My Choice in Talents

A lot of talk has been going around concerning talent builds & what the most optimal choice for Protection at 70 would be. In this post, I'm going to discuss a few builds which should hopefully show some examples of different styles & approaches to tanking (at least for level 70 content).

Veneretio prefers a wholly-focused survival build -> 5/3/53
No Cruelty, Impale, Puncture, or Imp. Heroic Strike. His views are that while they may be good & have a place in talent builds at certain points in time, they simply aren't needed & there are other, more important talents to have at 70. It is a great raid build which works as intended & is high on avoidance.

Ciderhelm prefers to focus on the here & now with a threat build -> 0/8/53
This veteran warrior believes that dealing damage is now a tanking responsibility. His views include placing talents as they may help now at level 70 & making changes for level 80 accordingly to how the content is designed. This is a build which negates all avoidance in favor of other talents such as Cruelty & Puncture. His view on Last Stand is that it really isn't necessary with the current changes to all end-game content at level 70.

So what would an Arideni pick?

Well, after much deliberation, I took this when the patch came out -> 2/8/51

However, I am going to respec.

To this customized threat build -> 0/10/51

The main differences between this build & the one I first one I used is avoidance. The first build was incomplete. It was made for level 80 & had points subtracted to work for level 70, and it works good, but it isn't as efficient for level 70 as this custom build.

It is also very similar to Ciderhelm's build as we both took the same approach - spec for now, not for 80. One of the largest problems I've had is opening up on a dynamic encounter such as the Headless Horseman. Sometimes I use Charge, but it can be tricky so I went back to basics — Bloodrage. This still didn't quite fit right with my style, so I chose to include Improved Bloodrage in my 70 build. This is something I really came to love through Heroics & have missed it greatly since the patch came out. It's a luxury, but opening with Shield Slam instead of Devastate in critical situations is worth it to me. I also chose to take Last Stand as I consider it a core point in Protection & considering the large amount of pick-up groups I am involved with it's a no-brainer. An interesting twist to this build is that I took two points of Improved Demoralizing Shout for bosses (no more than two points work on bosses normally). I felt this was more important than Improved Spell Reflect, but they all seem to be great "optionals."

So there you have it! Stay tuned for my next post about my experiences with the talent respec.

Protection 3.0 - First Impressions

In a word, "different." Things have really shifted, and animations have changed. It's going to be difficult getting used to the new animations & spells which are all nice, but I'm still in that "new" phase.

Background

I got the patch yesterday (Wednesday) & configured everything to be how I like it. Thankfully, Bartender4, Pitbull, & SimpleBuffBars needed nothing more than a simple update (their settings transferred over seamlessly). So at late night, we did the Leroy Jenkins title (which sounds silly with my name, imo) & then we ran Heroic Shattered Halls (our daily Heroic quest).

Description

It just feels different. That's the only way I can really describe tanking like this. At first, I was jittery only doing up to 4 creatures at a time for fear of embarrassing myself. Afterward, I had no choice except take on the full packs. Charge -> Thunder Clap, take two steps backward + Shockwave. It worked, and it worked surprisingly well. By the end of the third pack, I had it down-pat pretty good.

Problems?

The problems I notice is that the lack of tab-targeting needed & the "AOE tanking" style just seems...lackluster? It's as though I don't have to try as hard to tank things well beyond what was all, but impossible before this patch. Taking on adds & an entire Gladiator pack near full health? Insane.

On the final boss we didn't even bother killing adds. I just Thunder Clapped & Taunted them over to me while Cleaving.

So what did you notice outside of tanking?

I noticed that Glyph of Cleaving suddenly seems very appealing (but can it overtake the other glyphs? Who knows).

No longer do we have to run all over the place to pick up that one stray in an 8-mob pull that ran away — Taunt now comes with a 20 yard range. I rarely use it as intended so that change took some getting used to.

I may post some more after I get chance to play around again. Hopefully we can pull together a Karazhan run to gauge how things are in a small raid setting. Zul'Aman would be great, but probably won't be happening tonight.

