This is a tangent, but you're all saying to go get the Qiraji Bulwark.. Is my guild just incredibly unlucky? We've gotten 3 armaments since we started AQ40 on the day it was released.. We've killed C'Thun every reset since early May. I know they drop more than that for most people. But is it really -that- much more that it's just "go grab some armaments"?

Reading this is making me depressed. :p

We've also gotten an impressive 4 Regalia.

8 regalia since april, 2 armaments. It is just another "GG to the RNG" sorta thing.

Who says his guild needs a third offtank at all? Two works just fine for us.

You can say that, but for a first attempt, you would want a safety net in case your healers aren't that fast.

I'm a real noob about tanks, but what's improved LoH?

Paladin talent. When they use Lay on Hands it gives the target a +30% buff to armor from items.

druid in the long run will just end up taking more damage even with more armor from loss of the parry/dodge a warrior has, so isn't the best option

In my experience as both an OT and an OT healer on Patchwerk, setting a good Feral druid as OT means having to put 1 fewer person healing him. Mana has never been an issue for the OT healers (my guild at least), so the total damage taken is meaningless. If he's geared well enough, he can take 2 Hatefuls in a row and live, something no warrior could claim prior to beating this fight already. If he can't take 2 Hatefuls and live, he isn't geared enough to be tanking it.

A good Feral druid could also make a good MT, as he will never have threat issues past the initial few hits, whereas I've seen screens on these forums of mages/locks pulling aggro.

Assuming you mean Patchwerk, I'm quite willing to agree with you that Ferals make good OT's there since they have what's needed -high HP and high Armor. But I really wouldn't be comfortable with a 325ish? def no parry, no shieldblocking Bear MT-ing him as a healer. He hits quite hard and the crushing blows would be through the roof, I imagine it as quite a drain on mana.

You've seen what's needed as an OT in this thread, I'd say draw your own conclusions. My advice: leave the Abomination Wing for what it is until you gear up sufficiently on Wrath/AQ40 plate and try to focus on Noth, Heigan and Faerlina. They don't hit too hard and especially after the patch are pretty easy fights in comparison. Assuming your MT is at least well enough equipped you could prolly take a few shots at Maexxna as well, it's a pretty standard fight.

I think he means they've killed Maexxna. Noth is definately the place to go next, and considering your progress I'd say you should have both him and Ouro dead this week, then focus on killing *everything* next week and then hit Patchwerk. An extra 6 pieces of t3, the Emps/Ouro/C'thun loot, and more crap from aq/bwl to fill in holes in people's gear can make the difference for Patchwerk.

a) Defense does not affect crushing blows.
b) Patchwerk cannot do crushing blows, period.

No no no, NO. Defense does NOT increases a mob's chance to MISS you.

His melee attack (the one on the MT) can. His Hateful Strikes can not.

It does according to this guide:
http://evilempireguild.org/guides/defense.php

Get a decent neckpiece and a proper shield with stamina. Patchwerk is about having armor and HP.

http://www.thottbot.com/?i=51903 or http://www.thottbot.com/?i=52677 should do the trick. If you can get your hands on this baby, even better, http://www.thottbot.com/?i=53390

As for shields the bare minimum is probably Buru Skull Fragment from AQ20, (it has 20 stamina) or maybe Earthen Guard from the silithus summons with 19 stamina. Again, either of the Bulwarks will do, the one from chromaggus or the one from the Qiraji Armaments.

These 2 upgrades will give you almost 300 more HP more and depending on which shield you can get your hands on about the same amount of extra armor.

Upgrades from might -> wrath would be much less visible. The shield is your greatest weakness. Stamina is vital when facing Patchwerk.

Yea but shieldblocks help against crushing blows :) I never knew Patchwerk couldn't crush on his normal melee attacks tho, thanks for the info. I figured him for every other heavy melee boss in the game.

Anyway, then it's just a question of whether the extra mitigation and HP make up for the lack of parries and misses (unless that's different on him as well).

It sure does, in over 10 million damage taken parsed, mobs missed me ~9% rate.

Edit: As for specific data, since I've reset my damage parsing mod, in 529 attacks, Gluth has missed me 49 times for a miss rate of 9.26%.

you also forgot to include the admirals hat on your warlock OT group, a little extra HP.

I guess this really doesn't fit in the thread, but since it's already been covered what Introvert needs to do to gear up I'll toss this out there.

As hateful strike tank #1 for my guild, I started to stack dodge to help avoid hateful strikes. I took my old Elementium threaded cloak and tossed 1% dodge on it (instead of wearing Golden Hive), wear my exalted AV trinket, and farmed up a Vigilance Charm from DM (2% dodge). Stats while tanking are ~12600 AC (GSP and SD elixir) and 9800 HP (with FotT, etc). I hit 28% dodge with GoA and an agility pot, with parry staying around 16% (block drops way off due to no Styleens, but I just time shield block appropirately). Now if only I could get Pauldrons of the Unrelenting and Angelista's Touch =).

I definately wouldn't suggest stacking dodge if you don't have the AC/HP to cover HS normally. The only reason I stack it is to hope to get a lucky string of dodges so my healers have a chance to catch up.

EDIT: fine altairian. FINE.

Yes, I thought it was around 305 or 310 myself. The vast majority of my scrolling combat text when main tanking Patchwerk is "dodge parry miss". The attacks come really really fast so it's a wall of blue peppered with the occasional red hit. Crushing blows and more frequent connects with attacks would make healing the MT worse than healing the Main OT.

exalted. Say it with me now. exalted. I will beat that damn H and U out of the entire wow community one person at a time if I must! =(