Well the way I see it, T6 will be completely replaced with the new armor set for tanking. The thing is, its also pretty good for DPSing too, and since it will be a while till you can get rogue dps stuff, it will be your DPS set too.

I know I'm going to replace my boots with the T6.5 stuff, so I'm going to lose 22 hit in catform from losing the Ninja boots. The question is whether to lose the bracer or the belt to keep the T6 2 peice bonus. Losing the S3 bracers for tanking is out of the question because the resilance is so important to me being uncritable. And teron bracers are pretty nice for dps too (again I'd hate to lose that hit rating).

And with yet another Tier of gear coming out, I feel worse and worse about keeping 2 peice T4. I get the feeling everyone in shat looks at me wierd because everything is BT quality except for my T4 sticking out like a sore thumb.

I hear ya. I wish they'd just put into Shredding Attacks or some other talent, rather than pseudo-gimping us into having to use t4 gear.

Since Sunwell'll be the last instance of tBC, it looks like Blizzard decided to milk their itemization formulas for all they're worth this time. As you prolly know, the more of one stat that you stack on an item, the more each point 'costs' in terms of itemization points. So, you can make really good items overall by spreading itemization points out among multiple stats. Well get ready, cause here come items with bonus armor, agility, stamina, hit rating, attack power, armor penetration, triple sockets, strength, expertise. You name it, these items have it.

NOTE: The comparisons included here are compared to the current top gear as of T6, according to Rawr.

Bear
Head
Mask of the Furry Hunter (611ac, 50agi, 58sta, RM+6sta) - This will be the new top bear helm. Huge upgrade over T6, helm, roughly 15% better.
Quad Deathblow X44 Goggles (326ac, 61aci, 47sta, MB+4agi) - The new T2 Engineering goggles, these will be ideal for a hit-immune set. Compared to T6, you lose a good chunk of survivability, but gain alot of avoidance.

Neck
No upgrades found so far

Shoulders
Demontooth Shoulderpads (484ac, 38agi, 38sta, RB+3agi) - The new top bear shoulders. Tied for mitigation with T6, and adds 13% more survivability.

Back
No upgrades found so far

Chest
Harness of Carnal Instinct (727ac, 44agi, 64sta, RYB+4agi) - The new top bear chest. Roughly a 10% upgrade in mitigation and survival. It does have a bit less armor than T6, but makes up for it in agi/sta.

Wrists
Thunderheart Wristguards (264ac, 28agi, 39sta, R+3sta) - They added 3 more items to all the T6 sets, and this is the first one. And wow is it an upgrade. Other than anticrit, these babies are better in every way than the previous best bracers. A stellar 46% boost from Vindicator's Dragonhide Bracers.

Hands
Gloves of the Forest Drifter (539ac, 34agi, 45sta, RB+3agi) - The new top bear gloves. Better in every way then T6, a nice 20% upgrade.
Shadowed Gauntlets of Paroxysm (252ac, 41agi, 33sta, RB+3agi) - Another high-dodge option, these gloves will provide the most agi of any gloves, excellent for hit-immunity.

Waist
Thunderheart Waistguard (319ac, 40agi, 34sta, R+3sta) - The 2nd new T6 piece, this'll be the new best bear belt. A little light in armor, but a good chunk of agi more than before. A 15% upgrade from Belt of Natural Power.

Legs
Leggings of the Immortal Beast (765ac, 45agi, 66sta, RRB+4agi) - Wha-bam. These are huge. Nearly a 50% increase in mitigation. A decent chunk more stamina and armor too. Compared to T6, they're a whopping 38% increase, and that's in one of the huge slots, the legs!

Feet
Thunderheart Treads (515ac, 35agi, 54sta, R+3sta) - The 3rd new T6 piece, these are once again great. They're nearly identical to Treads of the Den Mother, except with a bit more agi, a bunch more stam, and a socket. A cool 26% upgrade from Treads of the Den Mother.

Finger
No upgrades found so far

Trinket
No upgrades found so far

Weapon
No upgrades found so far

So there are a bunch of very solid bear upgrades. So what does this all add up to? Without even using any items that are high-dodge, with full consumables, not supposed to be tank items, we'll hit 87.5% dodge. Throw on some high-dodge jewelry and give us Imp GoA, and we can hit 98% dodge. Switch to 1-2 of the new high-dodge items, and we'll be unhittable. And with 3000ap and 55% crit, aggro won't be a problem either. T7 looks to make bears the premier tank for physical damage.


