Feral pre-raid tank gear

Maeltne · 11/18/08, 12:26 PM

So I'm on the verge of 80 and plotted out my planned heroic pre-raid gear, and figured it would be useful to share. General speaking the higher an item appears in the list the better it is.

Weapon
[Enraged Feral Staff] Heroic (UK)

Neck
[Titanium Earthguard Chain] Craft (JC 4x Dragoneye)
[Amulet of Wills] Normal (HoS)

Rings
[Keystone Great-Ring] Heroic (Gundrak)
[Iceforged Battle Ring] Quest (Forging the Keystone)
[Nerubian Shield Ring] Heroic (ANK)
[Band of Torture] Heroic (OC)

Trinkets
[Offering of Sacrifice] Heroic (GD)
[Essence of Gossamer] Heroic (AZN)

Chest
[Crystal-Infused Tunic] Heroic (NX)
[Exotic Leather Tunic] Quest (Junk in My Trunk)

Feet
[Slag Footguards] Heroic (HoL)
[Boots of the Whirling Mist] Heroic (HoS)

Hands
[Handwraps of Preserved History] Quest (A Royal Escort)
[Charged-Bolt Grips] Heroic (HoL)
[Bile-Cured Gloves] Heroic (CoS)

Head
[Mask of the Watcher] Heroic (OC)
[Shroud of Darkness] Heroic (VH)

Legs
[Legguards of Swarming Attacks] Attacks Heroic (ANK)
[Chain Gang Legguards] Heroic (VH)

Shoulders
[Trollwoven Spaulders] (craft)
[Spaulders of the Careless Thief] Heroic (NX)
[Sprinting Shoulderpads] Heroic (ANK)

Waist
[Sharp-Barbed Leather Belt] Heroic (UK)
[Trollwoven Girdle] )craft)
[Treasure Seeker's Belt] ???
[Ley-Whelphide Belt] Heroic (OC)

Wrist
[Bindings of the Tunneler] Heroic (UK)
[Drake-Champion's Bracers] Heroic (OC)

Thromdul · 11/18/08, 1:46 PM

The two leatherworking craftable epics are worth consideration as well.

[Trollwoven Girdle]
[Trollwoven Spaulders]

Spherus · 11/18/08, 2:13 PM

[Keystone Great-Ring] as well from H DK (Prophet Tharon'ja)

kalbear · 11/18/08, 4:27 PM

I did a similar list on my blog. One thing to consider is savage gladiator gear in most of the slots.

If nothing else, the quest reward from CoT:Strat [Handwraps of Preserved History] should be mentioned - it's close to the best hands for a druid in the game right now.

Falk · 11/18/08, 4:47 PM

How long that will last is anyone's guess. It was reported on beta many many times for being hilariously overbudget.

Tuftears · 11/18/08, 9:29 PM

We do know that armor on necklaces, rings, and trinkets is going to be significantly nerfed (no longer giving the bear multiplier effect) and that armor on weapons will be going away, so you might want to have some replacements ready in these categories, should these turn out to be superior. Agility and stamina will likely be the number one tanking consideration for the weapons.

From Protection Gear Quick Reference I see some interesting pieces.

Necklaces:
[Shadowseeker's Pendant] - 200 - Heroic Ahn'kahet (Jedoga Shadowseeker, 3rd boss)
[Chained Military Gorget] - 200 - Badge Vendor (25 Emblem of Heroism)

Cloak:
[Cloak of Peaceful Resolutions] - 187 - Wyrmrest Accord Reputation (Honored)
[Flowing Cloak of Command] - 187 - Normal Culling of Stratholme (Salramm the Fleshcrafter, 2nd boss)
[Cloak of the Enemy]- 200 - Heroic Nexus (Commander Stoutbeard/Korlug, optional boss)
[Durable Nerubhide Cape] - 200 - Crafted (Leatherworking 440)

Ring:
[Staunch Signet] - 175 - Quest Reward (The Struggle Persists)
[Dragonflight Great-Ring] - 187 - Normal Oculus (Cache of Eregos, ???)
[Titanium Earthguard Ring] - Crafted - (Jewelcrafting 430)
[Keystone Great-Ring] - 200 - Heroic Drak'Tharon Keep (The Prophet Tharon'ja, last boss)
[Signet of the Impregnable Fortress] - 213 - Badge Vendor (25 Emblem of Valor)

Trinkets:
[Valor Medal of the First War] - Badge Vendor (40 Emblem of Heroism)

Idols:
[Idol of Terror] - Outlands heroics badge - remains the only avoidance-oriented idol for bear tanks

Weapons:
[Staff of Trickery] - Cyanigosa in Violet Hold (heroic)
[Stave of Shrouded Mysteries] - Kirin Tor rep (revered)
[Witch Doctor's Wildstaff] - Slad'an, Gundrak (normal)
[Staff of the Sorrowful Chieftain] - Wanted: Ragemane's Flipper (quest reward, Zul'drak)

Deathoak · 11/19/08, 5:14 AM

hi guy´s, whats with the JC Trinket [Figurine - Monarch Crab] with [Delicate Dragon's Eye] or [Solid Dragon's Eye]

many stats and cooldown is just 1min. an option to BoT or [Offering of Sacrifice] (while keeping upcoming AC nerf in mind)?

charriu · 11/19/08, 7:27 AM

Originally Posted by Deathoak

hi guy´s, whats with die JC Trinket [Figurine - Monarch Crab] with [Delicate Dragon's Eye] or [Solid Dragon's Eye]

many stats and cooldown is just 1min. an option to BoT or [Offering of Sacrifice] (while keeping upcoming AC nerf in mind)?

greeting D´oak

Don't sign your posts.

