Not A Post

This is not a blog post. You see, I decided to be lazy today, and not post at all. I know, I am a meanie. But, I decided to share some pictures of my first experience tanking in Wrath!

I got asked to tank Heroic Utgard Keep. See?

Wait, thats me playing with a Paper Zeppelin. I logged in, and these two cool dudes (whom I shall call Tweedledee and Tweedledum (up to you to decide which is which.) Started to throw the Zeppelin at me, so we made a triangle of tossing fun, it went on for hours, with giggling and merriment. Its just so cool how Dalaran brings people together, and with all the toys in Wrath, we do stuff now, instead of standing there, staring at some yuppie on his Mammoth. (Btw, no one cares about the mammoth you spent way too much money on, don't AFK in front of the bank.)

But, as all things do, the fun ended. As usual, it ended in a bear attack!!!!

I hate bears, I think they are going to be the death of all of Azeroth.

Anyway, on to the tanking. (And not Bear tanking, remember folks, bears are evil.) So, we went in, and despite my fears, found the going was relatively easy. Even the bosses went down with relative ease, until Ingvar the Plunderer I honestly believe that it was a coordination issue, we made three attempts, the first time, no one told the healer to stop casting just before the Staggering and Dreadful Roars.

This is the first time I have shown these, this is from the addon Eavesdrop, which I highly reccomend. Anyway, at the end of each combat, it prints a summery. It goes Dmg In | Heal In | Heal out | Dmg Out. So, we can see that I took 69.6K Damage, but got healed for 79.6K, that's not bad, it means the ratio is at least survivable. However, something went wrong, as I said, and within the 6 second spell lockout of the Staggering Roar, I was dead.

On the second attempt the Deathknight took a smash, (btw, if your a DPS, its a really simple rule, stand behind the enemy, unless its a dragon, then you stand to the side, c'mon, folks!) The healer got panicked, and took another interrupt while trying to save the DK, and we wiped.

This attempt was a little less peachy, 48.2K in, and only 23.9K healed, a clear healing problem, which as I explained, was due to a mis-targeting on his part.

And then the third and final attempt was bad because, well, it was the final attempt. I really despise people who say things like, "last try." It puts too much pressure on the folks who may be learning or may be undergeared, and most people don't respond well. Sadly, I don't have a picture of the last death, it was obscured by a tooltip, but I don't blame others for failures, mostly because I don't control what others do with that blame, instead, I figure out what I could have done better, there is always some way to improve. After researching, I found that at one point I took a 15k hit from one of Ingvar's smashes. And that was not a crit. Simply put, I need better gear. I need a bigger health pool, 540 Defense, and better avoidance. I took this picture to show you where I was at.

Less than 18k health, (the DK had 20k, without Frost Presence.) and 529 Defense, is just not going to cut it. Im shooting for 25k health, 540 Defense, 20K armor, and 40% combined avoidance (Dodge + Parry,) for Naxx, and I have to say this was a wake-up call.

Just before the run, I replaced the last of my BC gear (except trinkets) with Pieces of the Tempered Saronite set, and got my hands on the Daunting Handguards and Legplates, In other words, there are no other crafted items that will help me archive my goals. I am loathe to spend a lot of money on enchants or gems at this point, and I don't think its necessary when the majority of my items are below item level 160.

So, what do I do, other than making a gear list? Well, I am going to identify my three weakest peices, and decide on how to get an upgrade, drum roll please....

***

First up, my Tundra Pauldrons gotta go. Its a shame, because although the values are too low, this is what I look for in a really good item, diversity in stats. Str, Sta, Shield Block, Defense, and Dodge, not bad.

Obviously, there is the Tempered Saronite Shoulders, but 8 more Defense Rating (1 more point of Defense) is not worth the loss of 26 Block Rating and 25 Dodge rating, so it is out.

That left me with this. That's Pauldrons of the Colossus from the Drakkari Colossus / Elemental in Heroic Gundrak or the Iron Dwarf Smith Pauldrons from General Bjarngrim in Heroic Halls of Lighting.

***

How in the world do I replace my Libram of Repentance? Ultimately I have to, 42 Shield Block Rating was 5.3% Block at level 70.... At 80? 2.5% Yet, in spite of this, its still almost the best in slot. Eventually, I will have to pick up a Libram of Obstruction for 15 Emblems of Heroism, but I am not looking forward to it. Maybe I am under-valuing Shield Block Value?

***

I am also going to need to replace my two trinkets Moroes' Lucky Pocket Watch, and Dawnstone Crab, but I am nervous. For whatever reason, I can use both of these trinkets at the same time for a mini-Evasion, at 70, I got 22.5% Dodge with both up, at 80, I get  11%. Still nothing to sneeze at, but I know I can do better. First up is crafting me a Monarch Crab, which is just wonderful because of the options the gem sockets give me. If I am still not defense capped, 2 Thick Dragon's Eyes, when I get the cap, I can switch to 2 Solid Dragon's Eyes, I do look forward to that. But as for the other Trinket? There is the Valor Medal of the First War for 40 Emblems of Heroism, but basically, I haven't found a good replacement? Are Trinkets like other items? Are the meant to be replaced? I hear that the Commendation of Kael'thas is still one of the best tanking trinkets in the game. Maybe Essence of Gossamer from Hadronox in Heroic Azjol-Nerub?

***

So, after planning that out, where am I? I need to run Gundrak, Halls of Lighting, and/or Azjol-Herub on heroic. But I also just need heroics, and hell, it wouldn't be bad to go back to Magisters' Terrace? Maybe I hate gear plans so much because I suck at it?

BTW, this was not a blog post, if it appeared to be a blog post at any point, you are mistaken, and should have stopped reading. You had been Post-Warned?

(I don't even know what I am saying.)