Loading ...The Badge Pick Order: 2.4 Edition
Welcome to the 3rd installment of the ever popular Badge of Justice Pick Order.
What’s new!?
Chestplate of Stoicism, Sunguard Legplates, Girdle of the Fearless and Ring of the Stalwart Protector. All 4 items represent slots where previously usable tanking badge items resided. For those of us that already had all of the previous Badge pieces this may be somewhat disappointing but, it’s gotta be a bit of a relief to those still working on getting them all.
Let’s Recap
The Old Order
- Unwavering Legguards (75)
- Bracers of the Ancient Phalanx (35)
- Iron-tusk Girdle (60)
- Bonefist Gauntlets (60)
- Slikk’s Cloak of Placation (35)
- Brooch of Deftness (35)
- Chestguard of the Stoic Guardian (75)
- Sabatons of the Righteous Defender (60)
- Gnomeregan Auto-Blocker 600 (41)
- Farstrider Defender’s Cloak (25)
Old Obsolete Items
- Azure-Shield of Coldarra
- Faceguard of Determination
- Necklace of the Juggernaut
- Ring of Unyielding Force
The New List
What to Get!
- Girdle of the Fearless (75)
- Bracers of the Ancient Phalanx (35)
- Ring of the Stalwart Protector (60)
- Sunguard Legplates (100) Unwavering Legguards (75)
- Bonefist Gauntlets (60)
- Slikk’s Cloak of Placation (35)
- Chestplate of Stoicism (100)
- Brooch of Deftness (35)
- Farstrider Defender’s Cloak (25)
- Gnomeregan Auto-Blocker 600 (41)
The Girdle easily secures spot #1 thanks to a healthy chunk of Expertise, Hit, Defense and Stamina. Those of you that already have the previous badge belt with still want to get this ASAP.
Securing the 2nd position for another patch, these bracers maintain their spot (jumping past the legs) thanks to a greater appreciation of just how powerful Expertise is as both a threat and survival statistic. When you add to that high Stamina and Defense rating, you get yourself a perfectly itemized piece.
Huge amounts of Armor and Stamina along with a solid amount of avoidance. This is simply put the best survival style ring in the game. That being said if you have an issue with low threat generation, this pieces moves lower down the list.
Yup, I’ve got them both here. This is somewhat of a “whatever you get first” situation with the new legs getting a slight edge over that of the old due to Expertise with high Defense Rating. For those that already have the Unwavering Legguards though, you’ll want to pick up the new legs only after you’ve finished off the remainder of the list and even then with Expertise so prevalent across so many pieces this spot may be the one place where you can justify maintaining some much needed Stamina and Block Value. Certainly even after you’ve purchased the the Expertise legs, the Unwavering Legguards will remain fantastic for trash mobs.
Still staying strong in the 5th position, these gloves drop only a single spot partly due to lack of competition, but mostly due to the high amount of Defense rating on other pieces making this piece an easy inclusion in your threat and/or survival gear sets.
Also dipping down a spot, but don’t sweat it this cloak is still amazing. You will find yourself using this piece extremely often thanks to it’s very survival itemized orientation.
The last piece of the new badge loot. It’s an easy replacement over the old paladin style alternative in this slot, but it really isn’t anything to get too excited about unless you are still stuck with a blue quality item in this slot.
Don’t let this item’s low placement give you the impression that it’s weak. It’s still extremely strong and an absolute must have. However, the presence of the new, easily attainable Shattered Sun Pendant of Resolve resulted in it getting knocked down a few spots from the old list. Ultimately, you need to pick up one of these two items for sure. Read the comparison article to determine which one is right for you.
Barely making the last pick list, it hit me that this cloak is the badge item I have used the most since day 1. It’s the best threat cloak pre-Tier 6 content and as a result will serve you well and often until then.
Last, but certainly not least, the timeless Auto-Blocker taking up the final spot of this patch’s list. This can be largely accredited to so many superior badge choices coming along as well as it’s slot being trumped by the new, ubitious Shard of Contempt.
What NOT to Get
Chestguard of the Stoic Guardian joins the old list of obsolete items with the addition of the new badge chestpiece catered to warriors. Along with it comes Sabatons of the Righteous Defender because while there hasn’t been a reasonable badge alternative added in practice you simply will never make it to this item before superior or equivalent options present themselves. Not to mention excess badges are better spent towards buying a bundle of Empyrean Sapphires. Finally, Iron-tusk Girdle hits the “don’t get” books too since the slight avoidance upgrade it offers just doesn’t offset the benefits of additional expertise and hit rating from the new belt.
April 9th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
Hmm.. let’s say you having threat generation problems, and have a thousand badges… You think it would be worth picking up the DPS dagger as a tanking weapon? 1.8 spd, 103 dps, 30 stam, 24 crit rating, 44 AP.
Because it seems that unless you’re in a somewhat advanced raiding guild, you’re not going to find a tanking weapon thats 90+ dps.
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Kreeger reply on June 11, 2008 5:05 pm:
No. Devastate does not scale well with daggers.
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April 9th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
[item]Quickening Blade of the Prince[/item] for a cheap tank weapon.
Of course, Lurker isn’t hard to get too, but it’s tough to convince him to drop his mace.
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Darraxus reply on June 27, 2008 12:04 pm:
The Lurker comment made me lol. This mace drops weekly for my guild just about. I have it as do the other 5 warriors that raid on a semi regular basis.
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April 9th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
I was wondering, i’ve got about 75 badges and i’ve got a question. I’m currently wearing the exalted aldor chest piece, fel steel leggings, lion’s heart girdle, and shatari leggings. What do you suggest i get first?
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April 9th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
Hmm without knowing your current Bracers, I’d say get the Bracers otherwise just get the belt.
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April 10th, 2008 at 1:27 am
Great list…thanks for making the comparisons.
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April 10th, 2008 at 3:12 am
I get so angry when I STILL see tanks wearing maiden’s neck piece. 2.3 has been out for what, 6 months now? Good lord, get a clue!
It’s a shame I left wow yesterday and our armory is due to be ready today lol
Funny thing is, on my last Kara run, every damn item I was waiting to get finally dropped.
-Shoulders off netherspite
-Ring off Shade
-Kings Defender
I swear that blizzard knew I was canceling and was enticing me to stay.
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April 10th, 2008 at 4:29 am
I don’t get you, you claimed that: Chestguard of the Stoic Guardian
- is a lot better than Breastplate of the Bold
- is better than Panzar’Thar Breastplate
- is slightly better than Tier 4 Warbringer Chestguard
Yet, the upgrade Chestplate of Stoicism, is only worth it if “are still stuck with a blue quality item in this slot.”
