sidkennedy
10-28-2008, 04:05 PM
Hello all! Sometime reader, first-time poster here....
First off, thank you all for helping me--a relative noob both to WoW and certainly to tanking--understand the finer points of our mutual joy/burden. Especially as concerns proper group/raid make-up & maintaining chemistry, this site has been invaluable. Don't get me wrong...the complex algorithms and the crucial hidden stats they yield have been extremely helpful to learn about. And likewise, it's encouraging to be able to read that I'm not the only one who occasionally gets frustrated with the delicate equilibria that a tank has to constantly balance & re-balance but about which your average DPS diva neither knows nor cares.
But it has been my experience that among the most important yet frequently overlooked aspects of successful runs (for which successful tanking always lies at or near the center) is the ability to get the most out of the abilities of the group you're tanking for. No one ever explicitly says this to you the first time you get passed the lead in a PUG; that in addition to being both the point guard and the offensive lineman for your "team," the tank must also act as both coach and GM. Reading how other tanks have learned to manage all these responsibilities while still remembering to have fun probably saved me from just switching to Fury and staying that way...
So kudos all around, but I actually came here to ask about gear. :o
Blessed Battlegear of Undead Slaying, specifically. I have three of the four pieces already, and I'm wondering whether I should spend any more time in the runup to LK trying for the last (legs). To wit, there's no shortage of things to accomplish as far as badge runs, achievements, Hallow's End, etc. And I already have everything that a tank would want to buy with the Necrotic Runes. Does anyone have a sense whether the extra 1% vs. undead will be useful for anything beyond acquiring still more Runes? They mainly (only?) drop from the elite mobs and they're essentially a push as compared to my current legs (well-gemmed and well-chanted Felsteel Leggings). Does anyone--say, a beta tester--know anything about whether we'll see undead mobs in the starting areas of Northrend? And what about the gear that's in store? Will the first quest I complete for Baron von Soandso in Northrendcityville drop items that are an unambiguous upgrade over Outland gear (& hence, would my time be better spent just raiding & such)? I'm having flashbacks to a few months ago when I delayed heading to OL at L58 so that I could spent countless hours leveling rep with factions like Argent Dawn and Cenarion Circle in order to have what I thought were "decent" blues and maybe a purple or two when I got to OL, only to find that the reward gear from the easiest starting quests in Hellfire was already absurdly better than even the best purple pre-BC gear...
Thx in advance...
First off, thank you all for helping me--a relative noob both to WoW and certainly to tanking--understand the finer points of our mutual joy/burden. Especially as concerns proper group/raid make-up & maintaining chemistry, this site has been invaluable. Don't get me wrong...the complex algorithms and the crucial hidden stats they yield have been extremely helpful to learn about. And likewise, it's encouraging to be able to read that I'm not the only one who occasionally gets frustrated with the delicate equilibria that a tank has to constantly balance & re-balance but about which your average DPS diva neither knows nor cares.
But it has been my experience that among the most important yet frequently overlooked aspects of successful runs (for which successful tanking always lies at or near the center) is the ability to get the most out of the abilities of the group you're tanking for. No one ever explicitly says this to you the first time you get passed the lead in a PUG; that in addition to being both the point guard and the offensive lineman for your "team," the tank must also act as both coach and GM. Reading how other tanks have learned to manage all these responsibilities while still remembering to have fun probably saved me from just switching to Fury and staying that way...
So kudos all around, but I actually came here to ask about gear. :o
Blessed Battlegear of Undead Slaying, specifically. I have three of the four pieces already, and I'm wondering whether I should spend any more time in the runup to LK trying for the last (legs). To wit, there's no shortage of things to accomplish as far as badge runs, achievements, Hallow's End, etc. And I already have everything that a tank would want to buy with the Necrotic Runes. Does anyone have a sense whether the extra 1% vs. undead will be useful for anything beyond acquiring still more Runes? They mainly (only?) drop from the elite mobs and they're essentially a push as compared to my current legs (well-gemmed and well-chanted Felsteel Leggings). Does anyone--say, a beta tester--know anything about whether we'll see undead mobs in the starting areas of Northrend? And what about the gear that's in store? Will the first quest I complete for Baron von Soandso in Northrendcityville drop items that are an unambiguous upgrade over Outland gear (& hence, would my time be better spent just raiding & such)? I'm having flashbacks to a few months ago when I delayed heading to OL at L58 so that I could spent countless hours leveling rep with factions like Argent Dawn and Cenarion Circle in order to have what I thought were "decent" blues and maybe a purple or two when I got to OL, only to find that the reward gear from the easiest starting quests in Hellfire was already absurdly better than even the best purple pre-BC gear...
Thx in advance...