WotLK: Stats and you

The new number one stat:

Defense. Until you hit 540, of course, at which point its just contributing to on miss not just crits. Tanks don't get 20 defense free from talents; and defense in my experience on Murmur, is just harder to get. Defense was always a killer stat; it was just that before it was plentiful and you didn't need as much of it to be awesome. Over 540, defense is still worth much less than say, dodge.

Stamina / Armor. Enough said, no changes here. Just like "540 def or fail" is still a boolean "true/false" must have thing - enough effective health for the fight you are doing is also a "true/false" thing. If you can't soak a 20k hit you can't tank Gruul. Dodge will only save your butt for a few swings. If you can't take a 20k hit you can't tank Faerlina.

Strength. This is the biggest change. In the past, agility was the only hybrid stat* - it gave you crit and dodge. Agi is still awesome - but now with WotLK, strength gives you significant block value and attack power - and more and more of your attacks benefit from attack power: revenge, thunderclap, shockwave, mocking blow (no kidding!), devastate always did of course as did heroic strike and your white damage. AP is nice; BV is nice - but strength is KING. Scales with kings, scales with vitality, scales with shield mastery - keeps you alive (blocks more damage) and keeps the boss on you at the same time. Oh my god suddenly the tier gear with all the str/agi makes sense. Lots of sense. Here's a WWS like parse of a fight against Anub'Rekhan - the first boss in Naxx - notice that my top two damage dealers are Shield Slam and Heroic Strike. Both are buffed by strength now! Get more of it.

Expertise and hit are still pure awesome: reducing the number of dodges, parries and misses. I'm not sure what the new soft caps are; but they're likely higher than the 23/46 that they are in live so go get as much exp as you can get for now. Hit to 9% so your specials can land is still the bar.

Dodge is still the most effective avoidance after you hit 540. Parry is all over the blue gear just like it was on the BC blues; but it is still less avoidance point for point and not great threat.

Block rating is no longer useless as we are no longer spamming shield block constantly; and now that our block values are more tightly integrated. Granted, a block only reduces the incoming attack by a given amount, so its usefulness is more limited than say dodge, but it's a good stat again whereas during BC it was considered wasteful. To think about it's real value; Faerlina while enraged will hit you (hit, mind you) for 15,000. Your block value in blues/pvp purples will be, say, 1,000. This means you took about 7% out of that hit; but against more normal bosses will be hitting you for more like 6k - so that's more like taking 16% out of the damage. Much nicer; but still not a dodge or parry.

Attack Power has slightly more value than it did now that all your tanking abilities make use of it. Strength is so much better though. SO MUCH. Take attack power over block value, but take strength over both.

Crit helps more than it did - now that thunderclap and many other abilities can crit. Agility is much better - scales with kings, gives you dodge.

Armor Penetration and Haste: still likely to be useful. Not much number crunching going on with these. Since Incite gives you 15% chance to crit with heroic strike, and haste increases heroic strike speed, haste is probably slightly better now than it was with a fast weapon.

Block value is now a fairly rare, and also fairly poor stat. It only helps shield slam, where strength helps nearly all your threat attacks.

* There is an argument for expertise as a hybrid stat; and sure, it's true, but the main reason to get expertise is to land more shield slams. The "back to back parry" instagib was rare outside of dual wielding bosses. Agi and Str are now always protecting you in a viable, non-situational way.