How come you claim the worse chest armor is better then T4, but better one is a minor upgrade for Brestplate of the Bold?
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April 10th, 2008 at 4:37 am
Totally agree with your list there, same order as me for the items that im concerned with.
Augh
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April 10th, 2008 at 5:19 am
my current bracers are the ones that drop from the first boss in kara. do you still suggest the belt?
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April 10th, 2008 at 6:46 am
Hehe, I’ve been waiting for that belt for weeks and it’s finally mine! I’m glad you put it number one, I feel justified now in how amazingly in love I was with it
So now I have 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, and 10. Might grab 4 next and I have panzar’thar so I think I’ll skip 8 and go straight for those sapphires. You’re right, I just can’t get myself excited about spending 100 badges with no stam or threat to show for it /shrug
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April 10th, 2008 at 6:58 am
@Mats: All I said was you should only get excited over it if you are wearing something like a blue. I said it was better than the pally one and it is. It is definitely worth it. It would not have made the list if it was not.
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April 10th, 2008 at 7:44 am
Can we get some more info on the reasoning behind the chest? It seems you are not a big fan and I am trying to figure out why. Chests are normally not that easy to come by and this chest seems better than anything before the Tier 6 off Illidan. The only way I can see it being ranked this low is if you have the ZA chest or teir 5 (and I still think the badge chest is better than either of those).
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April 10th, 2008 at 7:45 am
Thanks alot of the new list, it will definitely come in handy when deciding what to get. Since I’m still wearing the Breastplate of the Bold the Chestplate of Stoicism jumps to the top for me, but after that I’ll definitely be using this list to choose.
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April 10th, 2008 at 8:08 am
@ Kavtor
Hmm.. let’s say you having threat generation problems, and have a thousand badges… You think it would be worth picking up the DPS dagger as a tanking weapon? 1.8 spd, 103 dps, 30 stam, 24 crit rating, 44 AP.
Because it seems that unless you’re in a somewhat advanced raiding guild, you’re not going to find a tanking weapon thats 90+ dps.
If you are farming kara, you can hand pick a good group, and adventure yourself in ZA. With a little luck, you will drop a 95 dps 1.5 sword from eagle boss. I did. An my threat got an increase of 100 TPS.
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April 10th, 2008 at 8:20 am
I agree with the list and appreciate you posting it.
Some folks are already getting worried about why you placed items at certain ranks when clearly something lower on the list is a better upgrade for them.
Everyone needs to look at their own gear and assess what they need to focus on. I got the chest first. Why? Well, in my tanking gear I was sitting at exactly 490 defense. I have the badge gloves and neck which have great threat stats but no defense. I prefer utility trinkets to +def trinkets so I sit just at the 490 marker, leaving me no wiggle room to swap out rings, etc. I have the bracers, neck and the shard of contempt so my expertise is very solid, making the belt less needed for me. I’m not our guilds main progression tank so the ring, while great, was also not as high a priority as I outgear much of what I generally tank. The chest was the best +def upgrade for me so made sense to grab it first, giving me more flexibility in my other slots.
The list is a fabulous resource, but every tank should have their own lists based on their current gear and what they are tanking.
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April 10th, 2008 at 8:30 am
I also agree the chest is overrated. I have the season2 chest, and this new chest will become my new avoidance chest (currently have Panzar)
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April 10th, 2008 at 8:55 am
@hellslayer: The Season 2 and 3 chests I find to be a superior choice thanks to the additional armor, stamina and threat they’ll offer. Not to mention the 3rd Blacksmithing chest is better as well and with Vortexes purchasable it’s now extremely accessible too. Overall, it’s a fine chestpiece, but the reality is that there are a lot of good chestpieces if you know where to look where as the other items on the list that rank higher simply don’t have easily accessible alternatives or even no alternative at all.
As I said before, it’s not that the chest is bad. It is good. If it was bad it wouldn’t have even made the list.
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April 10th, 2008 at 9:09 am
the armor values for the 2.4 badge items are wrong on wowhead. The chestplate of stoicism is 1765 armor, the girdle of the fearless is 993 armor, and the sunguard legplates are 1544 armor. These new 2.4 badge gear is way better than the previous ones. The sunguard legplates are alot better than the unwavering, it has more armor, little less stamina, alot more avoidance, nothing wasted on useless block rating, and finally more threat.
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April 10th, 2008 at 9:23 am
Great site - I have gotten many quetions answered by coming here. I was wondering why you thought the new rep neckpiece is inferior to the Brooch of Deftness(which I am currently wearing). I was planning on buying it today as I will become exalted with SSO but now I have doubts…
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April 10th, 2008 at 9:32 am
What about for the warrior who still has the blue ‘of the bold’ chest piece, doesn’t get to see nightbane much, doesn’t care to do arena, and isn’t a blacksmith? How much higher would you place it on the list then?
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April 10th, 2008 at 10:23 am
Obviously the list is just a guideline. Nobody should just blindly follow the list. If you’re wearing all epics except for a green chest, you should probably upgrade the chest first since it will give you the most bang for your buck. If you’re in all epics but your cloak is green, get Slikk’s first.
Don’t upgrade an ilvl128 epic belt to the new badge belt if you have an ilvl115 blue ring that needs to be upgraded more.
What I did with the initial list was, I chose a few slots that needed the upgrade the most, and bought those in pick order. Then I identified the next few slots that needed an upgrade.
The point he’s making about the chest is, all the other items are so good that, if you had (blue ilvl115/epic ilvl115/epic ilvl120/whatever) items in EVERY slot, you should buy your badge gear in this order.
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April 10th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
For me, i still have the “of the bold” chest piece with the brooch, slikk’s and the rest being kara gear, S1 gear, and t4 shoulders from gruulz. I was stoked when the chest was mentioned in mmo-champion since the jump from my current chest to the badge reward was the biggest upgrade for me.
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April 10th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Now with so much great gear out there with expertise what is the magic number to shoot for. I had 30 before the new gear and that was great. With this gear and the new shard trinket when is expertise at a good max.
Slowboogie
Icecrown
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April 10th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Is everybody elses badge rewards open? Our server is still 25% away… =(
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April 10th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
@Hydrix: I will leave the Maiden neck in bag until I have a better avoidance neck. Until then, I don’t mind missing the spot. Of course, I wear the Brooch 90% of the time, but that is not 100% of the time. Get KD and Sun Eater, get the Brooch and the Maiden neck, get the S3 chest and Panzar’Thar. Get them all. Bag space is cheap.
