Loading ...The Emblem of Conquest Pick Order
You’ve probably noticed by now that Emblems of Conquest are dropping everywhere. The question is where does one spend them?
- Breastplate of the Wayward Protector (58)
- [If you’re cheap] Shieldwarder Girdle (28)
- Gauntlets of the Royal Watch (28)
- [If you’re unlucky] Shard of the Crystal Forest (19)
- [If you’ve got 3] Crown of the Wayward Protector (58)
Skip: Wyrmguard Legplates (39)
Boom! done.
Why?
Oh, you want to know that too, eh? Alright, here goes…
Pre-text and such
There’s a lot of ways one could approach an article like this one. I’ve always been a fan of approaching these from the perspective of someone that has just dinged 80 and is looking to break their way into the raiding game. (or someone that’s been raiding lower content and wants to make themselves appealing to a higher tier raid guild) For that reason, this post is going to require you guys to throw on your thinking caps a little bit if you’re already decked out in a lot of high level epics. The above list is intended as a guide. If you’re hurting greatly in a particular area then by all means feel free to shift the list around a bit.
1. Chester not so Chicken
Breastplate of the Wayward Protector turns into this hotty and is first on the list for a reason. It’s simply the best chestpiece you’re going to use for a long time especially if you’re exclusively doing 10 man content. A note though, this piece ranks so high in spite of it’s Block Value not because of it. If you completely ignored the Block Value on it, it’d still sit exactly here.
2. Buckle up!
Shieldwarder Girdle would be a fantastic piece if it where not for Indestructible Plate Girdle. If you don’t plan on the crafting the far superior latter option then definitely pick it up, but frankly, you’d be silly not to make the ubiquitous belt of indestructibility and skip this piece.
3. Get them eventually Gauntlets
Gauntlets of the Royal Watch have their work cut out for them as they’re faced with a new competitor that’s nearly as strong in Mercy’s Hold which comes from the Normal version of the new 5 man. They are better though so you’ll want to eventually get them unless you’re fortunate enough to pick up a pair of Valorous Dreadnaught Handguards.
4. Neck to Neck
Shard of the Crystal Forest holds up pretty well against the field if you haven’t stepped foot into Ulduar10 which sports two superior choices in Mark of the Unyielding and Fervor of the Protectorate. Ideally, you really want to fill this slot with the very attainable Boundless Ambition for a long, long time though. Basically, it’s a big upgrade if you aren’t far into raiding or if you’ve been unlucky, but if you are a ways into the raiding scene you can safely skip this piece.
5. The Crown ain’t Gold
Crown of the Wayward Protector aka the Tier 8.5 helm is another victim of 3.2’s newest 5 man with Helm of the Crestfallen Challenger rendering it nearly obsolete. (The challenger helm at least drops in the Heroic version though) The only saving grace for this item is if you’re interested in collecting the Tier 8 4-piece bonus for fights with heavy magic components. That is a good reason to pick this piece up eventually, but means that you aren’t going to want to get it until you’ve got the other 3 pieces first.
X. Legs Legs Legs
Wyrmguard Legplates has the ugly combination of Block Rating, Block Value and even high Strength so it shouldn’t come as any surprise that it’s sitting at the bottom of the list. When compared with the amazingly well itemized Legguards of Abandoned Fealty from the Normal version of the new 5 man, the upgrade is pretty minor (if it’s an upgrade at all) which is pretty sad considering the emblem legs are a full 2 tiers ahead. Don’t feel silly outright skipping these.
Moral of the Story
If you want to quickly jump into the raiding game, you aren’t going to do it by collecting billions of Emblems of Conquest. You’re going to do it by getting your gear acceptable for the Normal and Heroic versions of Trial of the Champions and running the instance over and over again. You’re going to do it by shelling out the dough to craft one of the best belts in the game.
Sure, it’s still nice to get lots of Emblems so you can avoid having to buy epic gems off the auction house, but don’t think that you’re going to have to grind Emblems of Conquest for the rest of your WoW days. The road to strong raiding gear is a relatively small grind if you’re focusing on the right places.
August 25th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
Since the price for runed orb dropped that much i got an Indestructible Plate Girdle for both of my tanking alts. I had one for my main a few weeks after Ulduar was on live servers. If you are really serious about tanking don’t even think about NOT getting this belt. Safe the Conquest Emblems for the other very usefull stuff!
