Normal/Heroic BRF Tanking

[Akshak]

What's the general preference on ilvl for either complete pugs or guild runs needing to pug a spot or 2 on a tank role for Normal/Heroic BRF? I can't always raid with my guild as a tank since my schedule at home isn't set and my guild currently has 2 regularly raiding tanks as is. Right now my prot pally is around 663 or so.

[Deleted]

well for a normal pug 663 should be more then fine.
You can tank heroic with it, although i wouldnt tank a pug in 663 gear. But thats more because i dont know the people in a pug so i personally like to overgear the content a bit in cases like that to compensate that

[Deleted]

663 is more than fine for brf normal. Ilvl dosent make the biggest difference, the stats on the gear does. If you got all the wrong stats you're gonna take more dmg than a 10 ilvl lower tank with full BiS stats. But a general rule of thumb is around 660 and 675 for pugs, since you would need to compensate a bit for the lack of coordination with gear. (if you got overgeared healers, gear dosent matter that much, as long as you can survive mechanics such at crippling supplex)

[Radish Spirit]

663 is more than fine for brf normal. Ilvl dosent make the biggest difference, the stats on the gear does. If you got all the wrong stats you're gonna take more dmg than a 10 ilvl lower tank with full BiS stats.

Not sure that's accurate. Armor & Stamina are the two most important baseline stats for tanking. A 660 "BiS" tank is going to be harder to keep alive than a 670/75 with sub-optimal secondaries.

Obviously there are extremes. If someone is stacked in their two worst possible stats, then sure - but how likely is that? Not likely.

[Deleted]

What's the general preference on ilvl for either complete pugs or guild runs needing to pug a spot or 2 on a tank role for Normal/Heroic BRF? I can't always raid with my guild as a tank since my schedule at home isn't set and my guild currently has 2 regularly raiding tanks as is. Right now my prot pally is around 663 or so.

Make sure you've got BA in all viable slots, 655+ is more than enough for normal BRF. Heroic you can do in sub 670 but I'd imagine it can be rough at that iLevel in a pug. Most "1-shot" groups are looking for 675/680 geared players although there's plenty doing 5/6/7 out of 10 who look for 670+ (or even sometimes 665+) in the LFG finder.

- - - Updated - - -

Not sure that's accurate. Armor & Stamina are the two most important baseline stats for tanking. A 660 "BiS" tank is going to be harder to keep alive than a 670/75 with sub-optimal secondaries.

Obviously there are extremes. If someone is stacked in their two worst possible stats, then sure - but how likely is that? Not likely.

If they're wearing strength DPS stuff in all available slots (6 of them) instead of BA / Stamina gear then it's going to be a drastic difference, approximately equal to 15-20ilevels worth of survivability. BA is just so overbudgeted for most tanking classes currently that it eats pretty much everything else up for breakfast.

If you're looking for a guild most will take you onboard even if you're drastically under geared as long as you're interested in committing for the long term. Almost all guilds who've been running heroic will now have all their core raiders in 685+ so are usually happy to help give major boosts to new players.

[Adhemar]

You're borderline okay for starting heroic BRF, but you probably won't find many PUGs willing to take you until you're over 670. And even then, item level inflation is so crazy I've seen people requiring 680+.

[Akshak]

Not entirely looking at changing guilds since I don't want a hardcore raiding guild - I can't commit to such a schedule (combination of wife agro and it being Spring in the South which means I spend a lot of time doing yard work). It's an option I'm not ruling out but not one that's my primary goal. The ilvl inflation was what I was concerned about.

[Deleted]

Not entirely looking at changing guilds since I don't want a hardcore raiding guild - I can't commit to such a schedule (combination of wife agro and it being Spring in the South which means I spend a lot of time doing yard work). It's an option I'm not ruling out but not one that's my primary goal. The ilvl inflation was what I was concerned about.

From the POV of someone who has a main "guild" raider and also PuGs (both as lead and as just a normal groupie) on 6 other characters you really can ignore the bullshit that spews on forums about "OMG EVERYONE WANTS CURVE AND MORE GEAR THAN THE RAID DROPS TO JOIN". You can find plenty of groups that take on board 665-670 geared players in the LFG finder and get down the majority of the instance on heroic. Also it might be worth having a peak at openraid.eu. It's not a tool I've used myself but I see it bandied around all the time as having a really solid community to help out new guys who are just starting out with raiding.

[Akshak]

That might work Mike.....if I was an EU player.
I'm a redneck which should point to where I'm at......or at least I hope so. Aggramar doesn't have a whole slew of top guilds - at least not like what we used to (Expiation/Order of the Raven/Second String for example).

[PublicVoid]

I joined my guild @ 665 ilvl (unoptomized) for heroic BRF. We were 7/10 at the time but now we're 9/10 and I'm 686 ilvl.

Knowing the fights matters far more than having the gear.

[Radish Spirit]

I joined my guild @ 665 ilvl (unoptomized) for heroic BRF. We were 7/10 at the time but now we're 9/10 and I'm 686 ilvl.

Knowing the fights matters far more than having the gear.

If your guild was 7/10 at the time, then it's fair to guess most of them were far better off than 665.

Knowing the fights is important. Gear is also very important. Neither "far more" than the other. They basically go hand-in-hand.