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April 10th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
I’m a bit confused by #3. Granted, +9 Hit and + 3 Expertise is nice, but is it worth 35 badges when those could go toward items you have lower on the list (especially the leggings and chest)? I personally don’t think so.
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April 10th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
i got kz chest, legs and old badge girdle.
should i buy new badge items or just upgrade my old +9 stamina gems?
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April 11th, 2008 at 5:55 am
I have the Jade-Skull Breastplate. We are done in SSC and TK, and have the first 4 bosses in Hyjal on farm. Now, I have enough badges for the 2.4 chest, I have enough Arena Points for the Season 3 chest, and Azgalor is downed every week so Glory of the Defender drops from time to time. Which of these options would you suggest? Buy the 2.4 badge chest, or buy the Season 3 chest, buy the belt and the neck(still haven’t gotten it) and then wait until Glory of the Defender drops for me? Thanks for the help.
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April 11th, 2008 at 6:15 am
Nice read, I enjoyed seeing & hearing your thoughts on each item. I think for players raiding, the Badges are really going to be put to use now. It is unfortunate for players who are not into the raid scene, but it is still possible for those dedicated enough.
I think this list will help people assess their needs carefully. Thanks, Veneretio!
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April 11th, 2008 at 6:18 am
@eril:
If you are raiding Karazhan, would it not be wiser to use, at the very least, +12 stamina gems? A good rule of thumb is that unless there is a guaranteed replacement within 2 weeks, go ahead & spend the money on whatever — it helps your guild, and it’s usually well worth it!
After all, even if an upgrade drops, you may not have gotten said upgrade without being “all you can be.”
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April 11th, 2008 at 6:59 am
@Matt: I’d buy the Season 3 chest along with the badge belt and neck.
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April 11th, 2008 at 7:40 am
Is the badge neck really THAT much better than the new SSO neck? Especially for Aldors? By going with the SSO neck, you get these changes:
- 9 hit rating (0.57% hit)
- 3 expertise rating (0.25% parry and dodge reduction)
+ 100 dodge rating for 10 seconds proc (5.29% dodge)
Don’t get me wrong - I agree that the badge neck is better, I just don’t think it’s so much better that the SSO neck shouldn’t be considered.
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April 11th, 2008 at 8:15 am
Expertise is too good, you can’t get enough of it.
Also, 100 dodge rating every now and then doesn’t sound reliable enough.
If really you want or need more avoidance you can get it in a reliable fashion by swapping gear specifically built for avoidance.
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April 11th, 2008 at 8:40 am
For Scyers, I cannot see why you would not use the SSO neck over the badge neck. You lose 9 hit and 3 exp. In return, you gain 100 expertise for 10 seconds out of every ~40…which averages to 25 expertise over the course of a boss fight.
Even if we drop the proc rate to a strict 1 ppm, you get 16.7 expertise on average. 16.7 expertise is better than 9 hit and 3 expertise.
The only time this would not be true is if the 100 expertise pushed you over the expertise hard cap and was partially wasted…but that amount of expertise is difficult to achieve using normal tanking gear.
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April 11th, 2008 at 9:24 am
@hao: No, my server is not even close to the badge vendor. We’re currently ranked 187th out of 225 servers in the US. We’re at a pathetic 87% towards just hitting phase 3, so have a very long way to go before I even begin to think about seeing the badge vendor. It makes me sad.
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April 11th, 2008 at 10:16 am
first, let me thank you for answering my question in your podcast#2.
i have to disagree with you on chestplate of stoicism. i understand that you are using s3 chest and may not seem to be a huge upgrade for you. however, the 51 defense rating is too good to ignore. i currently have 493 defense. with that extra defense that chest gave, i have more room to switch out my other items.
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Shadow%20Council&n=Orgg
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April 11th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Dragonblight got there badge vendor last night =P
Rockin the Chest Piece as well as the Belt now!!!!
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April 11th, 2008 at 10:36 am
I do have to agree that the Brooch shouldn’t be as high up because of the close-second, badge-free neck from SSO rep. For scryers at least, +100 expertise for 10seconds out of every minute (which is being conservative, reports have been 45sec cooldown and quick proc rate) is better threat than the extra +9hit and +3 expertise you’re losing, at least until you can be passively expertise capped. That’s nearly 20% of the time that you will not get parry-gibbed as well.
For aldors, though, the Brooch is superior as a threat neck that you’d wear all the time (I can’t think of a fight where I’d prefer the +100 dodge rating every so often when I could throw on Maiden’s neck or another high passive dodge neck. Maybe PvPing….maybe…)
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April 11th, 2008 at 11:27 am
@vrath.. I am saddened as well for our server taking 3% a day to opening up the badges.. Its kinda disheartening to be honest. Well, I guess on the bright side, we’ll eventually get those rewards, but our servers will have to wait.
To all the ppl who say the Brooch is better for aldors and the SSO neck is better for scryers due to the main comparison of expertise proc rate and straight up expertise rating, I’m a bit confused. Is it due to items that Aldors can get over Scryer? (I still need to unlock the rewards for exhalted with CE,thrallmar,scryer) Is it a difference btwn enchants on the shoulders? (though i don’t think aldor shoulder enchants yield expertise).
I’m asking since I’m a scryer tank that got the brooch anyways and it has worked fairly well for me.
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April 11th, 2008 at 11:48 am
At all the people claiming that if you’re scryer it’s worth losing 9 hit rating and 3 expertise (all the time, guarenteed, not a chance to proc) for a chance to proc 100 experties rating about 1/4th of the fight (being generous):
100 expertise rating is overkill unless you happen to be on a boss that has a ridiculous parry rate.
And it’s only a chance.
HOWEVER, if you think that losing 9 hit rating is not a big price to pay, try telling me that when your opening shield slam or devastate misses and your mage pulls aggro and then you can’t get it back because you have no rage, then a healer dies, and yada yada and it’s a full wipe.
Then you’ll wish you had that guarenteed 9 hit rating vs a “chance” to proc 100 expertise.
Vene places the brooch at 3rd for good reason folks. Relying on chance and trying to say that 100 expertise for 10 seconds a minute “averages” to 16.7 a minute is wrong in every fundamental way possible if you’re a tank.
We can’t afford to rely on chance, even with our avoidance. Chance will fail you at some point, I guarentee it.