Same with the epic gems. The prices drop from day to day even more and you have to option to get them for honor too. There is no need to spent precious Conquest Emblems on them if you don’t have all pieces of gear you can get out of them
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Vivilros reply on August 31, 2009 6:29 am:
Yea, but there’s no excuse for not having spent all your EoH on them either (gems)
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August 25th, 2009 at 10:43 pm
I picked up the chest and the gloves so far, and as I have the H ToC helmet, I am not looking to buy the T8 hat until I get lucky with 2 more pieces of T8 in Ulduar.
I agree that ToC in addition to the new raid gear seems to make it veeeeery easy now to get the gear to take you to Ulduar and beyond.
I am more confused by the many options of the Triumph gear. I don’t have enough emblems to pick up anything yet, but I want to plan ahead, and it’s gotten really confusing.
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Veneretio reply on August 25, 2009 10:54 pm:
Ya, I’m half-way through that post. It’s definitely going to be a bit trickier than this one to write. Hopefully the Triumph post will be the next post I publish and not 9 or more days from now O.o (Blizzcon was amazing though so no regrets!)
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Cleaved reply on August 25, 2009 11:02 pm:
The main issue with Triumph gear, is where your guild is at progression-wise, and how good your chances are for a Tier Token.
If your guild is downing each new 25-man boss regular as clockwork, you want to save every Triumph Emblem you get, so you can amass the number needed for the higher Tier items. You can get the Tier items and gear that only cost Emblems, but you’ll be hurting yourself in the long run. You need to save up I think… 75 plus have a Tier Token, in order to get the good T9.5 gear. If you buy things for 25, 50, and so on… with just Emblems, then you’ll have Tier Tokens collecting dust while you wait to get more Emblems.
I really don’t like the way they did this Tier system. But that is from the perspective of a 25-man Raider with consistent results. If your guild is more casual and you do 10-mans more than 25-man, then you probably love this new system. It allows the Casual player to gear up faster and fill gaps in gear that most of us will fill with 25-man loot while waiting on Tokens and the Emblems to utilize said Tokens.
I just think the whole Emblem system could have been handled a lot better. It puts an extreme amount of pressure on a 25-man raider to run Heroic Dailies every day in order to maximize the amount of Tier or other gear you can obtain in a short period of time.
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Sephirawth reply on August 26, 2009 7:50 am:
As a 25 man raider I don’t feel any ‘pressure’ running the daily heroic. They take 15 minutes and it is actuallly kind of nice seeing everyone running heroix again too imo. Many people in our guild have finally gotten their red proto drakes because interest in heroix is back.
We have been handling the trophies out of 25 man by only letting people that have enough to by a piece when the trophy drops roll. this way the people who have been doing their dailes and saving up get rewarded for their efforts. Whoever wins the trophy goes right outside, purchaces their piece and then we gem enhant and fight the next boss. It has been working pretty well so far.
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Cleaved reply on August 26, 2009 9:59 am:
The ‘pressure’ is the need to at least get it done every day, which some people can’t do because of a busy schedule. I don’t have that issue, but was more or less stating it on behalf of those that can’t do it every single day, but would like to.
If you are all progressing and doing the dailies together, then you ALL have the same number of Emblems anyhow, and it just comes back down to DKP or /roll or whatever your guild does.
Also… you can’t hand only hand the Trophy to someone with enough Emblems, unless they somehow carried over Emblems from PTR
I love running Heroics, and can’t get enough of them. I just like to Tank, pure and simple. The problem was that no one ran them, and the problem is now… that everyone only runs the daily. I like to build up Emblems for when I get new gear (gems for sockets), but most people are satisfied just buying Epic gems and other things off the AH in my guild.
Sephirawth reply on August 26, 2009 10:18 am:
You have just touched on a great point. We (raiders) should all be doing our dailies every day to maximize our gear HOWEVER, some of us are not for one reason or another. We also break up into 2 10 man grps to clear it every week and the first week one was more successful than another. There are some occaisons when raiders miss a 10 man or 25 man so they get behind on Triumphs so it is not as even as I would like but like I said the ones who are able and willing to put in the time get rewarded first.
August 25th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
Can someone explain to me why Mark of the Unyielding is better than Shard of the Crystal Forest? To me it seems like a loss, you lose 6 dodge, 6 stam, and a buttload of hit for 336 Armour? Maybe I’m just underating Armour but to me it doesn’t seem too useful.
