Been a lurker in this thread for a while, but figured now is as good a time as any to post.

Kinda confused as to what I can/can't do for raids on my paladin, and what I should get with frost badges *Just dinged 80 not THAT long ago*.

http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sh...r&cn=Sillonius

And also a bit flummoxed as to if I'm doing something wrong when I lose aggro to someone with 1.5kGS higher than me. xP Soo..good denizens of 2+2, halp?

I'm pretty sure you can OT the first 4 bosses of ICC, if people are willing to pug you that's a different question, your best bet might be joining starting small raiding guild, pugging these days becomes way to hard if you don't have atleast 5k gs because no one will take you (sadly)

Every pug I've seen wants 5k GS + Achievement. ;P. I'm pretty stuck in my current guild, they're like family. Would doing pre-ICC raids be of any benefit?

There is always the option to get every single frost badge u can get (every daily, weekly, voa,...) until u get one or two t10, should be enough to get yourself in pugs

And in general pre icc isnt needed although theres a pretty imba tanking shield that drops in totc you could go for

That gear was ok for an offtank in ICC10 week 1 of 3.3 - Right now you should be able to MT any normal modes in 10man and probably even everything in 25man.

However, PUGs won't let you.

I'd save those frost badges and get a new cloak. That would be a big help for your current situation.

Also, run H FoS for new boots. I think the icc 5 mans have a 232 def belt as well that's a random drop. And def. run PoS or HoR for the tank weapons that drop. They will be huge upgrades.

I would consider dropping a point or two in Seals of the Pure to pick up Pursuit of Justice (because your boots are unenchanted) and maybe another ret talent or two. Vindication isn't a bad idea if you won't have a demo shout available when you do get to raiding.

Benediction is probably a bigger waste of talent points than SotP, as mana shouldn't be an issue with Divine Plea active as much as you should have it active.

As for losing threat to people with higher gearscores, when is this happening, and what's going on? (Single target boss fights? Multiple mobs in AoE-fests?) Definitely need more info to help there.

And use the right meta gem, for god's sake! Stun duration? pffft

I was actually going to get Ulduar-recipe boots, I have an enchants for em, I just didn't want to waste it on what I have now. As for running the ICC heroics, I try to as often as I can. But since the lockout is after one , and it's just random luck after that..

And things NEVER drop in PoS for me. Ever. 150 runs on my DK to get the beheader..that I still don't have. Saw plenty of Rimefangs claw...but hey, now that I NEED that, guess what don't drop, lol. Was still trying to figure out actually, what woudl be better, RF C, or Falric's Wrist thinger.

I know that's not the right meta gem, but I can't socket the one I do want, because I don't meet the requirements. Most of my gems were gifts from my guild leader who has insisted that I enchant purely for stam.

As far as losing threat...on single target bosses only. AoE tanking, I never lose aggro unless someone decides to be a donkey and nuke something. And I use SoC, so I in theory, should be holding aggro. But I manage to lose it once or twice mid boss fight.

You've ran every single day, save ~1 month, since patch 3.3 went live in December of '09? That is bad luck!

The only difference is shield block or dodge. I'd go for dodge, were I you. But that's me.

Austere Earthsiege only needs 1 red, so do a stam+some red stat you need or want. Strength if you want threat, or expertise. Or use a nightmare tear. Many options there. And add it to your legs so you at least make up some of the lost stamina. (Regal or Defender's gem would work well too)

Bloody hell, what are you doing wrong? I tend to start off a boss fight with an exorcism, if possible, followed by throwing my shield at them and, if I have people with much higher gear scores, start off with shield of righteousness. Otherwise I just judge and go through my rotation.

If you think you're gonna lose threat, or if you haven't used it recently and it's just a 5 man, start with avenging wrath active. No one should look at you funny if you start off the fight with it. Not like you're gonna have to bubble yourself unless your healer is uber fail. It just adds extra dps, which is more threat, which keeps your dps alive.

Btw, definitely try to get into ToC10 groups. Should be good upgrades in there for ya. If you're new, just ask to do main tank stuff on a few fights. (Jaraxus and Anub are way easy on the mt)

Oh, and when you finally do get a good tank weapon, don't be one of those tossers that throws blade ward on it. That bloody enchant is god awful for tanking.

