Gear check - not ready for VOA (normal)?

[Phathead 009]

I was just dropped from a pug group because I "wasn't well geared enough" to MT VOA. I know I have nothing from naxx, but I've tanked VOA twice successfully (out of 2 times! = 100% success) and never had any issue. My stats have some room for improvement, but I certainly think I am geared enough for regular 10 man VOA.

Here is my character: The World of Warcraft Armory

And as some baselines stats:
Def - 546
Armor - 23.5k unbuffed
Health - 29k unbuffed
Hit - 217
Dodge / Parry / Block - 20.8% / 16%, 20.2%

So my question - SHOULD I HAVE BEEN DROPPED DUE TO GEAR?

[Arcadius]

No you shouldn't have been dropped for your gear. Your total avoidance is a little low which might make your healing spikey, but no, your gear is good.

One thing that works really well for Emalon if you are tanking him is to run out when he does his (Strafing of course) AOE, then charge back in just as he casts it. Saves you 17k hp worth of healing each AOE. Healers will love you, and hots will keep you up the whole time.

gluck on your next PUG

[Phathead 009]

Yeah moving out of his lightning nova has never been a problem, I always tank him in one corner and the just run to the other when the countdown starts (deadly boss mod ftw!).

You mentioned my avoidance being low. I thought the general tank practice was to get around 20% avoidance for all 3 (granted parry is only 16 but its also the least effective avoidance stat for warrior) and then gear for EH. What avoidance stats should I target, and should I fore go more stamina in favor of avoidance? (I recently re-gem'd for more stm and less def overall because I was easily over the 540 cap but my EH was only around 26-27k.)

[Bluepepper]

Hi,
To answer your question you shouldn't haven been dropped due to gear. You have good stats. I'd say that matters more than gear. Obviously you need gear to get you stats but as long as you're meeting the recommend "caps" it really almost doesn't matter what color your gear is.

My only qualm is your expertise. 26 expertise is the recommended soft cap and it'll help out more so with your threat by taking dodge off the combat table. Other than that you have some solid stats.

The pug that dropped you either had something against you, reserved a spot for someone else, didn't want more competition for gear, used the excuse about your gear for some other unknown reason, or a combination of two or more of these. Some people are just rude, but that's what can come with a pug. I know how you feel I've been in your shoes.

[Astemus]

VoA may be a pug raid, but especially if people do not have alot of experience, things can get bad. Especially as a tank, you are the pin holding the raid together. I generally don't like to run VoA with people in blues, because if they don't have the gear they probably don't have experience. Emelon isn't like Archavon. It requires real skill and awareness to do, besides "dont stand in the bad stuff".

That said, I wouldn't have taken you in a pug. If it was a guild run, sure, but pugs are all about making it as easy as possible to get it done as quickly as possible. Really, it may not matter what color your gear is, but if you're expecting to skip a whole tier of gear, you should run with your guild or hope you get lucky and a pug doesn't notice or care you're undergeared.


ps..

As an aside, Emalon drops ulduar-level gear. You can't expect to be greeted with open arms into that level of a raid when you haven't even stepped foot in OS. Also, Phathead in a guild called "thatz what she said" doesn't exactly instill me with confidence in your abilities.

[Phathead 009]

Wow? Really? I understand that I may not be purple'd out, and that VOA drops gear way higher than what I have (although I even told the raid I don't care about PVP drops, I'd only roll on T7 tokens if they dropped) and those are valid claims on the PUG's part, but if you're telling me you wouldn't take me as a tank in a PICK UP GROUP because of my name and guild then you're being an elitist and there's no two ways about it. I've tanked Emalon perfectly multiple times and on both tries I didn't eat a single lightning nova because I watched videos and read up before hand and moved at the proper times.

I still plan on running Naxx to gear up, but since I'm not in a high level raiding guild (with character name approval) VOA is one of the fast, easy PUG runs that nets Valor emblems and possibly T7 tokens, which is why I try to run it every week.

[Astemus]

but if you're telling me you wouldn't take me as a tank in a PICK UP GROUP because of my name and guild then you're being an elitist and there's no two ways about it.

Here's how it goes if you're leading a PUG. Some tank sends you a tell saying he will tank. His name is dumb (strike 1), so you shift click to see what guild. His guild is even worse, not even a capitol letter (strike 2). Ok, maybe his gear is decent... Inspect or armory shows no raiding gear, and no raid achievments at all (strike 3). There are 10 other tanks wanting to go so why waste the time on him?

Your name is the first thing people see and most will make a judgement based on that alone. The guild is the second thing and while some people in decent guilds can use dumb names cause they think it's funny, their guild's reputation may offset whatever misgivings their name may bring up.

You could go a long way to helping your chances of getting into groups like that by joining a guild that wasn't created as a joke. Because the vast majority of guilds that were created as a joke ARE a joke. And try to get into some PUG raids besides VoA, there are most likely alot of pug naxx and OS groups now that ulduar is out and guilds aren't running them as official guild raids. If you want people to take you seriously, you need to present yourself seriously.

[Arcadius]

Yeah moving out of his lightning nova has never been a problem, I always tank him in one corner and the just run to the other when the countdown starts (deadly boss mod ftw!).

You mentioned my avoidance being low. I thought the general tank practice was to get around 20% avoidance for all 3 (granted parry is only 16 but its also the least effective avoidance stat for warrior) and then gear for EH. What avoidance stats should I target, and should I fore go more stamina in favor of avoidance? (I recently re-gem'd for more stm and less def overall because I was easily over the 540 cap but my EH was only around 26-27k.)

Dude just ignore any comments about your name and your guild and your gear. People like that only prefer to do any instance with others in full tier sets because they are terrible players. Any raid, whether it be Guild or PUG works if the raid leader communicates to each person their role and makes sure they understand it. To be so superficial is to be an emo at heart, and lets face it who cares about emo people.

Getting back to your stats, My tank is in 4/5 T7 and run 42% avoidance, 20% block and is glyphed for the extra 10% block when I use shield slam. So, 20% total avoidance is why i say its low. Having said that, When i first clicked over 80 I used the guide on this website for gearing for the 540 cap. You can buy it all, I was Tanking OS10 25 minutes later. And my avoidance would have been less than yours now.

Consumables and flasks can make up for your lacking of stats slightly so always use those. Remember also that hitting 540 defense is great, but there is nothing wrong with getting more defence. It adds to your avoidance also. I switch shields depending on situations which puts my Def up to 551, which in turn increases my avoidance.

If you know what your doing, and you know your class, I think that is more apparent to other players than a guild name without capital letters.

Goodluck on your gear. Checkout the guide on this site, and try get yourself into a Naxx10 to help your progression