Thursday, January 3, 2008

Need More Stuff

I hate being dead. I hates it. When yer dead, you ain't going nowhere, you ain't learnin' nothing, and you sure ain't pullin' yer fuhggin weight.

Now, in the battlegrounds, getting dead is a fact of life. If yer gear sucks, then getting dead is a fact what happens a lot more often. DangerMouse has sure learned this the hard way, and she's been saving her coppers and leather of the monkey gear as fast as she can. Dak had the advantage of generous friends in high places, and so his gear be top-notch and he's got more than three times the health. Don't stop him from being a clueless idiot in the battlefield, but it do mean he spends more time learning and less time running back from the Whores-in-the-Gulch graveyard.

Which brings us to the subject of the most impotant member of Team Ratshag, me. I still want that shield, and these bracers look pretty useful fer tanking too. Plus, that battlegrounding action do look like funs. But the good gear fer PvPing mostly comes from PvPing, which kinda be one of them Catch 22 nuggerbluggers. So, I says to meself, "Self, what can I do to improve me gear and buy meself a little more not-dead-time?"

Useful bugger that he is, self answered. "Why don't you look around and see if there be any craftable gear what has built-in resilience?" Not a bad idea. Found three such items - two peices of plate and a cloak:

I took me old Adamantite Breastplate outta the attic, and replaced the crappy uncommon gems in it with +8 resil ones. There also be a +15 resil enchant ya can get fer it, which I'll work on getting when I gets back from vacationizing. Then I did a little research. There be three pieces of craftable gear which I could gets and still respect meself - coupla hybrid tanking/PvP plate items, and a cape. These would give me another 70 resil fer a total of 109, getting me outta the pathetic bracket and into the less-pathetic bracket. Coolness. So, what's it gonna cost me?
Bugger, it ain't gonna be cheap. Lots of hardened adamantite and primal earth, which at least I can mine for. The cape's gonna be a tough nuggerchumper - it also needs ten primal mooncloth. I can't even begin to do the mathifications on how much netherweave that's gonna take. And of course they each needs a primal nether, which means both not cheap and I'll need to find a blacksmith / blacksmith / tailor willing and ables to do the job.

So, is gonna take some efforts to get these gears. In the meanwhiles, I'll try to learn from DangerMouse and Dak what I can about battlefielding through osme..., osmi..., osmu..., through that thing where ya soak it up sponge-like.

9 comments:

Marthrak said...

Hey,

Love your blog and just thought I'll share some of my own experiences.

If you are serious about going PvP, then those 3 pieces are a start. BTW, an alternative to the helm is the one bought with Spirit Shards (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=28559). You might also want to get in some Halaa action for the pants and belt.

However, if you just want to run PvP for the shield for tanking, then don't bother... Do as many EotS as required to get the marks. Run AV rest of the time, it's almost like PvE now anyhow, to get the required honour. 15k is not a lot.

As for the wrists, my opinion is that they are really not optimum for tanking. The only thing it has going for it is the high stamina. If you are already pushing 500+ def, this could be an option.

But frankly, grinding the money and getting a Bracers of the Green Fortress or grinding the badges for Bracers of the Ancient Phalanx might be better options for PvE tanking.

Ratshag said...

Hey, thanks fer yer comment, Marthak. Wasn't aware of those Halaa pieces ya mentioned, so I really appreciates the info.

Am I serious about PvP or is I just in it fer a few gears? Buggered if I know. Had me a tanking career path all mapped out, then it all went kerfloozie when me friends stopped showin' up. At the same time some other opportunities for funs presented theyselves. But maybe some friends now saying they's gonna start adventuring again. Is all very confusicating fer a simple orc like me.

As far as the tanking goes, right now me defense be at 522 in full kit, and I were having rage generation issues in places like Steamvault. So swapping some avoidance fer stamina is an option, were me thinking.

Anonymous said...

One alternative is to go to the BGs in full tanking gear and shield-slam some faces. You will survive longer ;)
Check out http://www.theoryspot.com/forums/miscellaneous-pre-burning-crusade/438-current-shield-slam-records.html for some fun shield-slam stuff.

Also running with the flag in whoresung or tanking Vanndar as Prot-spec can be fun.

I usually just bite down and do the holiday bgs until I get enuf honor to buy next vindicator piece, it gets easier the more of em you have. Then find some poor bloke to play arena with (make sure you have a big weapon and MS spec). Takes a couple of weeks, but gets easier and easier the more stam and res you get.

Anonymous said...

Link got messed up .. :/
testing this
Of steel Guide
Seems to work ..
Shield slam stuff is under Current shield slam records page

megan said...

You are going to learn to love WSG flag carrying. With 3 different "charges" (Charge, Intercept, Intervene) to get across field as well as Spell Reflect, a Protection Warrior rocks if the rest of the team is on point.

If you aren't carrying the flag, I suggest getting Hamstring on multiple targets, then stick to harassing Locks and Paladin's. The reason being is that for those 2 classes, mobility is an issue (least chance you will be snared). You can break Fear, your Orc has increased chance to resist Stun from HOJ, and your Concuss Blow and Imp. Shield Bash (if you have it) does wonders on casting times.

Basically play to tie them up so they aren't abusing the rest of your team.

And really get used to Intervene, even for non Protection Warriors I find mastering the ability for both extra mobility and defense to be one of the defining things that separates good from average Warriors.

Anonymous said...

If you can't get gear with Resilience then stack Stamina as well as you can. Thats just as if not more important then resilience for surviving in bgs/arena. Regardless, even if you can't get it if you don't really plan on doing BGs for long then I'd go with Marthrak's plan of getting your EoTS marks and then heading into AV for the honor you need to buy the shield.

Sellia said...

LOL ! I really like your style Rat !
Funny and useful ... nice formula.

:)

Euripedes said...

I can't even BEGIN to count the number of times my warrior-killing bravado in warsong has been ruined by intervene...

Oh. And Improved Hamstring makes me cry.

Marthrak said...

re: Rage Generation Issues

I remember reading somewhere that if you have Rage Generation Issues, tank without your pants. ;)

re: Warrior PvP

One thing I'll mention is that in a good team, PvPing as a Warrior is a dream... On a bad team, it's an exercise in futility... ;)

(But then again, all PvP is like that... lol)