New Prot Warrior Tank and _when_ to focus on Mastery Reforging

[keefbeef]

Hi all,

I've come back to WoW for a bit after a 6 year hiatus (left just after BC released) and have taken up tanking for the first time. It is the most fun part/role of the game for me now. I'm hooked! Prior to now, I only really played a solo/questing Warlock in Vanilla so I'm essentially a n00b all around. I've been greatly enjoying reading through TankSpot forums as I appreciate the depth of the discussions here. I am still quite low average ilvl (~325) and am mostly doing normal pug dungeons to gear up. Here I am. (http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/Antonidas/Vanon/advanced)

I have read much about the value of Mastery >>> Parry/Dodge until the block cap (102.5%; Mastery ~1.5x Parry or Dodge). Are there any minimum ilvl guidelines for when this takes effect? Should I even be reforging to Mastery now? or is that paradigm for raiding content/some higher ilvl?

I ask because, while I keep hearing about Mastery as the central goal of itemization for a Prot Warrior, every gear tool I've tried (Rawr, chardev, askmrrobot) have directed me to reforge primarily to dodge to maximize (Pary + Dodge + Block) by a few %. I know I've yet to gem or enchant but I've recently started essentially from scratch and gear has been changing pretty rapidly from the normal pug dungeon runs.

I never thought I'd get to the "more advanced" content but I just bought my first Justice Point item (Earthen Legguards) so I've finally found the need/desire to sort this stuff out. Also, I just joined a mid level guild solely because I love the guild name so I haven't been able to tap into many of those resources yet either.

Some clarity would be tremendously appreciated. Thanks for your time!

[Tengenstein]

I'd trust those sources, there isn't really an Ilvl breakpoint as for when one stat becomes more valueable than another stat, its all relative so its kinda hard to say once you get x amount of gear go Stat Y. unhittable is 102.4% not 104.5%, but yeah follow those optimisers.

[swelt]

I am still quite low average ilvl (~325) and am mostly doing normal pug dungeons to gear up.
So I think this is less a question of ilvl and more a question of content. In normal dungeons, and even heroic (non-troll) dungeons, having 'raid optimal gear tuning' is probably not something you should lose sleep over. Indeed, if you gear for maximum survival, there's a chance you'll make clearing that rather easy content harder because you'll be sacrificing expertise and hit. Focus your attention on upgrading your gear (through points, drops, craftables, molten front rewards, BOEs etc) and enchanting/socketing the gear you do have. Your armory shows you in dps gear, mostly unsocketed/enchanted. You don't need to put best enchants/gems on everything, but in many cases there are cheaper alternatives which are better than nothing.

Once you've geared up enough to be doing Troll heroics, BOT/BWD pugs etc, then I'd start paying more attention to optimising. You can learn good gemming habits now (I'd suggest matching your socket bonuses with something+mastery is a decent enough habit for now).

[sifuedition]

It sounds like you have some confusion about tank stats.

The number that you referred to (102.4) used to commonly be called "unhittable". This means that you will never take a FULL hit. The term I see and like for it now is "combat table coverage", sometimes just said CTC.

When a mob swings at you, it is basically like rolling a 100 sided die. You are trying to ensure that they have no chance to "roll" a hit.

5% base chance for them to miss
+ dodge% on your character sheet
+parry% on your character sheet
+ block

If you can get these to add up to enough to cover all 100 sides of the die, you will always mitigate at least some of the damage.

Due to the more complex details of how it works (due to the boss being 3 levels higher than you) you actually have to cover 102.4%.

Dodge and parry are subject to diminishing returns. This means the more rating you already have, the less % an additional point of rating gives you. Mastery does not suffer from dimishimg returns and increases the chance you block.

Because every rating point of mastery has the same value no matter how much you already have, it is the stat that is easiest to stack up to get to the combined 102.4. Also, blocking reduces damage by a base 30% which allows healers to use more efficient heals.

TL;DR
Mastery is always a good stat because it smoothes damage and is never reduced by dimishing returns.

[keefbeef]

Thank you all for the clarification of terms (e.g. Combat Table Coverage) and for the direct answers on timing.

I have been doing some more questing lately to grind rep for the Cataclysm factions (I lol'd at needing "friendly" to even buy their tabard) which is why I have a 2H and some DPS gear equipped. I assure you I switch to a shield and my (few) tanking armor pieces before attempting to tank!

TankSpot FTW.