instances as much as I can. I've ran two BM's for the tanking cloak, three SV's with nothing, Mech and got Mana Wrath, and Slabs.

It's frustrating when I did this stuff on my prot warrior, and things dropped a lot easier for it.

On my prot pally it's a pain. Most stuff doesn't take to long to run thankfully, but is the Prot pally tanking gear really rare drops?

[cherrihos]

i wouldnt worry to much about it. everyone has there dry spells. i remeber going weeks with nothing.

[Laikar]

My Warrior has done more Shadow Labs runs than I can count, exalted with Lower City many times over, and yet has never seen the bold shoulders.

Guess what dropped on my one and only run of it as my Paladin?

Random loot is random.. a plague upon it >.<

[Dagara]

My Warrior has done more Shadow Labs runs than I can count, exalted with Lower City many times over, and yet has never seen the bold shoulders.

Guess what dropped on my one and only run of it as my Paladin?

^ This. Exactly same for me.

To OP:
Just keep doing the runs. If you're like me, Prot Pally is an absolute blast, so you should be happy at all the excuses to run these instances.

[guillex]

The one good thing with having dry spells, is that you build up your rep that much faster, as you're just running instances.

Yeah, it's a pain to do at times, but there's a lot of instances that drop decent tanking gear, so there IS a bit of variety. Along with the normal and heroic dailies ... Makes for good times.

[Lookit]

Random loot is definitely random. Even though a piece might have a 20% chance to drop, you could still run it 10 times and not see it.

My philosophy is that I never plan around getting a random drop. Sure, I'll run instances that have drops I'd like, but I never think of it as "I'm running this because I want drop X". That just leads to disappointment!

That's why I love running heroics - no matter what drops, I get my badges, which go towards loot that is a lot better than any heroic (or even kara) drop. I also make a lot of money running heroics, between the Primal Nethers and all the shards. I have a couple stacks of void crystals that I'm saving for when 2.4.2 hits and Void Shatter no longer has a cooldown

Bottom line: focus on getting the guaranteed items - badge loot, rep rewards, quest rewards. Any nice drops you get are a bonus.

[dmok]

the problem is when the only currently viable upgrade for a slot IS a random drop. For my hunter, that was kara and the boots from chess. 6 months ago, I realized they were a good replacement for what I had, but they weren't dropping for me so I got the s3 boots. so I've been running kara every week (For the most part) since then ... and just got the boots last week.

[Bluezooadin]

Well, problem is I just hit 70. I doubt I can do any heroics, and can only tank so far into Kara.

So ya

[Cosmoz]

just do the instances over and over again. there are soom very good reputation loot you could pick up as well. Like with acverns of time (3 peices there you WANT) and I like the gloves from scryers (even tho most people dont like them) and there are some more. sooner or later you will get what you want. and btw, try find a guild that is doing kara, and check with them if they need a tankadin OT. else, random groups work fine for kara as well. A lot of trash/bosses in kara is easier then Heroic trash/bosses.

[Kelaan]

Well, problem is I just hit 70. I doubt I can do any heroics, and can only tank so far into Kara.

Fortunately, a LOT of our starting gear can be bought on the AH, or crafted for relatively cheap:

sword (Crystalforged)
shield (wayward footman)
helm/gloves (felsteel), and legs if you don't have KoT ones yet
bracers/belt are also craftable, but damned expensive. (I don't have them yet.)

Also, there's a ton of upgrades in Netherstorm. Quest there. Get the belt, trinket, shoulders, etc.

[Bluezooadin]

Ya, I just had Bracers of the Green Fortress and Belt of the Guardian made.I got the sword out of mech, Mana Wrath that will work just fine.

I have a green chest, and boots to replace. I need a better trinket too.

Aside from that it's starting to shape up really well. I finally got the tankadin ring from SV today. I was really excited about that one.

[Diazepam]

It took me 23 Botanica runs to get my Righteous Shoulders off of Laj. The good thing, is that those runs did a very good job of dealing with the shatar rep I needed for the exalted Shatar shield.

[Bluezooadin]

I finally got my tankadin chest and cloak out of SV, and did the mana tombs escort to get the boots. So right now I'm no longer in greens.

All blues, and three epics.

[Spectrum]

Looking at your armory as of this post you are definitely ready to start Heroics.

It really isn't hard to get a decent set of gear from quest rewards, rep, honor, and crafting. As was said before, relying on random drops leads to disappointment, as eventually there will be one that won't drop.

[Bluezooadin]

Good thing is I got my rep up with places for gear and keys =D

So which heroics should I focus on?