A lengthy reply, some scotch-inspired wisdom

Cornfedhick asked in reply to “Time to (re-)build your gear set. But how?“:

“Does this count pieces that can be used for multiple sets when you change out the gem/enchant?  I’m still relatively new to the tank role and I have troubles recognizing some pieces as blk/eva/EH.  I have started to collect multiple items and gem/enchant them differently if I think they can be used in multiple sets but that is really starting to fill up my bags.  I’ve just started to collect tank pieces from Naxx gear and I have just about every piece of heroic instance/badge gear but have a hard time cataloging some pieces.”

And here’s my “grown-from-short-reply-to-philosophical-rant”-ish answer:

I’d say the problem is that there is no “absolute” in terms of what a piece of gear is. While for one person a new helmet might be a hell of an avoidance-upgrade, thus going into their avoidance set, for the next tank it could just as well be an upgrade to their EH-wardrobe.

It really depends on what you got.

After all, and after some experience the last couple runs, I really tend to think that we tanking folks just overdo the whole gearing thing. There’s so much room for improvement on the side of actual playing, doing the right things, using what you got appropriately.

1% more or less avoidance, 100 more or less health could, mathematically, make all the difference – but at the end of the day it’s not gonna be those 100 extra health that save your ass from being splattered, but the reaction of your healer, the nuke of your dps, the oh-shit-button that you saved for the right moment, or just pure good ol’ RNG-luck.

I guess by getting into tanking and realizing that it cannot be measured, or turned into numbers for our group mates to see, we tanks turn the other way and develop a deep affection for numbers ourselves, and brush the non-knowing off as “non-believers”. It’s quite the cult-thing, really.

Today we ran Ulduar normal mode. A green plate headpiece dropped on XT’s trash. It had +127 stamina, nothing else. I exchanged my fully gemmed & enchanted meta-socket-featuring Naxx25 helmet with it and, because we’ve been joking around, kept wearing it the whole run.

Quite frankly, it didn’t make a difference at all. Because encounters are not designed around “testing the tank”, they are designed to “test a raid”.

I have come to think that normal mode raiding really arrived at the point the game developers want it to be: If everyone makes the best possible use of their class from a basic ability and gameplay point of view, you can do content with gear from three tiers lower. Let’s face it: A group in full iLvL 187 blues that’s on top of their game could go out and clear Naxx25 every day. I’ve seen people with that kind of equip putting out damage higher than some decked-out T7,5 players.

The other way round: The better your gear, the less effort you have to put into playing. If someone takes their time and farms up all that badge- and heroic iLvL 200 gear and then heads into Naxx10 he can carry his weight by only playing his character out by half of it’s opportunities.

These days it’s the hard modes where gear becomes the significant factor stacked above player skills. Up until there my advice is: Take it easy. Have fun.