Tank-stop

[Rominoodle]

If anybody has read my previous posts, I am a rather new tank. I have been level 80 for 2 weeks now, though I have been a protadin since 70. Before that I was holy from 1-70 and a pretty involved raider in BC. Now after taken a little over a year off, I'm trying to get back into the game but trying something new.

So far in all of the groups i've been in I have been able to hold my own just fine and have been called an amazing tank quite a few times (i don't believe them!). I have a lack of raid experience as a tank, considering I've only OT'd Ony 10 once, and I OT'd up to 4 bosses in ULD 10 last night for the first time. I have never done Naxx 10/25, OS 10/25, EoE 10/25...so as of now my main experience has been tanking heroics. I am sort of unsure as to how to enchant / gem my gear. I've read that the gem bonus isn't worth it unless it's more then +9 stam which i think i've kept on top of. I still need a few gear upgrades from heroics...as my bracers are crap..and my libram was bought at level 70 with leftover badges of justice.

My hit rating and expertise are at what I think they should be at...I think the only thing seriously lacking for me is my block, but I constantly have holy shield up so that makes up for it...(maybe?) I'm sort of at a loss of what to do. I am slightly held back because my guild does not raid as there are only...5 people that log on to it on a regular basis. wow-heroes has me pinned around doing ULD-10 but most of the gear i see in there is item level 213 which my badges gear holds me above. Short of leaving my guild is there anything I can do to better myself gear/gem/enchant/spec wise?

[Thundergnome]

You are at 24 expertise... need to bump that up to 26 for the soft cap. However, you are way over the hit cap, which is not even terribly important to you since you use mostly spell damage to tank.

You can still use a couple of upgrades from HToC 5man, but after that you pretty much need to get out and do 10/25man instances for gear and triumph badges. May have to find a raiding guild for that....
Buy the conquest badge bracers or run H OK for the bracers off the last boss (forget the name of them) to replace your blue.

Gem-wise, get rid of the +hit gems and dodge gems. Replace the hit gem with defence/stam in your chest and socket stam for anything else.
Enchant: May want to consider +275 hp to chest instead of +10 stats, and definitely get +22 stam to boots as well as +40stam to bracer.

[Mert]

However, you are way over the hit cap, which is not even terribly important to you since you use mostly spell damage to tank.

Um...

[Dtain]

If you are able to hold agro, hit and expertise are secondary to all stats. And to be honest with the way tank threat is right now you should have no issues unless your bringing some seriously over geared dps with you.

As far as easy gear upgrades I would get the crafted bracers Saronite Swordbreakers - Item - World of Warcraft
and the libram of defiance
Libram of Defiance - Item - World of Warcraft

Also in your chest you put in an expertise gem, don't gem for expertise as i said before hit / expertise are secondary to survival as long as you can hold threat. If you want to keep the socket bonus go dodge / stam or agi / stam, but putting 3x 30 stam gems in there isn't bad ither, I leave that as a choice to you.

[Fledern]

...and definitely get +22 stam to boots .....

Umm, i disagree. Tuskarr's. 7 stamina loss is well worth the mobility you gain.

[Thundergnome]

duh.. I looked at the wrong tab on his armory. my mistake.
Your hit rating is fine, however gemming for it would still be a waste i'd say

[Mert]

Umm, i disagree. Tuskarr's. 7 stamina loss is well worth the mobility you gain.

It doesn't stack with Persuit of Justice, which he has talented for. I agree with you in general principle for pretty much any class, but in this particular instance he'd basically be dropping 7 Stam for no reason whatsoever.

[Rominoodle]

I could go the route of putting 3 +30 stam gems in the chestpiece...i would only go up in stam by 33...which is more health of course but I would lose just a bit of hit and expertise. I know I am well over my hit cap, so I can afford to drop that a few points, but I think I still need a bit of expertise to put in there. Survivability-wise I am doing great, because of the content that I currently can get into.

I have not enchanted the bracers with stamina because...well they just aren't worth it...and the boots I am planning on trading in for the Spiked Deathdealers or the badge boots...whichever comes first, at that time I'll toss a stamina enchant on them. As far as the libram goes, I have been using my badges of triumph to pick up crusader orbs so I can have the Saronite Swordbreakers crafted for me. I did however just update my libram with the one from the Conquest Vendor that increases my block value at least for the time being. Having a 110 item level in that slow was killing me!

Thank you all for the feedback! Also, other then 10 man ony, is there a particular place I can upgrade my Seal of Pantheon trinket? That is the only item under 200 that I still own and I'd like to upgrade that as soon as I can. Unfortunately I did not participate in the Brewfast boss so those trinkets are out of the question.

[Satorri]

Thaddius in Naxx10 drops the first epic Defense rating trinket. Though I imagine these days it'd be about as easy to get the head of Onyxia.

If you aren't looking specifically for defense, then there are plenty of other options from emblems, Ulduar, etc.

[Rominoodle]

Well, i could probably use the defense...taking that trinket off drops me to 537 defense...although I could also go back into enchanting my cloak with defense instead of armor. Upgrading my boots and bracers though should help be stay above that cap as well, you think?

[Thundergnome]

Not sure about defence, but Essence of Gossamer is a decent starter trinket too (+111 stam).