Cataclysm gear. Should I start raiding ICC now?

[Bizkitz]

I am wondering should I actually start raiding ICC now, as I haven't started yet (I'm not a raider, I just do w/e I want to). However, it seems likely to me that you will replace ICC epics with Cataclysm greens. But the new dungeons may be a little more tricky depending on your gear?

Here's a link to my character at the armoury. Don't flame me with "You haven't enchanted some armour, noob!". I know. I need more money :/
http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sh...wn&cn=Arvenjer

Please tell me whether I should start now (and if I can, gearwise, tank ICC) or just wait and get gear in Cataclysm quests. I may also take this time to ask some other protadins what I should focus gemming on.

(And yes, I hate my boots too.)

[Spl4sh3r]

It is up to you if you want to raid Icecrown or not. I mean if you only doing it for the gear I don't really see a point for it. However it won't be the same raiding Icecrown after Cataclysm is released if you ever decided to go back for fun.

[Zamph]

Do it for the learning experience of raiding, rather than the gear.

[Larivas]

Gear wise, you could tank ICC (at least the first 4) but you should change your gems. For ICC raiding, effective health is king, and the only way to raise that is through armor and stam. Generally prot pallies gem with all 30 stam gems, and one stam / agi gem to activate the meta. Your main problem would be people not taking you due to your health.

As for raiding, if you would like to get into raiding there's no reason not to. Yes, the gear will be replaced in cata, but if you look at it that way, cata's first tier will be replaced by the 2nd, etc. Your gear will always get replaced soon enough, so do it if you enjoy it.

[Saverem]

I wouldn't bother. The level 80 green quest drops will be better than ICC10 loot.

[Deleted]

If u havent raided at all in wotlk, it would be a gd idea to get some experience as Zamph allways says, theres nothing like telling tacs to one that never raided...

[Bizkitz]

Thanks for the feedback. As for the gems, I have been wondering to replace them for some time. I understand the stamina, but what about stats like dodge/parry/block? Or will the plain gear stats/enchants cover it?

[Lansworthy]

Do it for the experience althought in cata the experience will change slightly its good to get a bit of experience before.

[Geckoo]

if you only raid for gear then don't raid ICC. Also never raid, gear always get obsolete.

Stop thinking in purple and enjoy the content we have now!

[Difuid]

Unfortunately with the attitude of raid leaders nowadays it is unlikely you will set foot in ICC with zero experience(only assuming you have none), unless you are in a guild.

[Bizkitz]

Unfortunately with the attitude of raid leaders nowadays it is unlikely you will set foot in ICC with zero experience(only assuming you have none), unless you are in a guild.

Mm. I don't have any experience in ICC at all, unless you count reading up tactics.

[Revolve]

You can't think like that, and you shouldn't play WoW if you do. Sure, epics is fun, but you shouldn't play if you play purely for gear. Play ICC because you want to, because you want to see what happens in there and you want to play the encounters.

[Daemaro]

Gear wise I'm decked out in ICC 10 man gear 251 pieces mostly and I was replacing a fair amount of them pretty quickly. So don't raid if you're just worried about the gear. Farm some gold, have some fun, if you WANT to raid try to find a spot in a guild, don't stress over the gear though almost anything you'd get will be replaced.

[Larivas]

You should enchant for stam as well. As long as you are defense capped, you will survive better (on most fights) with all stam. The reason for this is because you cannot dodge, parry, or block bleed or magic effects, and there are many of them (ex, if melee misses an interrupt on deathwhisper you will die with low health and high avoidance, but if you gem for health you'll be able to soak the hit). Also, relying on avoidance will get you killed. If you get a string of bad luck and get hit 3 or 4 times you will die with low health, where once again with stam you'll be able to take the hits and live.

It depends really on what you're doing though, end game raiding stam is the way. If you're just doing heros, shield block value is overpowered for pallies.

I also saw that you've got an expertise gem, you shouldn't gem for that. If you need threat, strength is the best threat stat point for point, but you shouldn't have threat problems.

I suggest you take a look at http://maintankadin.failsafedesign.com/. It goes over all the explanations for how to gem.

[Joesgetndown]

Do it for the learning experience of raiding, rather than the gear.

^ this

[Norcyz]

ICC is fun. I recommend it. However if your sole interest is gearing up for Cataclysm, don't worry about it. From what I've seen of the gear in Cata .. it's going to replace all but the extreme top-end ICC25-h gear reeeeaaaaal quick.

[implicationmmo]

Thanks for the feedback. As for the gems, I have been wondering to replace them for some time. I understand the stamina, but what about stats like dodge/parry/block? Or will the plain gear stats/enchants cover it?

The idea about stamina is the following:
- if you gem stam, then you will have 45/50k-ish of life, if a ( hard ) boss hits you at 20k every 1 sec, even if you do not dodge/parry/block ( D/P/B ), you will survive 2 shots, and die at the third one.
- if you gem D/P/B, then you will only have 35/40k of life, so if you do not D/P/B 2 consecutifs shots, you will die, hence the raid will surely wipe.

Sure, if you gem D/P/B, the chances that you will not D/P/B at least one of the 2 shots is lower than if you had more stam, but if you don't, the consequences are much worse ( = wipe generally ).

You should get all the D/P/B you need on the objets, without having to gem for it.


Back to the OP question:

I would remember you do what you fancy doing: if you want to raid, do it, if you want to farm some gold for cata, do it.

No one will ( or at least should ) juge you on your lvl 80 gear when you ding 85, and you probably will not still be wearing it ( even if you had ICC 25 heroic gear ).

The item levels of craftable objet for lvl 85 is roughly 350, ICC 25 H is "only" 277, the ICC gear is not necessary for cataclysm.



Personnaly, I would look for a guild fairly active so that you will get the +10% XP bonus when leveling
( http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/...erks-Cataclysm )
and get a bit of gold

[Geckoo]

oh! i forgot about the armory link ><

No, you are not ready for ICC, you need to improve those talents, gems and gear in general.

My advice, get this basic talent tree: http://www.wowhead.com/talent#sZV0tAbuMusIufzxoGZmc
you'll have points left fort whatever you like, although i recommend this setup for general use: http://www.wowhead.com/talent#sZV0tA...fdxfMh0c:pGZmc
Also you have 1 minor ang major glyph left to choose, hammer of the rigteous is fine, for minor... whatever you want.
Your's is not so bad, but needs touched by the light, is our major threat talent.

For gems, you have a great variety to choose: 6 stamina, 9 stamina, 12 stamina, 15 stamina, 18 stamina, 24 stamina and 30 stamina. no, there are not other gems for tank and yes, you're meant to always use the bigger stamina gem you can get.

Your meta gem should be this http://www.wowhead.com/item=41380 and to activate it, simply find the item with +12stam bonus and use a gem that fits, the perfect choice is a red slot using the +agility +stam purple gem.

Enchants: you don't need those defende enchants in cloak and shield, for the cloak use the +armor enchant, and for the shield the TBC's 18stam, also, for shoulder is better the pvp glyph instead of the hodir's one (+30stam +resi) and if you feel ok with your threat generation, use a leatherworking stamina patch for the gloves instead of armsman.

Nothing else more, keep improving the gear, your numbers in stamina and armor should increase and you'll be fine for ICC

[Smoopie]

You should because it is easy and what else are you going to do for 15+ weeks?

[bruxx]

isn't a videogame about having fun rather than a "it will serve me in the future"? the question you should be asking is "is ICC fun to play?" cuz that's what should mather on a game, if that's not what you care the most about, I highly recommend stoping playing wow for a time till you feel the need to play for fun and not for a better char.

got my point?