It has been a long time with absolutely zero activity here. In fact, if you’re reading this – I’m very surprised!

For those interested, since I started this site, I decided to level my Druid to 80. Then my Mage to 80. Then my Warlock to 80. Then my Hunter to 80.

That’s right – I have a Level 80 of each class, all Horde-side on Nagrand-US. Consider it a personal, pre-Cataclysm goal complete. Ironically, I’ve come full-circle and am going to refocus on Paladin for the foreseeable future.

Super Basic Protection Rotation in 4.0.1

I’m going to put aside the talent spec at the moment, as I feel it’s almost impossible to get it too wrong. Instead, I want to talk about the buttons you’ll be pressing.

This rotation assumes your goal is to maintain 100% Holy Shield uptime and maximize threat. I’ll write more detailed articles on what you’re doing and why when the changes look a little more finalised.

The basic Protection Paladin rotation in 4.0.1 centres around Crusader Strike. In any instance where you’re tanking multiple targets, replace Crusader Strike with Hammer of the Righteous. In fact, in all of the discussion below, replace Crusader Strike with Hammer of the Righteous if tanking multiple targets.

Crusader Strike is now on a 4.5 second cooldown, with our globals stuck at 1.5 seconds. It generates Holy Power which we will use to fuel our hard-hitting Shield of the Righteous.

This means, once you’ve put your initial debuffs on the target, you’ll be defaulting to the following rotation:

time    ability
----    -------
0.0     Crusader Strike (1 Holy Power)
1.5     Filler
3.0     Filler
4.5     Crusader Strike (2 Holy Power)
6.0     Filler
7.5     Filler
9.0     Crusader Strike (3 Holy Power)
10.5     Shield of the Righteous
12.0     Filler

For filler spells, you have the following to choose from:

• Avenger’s Shield – Randomized Cooldown (Base: 24s, 15 talented)
• Judgement – 8s cooldown, refills mana
• Consecration – 30s cooldown
• Holy Wrath – 15s cooldown
• Exorcism – 1.5s cast time
• Hammer of Wrath – 6s cooldown, only available at under 20%

At the moment, Judgement and Avenger’s Shield are your best fillers outside of execute range (use Hammer of Wrath when the boss is under 20% health).

Here’s how a fight would break down:

0.0    Crusader Strike     (1 Holy Power)
1.5    Judgement
3.0    Avenger's Shield
4.5    Crusader Strike     (2 Holy Power)
6.0    Holy Wrath
7.5    Judgement
9.0    Crusader Strike     (3 Holy Power)
10.5    Shield of the Righteous
12.0    Consecration
13.5    Crusader Strike     (1 Holy Power)
15.0    Judgement
16.5    [Holy Wrath has 4.5s on CD]
----    [Avenger's Shield has 1.5s on CD]
----    [Consecration has 27s on CD]

As you can see, without Grand Crusader procs, we run into a problem – we run out of buttons… or do we?

Technically, you only need a single point of Holy Power to refresh your Holy Shield via Shield of the Righteous. That means you can use Shield of the Righteous as filler.

More importantly, free GCDs can lead to Inquisition (at Level 81), Word of Glory, Divine Sacrifice or any of your hands spells (Freedom, Salvation and Sacrifice come to mind).

And if worst came to worst, you could always throw out an Exorcism.

The highlight for me was Sargeras humping the world tree. Ooh yeah!

I’m guilty of it too.  Before Wrath of the Lich King I was QQing all over the place about the homogenisation of the tanking classes and the dumbing-down, in general, of the entire game.  When 3.3 hit and every inbred tasmanian who could headbutt a keyboard was rocking full Tier-9 I had a bloody hissy-fit.  I worked hard for my gear!  RAWR!

The worst part is you now have people in full sets of 232 gear doing 1,500 DPS in heroics.  It’s bloody awful!

But ultimately the changes were made purely to increase the accessibility of the end(er)-game content.  Truth be told, I’m not complaining about the fact that Code, my Resto Druid is sporting four-piece Tier 9 and soon four-piece Furious PVP set.  Hypocrisy FTW?

Anyway, here is the blue post:

I think some of you are misinterpreting a couple of the Cataclysm goals.

Are you trying to say that the forum trolls are trolls? That sir, is slander.

We’re not “overhauling the combat system.” We are changing some lame stats to be more interesting (like Intellect) and removing some that just added complexity to the game without adding depth (like armor pen, which is pretty much just damage modified by how much physical damage you do). We are adding more health across the board, but that’s to add a few seconds in between the time you take damage and the time you die, which we think will improve both PvE and PvP.

This is true.  People are complaining about Spellpower disappearing – it’s not going away; it’s just being rolled into Intellect.  Instead of looking for items with Intellect, Spirit & Spellpower you’ll now be looking for Intellect and Spirit only.

I do have some concerns about this – will mana pools become hideously inflated?  If so, does this spell the death of the annoying Replenishment mechanic?  Of course I will worry about this, but I trust Blizzard to make the right move.  I can’t wait to hear how they’ll address this one.