Post-Patch Defense & Uncrittable Status

A lot of people have been wondering about what exactly happens when warriors & paladins lose their free 20 defense skill from talents (it's being changed to 5% dodge for 5 talent points for those unaware). Here we're going to discuss the issue & what exactly we can do as an immediate resolution.

Do we still need 490 defense to tank at 70? What about 80?

Yes, warriors & paladins will still need to be uncrittable (that's why we increase our defense rating, it reduces the chance to be critically hit). Druids will need to achieve this as well, but I'm not going to comment on druids very much right now (lack of experience & knowledge on talents). At level 80, one will need about 540 defense against a L83 (raid boss).

My defense dropped to . . . What can I do to bridge the gap?

First of all, try hard to replace some of your gear. Hope you didn't throw away all those trinkets! Beyond trinkets (a list at the bottom) there are other ways such as enchants (also listed below). The first enchant to use if going that route is Enchant Chest - Defense. This is better than the others because pure health won't scale with most raid buffs or talents (such as Vitality or Blessing of Kings).

Is there any other way?

Resilience. Point for point, resilience rating increases your critical hit reduction by a greater amount than defense rating. The problem with resilience is that it does nothing else whereas the defense rating we lose equates to about a 2.44% loss in avoidance (dodge & parry combined) & chance to block.

How much resilience does it take to make up the lost defense?

The defense skill we lost was 20. That's about 48 defense rating which reduces chance to be critically hit by 0.8%. It would take about 32 resilience rating to achieve 0.8% critical hit reduction (with a little extra).

So what's the quick fix you mentioned?

Merciless Gladiator's Shield Wall (for warriors) & Merciless Gladiator's Barrier/Redoubt (for paladins). These three shields are a great "quick fix" & for many players offer a humongous upgrade from Heroic/Karazhan gear.

The Shield Wall gives 31 resilience rating (0.79% critical hit reduction) & the twin shields for paladins give 27 resilience rating (0.69% critical hit reduction). Paladins will need at least 473 defense using the two Spell Power shields.

Trinkets & Enchants Mentioned Above

• Adamantine Figurine
• Dabiri's Enigma
• Enchant Chest - Defense
• Enchant Cloak - Steelweave
• Enchant Bracer - Major Defense
• Arcanum of the Gladiator
  

New Address - Update Bookmarks!

The new blog address is www.arideni.com, so everyone needs to update bookmarks (all 8 of you people). After approximately 3 days everything & everyone should be redirected directly to this address.

I'm also participating in Google Apps, so I have email addresses & other goodies powered by Google. Item tooltips powered by Wowhead.

Controlling Crowd Control, part 2

It became apparent to me that a lot of players felt differently to my approach on the timing of crowd control. I am not a "CC-hater," so to speak. However, I do not particularly understand players who continue to use certain abilities even though it may not work or is blatantly unnecessary.

Yes, I broke your sheep.

So, you sheeped the unmarked elf in a 3-mob pull. Thanks, but really we are ok — we can survive it. Unless these creatures are heavy-hitters like the Destroyers in Heroic Ramparts, I really don't feel a need to worry about them. Beyond that, Mortal Strike is the least of my concern in that dungeon & I would prefer you sheep the creatures that Disarm instead.

This isn't rocket science.
I'm a big fan of Thunder Clap, always have been. The old days of Charge -> Thunder Clap -> Defensive Stance are over, and a lot of players have either forgotten or never learned that we often Thunder Clap (especially early on). It's a great way to catch aggro on creatures who run by. I've even experienced mages who tried to sheep, in Heroics, while the creature was clearly standing inside of Consecration. After over a year of The Burning Crusade, it's time to learn about paladin tanking, too.

So pull back to avoid the sheep.

The problem is, a tank should always be pulling back. The sheep target shouldn't be able to really hit the tank because it should be sheeped, so why exactly do we need to pull back? Not all areas in the game have a large room to maneuver in. Start the sheep before it gets to the tank so it never gets near the group. Sheep pulling on non-critical fights is another option in many of these situations (make sure no creatures are near the sheep in case it breaks). A simple Bloodrage, Thunder Clap, or Shout will easily regain aggro of all the non-CC creatures. Paladins can taunt the creatures, or use Consecration, and druids can swipe or use a Roar.