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Cleaved reply on August 25, 2009 11:07 pm:
Armor is a better Effective Health stat than Hit. Hit is a threat stat. You need hit, but most gear-rankings assume hit cap. I know my g/f is a Shadow Priest and most Gear charts she looks at, would put her with Zero hit if she had every BiS item. This is because an item is ranked for it’s raw power first, and Hit is tacked on afterward. I believe the site she visits would give a score such as this:
BiS Item: 25 Gear Points
5th Item on the List: 18 Gear Points (+7 Points for Hit)
This example would show that the BiS item is indeed best, IF you are hit-capped. However, the item 5th on the List, may be EQUAL to the BiS item, if you are NOT hit-capped. Because the Hit on the item is tacked on as points afterward and attributes more points to the item bringing it up to par with the BiS, considering the hit-cap.
Tanking gear can be ranked in a similar way. If you need Hit, take the Hit item, if you don’t, take the other item… because that extra hit is wasted if you are over the “cap.” You are essentially ranking one item higher based on the need to stack effective HP and other stats which hold higher value than Hit.
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Veneretio reply on August 26, 2009 12:45 am:
You’ll find that I always rank Hit items low because other than fights where you need to taunt, it’s an overrated, lackluster stat. Most of the time I run whatever my best gear just naturally has. Nothing more.
To reiterate, the cap is totally unnecessary to achieve for most fights and reaching it only increases your chances of dieing. We aren’t dpsers. Hit for tanks should never be viewed in the same light as hit for dpsers.
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Erabie reply on August 26, 2009 2:30 am:
What’s a safe % of hit? I’m sitting at 6% with Shard of the Crystal Song Forest, without it would be around 4.8%.
Also emphasis on armour, how good is it? Should we be aiming to have armour on our necks/rings?
Cleaved reply on August 26, 2009 10:17 am:
Hit has value, it is just a very low value. If you have read prior posts on this site, you would see that Expertise is more valuable than Hit, point for point. Does Hit help? Yes, with Threat. Does Expertise help? Indeed, because it increases threat by reducing Boss Dodges and increases survivability by reducing Boss Parries. Should we all be expertise capped for Parries then? No. Doing so would gimp your HP by an unacceptable amount. Every Stat has value, but there is a ranking, or an order, in which you should try to obtain certain stats. You can also build different sets of gear for different situations. I have a set that makes me impossible to be dodged or parried, due to a high high amount of Expertise. But it is just kind of a ‘project’ set of gear, as I don’t use it on bosses where I need a greater health pool (i.e. progression content).
Hit is not without Value, but it is not something you should seek out in Tanking gear. I don’t seek out Hit and try to reach the ‘cap’ but if I do reach it, its only because the gear I have, got me there. I did not socket/enchant for it, nor did I pass another piece of loot in favor of one with hit on it.
This was the gist of my post, even though a little long-winded to get there
As to Armor, it reduces the amount of damage taken by a percentage. This goes directly to effective health tanking. If you take less damage per hit, then your health pool is technically that much higher. Say you have 100 hp, and zero armor, if you get hit for 50 damage, you have 50hp. If you have 100 hp and get hit for 50 damage, but have %50 damage reduction from Armor, you take 25 damage and are at… 75 hp. This effectively gives you 125 hp, instead of 100 hp. This is a very simple example, so don’t go poking holes in my scenario and how it differs by the hits you take and would better be illustrated by a percentage or some equation. I am no mathematician
Basic principle, is that you have more health because you take less damage from each hit, the higher your Armor is. Again though, same as with Hit, you shouldn’t seek out gear with Armor on it, at the loss of other more important stats that you need. Gearing is a balancing act for Tanks at times, maintaining the correct proportions of different stats or varying gear based on content.
Erabie reply on August 26, 2009 7:29 pm:
I understand the concepts, and the reason I have a fair amount of hit is because I’m already passed the exp soft cap(and after that hit and exp are apparently almost equal ). My real question was about the armour comparatively with other stats i.e. dodge/parry I’ve got a decision whether to use The Leviathon’s Coil vs Signet of Winter. Defense a side, Signet of the Winter seems like the better choice for me. Am I wrong about this?