Cat
Head
Duplicitous Guise (43agi, 126ap, 34haste, 30hit, 57sta, MR+4hit) - This yummy new helm surpasses Cursed Vision of Sargeras as the top cat dps helm, pumping out 12dps more.
Mask of the Furry Hunter (50agi, 50str, 30crit, 58sta, RM+6sta) - While much better for tanking, this helm is still great for dps, beatting out anything currently in the game, other than Cursed Vision of Sargeras.
Quad Deathblow X44 Goggles (61agi, 104ap, 24hit, 47sta, MB+4agi) - The new engineering goggles. Almost as good as Cursed Vision of Sargeras, and crafted!

Neck
Hard Khorium Choker (150pen, 58ap, 29haste, 42sta) - Slightly more dps than Choker of Endless Nightmares, AND a huge chunk of stam? Yes please! However, it's jewelcrafter-only. It's made from non-raid mats, though, so it's probably a BoE pattern, just like the SSC/TK boots.

Shoulders
Demontooth Shoulderpads (38agi, 38sta, 38str, 105pen, 20crit, RB+3agi) - The new T7 shoulders are the best for both bear and cat. Nearly a 23dps upgrade over Shoulderpads of the Stranger.
Shoulderpads of Vehemence (33agi, 90ap, 30haste, 26hit, 45sta) - These shoulders are a very slight upgrade over Shoulderpads of the Stranger, but most likely are currently bugged. Of all the new leather items, these are the only ones with no sockets, and they also happen to seem underpowered. Most likely Blizz forgot the sockets on these, and they'll end up being the best cat shoulders.

Back
No upgrades found so far

Chest
Bladed Chaos Tunic (42agi, 210pen, 120ap, 38crit, 45sta, BYR+8ap) - The new top cat chest. A major 33dps upgrade over Nether Shadow Tunic.
Carapace of Sun and Shadow (42agi, 120ap, 38haste, 30hit, 45sta, YRR+8ap) - While not quite as much of an upgrade as Bladed Chaos Tunic (only 29dps), this new chest is probably going to be alot easier to attain; it's a BoP leatherworking item, made from non-raid mats. Most likely it'll be just like the boot patterns from TK/SSC, a BoE pattern.
Harness of Carnal Instinct (44agi, 196pen, 64sta, 52str, RYB+4agi) - The new bear chest also is no slouch at dps, a 10dps upgrade over Nether Shaqdow Tunic.

Wrists
Thunderheart Wristguards (28agi, 91pen, 28str, 39sta, R+3sta) - The new top bear bracers are also the new top cat bracers. A 4dps upgrade over Insideous. We'll probably still want to dps with insideous, and enchant these for tanking though.

Hands
Gloves of Immortal Dusk (30agi, 154pen, 90ap, 30crit, 33sta, RR+3crit) - The other new crafted leatherworking item, these gloves are the new best for cats. However, they're made using raid drops, similar to the SSC/TK belts. An incredible 38dps upgrade over Grips of Damnation!
Shadowed Gauntlets of Paroxysm (41agi, 82ap, 30haste, 33sta, RB+3agi) - Another solid cat upgrade without the rough crafting cost. 23dps up from Grips of Damnation.
Gloves of the Forest Drifter (34agi, 140pen, 45sta, 34str, RB+3agi) - Almost as good as the previous gloves, they're a 19dps upgrade over Grips of Damnation.

Waist
Thunderheart Waistguard (40agi, 22hit, 34sta, 38str, R+3sta) - These are only a tiny dps upgrade over Belt of One-Hundred Deaths, if we're not hit capped. If we are hit capped, which we probably will be, Belt of One-Hundred Deaths will still be better. However, we may still want this belt for the set bonuses.

Legs
Leggings of the Immortal Night (41agi, 224pen, 124ap, 32hit, 48sta, RRR+4agi) - Would you like some dps with your dps? Jeezus, these are nice. 45dps upgrade from Shady Dealer's Pantaloons, if we're not hit capped, and still 35-40dps upgrade if we are. "RRR+4agi" is so nice looking.
Leggings of the Immortal Beast (46agi, 169pen, 66sta, 44str, RRB+4agi) - Still an upgrade over Shady Dealer's Pantaloons, by 19dps, but we'd probably want to gem/enchant these for tanking.