Crowd Control sucks.

Wrong. Crowd control works wonders in new content or progressive content. Back in patch 2.0 & 2.1 groups were still doing regular dungeons & starting to tackle Heroics more often. Using crowd control to the point it made a tank healable allowed many players, myself included, to start playing in the big leagues without any special gear. The same trend will occur in The Burning Crusade & I will be sure not to push my healers too hard or stress them out. That's not going to help anyone.

Use Crowd Control, if you need it.

If the tank has things under control, forget about CC & just go with the flow. If something peels off, watch what the tank does. Is he paying attention? If not, obviously you should intervene to protect the healer.

Behave yourself!

Make sure you watch your aggro. Throwing the tank for a loop because you wanted to impress your friends with damage meters doesn't help anyone. In fact, it causes a chain reaction on creature threat tables (especially for tanks still gearing up, so to speak).

Controlling the Crowd Control

I recently read a post by my friend Veneretio which dealt with "The Druid Complex." The premise is that druids felt, and feel, the need to compensate for whatever reason. You can read his post, in its entirety, by going here.

So let's talk about crowd control.

As a seasoned tank, I no longer focus on excess crowd control. I prefer to have at least a rogue, hunter, or warlock in my group most of the time, but usually I'm more concerned with player competency than class ability.

It wasn't always like that, though. Back when The Burning Crusade was first released & groups were just learning the level 70 dungeons such as Shadow Labyrinth it was hard to find a good, hassle-free group. It wasn't unusual to ask for a mage, rogue, or hunter to at least have one form of crowd control for the large pulls. But for the budding tanks who were a step ahead, because we as tanks had to be, the numerous forms of crowd control available were as much nuisance as they were beneficial.

Players want to use crowd control.

Many players feel they have something to prove. Nothing brings out this feeling like that of a class which, in the mainstream mindframe, brings nothing to a group except damage. This occurs most frequently with rogues & hunters as they are very popular classes. Aside from dealing damage, what exactly are these players doing 90% of the time? Picking their nose? Clipping their toe nails?

Blizzard has taken care to help address these issues over the years. It affected me personally as my rogue saw several changes to Sap. It used to be that the ability would remove a rogue from Stealth. Only rogues with a few points in another talent tree could Sap & return to Stealth. That was changed to make it easier to obtain those talent points. Then the talent was removed completely & all rogues were given this ability. As for hunters, the trap cooldowns were changed, but they were also allowed to place traps during combat.

When players such as rogues & hunters join groups, they know that next to nothing is expected of them. They are high in supply & easily replaced. They are completely disposable.

I'm just trying to help!

So hunters often ask for a target icon to trap, rogues often go ahead & Sap if there are no icons. This comes from an overwhelming since of, just as Veneretio stated, insecurity. They know they are disposables deep, down inside & want desperately to show how great of a player they are. They want to contribute their portion to the group — to belong, to earn, to perform.

You don't always have to help.

Just do your job. That's all we want & if we need you, that's great! I'm glad you're a capable player who is willing to go above & beyond your calling. However, there is a time & place for everything. Let me do my job, and then you can better do yours without having to nullify the experience. For some tanks just want a big mobfest for the thrill of it all. For some tanks, there's nothing else left in this game.

Editor's note: Writing this post made me realize a very valuable lesson in real life at the workplace: just do your job, not everyone else's.

Devastating News

One of the new changes in the expansion, thus far, involve changing how Devastate works. Currently, Devastate provides damage & Sunder Armor (including the threat from both abilities). However, in the expansion Devastate will deal damage plus threat equal to 5% of attack power while placing Sunder Armor on the target. It will gain no additional threat via Sunder Armor.

Thanks to Satrina for testing these abilities & deriving some tangible values for the community. This may change between now & release, but so far this is how things look to be going.

So Devastate got nerfed?

Not exactly. All threat is being redone, so to speak. Instead of one point of damage being equal to one point of threat, all damage is to be multiplied by 2.0735 to achieve a numerical value for threat. So, for example if one does 100 damage, it is equal to roughly 207.35 threat. It is believed this is done at the server, but then rounded to an integer.