Tankadin? Tankadin!

Well, raiding has ground to a halt: 25-man ToC, VoA and Onyxia only took a couple of nights, and we didn’t have enough tanks for our 10-man raid for two of the remaining nights.  So I finishing leveling my paladin.

Meet Binglerouse, level-80 tankadin extra-ordinaire.  Also tankadin very inexperienced.

I finished leveling her as I began; as prot spec.  Needless to say, it wasn’t the quickest of processes.  But. Once I picked up Divine Plea and Guarded by the Light, things became substantially faster.  (Yay for pulling a half-dozen mobs at a time, and finishing the fight with full health and mana)

The hardest thing has been finding information about how to gear, how to talent, and how to tankadin.  There are still some useful guides, but even then some of them are a bit out-of-date (such as the Item Enhancements page on maintankadin, which hasn’t been updated to cover epic gems).  I’ve been able to pick up enough ideas to give me a very basic understanding, now it’s a case of getting that chance to put it into practice.

And she’s pretty well geared (comparatively speaking), with the crafted titansteel helm and shield, the crafted boots and belt from Ulduar and crafted chest and wrist from ToC.  (Have I mentioned how lately how much gold I no longer have?  Well, I have now, and I can thank Bingle for it.)

Oh, and she’s had a haircut to go with her new gear.  I think it suits her.  And don’t you love our new guild tabard?  (I wanted a kitty, but nooooo…)

I might also gear her up as a healer – it’s early days still.

As far as the rest of my assorted alts…  Well, it’s a case of that vague ennui settling in during the dark period when you’re trying to choke down the dregs of the last content patch, with the promise of better things to come from the next patch.  Icecrown may await us, but not nearly as much as we’re awaiting it.

I tanked ToC10 on Dingle last week, but my performance was pretty awful – seriously, it’s was almost failpug level.  (It improved slightly after juggling some gear, but still, it wasn’t pretty…)

Hopefully things will improve this week – we’re really pushing things as far as attendance, and I can see it only getting worse before Icecrown and 3.3.  And it’s around time to get ready for tonight’s raid, so time to log over and get busy.  (Raiding or waiting, time will tell)

/wave

Beginning Disc Priest PvP Gear

I’m putting together some items for Fingle’s PvP set, and thought I’d document it here.

The idea is to put together a set that’s as much crafted gear as possible (including rings and neck), to minimise the need to do PvP wearing nub PvE gear in order to get items with resilience.

Non-PvP gear that Fingle is starting with (due to a lack of alternatives):

Titansteel Guardian (with the +50SP enchant)
Prison Manifest
Gwyneth’s Runed Dragonwand
Darkmoon Card: Illusion
Mercurial Alchemist Stone

Now for the crafted items.  First, make your Frostsavage Battlegear, a cloak and some Jewelry

Frostsavage Belt
Frostsavage Boots
Frostsavage Bracers
Frostsavage Cowl
Frostsavage Gloves
Frostsavage Leggings
Frostsavage Robe
Frostsavage Shoulders
Cloak of Crimson Snow
Sky Sapphire Amulet
Savage Titanium Band + 1x Durable Monarch Topaz
Runed Mana Band

Total mats required to make that all: 

31x Bolts of Imbued Frostweave
73x Crystallized Fire
33x Crystallized Earth
4x Eternal Shadow
4x Iceweb Spider Silk
16x Eternium Thread
8x Titanium Bar
2x Twilight Opal
2x Sky Sapphire
1x Monarch Topaz (or buy the cut gem on the AH)

Time for enchants!  (Tip:  There’s a handy filter on WoWHead for item enhancements with resilience)

Head: Arcanum of Burning Mysteries
  (to eventually be replaced by the Arcanum of Dominance)
Shoulder: Lesser Inscription of the Crag
  (to eventually be replaced by the Inscription of Dominance)
Enchant Chest – Exceptional Resilience
Enchant Cloak – Greater Speed
Enchant Bracers – Superior Spellpower
Enchant Gloves – Exceptional Spellpower
Eternal Belt Buckle + Durable Monarch Topaz
Earthen Leg Armor
Enchant Boots – Tuskaar’s Vitality

(I’ll leave the mats for these for you to work out – if you’re like me, you will have picked up most of the enchants from the AH, which reduces mats to a sum of gold that varies depending on your server and when you’re buying)

But now for the taste-test.  Fingle’s stats in her normal gear (including one item with resilience) versus her stats in her shiny new PvP gear:

PvE Gear	PvP Gear
12650 Health 16738 Mana 1655 SP 11.18% Crit 395 Haste 283 MP5 29 Resilience	16170 Health 14323 Mana 1557 SP 17.94% Crit 126 Haste 105 MP5 545 Resilience

There’s one last item that I expect will be very useful, the Lesser Flask of Toughness.  As Fingle is an alchemist, her Mixology buff increases the flask to 82 resilience and a 2-hour duration.  Sure she’s starting pretty cheaply, but 627 resilience should be enough to get her off on the right foot.  Time will tell what effect the substantial drop in MP5 (and lesser drop in mana) will have, but I guess the next step is to actually try it all out.  (Hmmm, I wonder what guildmates I could convince to participate?)

One other little change I’ve made (while farming the AH for all those mats), has been to dress Bingle, glyph vendor and bank alt extraordinaire, in a more appropriate fashion for her station.

You can keep your tuxedos and fancy dresses, I’ll stick with my classy Netherweave.

/wave