Feet
Thunderheart Treads (35agi, 20exp, 54sta, 35str, R+3sta) - A slight dps downgrade from Shadowmaster's Boots, but with a bunch more sta, and exp to help maintain a steady cycle.

Finger
Hard Khorium Band (30agi, 58ap, 28haste, 42sta) - Slightly more dps than Signet of Primal Wrath, this jewelcrafted ring is similar to the SSC/TK belts in that it requires raid mats.

Trinket
No upgrades found so far

Weapon
Stanchion of Primal Instinct (47agi, 350pen, 1197ap, 50sta, 75str) - Finally, a well itemized cat weapon since the Stranglestaff. This is a 99dps upgrade over Staff of Primal Fury. Wow.

So, with all these cat upgrades, with no new cloak, 1 ring, and no new trinkets, we're looking at a 283dps upgrade, roughly. Not too shabby. In the end, we end up with much more hit rating that we need, so drop one of the rogue-ish pieces, probably the shoulders, for T6, to pick up the 4T6 bonus. It's interesting to note that with this armor in the game, there'll finally be enough of an upgrade to drop 2T4. It's crazy that our very first raiding set bonus of the expansion will have reigned as the best cat set bonus of all sets, for probably 15 months.



Whew, that was alot of typing!

[Idol of Ursoc]
Equip: Increased initial and per application periodic damage done by Lacerate by 8.

[Idol of the Raven Goddess]
Equip: Increases the healing granted by the Tree of Life form aura by 44, adds 20 critical strike rating to the Leader of the Pack aura, and adds 20 spell critical strike rating to the Moonkin form aura.

[Idol of Feral Shadows]
Equip: Increases periodic damage done by Rip by 7 per combo point.

[Idol of the White Stag]
Equip: Your Mangle ability also increases your attack power by 94 for 20 sec.

[Idol of the Crescent Goddess]
Equip: Reduces the mana cost of Regrowth by 65.

Screenshot: http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/3355/24idolsyk2.jpg

Astr:

I am a little skeptical about the rogue-oriented shoulders and helm. Even after they are fixed you are more or less weighing 5% haste vs 6% crit. If you have run any numbers with haste to show in high-end gear what kind of effect 5% haste would have on dps vs. 6% crit it would be nice.

Rogue-oriented chest and legs are clearly superior to the druid-counterparts. Also leaning towards gloves as the piece to keep.

Re-linking an updated picture with the bracers/boots/belt +t6 gloves/shoulder comparisons.

Haste affects white damage only (30-40% total damage), with an increase in proc chance equal to the haste you gain (OoC/2t4).
Crits affect all damage, as while it doesn't directly affect rip, it affects combo point generation which should cause an increase in uptime.

Putting some relatively high end stats into Toskk's comes back with these numbers (this is with 4t6, not 2t4).
Crit Rating:AP = 2.0732546558060343
Haste Rating:AP = 1.6990399269696146
Which means 1% crit has a value of around 44 AEP, while 1% haste has a value of around 27 AEP.

If you want Expertise, then you shouldn't forget the Trinkets from the "old" Sunwell loot screenshot:

Steely Naaru Sliver: 54 expertise rating (13.5 expertise), use (5min cd): 15sec 2000hp
Shard of Contempt: 44 expertise rating (11 expertise), Chance on hit: 20sec 230ap

With both those and the 20 expertise rating from the boots, you could have a trash tanking set with 118 expertise rating (29.5 expertise), which gives you 7.25 dodge/parry reduction. Very nice.

One is for tanking one is for dps, when the additional expertise really matters it will be against a lv73(boss) which means you will most likely have a better choice than the dps trinket for your tanking slot

However boots+dps = 16.4 expertise (effectively 4.00% less dodge/parry) which is exceptional
boots+tanking= Almost 19 (hopefully round up for 4.75% less dodge/parry)

Yeah, that's why I said "trash tanking set". Still, if you don't have your boots yet and you don't have a DST, those two paired are pretty significant dps at T6 gear levels (much less T7). Possibly enough to be competitive with whatever else you might have, but I'll be waiting for the results on that to be sure.