Cleaved reply on August 26, 2009 9:40 pm:
Signet of Winter and Leviathan’s Coil both have the same Armor value. SoW has 9 more Dodge and 34 more Parry than LC, and LC has 5 more Stamina, 3 more STR and 32 more DEF than SoW.
It really comes down to this, is that 32 DEF going to give you more than you would get from Dodge and Parry? I like the itemization on Leviathan’s Coil better, and would go for that. But I would suggest downloading a program called “Rawr” first.
With this program, you load your character from the Armory, see his gear, and change it out for different gear, and see how your stats would change. This way you can effectively try on different types of gear, see how they fit your setup, and change the stats… before you purchase them, bid DKP or socket/enchant things.
Give it a look, you can find it on Google by typing in “Wow Rawr”
Hope this helps.
Seph reply on August 28, 2009 7:06 am:
I think I got used to being hit-capped and can’t stand to be too far away from it anymore. I spend hours trying to fit upgrades on my gear set because of the lack of hit =/
BUT, I think that’s because I’m an OT. I can’t afford to miss one taunt, or miss swings to generate my rage without tanking, or even miss my opening specials when I get a new target that should be nuked as fast as possible by our crazy guild DPSers.
When I was a MT I didn’t care too much for Hit as I did for Expertise.
I guess it depends on your role in your raid.
August 25th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
I was hoping to gear up my Pally’s offspec Tanking gear in the new 5-man, Heroic and Regular. However, I notice most of the gear has Expertise on it, and I’ve been told it is a near useless stat for Paladin tanks. Some people pickup Expertise gear as a Pally, others shun it in favor of Block. I know it won’t hurt me to get gear with Expertise, but it would be nice to have a more useful stat there.
Warrior tanking and gearing seems much simpler, since we can use ALL the stats present on tanking gear. Even if we don’t want Block, at least we can use it. Unlike a DK who has no use for it, and then there is the aforementioned Expertise that Pallies don’t want. TBH, it is frustrating to have another Alt with a tanking spec, but half the time it is the only way to get into consistent groups on an alt.
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August 25th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
Woot, it’s Vene’s “What to spend your badges on” post!
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Mookey reply on August 26, 2009 12:21 am:
Kinda wtb Triumph version.
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August 26th, 2009 at 12:59 am
Thank you Vene, this sums up my unending my frustration about emblem of conquest choices. It seems that once you’ve done with chest/gloves/necklace it’s beneficial to spent them on Orbs to get the crafted belt/boots, since the auction prices on Orbs are rudiculously high. And the crafted items look so well itemized…. you just can’t say “no”.
Waiting for your Emblem of Triumph list in nearest future
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August 26th, 2009 at 1:29 am
hey i was wondering in ur post ur talking of the T8 chest, but would like to ask u how u would compair it with the unbreakable chest from kologan in ulduar i happan to have it and from the posts ive read soforth it is ranked way higher than T8 chest, any help here?
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marklar reply on August 26, 2009 11:41 am:
if you look at the article, this is a pre-raiding list, and kolo25 chest isn’t something that fresh 80’s can get.
that said, i will have to take another look at the chest… i bought one, but it seems to just sit in my bags for special occasions (EH/4 pc fights). most of the time, i still wear my dragonstorm breastplate, which has much more avoidance.
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Furiat/Vege reply on August 27, 2009 12:46 am:
Tbh I don’t see any reason to Ubreakable Chestguard being better than warrior’s T8 chest. At least on bosses, for trash or heroics it’s might be good. You trade 60 parry rating for 12 stamina and 9 defence (and some sbr we don’t count as it’s really poor stat for pure boss tanking). And (if you’re one that likes getting socket bonuses) you trade blue socket for a red one (tho I admit, bonus of 9 stam looks nicer than 6 def on t8 - but imo price is too high).
My question is, how high would you value crafted Indestructible Plate Girdle after getting Belt of the Nether Champion? I know you can get more stamina with crafted (tho both belts are similar) and it is more flexible with two slots. But is it a lot better than belt from ToC 10man?
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August 26th, 2009 at 1:41 am
“[If you’re cheap] Shieldwarder Girdle (28)”
I intend to craft the belt as well, yet in my view getting Spiked Deathdealers was of utmost priority, if you weren’t lucky enough to pick up a pair of Ulduar tanking boots (and even then). So you see Shieldwarder is an excellent option to pick up for a mere 28 EoC’s until you grind/buy the mats for Indestructible Plate Girdle.
