What gear is needed for the first couple of instances?

[Bastien]

I just want to know what kind of gear I need to out tank REGULAR instances in Cata for just spam instances. With minimum CC.

ilvl 333 blues. Have fun.

[bldavis]

I just want to know what kind of gear I need to out tank REGULAR instances in Cata for just spam instances. With minimum CC.

ilvl 333 blues. Have fun.

*cough*heroics gear*cough*

[Bastien]

I just want to know what kind of gear I need to out tank REGULAR instances in Cata for just spam instances. With minimum CC.

ilvl 333 blues. Have fun.

*cough*heroics gear*cough*

That's my point. If you're planning to use CC and caution (at least) the first few to several times you run the instance, you'll be fine going in with WotLK epics and replacing with Cata greens and blues you get from running the instance and crafting.

If you want to aoeroflpwn the instance and plow through WotLK-style, you need to outgear the instance. That won't happen (in my humble opinion) until you're in Cataclysm heroic gear.

In theory, if you have a proficient group, your CC'ers would learn what and when to CC the first few times, and following repetitive runs should run like clockwork, and CC'ing shouldn't slow you down. The more WotLK epics you've replaced with Cata greens and blues, the instance runs should get smoother and faster, but I still think you're going to need some CC until you completely outgear the instance, which won't happen (again, my humble opinion) until you're sporting Cataclysm heroic gear.

[Sabindeus]

cata heroic gear is ilvl 346 not 333. 333 is for normal mode L84-85 stuff.

However the fact of the matter is that he wants to level to 85 in instances, which he can do by just facerolling the L80 Blackrock Caverns over and over until 85. Once you get to like 83 or 84 and have some drops it will be a lot easier. Your avoidance will drop like a rock but your health will skyrocket. L81-82 will be painful though.

[bldavis]

wat i meant was gear for heroics... kinda flubbed that one up though... oh well

[Bastien]

cata heroic gear is ilvl 346 not 333. 333 is for normal mode L84-85 stuff.

You are correct, sir. I seem to have dropped a rung somewhere.

[thegreatheed]

But, no one really is answering my question about anything it seems. I just want to know what kind of gear I need to out tank REGULAR instances in Cata for just spam instances. With minimum CC.

Don't tell me I'm doing it wrong. Don't tell me questing is faster. All I want to know if what gear I need.

This has been answered.

With 277 gear, you need CC sometimes. There is no level of gear possible to avoid all CC. The answer to what gear level is needed to achieve "minimum CC" is 277 raid gear, ie the best possible. You will not avoid all CC.

[PsiVen]

There is no speed benefit to mindless AoE over thoughtful, swift CC. BRC pulls mostly have 1-2 dangerous mobs or a bunch of the same, typically sheep a dangerous mob, focus down any other dangerous mobs, clean up and break the sheep in time for it to run up as the other mobs die. If you fail to CC, your healer will simply have to stop you to drink between pulls more often.

[Kelaan]

-Rogue -3.5k DPS (He's getting geared again also)
-Mage -8k DPS
-Warrior DPS -8k DPS
-Druid heals
-Pally Tank

Rogue and mage let you CC 2 mobs on nearly EVERY PULL. Don't AOE, just nuke down things that are the biggest threat first, or CC them until last. Deliberately AOE-damaging them is foolish and inefficient. Rogue + mage should be enough for pretty much every pull.

If you're not questing for pre-dungeon gear ugprades, you will need to rely on CC more. That's OK -- using CC and not wiping is usually faster than playing carelessly. Moreover, you have access to Cyclone in emergencies, as well as warrior fears or even perhaps having him offtank for a fight to cut down on the burst damage that you take. (Especially since you have some self-healing that you can do.)

You could also faction transfer to horde for easier questing.

[Neptuno]

CC and killing one mob at the end of a pack also means your vengeance doesn't fall off as often which means more AOE next pull!

[degre]

He doesn't have that much CC to work with. Sap & Sheep is all.

Not much to work with? In a 5men sap and sheep are all you need.

But is that all you need for these new instances? And do you REALLY need them? IE, are we going to be camping Trade LFG Mage & Rogue for CC just to run these instances?

All you need? Ok going back to a more tachtical concept of instances, but 2cc is already a heavy requirement, asking for more would be just plain retarded.

As for the classes, you have more reliable CC then just sap and sheep as you have also retribution paladins with repentance, locks as described above and hunters that with launch trap can reliably cc also a ranged target, so you have at least 5 suitable classes; the only problem might be for the random group feature, there you have no choice.

[degre]

AOEing on 2 or 3 mob packs wont get you very far, very fast, like i heard.

It all depends on how far is the graveyard.

[kaanman36]

Also, please do not tell me what we need for CC. There is about 15 posts about CC. We are using this group, because this is our classes. We do NOT want to use CC primarily because we are going for SERVER FIRST.

The only reason I brought up CC in the first place, is that it will be faster IMHO.

If you AOE everything, you will most likely have several wipes. Even if you don't wipe, you will be sitting around waiting on your healer to get mana back after every pull.

This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes of all time . . .

"Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast. Fast is deadly."

Slow down. Do it right. You will finish faster.

However, if you are set on AOE'ing everything, then more power to you, and I truly hope it works out for you.

[Gimorth]

I'm not sure why "No CC" is a requirement here.

CC is not innately slower. In fact, it can make the run faster by limiting incoming damage, thus leading to less healing, leading to less downtime between pulls.

[theckhd]

Also, please do not tell me what we need for CC. There is about 15 posts about CC. We are using this group, because this is our classes. We do NOT want to use CC primarily because we are going for SERVER FIRST.

The only server first you're going for with this strategy is "Server First: Discovered Blackrock Mountain Graveyard"

We already have almost everything worked out.

So despite the fact that most class' AoE DPS is considerably weaker than single-target DPS for small groups (like, say, dungeon pulls for example), you really think that AoE-ing every pack of 2-4 mobs is going to be more efficient?