This is exactly what I came to post. Expertise is undoubtedly a great tanking stat yet its on only one of our 8 new "Tank- oriented" items and none of our talents or racials and we've really been left behind.
The t6 boots are pretty much perfectly itemised- if only 2-3 of the armour penetration bonuses were changed to expertise I'd be really happy with the new gear.

http://pinchet.com/~wow/ptr/WoWScrnS...008_104651.jpg

WHAT. THE. SHIT.

The emergency trinket that clicks itself... with more stam than any trinket it the game? Ridiculous

Wow, that trinket is impressive, especially for an avoidance set which would have lower stamina.

I added the kicker!

Threw the new loot into my spreadsheet. It looks like the best options for DPS are as follows.

Thunderheart Cover
Mantle of Malorne (I know you didn't want to hear that)
Bladed Chaos Tunic
Thunderheart Wristguards
Gauntlets of Malorne (Damn you set bonuses that scale so well with gear)
Thunderheart Waistguard
Leggints of the Immortal Night
Thunderheart Treads


Also worth noting - The Shard of Contempt (assuimg a 25% uptime on the proc) is by far better than any other DPS trinket available. (Including the almighty DST)


Also: For those of you who managed to get onto the PTR already.... Please submit the Pillar of Ferocity as bugged until they change the 47 STR into AGI. It would make this item a decent tanking stick, which is clearly the intent based on the other stats on the weapon.

On a more general note, another bonus of gaining T6 bonuses on outside of the core 5 pieces, is that they could effectively be used with PvP gear. At the cost of resilience (although considering ferals probably have multiple sets of T6 anyway, so you could gem for resilence), you could get -5 energy on Mangle, 15% dmg on Rip, Swipe, and FB --- and keep 15% speed in forms. Sounds pretty sweet.

Now only if they did the same with S3 honor Belt/Bracer/Boot + S3 arena gear. 2/5 T5 FTW!

The t6 bracer is also low armor if you compare them with Band of the Swift Paw astrylian.

I was under the impression that not many high end bears used BotSP, due to needing the resil from S3 (much better overall that socketing def/resil)

I know they haven't got much headroom left while the level cap is 70, but I'm a little disappointed in the small armor value upgrades. I was hoping to start dropping the cloak/neck/rings with armor value out of the equation.

It's about time we had those weapon upgrades - I was almost on the point of respeccing to Resto to get the S3 weapon just so that I didn't have to look at the same weapon again

With mangle and full lascerate I was doing I think 384 a tick with around 2200 AP.

Magister's terrace kind of stinks for a feral druid tank because most pulls in there have 3-4 casters. The magic damage just eats through your hitpoints. I'm kind of scared to try it on heroic.

That seems to be a common theme across all armor types for Sunwell loot, ilvl and stats are going up, but base armor isn't.

It's plain we reached the armor cap far too quickly in TBC. In my mind, if armor mitigation is to be the sole mechanic for Ferals to reduce damage on physical hits, armor progression for us should look something like:

[start]: 50% Mitigation from Armor
{insert some species of linear/exponential/logarithmic progression}
[end]: 75% Mitigation from Armor

Where [start] is a Bear ready to tank the first raid instance upon hitting level cap (MC, Kara, Naxx25), having farmed all the requisite 5 mans to prepare for it, and [end] is a Bear with the highest possible armor, going out of her way specifically for high armor items farmed from the last raid instance (Naxx, Sunwell, whatever it ends up being in WotLK).

Not reaching 75% mitigation until the very end means:
* You're still progressing (gaining in power) all the way until the end.
* You have OPTIONS. You don't necessarily have to go for 75% mitigation, you can mix it up if you want.
* If you absolutely do need to reduce the damage taken from physical attacks, you have some room to add armor instead of already being at the cap and not being able to do anything about it.
* Gear choices become a bit more interesting than "wow see how much Stam and Agi O_O??".

[Percentages pulled out of ass.]

[Of course [start], [end] and everything in between should be "appropriate" for tackling the relevant content at that progression level.]

[Balance this vs Warriors, Paladins and Deathknights in whatever way.]

I use it and make up the difference with an ironskin elixir. With the kara/mag rings, slikk's cloak of pacification, necklace of the juggernaut/pendant of titans, KoT helm enchant, and scryer shoulder enchants, you only need 1 enduring talasite/seaspray emerald to hit the uncrittable mark with an ironskin elixir. And with the help of your program, Rawr, it comes out to be better survivability/mitigation with my current gear than just going with the S3 bracers and a def enchant while using an elixir of fortitude or a flask of fortification.