Elitist Jerks - Infraction for Daboran: 6. Do not post unless you have something new and worthwhile to say.

Post: Feral Tanking Discussion
User: Daboran
Infraction: 6. Do not post unless you have something new and worthwhile to say.
Points: 1

Administrative Note:

Message to User:

Quote:

If you find yourself saying, "We've had this discussion very recently" when reading someone's question, that's a good sign they are stupid and did not read the thread before posting. Report the post and move on, don't reward laziness.

Original Post:

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Well, we've just had a discussion on gems over the last few posts.

Rawr only shows you figures, not what you need in the real world. It much better for calculating Cat gear to optimize dps because dps is pretty similar no matter what you're killing. Tanking however depends a lot on the encounter and what stats you need to (a) survive (b) improve survivability and give healers an easier time.

Yellow Gems
You shouldn't go out of your way to gain a socket bonus. If it makes sense in terms of your overall gear then feel free. Don't forget you can use a Nightmare Tear for yellow also. As I mentioned earlier, I have one set of gloves for tanking and dps . In that case I chose a yellow gem that benefits both and activates the socket.

Stam vs Agi
You rule of thumb should always be to have enough HP to survive a worst-case string of attacks by a boss. After this it's down to personal preference.
Some people put stamina in every slot on the principle that it eases stress on healing. I don't see it myself as 2 Paladins with beacon and Druid HoTs can keep a tank alive against anything this game can throw at him at present.
I gem stamina, sta/agi and agi gems as I see fit making sure that I always have sufficient HP that I'm not goign to die to a string of boss attacks. I have to say it's rare that I gem a 20agi gem for tanking though.

All this may change in Icecrown of course, with the radiance debuff and new encounters, it could be that stam/armor are the way to go for Bears, similar to early Sunwell. Later Sunwell paid to gear for dodge as the improvement per point was proportionately greater, but this was only possible once you had the HP pool required to survive the boss damage. It wouldnt surprise me to see Icecrown follow the same pattern.