This does not neccessarily make you cheap, only conscious of your choices…
I would also argue that with the coming patch and purchasable Crusader Orbs, (especially if you’re on a limited budget) one has to really consider blowing 12 titansteels on a belt which will have a strong alternative (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47870) from normal mode TotCr, or spending 45 EoT’s and 8 titansteels on BiS tanking bracers the moment 3.2.2 comes out.
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August 26th, 2009 at 3:20 am
I bought the legs first (I’m not a raid tank anymore). I like to play around taking buttloads of different mobs, so the huge increase in block rating was the reason.
Also, I’m totally gonna laugh at you all when the xpac comes out and these are the best legs in the game
(who knows)
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August 26th, 2009 at 5:21 am
Chest… check
Belt… check
Gloves…. check
Neck….check
Helm…. check
I opted for Legs…. Archaedas’ Lost Legplates
I never knew I had so much time for badges.
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August 26th, 2009 at 7:19 am
Maybe I have Flame Brrain but I’m always looking at item level first.
OK I am not understanding your love of the ToC tanking helmet. I have it but my 1st 58 badges went to the T8.5 helmet. I mean it is the one item that doesn’t drop in VoA so I figured it was the must have first.
In looking at the stats for both I still believe the T8.5 helm to be better:
+12 stamina
+31 strength
+22 armour
+3 defense
+51 dodge
+51 block
-70 parry
-54 hit
What am I missing here?
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Telessas reply on August 26, 2009 8:11 am:
I too bought the 8.5 helm first but I can see Vene’s point (I think).
Both the helm and legs that he’s suggesting out of ToC have perfect socket colour (blue) and socket bonus (12 stamina on the helm and 4 defense on the legs). Veneretio is a very big fan of stacking up the stamina and mitigation on gear and those two items are much better for this than the damn yellow socket (Why dammit!!) and weak 8 dodge bonus present on the helm.
For me, that helm would be better than my 8.5 simply because my dodge is high but my parry is awful at the moment. The reason I chose the 8.5 for the moment is for the 2 set bonus on devastate.
The difference is not huge though so either one is more than fine. Although I should note that I prefer the old titansteel look to the let’s put goat horns on my tank look from the 8.5.
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Cleaved reply on August 26, 2009 10:02 am:
Parry > Block
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Cleaved reply on August 26, 2009 10:05 am:
Actually, I do like Dodge a lot though, and I should have looked at that closer. I forgot the helm from ToC doesn’t have any Dodge. Honestly, I hate Block (being the broken stat that it is) and would probably take the 8.5 helm anyhow. I think in the “emblem pick order” it’s just meant to say, you can make do with an easily obtained helm rather than waste emblems on something you really don’t need until you get the 4-piece bonus. Which I believe Vene states in the post itself.
He mentions that his is a list for people starting out, more or less, and also that the helm is good when you are completing the 4-set.
Forget I mentioned anything about Parry
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Gravelayar reply on August 26, 2009 10:29 am:
Plus the http://www.wowhead.com/?item=46166 looks a lot better!
Furiat/Vege reply on August 27, 2009 1:03 am:
Sadly, it does not. As a dwarf I’ve turned helm gfx few years ago (and I’m still disappointed that I can’t have warhammer-alike mohawk). I think I might turn it on for some time, after getting triumph helm.
Veneretio reply on August 26, 2009 11:46 am:
The set bonus on the ToC helm makes up the Stamina difference. The Avoidance is similar. It all comes down to Hit vs Str and Block Rating. I like the hit better in a lot of cases with this choice. Sure, a debate could be made the other way too, but regardless the difference is so small that I can’t agree that the helm deserves to be any higher than last on the pick list.
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marklar reply on August 27, 2009 9:44 pm:
besides the fact that the emblem of triumph helm is so delicious and will certainly be your first badge purchase on that list…. amirite?
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Belak reply on August 28, 2009 5:01 am:
Personally, I bought the T9 shoulders first because they’re so cheap, they’re a significant upgrade, and because the T8.5 helm is so easy to get now that it will tide me over until I can get the Triumph non-set helm farther down the line.