Well, to be honest, I would NEVER take anyone to ANY raid with enchants missing and a bad meta.

That is just plain lazy, and if you can't even put in the effort to grind out 500g for a couple of enchants and gems, you surely won't be flasking to make up for your bad gearscore?

On your threat problem, do you use wings before you pull? You should.

Also, get a proper spec. I am not uptodate with the best spec but if you don't have vindication, one of the best talents for a 10man tank, I can't see it being very good. Also, you can't even OOM if you want to as prot. Even without divine plea you will get bombed with heals and you get mana for every heal.

The only enchant I thought I was missing was on my weapon (because it's a crap weapon + not sure what enchant to get) and on feet (I have a scroll, because I don't want to waste it on boots I don't intend on keeping very long).

Flasks, I can get. Lots of alchemists in guild. As far as gems go, only one gemcutter, and I was paying back a loan so I could get a battered hilt for my DK. Nothing ever dropped for it, and it was definitely time for a new weapon.

If anyone can show me a full proper spec, all the ones I've seen were incomplete, I'd gladly take a look at it, and change mine as necessary.

Also, what is wings? >.o.

Sock - Not since then, no. But I get at least 4-5 runs in a day per dungeon for heroics...lots of spare time. And dodge does seem the better idea.
Leg slot ...got it.

And, I don't know really. I usually start with HoR, and go with SoR instead of HoR as the starting part of the rotation, which...doesn't really change much since as far as i can recall, they have the same CD. Didn't think to start with excorcism tho...thanks.

Sorry, I know I seem like a total newb case, for that fact, I am. Only 1 week with that paladin, and tanking in general with it. So everything's still one big, giant learning process.

I lol'ed.

Well if you don't use wings there is your stt poblem right there :P.

elitistjerks has all the class info, just google that. They will tell you exactly how to start every fight but on single targets I can't think of a reason to toss out hor over sor.

at least use titanium weapon chain on your weapon for the +chance to hit.

Hey guys, I just started playing again after a really long break. 71 gnome mage on Frostmane. Here is my armory link, http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...&cn=Hugmonster

I was thinking about just following the optimized questing guides w/ add-ons and leveling to 80, so I have been doing that for the past few days and gotten to 71.5 - However, I Haven't encountered a single other player so far. It is getting awfully boring without anyone to talk too or not even seeing anyone else in zone.

So does anyone play on Frostmane? If so give me a whisper - Hugmonster.

Also anyone have tips on gear progression for me, thanks.

Leveling your mining and Jewelcrafting will give you a huge HP boost. I'm pretty sure 450 mining is 60 Stamina, and Jewelcrafting will give you 63 extra stamina from Dragon's Eyes. That's 123 stamina right there, 1.2k health.

For your first Frost badge upgrade, I would probably go with the T10 shoulders. They will be a big upgrade, not break your T9 bonus, and get you halfway to your T10 bonus if you get lucky in a VoA. They're also only 60 badges, which is nice. Your trinkets aren't all that bad. If you want to up your gearscore for pugs, the Triumph badge Glyph (armor trinket) is really nice. The passive armor bonus and on-use (dodge I think) will be much better than Gossamer.

If you're planning on getting new boots soon, I would use Tuskarr's Vitality for the enchant. The minor run speed boost is invaluable. 90% of the game is where-to-be-when anyway.

For your weapon, either the Wrist Chopper or Rimefang's Claw will do nicely. I prefer Blood Draining for weapon enchant. You should be able to queue for HoR and PoS pretty easily. As a tank you'll get right in. Personally, I think HoR is a bitch so the Claw will be easier to get.

Put a gem in your ring. It's a blue socket for crying out loud!

Better gems maybe? Seems like you're missing out on a bunch of stats if you could spend like 150g in blue quality WotLK gems. Then again, you probably won't have the gear for that long anyway. That's just the first thing that came to mind. I wouldn't say there's much min/maxing to do for leveling from 70-80 as a mage. You'll do a ton of damage and rarely die while questing. Just queue for random dungeons while questing and gear up as best you can till you hit 80.

I found Howling Fjord a lot more interesting than Borean Tundra.