We’re also not trying to “dumb down stats.” Complexity and depth are two different things. Depth is really important to us. Without it, the game starts to get predictable and stale. Complexity can be a route to depth, but it doesn’t have to be. The game of go has very simple rules but almost limitless depth (you can use chess if you aren’t familiar with go). The game tic-tac-toe has very simple rules and almost no depth. It’s hard to come up with examples that lots of players will get for games with too much complexity and not enough depth, mostly because those games either never become widely popular or don’t endure. Ever heard the phrase “quick to learn but a lifetime to master?” That’s depth.

I agree with this 100%.  However, removing existing choice without changing the rules of the system does seem to imply a reduction in depth.  Clearly the talent overhaul, Path of the Titans and Reforging will all contribute to this panacea of simplistic depth.  Again, I can’t wait to hear more!

Yes, we are messing with talent trees, but a simple skimming of the forums should suggest why. There are too many talents that have little depth but are mandatory (most of the talents right about the 51-pointer). There are possibly interesting talents that you can’t afford because of the passive dps / healing / tanking increasers. There are also modifications we need to make just because you’ll have 5 more talent points. There are also talents that we have modified along the course of LK in the name of closer spec balance that are now out of budget. We’re not deleting any talent trees and starting over. We’re trying to make them more interesting and more fun.

How many “new” abilities will each class end up getting?  Or will they all be procs?  Again, I trust Blizzard here, but we need more information!

How about you, what do you think of this latest round of responses from the blues?

What is the tank’s role in a group?

The tank’s explicit role in a group is two-fold:

1. Stack enough Threat on all mobs in an encounter to prevent them attacking the Healers and DPS
2. Survive the incoming damage from all mobs who are attacking you

There are also some implied responsibilities that all good tanks should try to meet:

• Meeting the minimum gear requirements
• Leading the group through the dungeon
• Understanding the mechanics of each encounter

Your First Step – Becoming Uncritable

If you want to tank anything other than non-heroic 5-man dungeons, you must be uncritable. Just like players, NPCs have a chance to critically strike players, dealing 150%-200% of normal damage.  Clearly, a couple of critical strikes from an NPC could end your day fairly quickly (and give your healer Sunwell Plateau flashbacks).

Let’s talk about one magic number: 540.  This is the amount of Defense (not Defense Rating)  required to push a Level 83 mob’s critical strikes off of it’s hit table.

What a mouthful.  Let’s look at this statement piece-by-piece:

• Defense skill is different to Defense rating:
  • Defense Rating is what you get on gear
  • A level 80 player has a baseline of 400 Defense Skill (assuming that you’ve seen enough combat)
  • 4.92 Defense Rating grants 1 Defense Skill
• We gear up to fight Level 83 mobs:
  • ‘Boss Level’ mobs (raid bosses) are Level 83
  • Heroic bosses are only Level 82
• We stack Defense Rating to become “uncrittable”:
  • It turns out that Level 83 mobs have a 5.8% chance to critically players who have the baseline (400) Defense Skill
  • Each point of Defense Skill reduces our chance to be critically hit by 0.04%
    • This is why we need 140 (extra) Defense skill: 0.04 * 140 = 5.8

Keep in mind that although 540 Defense is enough to prevent critical strikes, 540 Defense is a MINIMUM and not a cap or ceiling.  Defense Rating is still a very good stat past 540.

Also note that Feral Druids are able to become uncritable through talents (Survival of the Fittest) and do not need 540 Defense Skill to tank raid bosses.

Tanking Statistics

Each tanking class has a different method of tanking and hence a different set of favourable statistics.  In no particular order, these are the relevant statistics for each tanking class:

• All Tanks:
  • Stamina, Defense Rating, Dodge Rating, Hit Rating, Expertise Rating
• Paladin & Warrior:
  • Strength, Parry Rating, Block Rating, Block Value
• Death Knight:
  • Strength, Parry Rating
• Feral Druid:
  • Agility, Crit Rating (Savage Defense)

In the next post, I will explore each of these statistics in detail.

Encode

• Orc Death Knight
• Main-spec: Frost Tank – woefully out-of-date
• Off-spec: Umm, nope lol!
• Gear Level: Tier 7.10… he’s been untouched since patch 3.1

Originally leveled to become <Casualty>’s main tank, Encode was my first Level 80 character and my first to raid Tier 7 content (Naxxramas, Eye of Eternity, Obsidian Sanctum).  However, it soon became apparent that there were enough Death Knights around – especially in our guild.  However, we lacked a healer; specifically a Paladin.  The rest is history.

Fun fact, for a few weeks there we only had two Restoration Druids for Naxxramas progression!  Loatheb was a bit of a nightmare!