I would never think about swapping out my brooch for what I call a guarenteed threat loss just to gain a chance at a threat gain.
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April 11th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Vene, in regards to the necklace. It seems that the rep necklace would be pretty decent considering the proc, and Ive heard it proc’s a lot.. +100 dodge for 10 sec’s (Aldor) and +100 expertise for 10 sec’s (Scryer)… was that taken in to consideration? Brooch was last on my list of badges items to get.. and then with news of new badges gear I didnt get it… instead started saving… seems like the rep piece would be a solid choice….
D
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April 11th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Not relying on chance here, just looking to take full advantage of game mechanics to maximize our expected performance on boss encounters.
If you have some idiot mage that PoM pyros on the pull, that’s the mages issue and you should find smarter dps. There’s no reason a dps’er should have any threat at all until the tank builds a threat lead.
Even with a missed first devastate, there’s no reason to lose the mob to healers and your dps shouldn’t be attacking until a threat lead is built. Auto attack / mending / earth shield and potentially a misdirect will easily hold a boss until your GCD clears and you can throw another threat move. At that point, you’re worried about maximizing your TPS over the course of the boss fight to maximize your raids DPS….and the SSO pendant is the superior choice in this regard for Scryers. If I was Aldor, I would use the badge neck in almost all situations.
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April 11th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
You are maximizing your performance for 1/4 of the fight.
The other 3/4 of the fight you’ve gimped your dps. And I guarentee that at some point, it’s that 3/4 of the fight that your dps will all hit crits.
I would really like to get Vene’s thought on this opinion though.
Podcast discussion perhaps?
SSO Neck vs The Brooch?
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April 11th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
^
gimped your tps.
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April 11th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Oh it’s comin’
Topics thus far:
- SSO Neck vs The Brooch
- The new Badge chest
Along with whatever is cool and interesting in the inbox
(this means you can still sneak in a really good question for it via the contact form on the left side)
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April 11th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
…but I’ll already be way ahead from the 1/4 of the fight where I had the proc. If one of my locks or boomkins goes on a crit string they can out TPS me during the crit string, but it’s the cumulative amount of threat you have generated for the entire fight that matters.
That’s the number I’m interested in raising, and the SSO - Scryer neck will give me a higher average number of hits than the badge neck over the course of the fight, hence more threat, and therefore it is superior for aggro generation.
Lastly, it’s not difficult to get hit capped once you’re in T6 content, whereas it is very very difficult to reach the hard cap on expertise, even with the necklace proc. The SSO neck is an easy way to bias towards expertise so you can use the +hit from your other slots to remained capped.
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April 11th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
I’m not necessarily trying to argue that the SSO Neckpieces are a superior choice to the Brooch of Deftness.
The question I’m putting forth is whether the difference is large enough to warrant such a high ranking spot for the Brooch of Deftness on this list. Yes, all other stats being ideal, the gain is worthwhile; but if you’re sitting on oudated leg armor, chest armor, rings, or even cloak then these upgrades probably represent a more significant gain for most concerned tanks who would be far better off simply using the SSO neckpiece temporarily and getting the chest, legs, ring, cloak, and bracers before worrying about grabbing the Brooch.
As for the person above who said “if you don’t think 3 expertise is worth it wait until you miss your first shield slam or devestate,” my response would be if my DPS doesn’t know enough to wait until I land a high-threat attack on a boss before opening up I’ve got a lot more things to worry about than 3 expertise is going to fix.
You said this is “relying on chance” but it’s not. You’re relying on your DPS to know the difference between you starting a fight with a 5k threat combination vs. starting a fight with 400 threat generation. So having a little less expertise might require that once in awhile your DPS be paying attention to what they’re doing, but you would help they would be doing that anyway.
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April 12th, 2008 at 3:42 am
I think Chestplate of Stoicism is unique in a sense that this is one of the three chest plates that offers SBV. The other two being Warbringer and Panzar’Thar (drops from Nightbane of Karazhan), making this new item the highest ilvl chest slot item that offers SBV. With the help of Shard of Contempt, it is possible to push both hit and expertise past the hard caps. SBV will be the next best thing to stack, in terms of threat.
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April 12th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
To the people who say relying on chance isn’t worthwhile, I imagine that you don’t use Mongoose OR Executioner as an enchant, and are sticking with Potency or +20agi or something on your weapons, right?
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April 13th, 2008 at 10:40 am
@ebs2002:
Mongoose/Executioner don’t have hidden cooldowns. The Neck piece does. Typically, they both stay up for almost the entire fight where the neck gives you at most 1/4 of the time up time.
If you want something that gives you a threat increase 25% of the time, stack crit gems/gear to get your melee crit to 25%. Obviously, there’s a little sarcasm there.
To each his own, but I’ll stick with steady threat generation over burst threat generation. If you have to rely on a burst of threat every 40 seconds for 10 seconds in order to keep up with your dps, you need to re-evaluate the rest of your gear.
For the record, with all my threat gear on now with the 2.4 badge rewards, I have 37 expertise (including the shard and new belt, but not the legs). The extra expertise from the SSO neck piece is worthless considering I’m not yet hit capped.
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April 13th, 2008 at 11:40 am
“Typically, they both stay up for almost the entire fight where the neck gives you at most 1/4 of the time up time.”
Mongoose and Exe are both 1PPM on average. There’s no hidden cooldown, this is true, and the 1PPM doesn’t include devastate swings which have a chance to proc it as well (which means that, using a 1.6 speed weapon, you have a 2.6% chance per hit, with a standard rotation you’re getting 20 devastate swings plus 37.5 white swings, which amounts to 1.53PPM = 1 proc every 40secs, lasting 15secs, = 38.3% uptime.) It’s not “up all the time” either.
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April 13th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
You’re spltting hairs at this point. You can argue all you want about chance (for or against), but this was about comparing the two necks.
For me, expertise is already at a ridiculous level, I want hit rating, and I want expertise that is always there. I avoid chance as much as I can. Unless you can convince me that the neck piece proc can get me through an entire phase 2 of prince, it’s worthless to me since I give up 3 expertise for the other remaining part of it. (as an example)
I put executioner/mongoose on my weapons because there is no other reasonable alternative. Everyone can argue 1 ppm on average, but I don’t care about what people have observed. My observation is that it’s up more often than it’s not. And it can proc two hits in a row. But again, this is not a debate on executioner/mongoose vs other weapon enchants.