Quick note as I'm leaving early this morning, but sor is higher threat than hor iirc. Hor is great for multiple mobs, or if you have the 2t10 I think, but use shield instead to start your single target boss rotation.

Hell, you could even pull with your taunt, exorcism, then avengers shield.

Avenging wrath *is* your wings. Use the spell sometime and you'll see why.

Oh...see , I didn't know the nickname. I cast AW every time it's off CD unless there's no fight coming up. >.< Not used to all the nicknames for abilities.

What the hell are gems?

With regards to gear, I find that the quest rewards I am getting leveling up tend to be worse then my overall gear I already have, which was just PVP sets from years back. Approx. How long can I keep this gear for? Another few levels?

Also, I am about to move onto Howling Ford as I am almost done with the quests in Borean Tundra - Just need to find a group to finish this one quest, where I can't kill this elite level mob.

Thanks for the advice! Thanks!

I was actually switching out JC for BS at some point. I didn't bother much with professions after Id ecided to just go full speed ahead on leveling.

And, aren't you limited to queuing for a specific heroic once per day? Otherwise I'm sure I'd be queuing non-stop for PoS, and HoR.

All the Talasite and Nightseye that you have in your gear are "gems."

Since your gear is epic 70 stuff, I'd say that you'll slowly be replacing it from quests, dungeons. You'll probably have most of it replaced by the time you hit 75. Do you have a decent amount of gold? If so, you can re-socket your gear by going to the AH and buying some relatively cheap gems to put in there. That will get you a couple extra levels out of your gear since they have so many sockets.

Be sure to queue for random dungeons while you quest (the "i" key), one will pop every 15 minutes or so. That's where you'll get the best gear. Just do quests and dungeons and you'll quickly find green/blue gear that's better than your purples now - esp. since you're wearing pvp stuff.

JC is an awesome profession. It's very expensive to level, but worthwhile to have on at least one toon. BS is good as well, you'll get about the same stamina bonus from the two extra sockets. If you like playing the AH at all, JC is a great moneymaker - plus your raid utility is handy if people want to wear new gear immediately and bring enchanting/gem mats. Since you're a miner anyway, you can prospect most of your ore and get a bunch of gems to level them concurrently anyway. That being said, I'm leveling a Paladin with Herb/Alch and will probably switch her to Alch/BS at some point.

Yes, you're limited to queuing once per day for each, but if you do both each day plus a random, you're bound to pick up a tanking weapon sooner or later. Just takes time. Only thing that really sucks is if a dps Needs on it for an offset.

But my biggest piece of advice would be to put a nice blue gem in that ring. A Solid Majestic Zircon would be best, but a Solid Sky Sapphire will still give you a 24+6 stamina bonus. It'll be the best tanking ring (despite bing ilvl 219) you'll see for a while. It will most likely only be replaced by the Ashen Verdict rep ring when you start running ICC.

I have a Warrior tank, so I can't suggest anything about your spec.

Stick with JC/mining imo. BS gives about the same hp, as someone else said, but it is much worse to level and the profits are smaller too.

Regular FoS has a nice tank mace that drops off the first boss, and can be completed really quickly. Also run H ToC when you can for the sword drop. A 219 weapon should make you feel better about where you are.

As for a spec, this is the standard base, with 12 points left to your choosing. Something like this would be a good spec to help you not lose aggro, and negate the need to ever get a speed enchant on your boots, giving you more room for stamina. (PoJ with 1 point is the same speed as Tuskarr's Vitality) You could lose the point in sanctity of battle and add another in crusade, but it's all up to you.

I would skip any holy talents because SotP is really only boosting one damage source. This thread talks about the talents in the build, both necessary and viable. You should have already read it though, so shame on you if you haven't.

Also, you should be queueing non-stop for HoR normal to get the shield upgrade in case you can't get the on from ToC10. It seems like you don't know the loot tables for those instances very well. Install atlas loot and get familiar with where everything drops, and see what other things drop that you don't know about.

And to finish out this over-extended piece:

2 kills on the guy that drops something you need that you say you've ran 150 times?

Well, he never said they were successful runs.

lol

He said he ran it 150 times on his DK without winning it. Pretty sick if actually true/accruate. He mentioned that his pally just recently dinged 80.