Why am I so smashable?

[AxLxExX]

I don't get it. I have the def cap and my tanking skills are sufficient, but I keep hit so damn hard in heroics.
First: I know my sword sucks like crazy.

With a 554 def and 22k hp I don't see why I can't even do simple heroics?

What gear is lacking, besides the sword.

The World of Warcraft Armory

[Beefbox]

Replace your chestpiece with the Wyrmrest Accord revered one if you can, its good threat (comming from hit) + twice the defense rating of the blue you have equipped as well as a lot more armour / stats.

Secondly, a few of your tempered saronite pieces could be replaced with 80 quest items from IC (helm comes to mind --- theres a good one from an early IC quest chain + H gundrak and H nexus give good ones).

I can't really see you getting "smashed" in Heroics or even Naxx10 because your armour isn't that low... however I do suggest looking at Polar's pre naxx tanking gear guide and enchanting what you have with armour / more avoidance / stam.

Try and keep demo / TC up as well as have your front to the mobs at all times and you should be fine.

[Satrina]

The basic gear is fine for the easy heroics, you just haven't put any effort at all into the details. Argent Crusade rep for a decent head enchant. Sons of Hodir rep for a decent shoulder enchant (heck, even the old Scryer/Aldor would do). No enchants on amost any slot that can be enchanted. You have 19 defense skill that could be stamina instead, which would make a pretty big difference in how much you can soak up while the heals land.

Sure you'll replace the gear quickly, but you aren't helping your healers at all by being lazy. You don't need to spend a ton on the top end enchants, but get something on those slots. Even TBC enchants would be better than nothing.

Another thing that tanks do as they come into the heroics is forget that they no longer overgear them as we did with 2.4 badge gear in Burning Crusade. Pull a pack of four and you will get destroyed, yes.

[AxLxExX]

The basic gear is fine for the easy heroics, you just haven't put any effort at all into the details. Argent Crusade rep for a decent head enchant. Sons of Hodir rep for a decent shoulder enchant (heck, even the old Scryer/Aldor would do). No enchants on amost any slot that can be enchanted. You have 19 defense skill that could be stamina instead, which would make a pretty big difference in how much you can soak up while the heals land.

Sure you'll replace the gear quickly, but you aren't helping your healers at all by being lazy. You don't need to spend a ton on the top end enchants, but get something on those slots. Even TBC enchants would be better than nothing.

Another thing that tanks do as they come into the heroics is forget that they no longer overgear them as we did with 2.4 badge gear in Burning Crusade. Pull a pack of four and you will get destroyed, yes.

Hey there buddy, I don't remember asking if I was lazy or not.
I haven't been 80 that long and am working on a baseline heroics set, which will obviously be upgraded based on drops
But how exactly am I going to get revered with factions any faster than I already am? I haven't run heroics, because I don't get groups. So I run regular instances, and get 5 rep a kill. I've been doing this for well over a week non stop, and I haven't seen a single usable drop.
Oh and PS, I didn't know that stats are interchangable based on what I need vs what gear I have. I'll remember that so I can just swap out some defense points for some stam points without getting any +stam -def drops. Thanks for that little tidbit of info.

[Satrina]

Easy there killer, I wasn't trying to rile you up. I have duly slapped my own wrist as penance.

Hit up the Hodir dailies every day and you'll get the basic enchants in a week. Thinking about it, maybe that 18 stam enchant isn't too bad for you right now really. You can get pretty close to revered Argent just doing their quests, and don't forget they have two dailies (Pa'Troll in Zul'Drak and Saronite Mine in Icecrown)

You have 2x16 defense gems that you can indeed change out to 24 stamina. You could put a buckle your belt for another. 275 health chest is relatively cheap. The 12 stam bracers which should be really cheap with TBC mats. 18 stamina shield, ditto - and that's a shield you'll hang on to for a while anyway. Boots, there's a 22 stam enchant. That's a lot of health you could boost yourself with right there without depending on reputation gains.