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April 13th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
I’m inclined to go with the SSO neck, if only because I need so many of the new badge rewards atm that if I can use the SSO one for minimal impact until I’ve got those extra badges for Brooch of Deftness then all the better.
I agree in that I dislike relying on procs as opposed to flat stats, but the difference between the two narrows it down to a “I can have my cake and eat it too” at least until I can upgrade to a nicer cake.
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April 13th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
In the previous run through you did something like …
# Unwavering Legguards (75)
- is a lot better than Timewarden’s Leggings
- is better than Wrynn Dynasty Greaves
with all the badge gear. Is it possible to see what you think each new piece compares to? I mean I know alot of things are personal choices when it comes to avoidance, threat, eh sets and what not, but as someone in BT/Hyjal it would be interesting to see where you rank these pieces vs other raid loot pieces in terms of viability in all set types.
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April 14th, 2008 at 7:39 am
Anyone else think it’s stupid to put so much weight to expertise when not everyone needs a threat boost?
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April 14th, 2008 at 11:27 am
er…is that a joke?
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April 14th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Not when expertise is a great defensive stat as well.
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April 14th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
How do you know you don’t need a threat boost? Have you asked all of your dps to see if they can go harder? I doubt it.
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April 14th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
If you’re in a situation where your DPSers can DPS as hard as they want throughout an entire fight and never worry about losing threat, either:
a) your DPSers are horrible
or
b) your tanking non-heroic Ramps in fury gear with a bunch of level 59s
(that is to say, you far outgear the rest of your group/raid).
Even if one of these choices are true, and you’re somehow hit-capped and expertise hard-capped (ie, 46 or whatever expertise), putting more weight on expertise means that you can swap out some of your other, worse expertise gear for more avoidance/hp/attackpower/whateveryouwant.
@Hydrix, fair enough if that’s your mentality; I’d wear the Brooch on Prince too, because of that reason. But there are other fights where I’m not as worried about being parry-gibbed (ie trash clearing, or on a Nalorekk switch) where I’d much prefer the burst threat from an SSO neck proc than a smidge more Expertise and Hit from the brooch. And for the record, +20agi is a decent substitute over Mongoose if you want “always on” dodge and threat. Over time, you get more of a benefit from Mongoose, but that’s leaving it up to chance…
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April 14th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
I have to disagree with the auto-blocker position. Of all the badge gear, the item I wear the most is definitely the auto blocker. Especially as you get into T6 content and your block value plummets, I’m wearing it more and more.
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April 14th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
Somehow I don’t think the list is designed for people in T6. If all/most of your gear is better than badge loot then of course a list of what badge loots to get is going to be pointless for you.
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April 15th, 2008 at 12:17 am
“I have to disagree with the auto-blocker position. Of all the badge gear, the item I wear the most is definitely the auto blocker. Especially as you get into T6 content and your block value plummets, I’m wearing it more and more.”
Depending on what your other threat trinket is and what your current hit rating/Expertise rating is, I’d say go back to kara and get the Poison Vial and farm Heroic Mg T for the Shard of Contempt. Both, imo, far out do the auto-blocker as far as TPS goes; my math may be wrong tho. Also don’t get me wrong, everytime I go badge farming in Kara and we get to curator I throw everybit of BV on I have. (My biggest hit on him so far is only 8.4k so not nearly as cool as the 15k pvp slam listed elsewhere on this site, but, eh, I’m slowly improving)
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April 15th, 2008 at 12:38 am
Signu Says:
April 14th, 2008 at 7:39 am
Anyone else think it’s stupid to put so much weight to expertise when not everyone needs a threat boost?
Keep in mind that by not allowing the boss to parry you are also going a long way to minimize spike damage. Expertise is not only an awesome threat mechanic it is also a very good defensive stat.
ebs2002 Says:
April 14th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
If you’re in a situation where your DPSers can DPS as hard as they want throughout an entire fight and never worry about losing threat, either:
a) your DPSers are horrible
or
b) your tanking non-heroic Ramps in fury gear with a bunch of level 59s
(that is to say, you far outgear the rest of your group/raid).
I cannot agree with this. If you are in a raid on a single mob and your dps has to hold back because you cannot generate enough threat I would say the tank is the problem there. This is especially true with all the different specials each boss has, be it due to an Ice Bolt or Spine, the dps is unable to focus on the boss the entire time and with whatever time they do have you want to make sure they’re not held back in the least; and that’s when you’re wearing your effective health/avoidance gear (whatever school you’ve gone with). On trash, in threat gear, if you’re not pumping out the TPS, you might want to re-evaluate what you consider “threat” gear.
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April 15th, 2008 at 1:18 am
Took 2.4 chest as first item, next was belt, and I had bane’s chest. Why did I took new chest? Because of that defence it gives - it simply removed all my problems with maintaining def cap without any trinkets (I like flexibility of having 2 trinket slots open for every choice I want) allowing also to use ZG enchant on T4 helm and ZA tps ring. And I’m not pvping at all, simply don’t have time for that.
And my tanking dorf is only an alt ;).
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April 15th, 2008 at 7:17 am
Trual Said
Of all the badge gear, the item I wear the most is definitely the auto blocker. Especially as you get into T6 content and your block value plummets, I’m wearing it more and more.
As unfortunate as it is to loose block value in T6, block becomes a lot less useful. Blocking 700 on Lady Vashj’s 3500 hits is nice. Blocking 700 on Azgalor’s 6500 hits is pretty bad return. Block value becomes less useful the higher the damage scales. You’ll take less damage by using those item points on avoidance, and do more threat by using them on hit / expertise.
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April 15th, 2008 at 8:59 am
I picked up the chest and the ring first thing. I had the Jade-Skull prior to that, so it was a no brainer, and since I can add +4 stats and there aren’t many better rings out there I picked that up. Now the question is do I get the belt or the legs first? Going by the list the belt should be the answer but right now I’m wearing the T4 legs for trash and wrynn (3 +12 stam) for bosses for the extra stam, losing the 4 set bonus OK I think at that point.
So belt or legs? I really want the legs but this list kind of threw me, current belt is iron tusk girdle.
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April 15th, 2008 at 11:04 am
@Kavtor:
Block value isn’t just about damage reduction. It’s there for threat. And once you’re hit capped and expertise is fairly high, I’m pretty sure block value is the only thing you can go with to increase your threat.
Auto-blocker is still the best trinket to pair with the shard for threat.
