When threat gear doesn't cut it

I did it, it hurt, but I did it. I used a straight up stam gem in my gear. I used several in fact. I also dropped Herbalism (to Nassia's chagrin) in favor of JC and its sweet, sweet BOP gems.

I also went back through my bank, snagged my MT gear, as I call it, and sprinkled it into my main set. The reasoning is simple, but a totally unusual feeling for me. I know that, in new content, survivability is our utmost priority. And, in Ulduar, it seems that stacking Stamina seems to be the most effective method of doing so. One cannot forget the mitigation and avoidance stats either. But on thing that is absolutely certain, threat stats of all kinds (save for perhaps expertise) have taken a back seat.

To tanks who have been on the edge of progression for a long time, this regearing, reenchanting and reevaluation of the character as a whole may be old hat. But not for me. This is arguably the first time I've had to make fairly dramatic changes to a gear set to stay viable as a tank.

I like it.

I like having to rethink my gear style, mixing and matching items to gain the optimum mix of health, avoidance, mitigation while still maintaining enough threat generation to keep up with newly upgraded dps.

It's invigorating to theory craft again. Naxx was an upsettingly easy instance. My first instance on the cusp of progression, and you could clear it in greens; with only a few tries per boss. I did appreciate that Naxx wasn't Kara 2, but seriously, it was ridiculously easy.

Now, in Ulduar, we as tanks are tested. Both in our actual skill as well as our knowledge of our class and its mechanics. I particualarly enjoy how we must utilize many of our skills in one fight. We have to deal with adds, participate in the Super Bowl of Not Standing in Shit, tank bosses and make sure positioning is tip-top.

As tanks, we have to be malleable, able to change our roles and jobs at a moment's notice. We have to play at our best and prepare for the worst. We often get priority on loot, over heals and dps and that's for a reason.

We have to protect those same heals and dps, allowing them to do their job to the best of their capabilities. To complete that task, we have to be on the ball.

So to all the tanks out who haven't yet done a once over (or twice over, thrice over, and on and on) of your gear, spec, enchants, glyphs and all aspects of your character: do so. Earn the gear that is to come. Earn your guild's continued confidence. And earn your cheaper repair bills. Seriously, plate's expensive.

Man...

School and two jobs makes it hard to keep up on the blogging.

New post incoming regarding new gearing methods, the need for tanks to be malleable in raids and some Arms thoughts.

3.1 checklist

Shamelessly stolen from Mirror Shield, here is my list of things to do when patch 3.1 drops. And by the way, can it be soon? Please Blizzard? I need more stuff to do, I'm actually doing homework at reasonable times as of late!

Anywho, the list:
- Update addons via Curse Client
- Log on Bura and run to Org for dual specs
- Realize the 1k needed is on Daacacia
- Curse
- Log the DK and pass the money over
- Relog Bura and buy dual specs
- Create Arms dual spec
- /dance with a big honking axe on my back
- Drop herbing for Jewelcrafting
- /cry for the loss of Lifeblood (It's OP!)
- Begin power leveling JC
- Run to dummies to relearn Arms rotation
- Realize I need new glyphs
- Make glyphs and hearth
- Fly to Icecrown to check out the tournament
- Get ganked
- Run back to body
- Play with Arms spec
- Get invite to raid
- Try to learn the changes to Prot while in Ulduar
- Hope raid leaders don't notice my newbitude
- Profit

My DK has better gear than my warrior...

DPS gear that is. I'm not sure how I feel about my alt having a ton of best in slot dps gear while my warrior is in a smattering of 10 and 25 man gear. Sure, it's his offspec, but it's still a weird feeling...

The epiphany

Sorry for the lack of posts. School finals and spring break means blogging is not high on my priorities.

For the past few weeks, I've been trying off and on try write something about the Arms changes that are showing up on the PTR. If you're unfamiliar with them, go check them out, I'll wait.

Back? Good, now let's get into the nitty gritty. I could break down each change and buff, but the real thing that hit me was this: Arms and Fury are now very, VERY, similar. Let's think about it; both have 2 main attacks and a proc. Sure, Arms has to keep up Rend and has Bladestorm, while Fury has Death Wish to deal with. But on the whole, the two trees are uncomfortably similar in play style.