I’m in a pretty much 10-man-only guild, though, so while we’ve killed everything so far in Coliseum, we’re not able to double-dip into 25-man as well for extra emblems and (more importantly), the token you need for the iLevel 245 T9.
And yeah, I’m looking forward to Vene’s Triumph purchase list, too.
August 26th, 2009 at 10:26 am
At what point is it worth dropping the set bonus? I have the T7 chest and hands at the moment and I was looking at getting the T8 head and chest to get the bonus (10% crit Dev), is it worth it? Or just use the off set pieces?
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August 26th, 2009 at 11:39 am
why no love for the malygos25 neck? especially with epic gems, it is by far the highest stam piece of the “pre-ulduar” items.
124 stam or 115 stam + 10 expertise (my choice) is not bad for an easy to obtain item.
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Veneretio reply on August 26, 2009 11:56 am:
It’s a fantastic piece. It’s pretty similar to Boundless Ambition and likely the Armor on Boundless Ambition is what you’re not valuing as highly as I do. That said, the biggest reason I didn’t include it was because I felt that the Ulduar10 and Naxx25 choices where far, far easier to obtain than an item acquired in Naxx25 and completed in Malygos25.
Overall, the point was the emblem neck has a lot of superior pieces in mid-level raiding and with so many listed already I didn’t feel the need to list the Malygos25 one as well.
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marklar reply on August 26, 2009 1:36 pm:
i love the armor; the stupid thing just never dropped for me
i think my next upgrade will be the 10-man ToC neck (which also is not dropping for me).
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August 26th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
Thanks a bunch for getting this out. I opted for the legs thinking they were better than Archaedas’ Lost Legplates though thanks to Rawr. *sigh* At least I have the Chest and Helm already. I’ve been holding off on the belt as I was lucky enough to get the one from Razor, and spending my time farming for the crafted boots.
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August 26th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
hey what about the shoulder piece? I’m currently on T7.5 but I’m looking at the one shoulder piece droping in ToC heroic 5 man and I’m wondering… should I switch?
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Mortenzen reply on August 27, 2009 8:09 pm:
I have the same question about many items… I have the ToC shoulders but was already sporting Pauldrons of Unnatural Death. It seems a bit better, and the yellow socket is nice compared to the red one, but is it worth losing the 30 expertise?
Same for the belt, sure Indestructible Plate Girdle looks a bit nicer than Shieldwarder Girdle but is it really worth all the mats? I’m almost done farming everything… I got 10 titansteel and 30 saronites bars so far, only need to craft 2 more titansteel and buy those 6 runic orbs but still…
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Drae reply on August 28, 2009 5:15 am:
Indestructible plate girdle > badge belt
The key here is the customization, 3 open sockets is godly. Not to mention the itemization on the Indestructible is amazing.
IMHO it was worth every penny. As are the spiked deathdealers.
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dino reply on August 28, 2009 8:09 am:
I was actually thinking about getting the boots crafted, I still have those hideous Ind…somethingsomething Sablatons and it seems like the better upgrade for me to get the boots first.
Also… I have only like 32k life unbuffed and whenever I join somewhere I hear people say “Oh, I’m used to 44k hp” - is that because I miss all those additional sockets or is it just that they have other classes as tanks? I’m struggling to get more HP without losing more hit and expertise than I want to. I personally feel that those stats are quite important and with a higher avoidance I can lower my HP.
Input?
Cleaved reply on August 28, 2009 8:24 am:
It is possible to get 44k unbuffed, but they are probably used to a DK or a Druid, I would think. I have really good gear, even some new stuff from Coliseum 25, and I have about 37.5k unbuffed (with JC and BS as professions). Honestly, you don’t NEED a huge health-pool for the current content. The epic gems give us a lot of health, but most of the content has stayed about the same difficulty (even some of the new fights). When the Heroic modes of the new Raid open up, it might help to have a little more health unbuffed
Veneretio reply on August 28, 2009 9:26 am:
Sounds like they’re talking about buffed stats. I don’t even know if 44k unbuffed is possible and certainly it’s not so prevalent that “everyone” is “used to” it.
Cleaved reply on August 28, 2009 3:40 pm:
A tank in the top progression guild on my server, had 37k hp unbuffed well before the newest patch and epic gems. Being that he was a Tauren JC/BS, it isn’t hard to imagine him getting that much HP. I would think if they had 37k then, that they could potentially get up to 44k now… if they pushed for stamina and only stamina. Still, Vene hit the nail on the head… it wouldn’t be common enough for anyone to be used to.