And if you think that block value isn’t that useless for threat, try wearing no block value gear. Or even better, take shield slam out of your rotation
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April 15th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Shard and a hit trinket probably work out better imo, and you can wear better gear in other slots. But if you’re hit / expertise capped and still have room for an autoblocker, more power to ya.
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April 16th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Great list.
I’d put the chest a bit higher, its very good (the cost is high though).
I’d put the gauntlets lower because they arent really much of an upgrade over Maiden gauntlets even, and I’d certainly rather have T5. Whereas most of these loots are equal or better than T5 level.
Disagreeing with only a couple choices in a ranking list like this is rare (lol). Everyone is going to have some disagreements, and specifics depend on what you already have. I’d say this is very helpful.
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April 17th, 2008 at 3:46 am
@ Crimsonstorm:
Bonefist are more threat, armor, stamina and avoidance than maiden’s gloves. That’s not a small upgrade if you ask me.
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April 17th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
I pretty much agree with your buying order. However, when our armory came out I had 250 badges saved up and had long ago gotten almost all the tanking pieces, so I just picked up Girdle of the Fearless, Chestplate of Stoicism and Bonefist Gauntlets (the chest made up for the defense I never seemed to be able to get). I picked up the SSO necklace (scryer! finally a reason for a tank to be scryer!) instead of the Brooch.
I skipped the ring because I like the exalted Violet Eye and the trash ring from TK. Already have the unwavering legguards and I think I’ll stay with them.
So… I guess it’s time to spend my remaining badges on DPS gear =P
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April 18th, 2008 at 4:08 am
Wouldn’t Dory’s Embrace provide better threat, more stamina and some crit immunity for new tanks struggling with defense? as opposed to Farstrider Defenders Cloak?
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April 19th, 2008 at 8:52 am
@Joe
Better threat? No, since block value is simply best “threat” stat for tanks.
More stamina? Could just aswell be neglected.
Crit immunity? Well, that 0.51% of it is something.
But i’d realy recommed those “new tanks” to get few runs on Steam Vaults and get themselves Devilshark Cape. Seriously, and spare those 60 BoJ which you’d spent for Dory and get the gloves or something more usefull.
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April 20th, 2008 at 10:55 am
@Hydrix
I would never underestimate the mitigation of block value. Most of your tanking you will be using Shield Block and shaving 1000 or more damage off every 5 seconds is worthwhile.
Nevermind stunt tanking and gimmick fights. Hitting up RoS with 965 Block Value (not including T5 bonus) is very nice.
@Joe
Block Value is very good for threat but it is not the best stat for threat. It is better then AP, ArmP or Crit but given sufficient amounts of the latter 3 the balance will shift with high level gear like Dory’s. Its one of the best DPS cloaks out there and will certainly generate more threat then most cloaks. I wouldn’t suggest Dory’s as a tanking cloak but it has its uses. I currently use a couple of DPS items for trash tanking because I’m already hit and expertise capped and I don’t see the point in having 800 BV against trash that hits for a 1000.
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April 21st, 2008 at 12:12 pm
I just died for the first time on Prince yesterday; During phase 2 I got a parry follwed by an improbably double crushing flurry hit. 14k in one GCD. Wish I’d had more expertise, but I wouldn’t put it to a chance proc (course I’m aldor, so it’s not a option).
Expertise is a killer stat…and a lack of it is just plain killer
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April 21st, 2008 at 1:32 pm
@Ivanstone:
Trust me, I never underestimate the mitigation value of BV. That’s the one thing I enjoy about my threat set in that while I give up some EH, at least I’m shaving a bit more damage off in the process. BV = awesome.
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April 23rd, 2008 at 12:04 am
As usual, thanks a lot for !
I’m agree with bonefist gauntlets compared to T4 gloves, but what do you think about T5 ? Same question with legs.
I’m sure Bonefist are better than T4? but i’m a little bit confused with T5.
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April 24th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
That Ring of the Stalwart protector is a direct upgrade to my Great shermanar ring that i have currently that dropped from shade. I think my focus will be on the bracers, to replace the ones that dropped off of moroes and then that awesome ring. Since we are in the midst of farming the first boss of ZA, i’ll wait for the Jungle stompers to drop to replace my heroics epic boots..
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April 24th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
first boss meaning nalorakk for us.
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April 25th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Push your guild to get that First timed chest event, Hao! The Pauldrons of Stone Resolve are where it’s at!
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April 26th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
BTW - Moroes drops a tanking belt and its attumen that drops the bracers
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May 4th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Ok, I have a couple of questions. If I already have the belt off of Leotheras the Blind and the old Badge Pants (Unwavering Legguards). Would it really be better for me to take the pants and the belt over the chestpiece if I am wearing the Chest off of Nightbane? I like the last post where u gave reasons why the new badge gear was more of an upgrade than pieces that drop off of raid bosses. Please give some insight here.
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May 4th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
No. If you are still toting the Chest from ‘Bane, getting the Chestplate of Stoicism is a MUST, in my opinion. The armor boost alone is too good to turn down…not to mention some extra avoidance to boot. Stam is about the same, but again, too good to turn down. I was in the same boat as you, and made the Chestplate my first badge pickup. I also had enough for the Legs too, so I picked those up at the same time.
Then a week later, I got the belt…such a great piece of gear…all of it, really.
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May 4th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
Just want to say this is the best place for tanking discussion Ive come across.
Thank you.
BTW - Im getting the chest first. (I have Breast of the Bold)
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May 5th, 2008 at 3:05 am
@ Tribstenin:
I don’t plan to ever get the new legs myself. The old ones are more threat with 59 block value. That is, of course, if you’re already pushing a lot of expertise. THe added avoidance is nice, but I always say, being an impenatrible tank means nothing if your dps can only white attack because your threat sucks.
I’ve actually started working on dps gear now rather than waste 100 badges on those new legs.
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May 5th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Personally I don’t worry too much about the Expertise “cap.” I think Blizzard is sending plenty of signals saying basically “Pssst. Expertise cap will be a thing of the past soon.”
I wouldn’t be surprised if even early instance bosses in WotLK are Dodging and Parrying at much-improved rates compared with current encounters, so I’m not worried about being overcapped on it for now.
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May 6th, 2008 at 3:14 am
@Char:
So you’re going to gear yourself in all expertise now so that you can be prepared for some theoretical boss encounters that are at least 6 months away? Meanwhile on trash (now), you don’t have enough burst damage from that opening shield slam to outthreat mr warlock’s first shadow bolt which happens to crit.