I'm not sure how I feel about that. While I understand why the proc nature of Arms was removed (too inconsistent DPS). But that very proc system was the reason I played it in the first place. Now, my decision may come down to simply strength of spec. And right now, Fury is the winner, even with its nerfs.

Of course, nothing is set in stone, the PTR is still up and I've had no first-hand experience with either spec. But I'm worried that some of the skill, and satisfaction, of Arms may be gone. We'll just have to wait a few weeks to find out for sure.

Daacacia walks into Naxx 25...

This weekend, I had the opportunity to run 25 Naxx on my DK, Daacacia. While I have dps'ed some raids as Arms on Bura, Daacacia has and always will be dps spec. He's currently using the cookie-cutter 51/13/7 Blood spec. While I had to afk during trash (party riding ftw, homework ftl), I was there for all boss fights.

It was fun, gettting the valorous head, Crude Discolored Battlegrips and Legplates of Double Strikes. But I definitely learned that dps'ing as a DK is harder and more intricate than any other class I've had dealings with.

One of the major reasons is the rune system. If I hit the wrong button on Bura, I lose a little bit of rage and a GCD. If I hit the wrong button on Daac, I put a rune (or two or three) on cooldown, severely hampering my rotation. I either have to wait for the rune to come off cooldown, augment my rotation or burn Empower Rune Weapon to reset my self. It was hard to handle, especially on fights with movement or stuff to avoid.

Another is the rotation itself. It's quite a bit to handle for someone used to either the proc nature of Arms or the three buttons of Fury. In contrast, the optimal dps rotation of Blood is quite convoluted and precise. Again, on fights like Patchwerk, it wasn't so bad since I could stare at my bar and be very careful. But on fights like Grobbulus, I had to rely more on my HUD, which I'm still getting used to and keeping myself alive.

And the final thing I noticed was how Bloodlust wasn't that useful for DK's. Sure, the faster swing timer is nice, but the faster GCD does nothing when my runes are on CD. I still have to wait for them to come back up, and I can only Death Coil so often before I'm just auto swinging. Maybe if Bloodlust affected rune CD's, it'd be better, but as it is, it's not that great for the class in my opinion.

So, how'd I do? Let's just say I'll stick to tanking, I'm never the greatest DPSer. The only time I did well on meters was in BT before Arms was nerfed. And that was a result of Blizzard not balancing. But who knows, perhaps with a few more learning experiences, I may be tearing up the meters soon enough.

At the very least, it's a nice change of pace from the normal tanking scenarios.

Why it's cool to be an OT

Sure, MT's get all the glory, the gear and the women (ok, that last part may not be true, but we can dream). So, why on Earth would someone prefer to be the OT? I mean, we aren't the ones called out to save the day or tank the big nasty. In fact, we're usually tanking adds, or some other menial job. So why exactly should you love the OT position?

1. Our jobs can be a lot more interesting - Take for example the Kel fight. While your MT is standing in one spot, hoping no one ice blocks hims, you can help dps a bit, pick up the scarabs, kill skeletons, etc. etc. Sure, Kel is the main target, but the tank isn't moving on him, the OT's are far more active.
2. We have more lee-way in gear - The MT generally has to focus squarely on mitigation or Effective Health. Their job is to hold threat, sure, but they also have to stay upright. The OT's generally not facing the big baddies (except during fights with agro drops or soak fights). Therefore, the OT's can tailor their gear to their personal tastes. Hence my full threat loadout. Our resident protadin, Calan is in EH/Block gear. Druids can mix dps and tanking gear and create a formidable dps class with offtank potential if a tank bites it.
3. Dual specs will be fun - A lot of dedicated MT's are planning on two protection specs when dual speccing comes around, OT's have a bit more leverage to go their preferred off spec. Want to heal? Go for it, Wanna smash face as Fury? Go right ahead. You're the OT, you're meant to be versatile and help the raid any way you can. Dual speccing will help with that versatility. Enjoy it.

OT'ing is all about being helpful in any manner you can. You aren't pigeonholed into one specific role. Sure, you're a tank, yes, you have to keep others alive while keeping yourself alive as well. And you have to contribute to killing the boss in any way you can. But how you achieve those two roles, is up to you. As the OT, you have some leeway, it's nice feeling indeed. Just don't expect first dibs on T8.