New tank: advice on weapon, threat, def

[Graakan]

I'm preparing to take my warrior into tanking more than I have been. My Armory link is here. (http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Suramar&n=Graakan)

My first question is in regards to a weapon. I'm currently using Teldrassil Protector (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=45076) and was wondering where I should be looking for my next upgrade. At present, I'm getting some of my def rating there, and couldn't just drop it without upgrading some other piece (and that is definitely necessary, the chest in particular).

Second is about that def cap. I'm at 553 at the moment, but most of my gem slots are given over to defense. I'm thinking upgrading the chest and the bracers might be the best idea. Then I could start gemming for stam, as 28K unbuffed is widely perceived as too low, even for heroics (so I've been told). Thoughts?

Finally, about threat... I haven't actually tanked very much, only 5-mans so far. Holding aggro hasn't been too difficult there, but as I move into 10-mans, I do worry. My current spec is based on Veneretio's suggestions over at tankingtips.com (http://tankingtips.com), which means I do not have Vigilance. Thoughts here?

[Triton]

Don't worry too much about defense gems. For now it's a good solution. If you have the opportunity, you might try and get hands on the Defense trinket that drops from Thadeus in Naxxramas. About your weapon, the easiest one to get is Peacekeeper Blade from ToC 5-man Heroic.
Try to keep up the hard work in 5 man runs to get loads of Emblem of Conquest, that's the easiest way to get your hands on some good iLvl 226 parts (T8.5).
This is also a good way to get some experience in tanking, as this is one of the most important things about tanking. If you feel comfortable, do some 10 man raids and/or 25 man raids as the opportunity is there.

About Vigilance, I primarily tank on my Death Knight, but when I go on my warrior I love Vigilance. Especially in very crowded areas with well geared dps for the taunt.

Your health pool is good enough for 5 man heroics. My warrior has 24k without buffs, and I can even tank ToC with that (need good healer for that though). The whole HP rage has really started after ToC was released, due to the rather luck-based boss fights with insane blows. With 28k base HP I'd say you can easily tank Naxx 10/25 and even Ulduar 10 should be very doable with good healers. Don't forget that before ToC was released, the average HP was somewhere between 32-36k depending on trinket usage.

[MellvarTank]

25k is ready to tank Naxx 10/OS 10, EoE 10, etc.

28K is probably good enough to tank Naxx 25, don't let the hype fool you, people are just accustomed to very high numbers.

I would pick up the Peacekeeper blade from TotC 5H, and me being the weapon collector I am I'd also get the Red Sword of Courage, and then I would look into getting into Ulduar and picking up Titanguard. However your current weapon is actually quite nice for not having tanked in a raid, so don't get too caught up in what people say on the servers. Most haven't the slightest clue what they are talking about.

[Omok]

The next tanking weapon you want to shoot for is the Peacekeeper Blade - Item - World of Warcraft (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47500) from Tournament of the Champion. It is fairly easy to get, and does not take long to run the instance.

Once you hit 540 defense, the rest of your enchants/gems should be focused towards stacking stamina. You will see numerous posts throughout the boards about why this is the preferred method of itemization. Not to say anything over 540 defense is a waste, but it is not worth going after.

As ballpark numbers, I would recommend the following health pools for each level of content.

20-25k - Heroics, Naxx10
25k - Naxx25, Ulduar10
30k - Ulduar25, ToC10
35k - TotC25, TotGC10
40k - TotGC25

[Aggathon]

The whole HP rage has really started after ToC was released, due to the rather luck-based boss fights with insane blows.

Actually it started more with hardmodes in Ulduar such as Thorim, Hodir, Steelbreaker, General, and Algalon. At least in WotLK.

But otherwise ya, what they said.