Again, comparing BV to expertise I’m referring to the new legs compared to the old. I will never purchase the new legs. It’s a waste of 100 badges if you already have the originals. You want expertise, you should be wearing the shard of contempt, neck piece, belt and bracers.
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May 7th, 2008 at 8:24 am
For my aggro gear im not quite sure what does more aggro
Unwavering Legguards with 59 BlockValue
or
Sunguard Legplates with 23 Expertise
ended up to use Sunguard cause of def
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May 7th, 2008 at 8:42 am
Unless you’re pretty close to the expertise hard cap, the expertise is probably more threat than the block value. Depends on your gear, and actually running the numbers on it though.
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May 12th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
not sure if anyone commented on this before, kinda skimmed through/clicked to the bottom but what about the badge helm that includes hit rating on it? was just pondering this and wanted to read your response,
Thanks - Nave
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May 13th, 2008 at 8:15 am
First thing I grabbed was the chest. Of course it was a no brainer since my chest was my last blue item. But I am struggling on the next piece. Seems like the Sunguard legs are the biggest upgrade I can get from badge gear over what I am wearing now. Seems like all the badge gear is equivalent to tier 5 so I can save my guild points for tier 6 and pass on tier 4 gear that drops. Our guild is just getting to SSC and ZA.
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May 13th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
My guild is just having major problems getting ppl to go for 25mans period. I have 2/4 t4 (shoulders and gauntlets) and have passed on the helm numerous times. So in all honesty, the only things i can go for are badge rewards. We most likely will just run 2 kara groups till my eyes fall out and maybe 2 ZA groups. I’m closing in on that badge belt tho. Great replacement for the kara belt (crimson girdle of the indomitable) and that is an understatement. I might use the kara belt as something else if it is warranted.
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May 14th, 2008 at 9:10 am
I’m not sure what badge gear I should get first since I’m kind of clueless on what I might get from drops in the near future. We are working on SSC and ZA. I can check out the likely drops from SSC in the Dungeon Campanion book but I haven’t seen any good web site for ZA loot (or ZA strategies). Anyone have a good link for that?
Since I’m pretty well geared compared to the rest of my guild’s raiders, I’m thinking the best strategy may be to just save my badges until I really need more gear upgrades and see what I get in drops in the interim.
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May 24th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
Would you still think getting the pally boots are worthwhile (or the new ones?) I have been running Karazhan for months, we finally have ZA on farm
I got the cleaver tonight, still debating on whether or not to use it over the mallet since I am over the 23 expertise rating to drop dodge off the table, and no I am not an orc.
I have yet to see Boots of Elusion, Battlescar Boots, or Jungle Stompers. I cannot make Red Havoc Boots because A) I’m not an blacksmith B) Its BoP. Also I have the epic quality ones from heroic blood furnace, and I have just about everything else from the badge pick list.
Would I still be better off sinking my badges into empyrean sapphires?
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May 27th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
I see you have made the faceguard of determination obsolete, but I don’t see a replacement. What makes it obsolete? I wear the eternium greathelm from opera, so I have better than the badge one, but it’s a low drop rate and inaccessible to those whose guild doesn’t raid. Just curious, since my guild just recently started raiding and we still need to PUG a couple of people on occasion so I would have considered it over felsteel before.
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May 30th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Faceguard is still a worthwhile choice if you’re not in a raiding guild and don’t want to spend the gold / mats for Helm of the Stalwart Defender.
Same situation with the Sabatons of the Righteous Defender. An upgrade is an upgrade. His badge list is just a guide. It’s not an absolute.
Frankly, there’s nothing wrong with picking up all of the tanking badge gear. Including the fire resist set. As you do more tanking you’ll find that there are some situations where a specific piece is more well-suited than another.
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June 10th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
So I am mostly in blues and a couple of early Kara epics. We just started an alt guild and we are messing around in Kara for an hour here and there. I have the belt from Moroes and the Helm from opera. I am a day from SSO exalted for the shield and (maybe) neck (I’m aldor).
My question is - is it wise to save up to 100 badges for the chest/legs as an early purchase? Right now I’m still in 2 pieces of felsteel (hands/legs) a blue chest from the Camp Forge Annihilated quest, the Burnoose back and the ravenguard neck.
I am wearing the Technician’s 3rd grade bracers, the Shatari boots, the 2nd stage Kara ring and Andorumu’s tear.
Any advice? I know the legs would be huge and the chest - but 100 badges is far off for a casual player. I should be able to get Attumen’s bracers and the gloves from Maiden/Curator soon. Should I go for the Brooch or the new 2.4 cape maybe?
Tough call.. I am about @ 35 badges now and think I should probably grab something soon. I could probably save for the ring @ 60.
I know this message is rambling… I guess I wonder what will be the best 1st item when you have mostly dated gear.
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June 11th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Personally, I wouldn’t blindly follow “this is the only order to get gear” -list, but instead I would get first those items that are highest upgrades and then upgrade those items compared to which the certain badge reward wouldn’t be so great.
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August 7th, 2008 at 10:51 am
I’m currently stuck with a Felsteel Helm. Is the badge helm worth badges? What should I look for to upgrade the helm?
Any suggestions on the feet? I have the Flesh Beasts Metal Greaves and have been hoping for the Boots of Elusion to drop in Kara. In the mean time I’m trying to get the Eaglecrest Warboots from heroic blood furnace.
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vorp reply on August 7, 2008 12:58 pm:
I’d recommend the Helm of the Stalwart Defender. The mats are a bit steep, but its a great helm with lots of stats.
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August 7th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
I cannot believe how much the Stalwart Defender goes for in the AH. I don’t think it’s THAT much an upgrade, and haven’t been able to justify it yet for myself. I’m still using the Felsteel Helm myself. Besides, I don’t really wanna look like Shiva from the X-Men comics.
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admin reply on August 7, 2008 3:28 pm:
20 Stamina and 70 Armor with greater uncrittable stats is far from a minor upgrade for an aspiring tank. I would strongly recommend that any tank using Felsteel Helm pick themselves up a Stalwart Defender especially if you are a miner. (just farm the mats!)
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Spaz reply on August 7, 2008 3:54 pm:
I realize it’s an improvement, but it just doesn’t strike me as great. Seeing as the resilience is a waste for me, which means a reduction in avoidance (lower defense), I can’t justify it. I’ll get an upgrade somewhere else.
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vorp reply on August 8, 2008 10:38 am:
What do you mean by resilience is a waste? And sure the Stalwart Defender looks like crap, but the Eternium Greathelm doesn’t look that great either! Everyone loves a phallic-headed gnome!