Copper reply on August 29, 2009 12:51 pm:
You think that isnt hard to imagine that guy jumping up 7k hp with the new epic stamina gems? Going from +24 stam to +30 stam gems = +60hp with each upgraded gem. Let’s say he upgrades 10 gems. He’s now got 600 more hp. Tauren bonus of 10% brings it to 660hp.
Where is he getting the other 6340 hp?
August 26th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
i say get them all, my order is most expensive to least, they are all good in one way or another, i have really taken to like my BV set more and more for 5 mans and trash, the more gear you have the better you can gear for the encounter. i love tanking trash in my BV set and a paladin complaining about me taunting ff him all the time when really its just 13k SS crit’s making him work to keep his job ( no more then the fury warriors tho ) the only piece i might pass on is the belt, mostly because i don’t like gear that i already have +3
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Cleaved reply on August 26, 2009 3:15 pm:
I consistently yank threat off of the tanks I run with, and I use a ‘threat-set’ that doesn’t use Block. Instead I have enough Expertise that I will never suffer a Dodge OR Parry, and enough Hit to never miss. Thereby making my threat > any other Tank, even when we are both in front of the mob(s). I use this set for fun on farm content, trash, or 5-mans. I was thinking of socketing it with more epic gems, but the need for Stamina isn’t as great if I am using this set in the first place.
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Concbarb reply on August 26, 2009 9:15 pm:
i had a set similar, tho i hit soft caps and went for pure AP. it wasn’t in a ballpark of its own for sure, and much less fun to play then a BV set, i do have much more powerful dps set now i could probly mix in there to help out, even tho i havent specd a dps spec in months
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Drae reply on August 28, 2009 5:22 am:
I love being an orc, even if it means LL gets used much longer then it was designed for; my expertise in my “normal” set (the one i wear when i have no idea what I’m getting into) is 12.5% and 4.5% hit. It’s enough to get pally level threat. LL is the real reason my expertise is so high, that and I really push for socket bonus’
Currently my problem is I’m still rocking t7.5 shoulders and gloves, I’m really afraid of dropping the gloves and seeing my expertise nose dive (im also a BS so I get expertise in 2 sockets on the gloves) and losing the 10% extra dmg on shield slam. I’ve had no luck with the shoulders off yogg or the gloves off mimiron. (DAMN double vanq to hell!)
I could replace the shoulders with the 30 badge shoulders, and the gloves with the conq badge ones, but it doesn’t feel like a real up for my well rounded set. (thou I know it’s an up survival wise, I play with some crazy DPS that are all over gearing me by about a month’s worth of 25m gear). I don’t have a “problem” holding threat, but neither is my TPS high enough that I feel comfortable gimping it by 5%+
It’s a tough choice to make; any input would be appreciated
Cleaved reply on August 28, 2009 8:28 am:
We have to break a “set” eventually, such is WoW. I hated to lose my 2-set bonus from 7.5, and I didn’t wear my 8.5 gloves until I got my shoulders, so I could have the 4-set.
Keep your 7.5 2-set, if it is that valuable to you, and you need the stats from the Gloves. T7.5 is not horrible gear, and I tanked a lot of Ulduar (even hard modes) with it on. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again… people should go Google “Wow Rawr” and download the Rawr program. It is not an add-on, but a stand-alone program that works outside of WoW. Download your character data from the Armory into the program, and mess around with your gear. Plug in different items to see what will work for you, BEFORE you go purchasing and socketing/enchanting new stuff
August 27th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
The only piece I was missing from my Valorous set was my helmet, so I went for that rather than break that bonus..for now.
I likes the extra few seconds on shield wall.
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August 27th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
Ven, I must be crazy but I thought you were working on an emblem of TRIUMPH order not conquest. Any plans for that?
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Drae reply on August 28, 2009 5:24 am:
He said in like the 1st or second comment he was half way through writing that post >
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mister six reply on August 28, 2009 7:10 am:
touche. Thanks for pointing that out.
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Furiat/Vege reply on August 29, 2009 2:59 pm:
And it seems that helm won’t be on first place. VENE BOUGHT A TRIUMPH RING!
