Advice/suggestions about gear

[clavarnway]

Here is my armory

The World of Warcraft Armory

One of my main questions is next badge purchase. I'm looking at the bracers just because I'm tired of the crappy blue's I have, but also legs and chest. I have the SSO neck so don't really want the badge neck as bad, already got badge belt. Autoblocker is a little too niche for a purchase right now, would rather buy something I will use all the time.

Basically should I get the bracers now or wait and buy legs or chest?

Also any tips/general advice about gear/enchants would be much appreciated. I'm still learning. (I know stam is better enchant for bracers, but it's more expensive than defense and I don't want to blow my load on the bracers when I'll replace them).

(I'm going to buy 12 stam gems for the legs when I get on...those legs are good for blues).

Also, with this setup, how far do you think I'm capable of tanking? I tanked Magtheridon last night and it went pretty well (I ended up dying because I stood in debris (wtf, that happens while you are tanking?!)) but while I was alive I wasn't taking too hard of hits.

I'll also be happy if you have any advice about talents too.

Would Heroic Magisters be comfortably tanked with my Warrior? That place is pretty rough on regular, can't imagine on heroic.

[Brucimus]

I think your spec is perfect and all in all your gear is VERY good for just starting out. I think I would go with the Badge Chest and hope Wrynn drops from Curator

or


Don't think that the 2.3 Legs are out of date. They are still an awesome threat/EH piece
I would also pvp for the weekend and get the S1 Chest....then you can wait a while to get the the badge chest

[Leytur]

Whether to buy a 35 badge piece first or 100 badge piece first is a matter of personal preference. I chose to go small then big. I figured I'd rather have a return on my badge investment NOW rather than a month from now.

I have to disagree with Bruc though. Spending the badges on the old legs when the new legs are hands down better is just a poor choice.

To me your best choice is the bracers right now. Pray for Nightbane's chest and Curator's legs. But if they don't drop hey that can be your next badge piece.

[Brucimus]

if you didn't have 21 expertise I'd suggest the sunguards as on their own they're better... however...

for a tank who basically does 10 mans and non-tier-6 stuff, the best Bracers, Belt and Neck you can get for tanking (both heroics and raids) are the ones with the high expertise from badges. Therefore, you're always going to have 21 expertise. expertise from ring too,

Sunguards are awesome, but so is block value. Sunguards may be an incredible option for those with T6 gear, but for those who are under that doing mostly 10mans/heroics, imo, the Unwaverings are a much better choice.

[Leytur]

I just think spending 75 badges on a slot when there is an available upgrade is a no brainer.

[clavarnway]

Hmm well I'm doing Kara every week (and Mag), so I'm hoping at a shot at Wrynn, Warbringer/Panzar, King's Defender, Maiden Gloves. Going from the Timewarden's legs to the Badge legs gets me about 500 armor and a nice chunk of stamina and expertise, and a healthy increase in dodge and defense.

Going from the blue bracers to the badge bracers gets me about 200 armor, 15 stamina gain (assuming Solid Star), 11 defense, 22 expertise.

Definitely get more an upgrade from the legs, but they cost almost 4x as much too. I dunno what to do.

Also do you think Smashy could tank Heroic Magisters? That place is rough on regular...

PS: Either of these upgrades is good, as when I get a new weapon I will lose the expertise from it.

[Brucimus]

Also do you think Smashy could tank Heroic Magisters? That place is rough on regular...

Yes. but it doesnt take gear to tank Heroic MrT. it takes skill and good group.

also since they fixed the second boss Arcane Resist may help your healer

[clavarnway]

Ty for the advice. I already have arcane resist set for Vexallus regular, it helps healer a ton, I'm sure it will help on heroic too.

[clavarnway]

Hey just an update. I've successfully tanked Heroic Magisters maybe 7 times now, it gets imo easier every time now that I'm pretty familiar with it.

I got both the [item]Commendation of Kael'thas[/item] and the [item]Shard of Contempt[/item], so woo to that! The shard is for fights where I want max threat. Otherwise the combination I use on most fights is what you see in my armory, Moroes/Commendation.

I bought the badge bracers, took the advice of some in this thread and I was swayed after talking to our MT - so I got those now, enchanted with 12 stam.

I also got 375 Engy and made myself the [item]Gyro-Balanced Khorium Destroyer[/item]. Decided to put a 4 stam/6 defense gem in it instead of 12 stam.

My armory:
The World of Warcraft Armory

Here are my stats on the armory incase it's down (all unbuffeD):

15964 armor
15418 HP
6.24% miss
20.8% dodge
18.35% parry
16.24% block
28 Expertise rating (7% less dodge/parry)
70 Hit rating

I'm looking at getting the [item]Sunguard Legplates[/item] next. They give me more expertise which is nice, because the blue ring I have won't be kept forever. Also considering Badge chest before Legs since the extra expertise won't give me dodge AND parry, just parry (until I lose the ring).

What do you think of my gear/future gear choices? Where does the [item]Slikk's Cloak of Placation[/item] fall into this? Or the 2.4 badge ring?

[Kerchunk]

Sunguards are awesome, but so is block value. Sunguards may be an incredible option for those with T6 gear, but for those who are under that doing mostly 10mans/heroics, imo, the Unwaverings are a much better choice.

In what upside down bizarro world? I don't understand.

Even if someone already has 21 Expertise, 23 Expertise Rating is still superior to 59 Block Value for threat generation.