Rawr rates [Figurine - Monarch Crab] just under [Offering of Sacrifice] and [Defender's Code] for me (depending on gems), and that's before the armor change. So, it's really good, and only gets better compared to the others after the change.

terminalman · 11/19/08, 10:38 AM

I plan on using [Figurine - Monarch Crab] and [Offering of Sacrifice] to start out. I will most likely use [Solid Dragon's Eye] and [Delicate Dragon's Eye] to gem it.

Malazaar · 11/19/08, 10:44 AM

Edit: deleted

Tiffara · 11/19/08, 11:51 AM

Originally Posted by Tuftears

We do know that armor on necklaces, rings, and trinkets is going to be significantly nerfed (no longer giving the bear multiplier effect)

I don't know the current state of this - did you mean to include cloaks as well in the list of slots that will be losing the multiplier? I'm confused by your list of cloaks, one of which has enhanced armor, the others of which don't.

Kadaan · 11/19/08, 2:47 PM

Originally Posted by terminalman

I plan on using [Figurine - Monarch Crab] and [Offering of Sacrifice] to start out. I will most likely use [Solid Dragon's Eye] and [Delicate Dragon's Eye] to gem it.

Is there a reason why you're using one of each instead of two of one? The "Unique Equipped: Prismatic Gems (3)" means you're limited to 3 Prismatic Gems, not that the gem itself is Unique Equipped AND limited to 3 Prismatic Gems.

Tuftears · 11/19/08, 6:00 PM

Originally Posted by Tiffara

I don't know the current state of this - did you mean to include cloaks as well in the list of slots that will be losing the multiplier? I'm confused by your list of cloaks, one of which has enhanced armor, the others of which don't.

Your initial post didn't have any back items in it so I figured I'd just provide the ones I thought feral-useful.

Here's a partial quote, plus a link to the full post.

Originally Posted by Ghostcrawler

ARMOR
We are changing the way bear armor works so that bonus armor on items does not receive the bear armor multiplier. Specifically this means that trinkets, rings, necks and cloaks with bonus armor will not be multiplied by the bear bonus. The normal armor on leather will still be multiplied by this bonus. We are also going to remove bonus armor from Feral staves. You’ll get your bonus armor from the leather you acquire."

Source: MMO-Champion BlueTracker - Upcoming Feral changes

Nathariel · 11/19/08, 8:15 PM

Just saw an update to that post.

World of Warcraft - English (NA) Forums -> Upcoming Feral changes, Part II

This is an update to my previous post on Feral armor changes.

ARMOR
As previously announced, we are changing the way bear armor works so that bonus armor on items does not receive the bear armor multiplier. Specifically this means that weapons, trinkets, rings, necks and cloaks with bonus armor will not be multiplied by the bear bonus. Only cloth and leather will benefit from the Bear and Dire Bear multiplier.

We are compensating Ferals for this armor loss by improving the Survival of the Fittest talent. In addition to its current effects (stats and crit prevention), it will now also increase armor contribution from cloth and leather items by 22/33/66%. That should be very close to your current armor bonus. This makes Survival of the Fittest rather over-budget by talent standards, but we figured it was one talent we can be pretty certain most tank-oriented druids will have (and to be honest nearly all Ferals).

FERAL ATTACK POWER
We are no longer going to have weapons in the game which improve feral attack power. Instead, your attack power will scale based on the dps of the item. Practically speaking this means almost no change for any gear you currently use -- you should not see your dps change. What it does mean is that we can create the occasional dps staff that could be used by druids or hunters (or very undergeared warriors), and that Ferals may occasionaly use two-handed dps maces. We are going to convert all existing Feral staves over to this new system (but again, you should not notice any change to your dps). We are also adjusting the UI so that when druids look at these weapons, you will see what the improvement will be to your damage in forms. This does not mean we are no longer going to create bear and cat weapons, just that those weapons will be slightly less niche than they are now.

These changes will be in place in the next patch. This patch will ship sometime before the 3.1 major content patch featuring the Ulduar raid.

Does anyone know of a comprehensive spreadsheet for druid tanking that is updated with Wrath talents/gear?

Would like to see how things weigh up with these changes but can't really do that using RAWR.

Tuftears · 11/19/08, 9:02 PM

Means that 2-hand maces and staves (if applicable) become feasible for us. Also 1-hand weapons plus offhands if we can find a good offhand.

[Mojo Masked Crusher] - The Prophet Tharonja (heroic Drak'tharon Keep)

For comparison, the [Staff of the Forest Lord] is about equal to a 151.2 dps weapon, assuming they make it a simple conversion.

Also, a missing staff that may be of interest to pre-raid gearing bears:
[Savage Gladiator's Staff] - PVP: 24,000 honor points, 700 arena points, Wintergrasp vendor
(WowHead stats are incorrect, should be: 114 dps, +66 agi, +99 sta, +66 crit, +65 resil, +1602 FAP)