There's a quest in Zul'Drak: Wanted: Ragemane's Flipper - Quest - World of Warcraft that will give you a mace that's a dandy upgrade to that Sun Eater, just grab a friend to help you out with it. Edit: Scratch that other questline, the neck isn't that great compared to what you have - but you could go for Titanium Earthguard Chain - Item - World of Warcraft and/or Titanium Earthguard Ring - Item - World of Warcraft (but getting the Dragon's Eyes may be expensive depending on your server)

Now that the initial rush is simmered down, you can also probably snag a set of Crusader's Square Pauldrons - Item - World of Warcraft off the auction house for pretty cheap. From normal dungeons, you can do the quest in Utgarde Pinnacle to get Silver-Plated Battlechest - Item - World of Warcraft. You can hit up Normal Oculus for Helm of the Ley-Guardian - Item - World of Warcraft. Special Issue Legplates - Item - World of Warcraft from Argent Crusade at Honoured. These all give you some +stam -def to juggle with.

[Thrusher]

You might also consider making yourself a Tempered Titansteel Helm, which will have a meta and blue slot added in 3.0.8. Add a 24 stam gem + an Austere Earthsiege Diamond for a +stam -def swing.

[hvidgaard]

I can only reiterate what Satrina said, you're missing way too many enchants. When you don't have a decent EH, then stamina will be your best stat for survivability. I don't mind a tank with 22-23k hp in heroics, just takes some CCing and an actual killorder. What I do mind is pugging a tank that obviously haven't even tried to get the cheap enchants, that will prevent a wipe or 5 because it's the last 0.1sec I need for that critical heal to land.

Check out Enchantments by slot - WoWWiki - Your guide to the World of Warcraft to see where you're missing some stamina enchants. Hover just above uncritable and go nuts with stamina

[Angry Grimace]

I can only reiterate what Satrina said, you're missing way too many enchants. When you don't have a decent EH, then stamina will be your best stat for survivability. I don't mind a tank with 22-23k hp in heroics, just takes some CCing and an actual killorder. What I do mind is pugging a tank that obviously haven't even tried to get the cheap enchants, that will prevent a wipe or 5 because it's the last 0.1sec I need for that critical heal to land.

Check out Enchantments by slot - WoWWiki - Your guide to the World of Warcraft to see where you're missing some stamina enchants. Hover just above uncritable and go nuts with stamina

To be honest, I didn't change a thing walking into Heroics from regular. You dont' have to change your tanking style as long as you mark properly and don't try and walk into Heroic Halls of Lightning right off the bat. You have to start where we all did: Violet Hold and the Nexus.

Run Violet Hold for those legs; Violet Hold is easy as it gets and you won't replace those purple legs till Naxx at least, and then run Nexus for the Arcane Shielded Helm if you don't have that, but mostly for badges. Those are both very easy for any tank in blues, and gets you 8 badges. Then move on to Utgarde Keep heroic, and Drak'Tharon (although with low stamina/armor you might have to skip King Dred). You'll make enough to buy that Waistguard of Living Iron, or Chained Military Gorget in no time.

The rep enchants for Argent and Hodir aren't hard to farm either, just take a few days. I personally am not going to grind all the way to exalted with Hodir, because I simply don't want to grind that kind of rep through 4 dailies and everfrost chips, but at least try and get up to Honored for the lesser inscription.

[Muffin Man]

That's funny, as a tank I hate Nexus. Mostly because I lag to death on Anomolous (sometimes literally, once I almost walked off the platform...). Also Keri can be rough if the dps is low.

UK is easy to run, not a lot of great drops there, but heroic experience and emblems are always good.

I ran DtK more than anything else too early on. Dred is scary, but if you can get dps to burn the adds first, it's not too rough as an entry level heroic.

Culling is basically the same on heroic as normal, the only problem is most groups want a timed run. If you aren't well geared or familiar it's tough to beat the timer. But other than that, it's a really easy heroic.

I also haven't unlocked my Sons of Holdir dailies yet =x. The Scryer exalted shoulder enchants are doing me just fine. But eventually, I'll upgrade (also running out of Arcane Runes). So don't forget you can use TBC shoulder enchants if you have the rep.