3.3.2

This patch dropped into our laps a few days ago, bringing with it some forms of agony, least of which are the protection tanking changes.

No... The major source of pain is due to the changes to the T10 chest and glove pieces. Having lost their defense and dodge respectively for better armour, this presents a huge problem for progression tank gearing. If you, like me, have already bought one or two pieces of the tier, and are disappointed with the changes, don't worry, you're not alone.

Having already bought the helm and gloves for the 2pc bonus, I went to take a closer look at the T10.264 vs 264 Frost items; my gearing plans already thrown out of whack. My conclusion? The 264 offset pieces are superior in EH due to that extra socket, while the T10.264 chest and glove pieces are slightly more avoidance oriented.

Now, I don't know about you, but finishing the 264 offset pieces are now my highest priority, with the chestpiece and gloves left for me, while I will wear the T10.251 helm and shoulders. The offset chest and gloves will only finally be replaced by the T10.277 pieces, with the crafted pants, the Pillars of Might, staying in the leggings slot.

Icecrown Citadel: Avoidance vs EH

First of all, happy new year and happy birthdays to... well... you know who you are.

I know that I really should be discussing the new 3.3 changes since I haven't already done that, but lets do something a little more in-depth this time: Avoidance or EH in ICC?

As you all may or may not know, avoidance tanks suffered heavily in Sunwell back in TBC, mainly because any major gear change from EH to avoidance caused a tank to fall below the EH requirements of the fights. Bosses in Sunwell Plateau didn't hit often, but they did hit very hard.

Now, in ICC, as part of their "new boss design" strategy, Blizzard has come up with bosses that hit less hard, but hit more often. In lieu of this, the EH requirements of ICC-10 are vastly lower than those of ToGC-10. What this simply means is that if this expected trend continues, I would assume that avoidance tanks would be king in ICC. Of course, this is all speculation, without even seeing what ICC hard mode looks like yet. But this shift away from hard hitting bosses has left me very happy, in the sense that I hated tanking those fights where "if you don't press it, you die." It didn't feel dynamic or fun to tank them.

As an example, Lord Marrowgar melee's for significantly less than Anub'arak in ToGC, but has a nasty spike damage that needs to be reacted to. It won't kill a tank instantly, but the next two attacks will be fatal. Here's the crutch: Instead of having the next 18k swing by the boss be fatal, they instead allowed the boss to hit twice for 9k each. Yes, the DPS done by the boss will probably be the same in the two scenarios, but there is always more room to react to two hits instead of one. There's also a higher probability that either of those two hits will be mitigated or avoided, thus, again, giving healers more room to react, rather than a one-hit do-or-die situation. Even on Saurfang at Frenzy phase (sub-30%), my HP barely spiked below half while in my avoidance set.

It looks like we will have to see what the second wing of ICC turns out to be like (which is next week). I am looking forward to it.