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Veneretio reply on August 31, 2009 8:19 am:
Haha, I’ve really gotta watch myself with so many spies around. Wouldn’t want to tip off the list ahead of time.
August 27th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
i just bought the the last item on your list and i thank you for all the tips i’ve picked up off your blog. i currently have enough triumph emblems for the thrown weapon but am holding off on it until i see your triumph emblem list because that trinket sure looks sweet.
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August 29th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
I’m honestly thinking of purchasing T9 and skipping 9.5
When the Heroic version of the 10/25 opens up, we’ll be able to pickup actual Tokens like the old system (from Ulduar and prior Raids) that give us T9.75. This system Blizz has instituted for T9 and 9.5, is pretty crappy. You can save up 30 Emblems and get T9 or… you can save up 45 Emblems AND a Token, for T9.5
These tokens (in our raids) are going for redonculous DKP amounts, even though hardly anyone has the Emblems to spend on them yet. However, right now, people could be purchasing 1 piece and be nearly halfway to another piece of T9.
When the Heroic versions come out and you use tokens for T9.75, you could save up DKP to make the upgrade from 9 –> 9.75, skipping 9.5
Now, to be fair, 8.5 –> 9.5 is a larger stat upgrade, but think of it in terms of TIME. If you get full T9 now, you will be better-geared and ready to go in Heroic mode 10/25-man, than if you get 1-2 pieces of 9.5 before you start on Heroic mode. Hell, you may have 3 pieces by then if you are diligent about dailies, and close to 4-piece bonus. Half of us may end up wearing a non-piece that is considered better than Tier gear for some slots. Which means even less emblems to spend and more off-tier items you could be picking up to fill gaps in your gear.
You’ll also (if your guild does things this way) be sitting on a pile of DKP to get first dibs on 9.75 tokens that drop, as everyone else burnt theirs on Tokens they had to add 75 Emblems to just to get 1 piece of gear.
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August 31st, 2009 at 3:16 am
I chose to pick up the tier helm 2nd even though i allready had the helm from TotC, just to get the 2 set, i am well over the hitcap just from gear (no enchants or gems). I reckoned the 2 set was a better threat increase and effective health and avoidance wise they are about the same, (t8.5 a bit better due to armor).
Now to pick up some more expertise to get back to the softcap, since we’ve been progressing in ulduar my expertise went from 30-ish to under 20, hope we down Auriaya tonight and she drops her shield.
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August 31st, 2009 at 8:33 am
Picked up http://www.wowhead.com/?item=48460 with my first 30 badges of triumph over the weekend. Guess I’m saving for the hands next since they are also 30. Just running the Heroic daily every day possible, sadly I have bought everything possible with conquest already. With runed orb prices way down I made the tanking belt also over the weekend. Time to look at the crafted feet next I guess.
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September 1st, 2009 at 9:15 am
For the legs, you can always exchange 75 emblems of conquest for emblems of valor and purchase the Valorous Dreadnaught Legguards if you need dodge and parry.
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September 2nd, 2009 at 12:41 am
I’m pretty confused after the latest patch. I found out that with the new changes I can stack block value pretty high (to the point that after a glyph proc it goes up to 3.5-4k). I figured it might be of some use now, but most things I’ve been reading say no. What’s the deal then on that?
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Furiat/Vege reply on September 2, 2009 9:20 am:
Blizz tried to make that stat more appealing probably. Thing is nothing changed for warriors, little to nothing for paladins probably. It’s still a good stat, for lolprotpvp, 5mans or many whelps tanking. But nothing else. It gives too little to matter in boss tanking (raidwise).
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November 25th, 2009 at 9:28 am
I’m looking for some advice, based on my armory (Foxtrot - Perenolde-US).
I just started in an Ulduar 10 group as well as a ToC10 group. Prior to this everthing’s been crafted or HToC items for the most part. I run several gear sets, so I don’t mind having slightly different items (I have 2 22 slot bags of gear)
I’m not seeing much to spend my Conquest badges on at the moment.
I’ve have:
Chest piece
Valorous Handguards
Crafted Girdle
Two tanking necks, the shard is a minor upgrade however
So the only real option I see is the Helm, its a minor upgrade, but it would give me a 2piece bonus. Good for threat I guess.
Should I spend them on the Helm? Downgrade them and get the Platinum Mesh cloak? Downgrade and get the BoE bracers for my DK alt?
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