Blithlyle reply on August 8, 2008 12:53 pm:
Once you have over 490 defense resilience essentially does nothing. You’re already crit capped and it provides no dodge so +avoidance or anything is better than the resilience.
vorp reply on August 8, 2008 3:53 pm:
Oh I’m very aware of that. But resilience offers the potential to swap in items with no defence rating. Resilience is *not* a waste.
vorp reply on August 8, 2008 3:55 pm:
Another thing I thought of. If you can afford the loss in mitigation stats, you could just grab the season 2 helm. The threat stats and high armor/stam would be nice.
Spaz reply on August 8, 2008 4:41 pm:
I’d already be losing avoidance with the switch, I’m not gonna sub in another piece somewhere else with no defense. Besides, I do in fact use a couple of other pieces of pvp gear for armor and stamina.
August 14th, 2008 at 9:19 am
Guys i need help on shoulder..can not find list fo good shoulder from badge or heroic runs..i dont do raid yet so dont give me list of raid stuff..i am planning to get S2 shoulder if cannot find anything because its easy to get might take 2 or 3 days to get 11500 honour points..Any suggestions??
My defence is 500 and hp is 14k so can swap few items if needed..
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admin reply on August 14, 2008 9:36 am:
S2 is the best you’ll find pre-raiding.
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Alkingson reply on August 14, 2008 11:06 am:
thanks i will get that…
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August 17th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Hi,
I currently use Bulwark of the Ancient Kings as my favourite chestpiece, above the T4.
The Chestplate of Stoicism seems exceptional but i’m wondering if its going to lower my hitrating abit, and thus my TPS.
my armory :
http://armory.wow-europe.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Silvermoon&n=Sajaki
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August 19th, 2008 at 4:39 am
Hi there vene can u break down WHY do you rate chestplate of stoicism so low and using warlord…i have both but i’ve gemed warlord with +hit gems and use it for trash. stoicism for bosses with +15 stam gem
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admin reply on August 19, 2008 12:38 pm:
Warlord offers more Stamina and has Hit Rating. I’m not interested in the insane amounts of Avoidance that Stoicism has because I get it from other pieces.
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August 21st, 2008 at 10:43 am
I’m finding it difficult to figure out what to get next with my badges. I will have 100 in a week. Should I upgrade the Vindicator’s Hauberk to Chestplate of Stoicism (100) or should I replace the Burnoose of Shifting Ages with Slikk’s Cloak of Placation (35) and replace the Protector’s Mark of Redemption with Ring of the Stalwart Defender (60)?
I already have the Bracers of Ancient Phalanx and I’m currently using the Lion’s Heart Girdle, Felsteel Gloves and Timewarden’s Leggings. I can’t link to my Armory profile (Avernien, Cenarius-US) - I may have the gear I use for doing the dailies equiped.
Any tips are appreciated.
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August 22nd, 2008 at 2:27 am
I would think about getting 2.4 belt maybe or pants as a first thing to get.
Your cloak, just like SV one is quite good for different situations providing some EH, avoidance and threat.
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Arvernien reply on September 3, 2008 2:23 pm:
I got the Boots of Elusion in Karazhan, the Gauntlets of Dissension, and spent my badges on Chestplate of Stoicism. That allowed me to equip Dath’Remar’s Ring of Defense. My threat and survivability have gone up a lot. I’m going to focus on the belt or pants next depending on what drops in the next few Karazhan runs.
Thanks for the great suggestions!
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August 29th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
I have a slightly similar problem to Avernien. Dreadful luck on cloak drops has left me using Cloak of the Valiant Defender, and I have the Lion’s Heart Girdle in the belt slot.
Saving up for the new badge belt at the moment, but I’m wondering if I should just pick up Slikk’s Cloak of Placation first? (I tank exclusively heroics atm.)
On the other hand, that expertise and hit is very nice, and I guess I can always do more BM/SV runs for a decent blue cloak drop…
Anyone care to venture an opinion?
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Arvernien reply on September 3, 2008 2:27 pm:
Post your name and server and I’ll look you up. We seem to be at about the same point in the game. Another suggestion is http://be.imba.hu It is a great site for analyzing your gear.
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August 29th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
I ran BM & SV a total of about 25 times with neither cloak dropping. I got sick of waiting and picked up Slikk’s Cloak of Placation. Don’t forget there’s also Cloak of Eternity available. It’s a crafted item.
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September 2nd, 2008 at 8:35 am
Is there a decent Shoulder and Head piece thats worth getting?
Also, is there news on what the impact to the Badge rewards will be when WOTLK is released?
[Reply]
Arvernien reply on September 3, 2008 2:28 pm:
Not with badges as of 2.4.
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Arvernien reply on September 3, 2008 2:29 pm:
You can try heroic sethekk halls for the Spaulders of Dementia or the S2 vP shoulders - Merciless Gladiator’s Plate Shoulders. It’ll cost you 20 marks of honor from Arathi Basin and 11,500 honor.
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Talldar reply on September 4, 2008 3:29 am:
Yep, Merciless Glad’s shoulders are really easy to get and they serve quite well with the proper enchant and gems. Loads of Stamina, you’ll get the other attributes from the rest of your gear and there really aren’t any Shoulders worth seeking before T4, and even then you’re likely to keep the glad’s on many a time if you’re not in desparate need for some more deff-rating.
For the helmet there’s the Felsteel-Set one which is just a /2 away and also will take you through Kara. As an alternative there’s the Myrmidon’s Protector (loose translation from my german client, but should be easy to find out) you can get from a quest in Coilfang Reservoir. It has a Meta-Socket so you can throw a +12 defense rating into it if you need it, but the felsteel offers more armor and more sockets (= more stamina).
Get the other stuff from the badges and you’ll definitely be ready to tank Karazhan, which is the only place where you’ll start to get significantly better tanking gear.
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September 23rd, 2008 at 6:13 am
For those that do not want to spend the 41 badges on the Auto-Blocker, I suggest you do the Brewfest daily and get Coren’s Lucky Coin. It has the exact same stats
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Veneretio reply on September 23, 2008 7:03 am:
Better yet, get both
(The buffs stack)
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October 9th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Vene, I hate to give you more work but do you think you’ll be doing another badge gear analysis after the changes with the 3.0.2 patch on Oct. 14?
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admin reply on October 9, 2008 11:54 am:
Doubtful, but there’ll be a new Pick Order when WotLK is released and we get a new kind of badges to collect.
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