a controversal topic: avoidance vs mitigation

The irony is that armor value on plate is almost entirely due to the base item value - I can't think of pieces beyond the blue felsteel set that have increased armor. The higher the item value, the more stats you have available, meaning your avoidance is likely to increase as well.

Therefore, you end up with gear that tends to imply an increase in mitigation implies it is likely to also garner an increase in avoidance. Hence, as Lore pointed out, the armor vs avoidance argument is moot due to the way equipment is designed.

Block value vs avoidance, however, is not. Itemization which leans heavily into BV or avoidance is available at similar ivalue, due to instance gear and badge gear overlapping. In that case, it becomes a matter of calculating which one provides more damage reduction for a particular encounter (usually hard avoidance for single targets, occasionally BV for multi-targets), and then checking to see if you're having trouble due to sustained damage or burst-time damage.

Also, the mana-depletion argument against avoidance seems a bit bogus. At 5k mana you'll have ~30 seconds of threat generation capacity. Over a 30-second window you'll get a fairly even distribution of damage intake, whether it's 50% avoids for 60% damage or 40% avoids for 50% damage becomes fairly moot. If anything, that's an element that favors a paladin: 100 rage can get ripped through in <10 seconds, meaning it's a much smaller window to observe inconsistent dice rolls for warriors/druids.

-Splug
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(Usually) Prot warrior: http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Illidan&n=Splug

It's definitely possible to stack too much avoidance and run out of mana, it's just a slow process.
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I can keep rhythm with no metronome.

I agree with the OP but... the gear doesn't work right.

I would rather have mitigation then avoidance but you can't get enough mitigation. You have to have avoidance.

Now block value is wonderful, except it inversely scales. If you are doing stuff below your gear level it absorbs a higher % of the incoming damage nerfing your mana regen and leaving your healers bored. Now when you are fighting stuff above your gear level it is absorbing a smaller % of the incoming damage when you need it.

IMHO all mitigation stats are needed, they all work together to keep ur ass alive. If you focus on 1 and neglect the rest ur a moron.

Now that i was offensive i must also say "there is more then 1 way to skin a cat".
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I'm sure the topic of mitigation v avoidance has been covered lots of times. I think there's a couple of good articles on tankspot, which I read, but am too lazy to go recheck and link.
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Join us next week for "water vs. oxygen".
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Scarlet Crusade - Tanked 11/11 Kara, 2/2 GL, 1/1 ML, 6/6 ZA, 0.5/5 SSC, 1/3 TK, 0/2 MH, 2/4 BT
The only real things in this game are the other people playing it - so get some f-ing manners.

Ive never liked block value.

It only mitigates a significant amount of dmg when youre getting hit lightly. When youre getting hit lightly for one thing it probably isnt a fight that is testing your gear to the limit, and also, you risk completely blocking every attack which gives you 0 mana regen.

Avoidance is more and more useful as mobs hit harder...which is the only time the way you chose to gear yourself is rigorously tested.

Armor seems awesome though. The longterm reduction in dmg taken is comparable to avoidance, and the EH is comparable to stam....both from a single stat!

I dont really understand why paladins are meant to be the kings of blocking. Unlike a warrior, our block value doesnt explicitly give threat. It can give some reactive threat just because if you have ridiculous amounts of BV, youre probably neglecting avoidance and getting hit alot. Reactive threat is nice, but as long as your not going oom, a tank TRYING to take dmg seems counter-productive.

This....

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Itemization which leans heavily into BV or avoidance is available at similar ivalue, due to instance gear and badge gear overlapping. In that case, it becomes a matter of calculating which one provides more damage reduction for a particular encounter
<<<

What I usually do is guestimate the damage per hit for the hardest encounter in a raid and then create item values in http://www.lootrank.com/

eg -- try this link:
http://www.lootrank.com/wow/rank.asp?Cla=2&j1=1&s7=4&s8=4&Art=1&s1=1&s2=4&Slot=0&j4=1&s3=1&s4=4&Max=15&i8=1&k1=1&s5=1&s6=4&Gem=3&i3=1&k2=1&j5=1&n1=1&i4=1&k6=1&j6=1&i5=1&k3=1&i6=1&k4=1&j3=1&k5=1&Str=0&Arm=0.003&Exp=0&dps=0&mp5=0&Sta=0.085&Def=0.06&mcr=0&odps=0&heal=0&Agi=0.05&Dod=0.055&mhit=0&ddps=0&spc=0&Int=0&blv=0.021&map=0&hdps=0&sph=0&Spi=0&blr=0.013&rap=0&rdps=0&spd=0.015&par=0.045&fap=0&msp=0&fid=0&Sckm=0&res=0&arp=0&osp=0&frd=0&mh=0&rsp=0&ard=0&axb=0&nad=0&bob=0&shd=0&gub=0&has=0&mab=0&spp=0&swb=0&Ver=4

Now these values aren't totally right since I've devalued avoidance a bit. The actual value of 1% dodge changes based on what you expect your target avoidance to be (if its 50% avoidance, 1% dodge is closer, but not equal to 2%). So, you can value block value as a % it will avoid from a hit. So, if you get hit for 5k, 50 block value is 1%. Similarly, block rating value can be calculated as the blockrating% * estimate total block value rank. So, if you expect to hit around 400 bv, 1% block rating would be about .04% avoidance.

So, given an estimate for:
damage per hit,
total block value
total avoidance,

you can figure out rankings and come up with loot. Then you pick the best items and see if you hit both uncrushable and your targets and rinse/repeat with new estimates.

Doing this, you can pretty much answer which will give you the best expected "time to live" -- which is different than the effective health calculations I have seen that only account for armor+health and assume you won't dodge a thing.
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Phenome (Whisperwind). Don't armory me because I am in pvp gear and spec.

Ask your healers. They vastly prefer mitigation vs. avoidance.

All healers prefer that their tanks take damage in small, predictable amounts. Too much emphasis on avoidance results in big, unpredictable spikes of damage. You have a higher risk of sudden death from a series of big hits.

Of course, too much emphasis on mitigation results in healers going OOM.

Like others have said, this is not an all or nothing question. You should have a healthy amount of both mitigation AND avoidance. Wear the best gear you can get and use other slots to fill in the gaps. However, on occasions when you can choose between two items of equal quality I suggest mitigation for most content.


(Disclaimer: my endgame tanking experience is limited to Warrior tanking. )