Codefase

• Troll Shaman
• Main-spec: Elemental PVP
• Off-spec: Elemental PVE
• Gear Level: Heroics

Rolled on a whim, this character’s existence is owed entirely to one spell: Lava Burst. I’ve really enjoyed dropping 13k crits on mobs and (poorly geared) players but ultimately the elemental PVE play-style is a little too simplistic for me. If I was ever inclined to DPS though, Codefase would probably be my first preference.

Decode

• Undead Rogue
• Main-spec: Assassination PVE
• Off-spec: None
• Gear Level: Early Naxx-10

I really enjoy the Assassination play-style, but DPS just isn’t my bag. Although Rogue PVP appeals to me, I could never invest the required time to gear Decode up – ungeared Rogues are one-shot by just about every class out there. As for heroic farming for Furious gear – well, I just couldn’t stand 20 hours of DPS coupled with another 20 hours of queues .

So that does it for my Level 80 characters. I also have a 70 Mage, 51 Warlock, 56 Warrior, 60 Priest (Vanilla) and 60 Hunter (Vanilla) – that’s right; I’m totally insane.

With all of the silly introductions out of the way we can start getting into the real articles. Next up – Tanking 101.

As such I have accumulated six Level 80 characters on Nagrand. I present here a candid discussion on each character, so that you might begin to learn more about me and my style of play.

Cure

• Blood-Elf Paladin
• Main-spec: Protection
• Off-spec: Holy PVP
• Gear Level: Main-tanking Icecrown Citadel-25
• Armory Link

Most likely you’ll be hearing a lot about Cure over the coming months. She is the closest thing I will ever have to a main and the character I would prefer to play most nights. Having covered her history in this post I’ll move on to some of my other characters.

Code

• Tauren Druid
• Main-spec: Restoration
• Off-spec: Feral Tank
• Gear Level: Heroics
• Armory Link

Code is my first Level 70 character and was my main during Burning Crusade. He was a Feral Tank in Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep as well as Karazhan and Zul’Gurub. All of my guild mates refer to me as Code (rather than Cure) – as you will soon discover most of my characters have the word ‘Code’ in their name – and as such I have a real sense of attachment to this Druid.

Code only dinged 80 a couple of weeks ago, but I have absolutely fallen in love with Restoration. I will be gearing this character up (slowly) whenever I need a break from Cure.

Codeine

• Blood-Elf Priest
• Main-spec: Discipline PVE
• Off-spec: Discipline PVP
• Gear Level: Tier 8
• Armory Link

Oh Codeine, how I love you. Discipline Priest is, hands-down, the most fun I have ever had in World of Warcraft. Unfortunately due to inter-personal issues, Codeine has been relegated to a bank alt. You see, as the Guild Master I have to make some pretty tough decisions… and at some point you have to eat your own dogfood. One day soon I will go into more detail about my affection for the Discipline Priest play-style and the details surrounding her “benching”.

Codeine was my third Level 80 character and healed Ulduar-10 alt-runs for a few weeks. She was an absolute god-send on Vezax and many of my guild-mates would love to see her in progression raids. But alas, it was not meant to be.

Tomorrow I will introduce my Death Knight, Rogue and Shaman. For now – I have an ICC-25 to prepare for!

Cure fancies herself a member of the Argent Crusade.

Cure is, for lack of a better term, my main character and is currently the main tank of <Casualty>, a Horde progression guild on Nagrand-US.  Perhaps surprisingly, she is also the Guild Master and Raid Leader which will help to provide me with enough content to run this blog into the next century.

Cure began life at the end of the Burning Crusade expansion as a Recruit-a-Friend character.  She only reached level 54 by the time Wrath of the Lich King was released and became quite forgotten.  When Wrath of the Lich King was released, I leveled a Death Knight to 80 as our guild’s main tank – clearing 10-man Naxxramas, Obsidian Sanctum & Malygos with ease.  Alas, our guild saw an overabundance of Death Knights and a lack of healers – this prompted me immediately to focus on Cure.

Cure levelled as Retribution (obviously) and turned Holy immediately after hitting level 80.  She geared up in full Tier 7 pre-Ulduar (3.1) and became <Casualty>‘s best healer.  As Guild Master, Raid Leader and Primary Healer, Cure witnessed first-hand the death of Yogg-Saron and Anub’arak.  But the harsh, freezing winds of change had begun to blow and the oppressive presence of the Lich King turned former friend into foe.  A rift had occurred in our guild and we were short on tanks.  Cue the montage.

Mmm, crotch.

Today, Cure is main-spec Protection for main-tanking raids; her off-spec is a PVP Holy build.  <Casualty> has recovered from the rift and expanded into a 25-man guild.  Cure is still the GM and Raid Leader, but is no-longer spamming pretty lights all around her Grid UI.  Instead, she’s grabbed a bunch of spiky armour, traded in her skirt for some pants (!!!) and has taken a liking to slashing the knees of “Special Needs” Abominations and whatever the heck that Lord Marrowgar guy is supposed to be.

And she’s loving it.