So Sunguard Legplates offer you: more threat, more avoidance and more effective health. Everything a tank would care about regardless of whether you're running 25-man, 10-man or Heroic content.

So how do we go from there to Unwavering Leguards being a "much better" choice (as opposed to a waste of 75 badges)? Help me understand.

[Kerchunk]

What do you think of my gear/future gear choices? Where does the [Slikk's Cloak of Placation] fall into this? Or the 2.4 badge ring?

Both are amazing and both are upgrades for you. Pick them up when you can.

[clavarnway]

Both are amazing and both are upgrades for you. Pick them up when you can.

Do you recommend buying them before Badge legs or chest?

[rustyboy]

I always go for the biggest upgrade in stats or the upgrade that I think will help me more if I have identified certain weaknesses.

I would upgrade your legs first, then the chest and maybe your ring with the sunwell badge gear. At the same time I would try and work on a replacement for your weapon. The weapon has hit rating and expertise which is great however you can get that easily through other gear now and a weapon like The Sun Eater / Kings Defender is a better choice in general for an MT. Remember Devastates are a big part of your initial threat and also maintaining threat through the duration of the fight and the weapon you have is not as good for Devastate's than a slower harder hitting weapon. Sure your Heroic Strikes may come more often but you only get a benefit from that in high rage situations when your hit is capped to 142 so that your specials never miss.

In regards to your legs its true that both would be an upgrade and that the Unwavering have BV. However the way I look at it is that if you get the Sunguards you can replace other pieces of gear with gear which has more BV and you would end up with the same stats but more BV (ie Threat). If you don't have access to T5/T6 soon you will probably get the original badge legs as well to give you more choices down the track. The original Badge gloves are very good as well, again if you get the sunguards this allows you to get these gloves which have no def but have a ton of stamina and hit rating.

One more thing I would mention is that I believe that the Devilshark Cape is probably better for a warrior than the Gilded Thorium Cloak in most situations until you get Slikks, even then I still use the Devilshark because I don't have the older badge back or Pepe's.

You probably have gear better than most tanks who were doing Mag over a year ago

Phew big post

[Kerchunk]

Do you recommend buying them before Badge legs or chest?

My personal preference is to buy whatever I can afford when I can afford it provided I'm reasonably sure it won't be something I replace really quickly.

My philosophy is having those minor upgrades will make the 100 Badge grind for the bigger items slightly less tedious. I don't know why I didn't use past tense there since I already got all the gear, but whatever.


Of course, this is really just personal preference. The difference is minor and if you're clearing KZ weekly the badges will come sooner than you think.

[clavarnway]

I always go for the biggest upgrade in stats or the upgrade that I think will help me more if I have identified certain weaknesses.

I would upgrade your legs first, then the chest and maybe your ring with the sunwell badge gear. At the same time I would try and work on a replacement for your weapon. The weapon has hit rating and expertise which is great however you can get that easily through other gear now and a weapon like The Sun Eater / Kings Defender is a better choice in general for an MT. Remember Devastates are a big part of your initial threat and also maintaining threat through the duration of the fight and the weapon you have is not as good for Devastate's than a slower harder hitting weapon. Sure your Heroic Strikes may come more often but you only get a benefit from that in high rage situations when your hit is capped to 142 so that your specials never miss.

Yeah, I have [item]Breeching Comet[/item] from Heroic Magisters and was wondering if it was worth using due to much higher DPS for better Devastates, but I got some conflicting info here so wasn't sure. I ofc would rather have Sun Eater or KD but I can't will them to drop.

In regards to your legs its true that both would be an upgrade and that the Unwavering have BV. However the way I look at it is that if you get the Sunguards you can replace other pieces of gear with gear which has more BV and you would end up with the same stats but more BV (ie Threat). If you don't have access to T5/T6 soon you will probably get the original badge legs as well to give you more choices down the track. The original Badge gloves are very good as well, again if you get the sunguards this allows you to get these gloves which have no def but have a ton of stamina and hit rating.

I'm thinking of getting legs first, I have 70 badges atm and my server is down so I can't really do much.

One more thing I would mention is that I believe that the Devilshark Cape is probably better for a warrior than the Gilded Thorium Cloak in most situations until you get Slikks, even then I still use the Devilshark because I don't have the older badge back or Pepe's.

I have Devilshark and I use it for 5 mans but I use the Gilded for bosses. Do you think the Devilshark is better for bosses?

You probably have gear better than most tanks who were doing Mag over a year ago

Thank you, I am working hard on it.

[clavarnway]

I just got [item]Quickening Blade of the Prince[/item], so that's good.

What enchant do you think I should get on it? I don't really have another tank weapon, so I was thinking Mongoose, since I would be using it for everything, and Mongoose gives a nice mix of armor, dodge, and threat.

[clavarnway]

Got Mongoose for it. Very happy with it!

[clavarnway]

Got [item]Jungle Stompers[/item] today, gemmed and chanted them up, a nice piece!! Got enough badges that after tonight's Kara, I can buy the Badge legs or Chest.

New unbuffed stats:

16083 armor
15515 HP
5.96% miss
20.52% dodge
17.19% parry
19.51% block
26 expertise rating (6.5% less dodge/parry)
62 hit rating
291 block value (didn't mention this before, but I should)

The biggest thing though is that I have a 20 dps higher mainhand, that helps my threat a ton.