Slightly off topic but are the depleted items that drop completely random or based on which classes are present?

In other words will that depleted trinket only drop for a druid/warrior/paladin or can any class get it as a drop?

http://www.mmo-champion.com/images/n...may/pillar.jpg

This staff dropped from Anetheron in Hyjal on PTR :

Pillar of Ferocity
550 armor
47 STR
96 STA
826 Feral AP

Finally a item designed for feral druids that is not a trash loot !

Still, I don't know where we'll find our crit immunity with the lack of defense rating on our sets / non-set items (the boots from BT trash) and weapons

As for defence - I think resillience is going to be the way to go for it. Much cheaper item-wise and there's some pretty nice items with it (most of the PvP gear - especially the belt). Much easier to hit the cap with a bit of resillience than by stacking defence. Another thing not to forget about is the 15 resillience on chest enchant. 6 stats is really nice, but if you need crit immunity, it's a pretty easy thing to drop compared to other items.

Are druids really that hard up for Defense/Resilience that this is really an issue? I mean seriously, people keep talking like the Clefthoof Set is the only place to get Defense, when in reality it's not even needed/wanted. There's a reason I dislike the set, and it ain't lack of agility, it's the 86 (next to-)useless defense rating.

Head: Glyph of the Defender: +16 Defense Rating
Neck: Necklace of the Juggernaut: +21 Defense Rating
Shoulders: Greater Inscription of the Knight: +15 Defense Rating (+10 for Aldor)
Cloak: Gilded Thorium Cloak: +21 Defense Rating (Resolute Cape +21 Resilience)
Finger: Violet Signet of the Great Protector: +16 Defense Rating
Finger: Ring of Unyielding Force: +21 Defense Rating
Trinket: Timelapse Shard: +23 Resilience
Weapon: Earthwarden: +24 Defense Rating

That's +134 Defense (129 for Aldor) and +23 Resilience, Bam, crit immune.

This isn't even "lol@Boevis and his agility", every time I see druids complaining about defense I'm longing to ask Why the hell aren't you using those items listed above? I know I sound like an ass, but if you're not at the level of progression where you have access to those items, then I honestly don't think the presence of Defense/Resilience on SSC/TE/BT/Hyjal loot is any of your concern.

Do I really think I'm going to be using those things when I enter BT/Hyjal? Most of them, yes. After all, I was using Jin'do's Evil Eye, MoUL, Cauterizing Band, and Cenarion Gloves (don't ask) not to mention the ZG enchants and DM Trinket to heal in Naxx. I'm honestly shocked that right off the bat we basically get uncritable status and amazing health/armor handed to us.

Who wants to use earthwarden or timelapse shard when there are better options(ignoring def cap requirements of course).

Neck: 21
Cloak: 21
Shoulders: 15
Rings: 37

Total: 100 def rating, 40 defense

That leaves you more than 60 defense rating short of the cap, which is no easy gap to fill.

All feral staffs are itemized poorly. That staff has a base dps of 71, which means that Druids lose 16.1 DPS when compared to other classes who equip 141 iLevel weapons. For a more detailed explanation: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/th...icId=102781816

I will probably make an official EJ post at some point...

Not true.

you need ~40 resilience per 1% less crit, or 25 defense. 25 Defense costs ~60 defense rating. Therefore Defense is 50% more expensive just for the crit reduction. To become crit immune you need either 102 resilience or 75 defense (154 defense rating), or some combination of the 2.

Indeed, it's been proven already that a mix of Resilience and Agility returns a higher Crit Reduction + Avoidance than Defense for the same item value.

That's some funny math Fleeb, I'll help you out and kick this up to 2.1 buffed values for the items, and include the helm enchant and a 2.1 flask. 16+15+24+22+22+19+10 = 128 rating = 53 defense = 2.12% Crit Reduction.

You need .48% more for immunity, that's +12 defense (+29 defense rating) or +19 Resilience, or some mix such as the +15 Resilience to chest and +12 Defense to bracers (or any multitude of gems available) Actually, looking at this myself, I think I'll opt for the Resolute Cloak over the Gilded Thorium for 1.72 reduction from defense and .53 from resilience and throw on the chest enchant to cover the rest and keep my sockets for Sta...

As for Sadris, you are making a rather big assumption that Blizzard intends our paw DPS to be equivalent to. I honestly don't remember any blue posts or patch notes saying "FAP/14+55.4 should equal the DPS of a 2-hander with equal iLevel". In fact, I remember before TBC came out, it was balanced around "FAP/14+55.4 = DPS of 1H of equal ILevel" (ex. MoUL, EoD) and am quite happy they decided we should be somewhere in between. If you can direct me to a post by Blizzard indicating what kind of DPS they intend druids to be doing, please do so, if not I will be quoting Lord Beef.

Why replace the Earthwarden? It's not just the defense that makes it wonderful. The +6 feral weapon skill is what makes it a premium tanking weapon. Maybe when I get that new Primal feral staff, I'll consider it.

Edit;
Doesn't it depend on your situation in the guild. We are just starting into SSC but I'm basically MT number2. Until that changes, I'll be thinking tank first and dps second.

I am certain that Blizzard doesn't intend our relative DPS to decrease the farther we progress into raid content, which is what is happening with the current implementation of FAP.

Could you show me where this was proven? Last time I ran the numbers, what you suggest was proven incorrect. Taking 2.6% crit reduction as an example, it takes 102 resilience or 154 defense rating to achieve this. Thus, the difference in iLevel leaves 52 points of agility, which grants ~3.6% dodge. Conversely, the 154 defense rating also grants 2.6% dodge and 2.6% chance to be missed (this is probably what you forgot to consider).

Thus, defense is more efficient in terms of item value from a big picture perspective, as it grants 1.6% greater avoidance than the equivalent resilience + agility. It should also be mentioned that the agility will add a significant amount of +crit as well to help with threat, but from a purely defensive standpoint, the defense wings.