Revealed ICC loot makes me a happy tank
For starters, the base Ashen Verdict ring is iLevel 251 which is an encouraging sign of its progression. The exalted version will probably be iLevel 277 if the rings follow the same formula as the Hyjal ones. And I’m very excited it has hit on it. Will be a staple of my gear set for sure.
Actually, overall I really like the itemization of the ICC gear I’ve seen. Some pieces with hit, nice chunks of stam, no accursed expertise.
And can we talk about this trinket? 228 stamina and a pretty nice Use effect to boot! Commence /drooling, friends.
Despite having a totally badass name, this Libram is garbage. Maybe as a purchase later on, but it’s ultimately worth 19 more dodge rating than the Libram of Defiance, so it’d be silly to waste Emblems of Frost on it.
This chest is the only badly itemized piece I’ve seen so far. Totally for the threat set. (Correction! Yours truly is a dope–the bonus armor actually more than makes up for the odd stats, making this a very awesome chest piece.)
Most annoying thing I’ve seen thus far: either Blizzard hasn’t finished designing a tanking Quel’Delar or they don’t intend to include one. I’m leaning toward it being the latter. Sigh.
But, let’s focus on the positive! So far lots of well itemized gear and no deluge of expertise like what we had to suffer on ToC pieces. Hopefully Blizz keeps that pace going as they fill out all the loot tables in Icecrown.
Armory Feed
Dude, I want to take that +str 2-hander Quel’Delar to the prom. That thing makes me a happy Ret. For the first time in… months I get to upgrade from this horrible Axe-Covered-in-Skulls. I went straight from the HoL one to the ToC5 one.
I’ve got my own concerns about the Ret Libram. Need to spend some time on EJ and formulate an opinion.
@honorshammer
12 November 2009 at 3:59 pm #
Expertise is actually a really good stat for Paladin tanks.
@Rhidach
12 November 2009 at 4:30 pm #
I’d rather have hit. I know it’s partially avoidance, but I can’t get over the “expertise is garbage” stigma I’ve been saddled with since Naxxramas. I need to work on that… but I’d still rather have hit over expertise.
@hazmacewillraid
12 November 2009 at 4:49 pm #
Is it just me or does it seem like the on-use effect of that trinket is kinda gimpy? I could be WAY off about this (and please correct me if I am), but the Juggernaut trinkets from ToC increase your health by at least 4000, which is like absorbing 4000 extra damage, right? So if it’s the next level up from ToC, why the downgrade?
more stam, but damage reduction instead of health… however while the health on-use on the TOC trinket lasts 15seconds, the damage reduction on this trinket lasts 20seconds. perhaps that’s the way it works?
plus, still the ptr and subject to change… just like black heart was messed with so many times before the final iteration :P
@Rhidach
12 November 2009 at 5:03 pm #
What Vorian said, plus it’s 3200 damage that doesn’t have to be healed/eat a healer’s mana, as opposed to ~4000 hp that does. I think damage absorbs require more ipoints to budget than a health boost would, thus the number discrepancy.
You are wrong about the chest. 1300 bonus armor is amazing.
It is oddly itemized, and I have to assume it’s on purpose. If the expertise and block value were avoidance stats (or even if one of them was), it would be likely to be BiS even over ilvl277 loot that wasn’t itemized with massive bonus armor. It might still be anyway.
That said, all those high-armor badge pieces will have valuable niches in my various gearsets.
@Rhidach
12 November 2009 at 6:12 pm #
@Meloree: Arrgh, I didn’t see the bonus armor. Dopey mistake on my part.
@Antigen: It’s debatable if you would want the trinket over ilvl258 ToC stamina trinket. However, I can guarantee you want it over ilvl245 stamina trinket (you can’t use both last stand effects at the same time), and you want it over Heart of Iron just for the raw stam increase. Therefore, it’s an early badge purchase for basically every tank, whether you have dual Juggernaut/Satrina’s trinkets, or not.
All of a sudden, it doesn’t matter what the paladin T10 looks like, because odds are, none of the paladin tanks are going to be wearing it. +Armor chest, gloves, and pants from badges or crafting, combined with a lackluster 4peice, unless the T10 gear is absolutely perfectly itemized, none of the paladins will be wearing it.
all i know is that i love some of this new gear :D
yeah i’d also rather have hit then expertise. Not saying expertise is useless just that hit will take the crown ALWAYS.
@honorshammer
16 November 2009 at 8:18 am #
@Moogle,
I’m sure you’d caveat your staement that Hit is always to superior to Expertise as long as you aren’t Hit Capped. I don’t think any reasonable set of Tanking gear can get you to the Hit Cap, but it’s an important part of the whole equation.
I think that you are maybe being a bit unfair to expertise. According to the inimitable Theck (http://maintankadin.failsafedesign.com/forum/index.php?f=6&t=25611&rb_v=viewtopic) expertise isn’t actually that bad, at least on bosses that use the parry-haste mechanic (it’s complete shite on bosses that don’t parry-haste admittedly!!).