How am I supposed to get gear?!

[Laarnso]

I have a sizeable problem; it's pretty impossible for me to get gear. The reason for this is my gear is right in the middle; I'm halfway between having DPS and tank gear, which means that I get votekicked from groups when I'm a DPS because of my low DPS and as a tank because of my low stamina (118k). All crafted tank gear that I can find is a downgrade on mine, and the best way I can see for me to gear would be heroics; of course, I can't. What should I do? Thanks.

<By the way, as long as the healer is competent heroics are easy, but people assume that it's not>

[Alent]

Keep trying. Not all groups are asshats about gear, most that I've been in seem to be willing to go halfway through a dungeon before ragepunting the tank for being undergeared, that's 1~3 bosses you can gear on worst case.

Besides that, hit up every reputation vendor for every tank and DPS upgrade you can find, run a regular dungeon daily for JP and possibly more regulars before hitting heroics up for the reputation and 333 gear of both flavors. Make sure your DPS weapons are at least iLev 333 blues and check your rotation and spec for DPS to make sure you're optimally prepared for DPS if you try to gear by DPSing - when undergeared, it helps to gun for meter-maid friendly specs.

[Martie]

Armory link please.

[Laarnso]

The problem with that is of all the heroics I've ever ran, I've only not been kicked on sight on one. That's out of about 20ish, probably more

[Laarnso]

http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/characte...nerub/laarnso/

[Martie]

Yeah, I see a green item and lots of empty gem slots (though that could be an armory thing.)
I also see next to no epics (there are a bunch of craftable epics out there, and a ton of epic rep rewards as well.)

So, if you want to know where to get more gear, there's a good amount of upgrades still to be found in normal modes. There's a lot of rep rewards that are upgrades as well, and a stamina trinket might be nice too (not because stamina trinkets are better, but because people only look at the stamina for a tank.)

[Laarnso]

Yeah I have empty gem slots because I wasn't willing to put them on armour that will probably be replaced pretty soon, but I'll gem them up I suppose. Thanks, I'll run some normals too =)

[swelt]

http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/characte...nerub/laarnso/

This should be in the Halp section.
- If you follow your own link, you'll see a Character Audit. Fix up your gear til it stops saying "bad". Enchant your rings. Fill your sockets (if only with green quality gems for gear you know you'll replace)
- If you don't want to invest in green gear, buy blue gear and invest in that instead. If you are short on cash, spend time mining.
- If you can't afford enchants, get armor kits http://www.wowhead.com/item=56517
- If your problem is low hitpoints, runeforge stoneskin gargoyle not swordshattering.
- Do normal modes, complete high level zones for quest rewards

[Kazeyonoma]

moved to help!

[Muffin Man]

Yeah, I see a green item and lots of empty gem slots (though that could be an armory thing.)
I also see next to no epics (there are a bunch of craftable epics out there, and a ton of epic rep rewards as well.)

My biggest problem is the number of reforged dps pieces, many of which are relatively low quality (at least for heroics).

So, if you want to know where to get more gear, there's a good amount of upgrades still to be found in normal modes. There's a lot of rep rewards that are upgrades as well, and a stamina trinket might be nice too (not because stamina trinkets are better, but because people only look at the stamina for a tank.)

You do have a lot of upgrades available from rep rewards. Some you are eligible to buy now even like the neck from Hyjal. Others you have some work to do. The head tanking enchant costs 15g and you should be using that even if you are planning to replace your helm (hopefully soon as it's a reforged dps green...).

You may have to stick with normal lvl 85 dungeons to build up rep and justice points. If you aren't ready for heroics, then that's just how it is. Alternatively, you can get together with a healer you know and queue for heroics that way.

Reaching level cap wasn't enough to make you heroic ready in WotLK and it still isn't enough in Cataclysm. It took me about a week to be heroic ready according to LFG and I did it as dps so groups didn't scrutinize my stats much.

[Crittable]

Reaching level cap wasn't enough to make you heroic ready in WotLK and it still isn't enough in Cataclysm. It took me about a week to be heroic ready according to LFG and I did it as dps so groups didn't scrutinize my stats much.

Exactly. I queued as dps for the first week as well, just for regulars at first. I took hand-me-down tank gear because I'm not going to take gear from tanks who need it when I queue as dps. When my dps gear was up to par for heroics, I queued for heroics as dps to build up more rep, more JP's, and even more hand-me-down tank gear. I am currently sitting at over 158k unbuffed health with both stamina trinkets on and am very capable of tanking these heroics. It only took a week or so of queueing as dps first to feel comfortable before I started queueing as tank, then everything fell into place after that.

So... get your dps gear going and queue as dps until you have enough rep/JP/hand-me-downs to build a solid tank set, or queue with a group that you know that won't kick you for still gearing up. We all have to gear up sometime, and I personally have a frustration for those that don't want to consider that other need gearing up. A tank that's experienced (especially with pre-wrath instancing) and doesn't have the best gear can still turn out to be a great tank. I healed a tank with 120k health buffed on my shaman, we were both fresh 85's and still gearing up, and it turned out great.

[CatabriOnEarthen]

Green gear, green quality gems. At least it shows you are trying.

[uglie]

http://www.wowhead.com/item=65831 are some nice shoulders from questing. Like others have said keep running regs for rep and jp. As far as rep the earthen ring tanks really only need to be revered with them and only for gearing up imo then it's time to switch tabards. There's also a ton of rep dailies to do out there for rep. The wildhammer clan has some good tank gear even before exalted when you can get the epic boots. Plus by doing the quests to get to the dailies and the dailies themselves you can more than enough gold to get your basic enchants. Using www.wow-heroes.com and www.wowhead.com are great ways to research and find gear upgrades.

[Michultradk]

This is prolly one of the best guides I have seen so far for tank gear, he has it listed several different ways. I'm sure it has helped a number of people, including myself. You can use this to map your way to glory........with a little work of course.

http://maintankadin.failsafedesign.c...rb_v=viewtopic

[Veldine]

Have you done all the quests in every zone? Faction rewards are very good. All revered items are ilvl 346 and if you're in a guild with the Mr. Popularity perk, it won't be too hard to get either. I did all the quests in Hyjal on an alt and was surprised to see I was 6k into revered when I was done and 4k to revered from Therazene when I finished Deepholm