Tank About to ding 85...whats first?

[lexaqua]

Im about to ding 85 on my DK tank. He will be my first 85 and i was wondering what i should focus on first? Dungeon grinding for gear and rep obviosly, but what else???

[Ryme]

You'll probably get better answers in the DK forums.

Plus, it might be better if you list your goals, you've said you'll be grinding gear and rep, what else do you expect to get out of dungeons?

[Pokty]

Get all tabards, and get the 333 rep rewards while doing the lvl 85 normal modes. When you have a full set of decent blues, enchant and gem it properly and then jump into heroics.

[lexaqua]

I will just be playing about 10 hours a week, so i will basically do a dungeon a day as well a daily or two or level up my BS/Mining. i didnt know if there was a certain area i should focus on first though, like do this rep for this reward ect...Also, about what item level will i be ready for Heorics?

[Marrel]

If you're goal is to gear up for pve and eventually tank raids, then the next steps for you are:
1) Grind dungeons until you can do heroics
2) Wear rep tabards in these if you haven't already
3) Work on some raiding professions to mix things up
4) Gem/enchant your gear once you get 346+ pieces

I will just be playing about 10 hours a week, so i will basically do a dungeon a day as well a daily or two or level up my BS/Mining. i didnt know if there was a certain area i should focus on first though, like do this rep for this reward ect...Also, about what item level will i be ready for Heorics?

The most efficient way to grind rep in Cata is to just wear tabards while you do your dungeons/heroics.
Assuming you feel comfortable with tanking you should be ready for Heroics as soon as the dungeon finder lets you que for them. But make sure especially when you are starting out heroics that you use a lot of CC.

[Ryme]

iirc you'll be able to queue at 329, however, the player base sucks and will abuse and vote kick you for your gear if you pug. Your best bet is to find a guild and roll with them.

[Ashareth]

Im about to ding 85 on my DK tank. He will be my first 85 and i was wondering what i should focus on first? Dungeon grinding for gear and rep obviosly, but what else???

Roughly if you haven't done it yet :
- do all Hyjal's quests, it'll put you to revered (5k into it), giving you access to 333 tanking legs.
- do all Deepholme (for earthen ring rep but more than that to unlock Therazane)
- Do TH quests till you unlock the dailies
- Do Uldum till you finish the Ramkahen series (after killing the high priest and his army) fore rep
- Finish Uldum if you aren't lucky with spauldrons drop (325 one from the last quest in Uldum)

Get all rep to revered, starting with Therazane for enchant(honored) and rings(revered), Ramkahen and Dragonmaw (helm).
Then pick one to exalted. I took Hyjal for the cloak and the belt (you can reforege it to use it to tank). Then Ramkahen for bracers.
I kept Therazane and Twilight as dailies only till i had the others exalted, makes things faster.

Earthen ring you only need revered for enchant.

Doing the dragonmaw and therazane dailies is a nice boost in no time, it takes me roughly half an hour on my tanks to do both in tank spec/gear. It's really fast when you know them (for 1.5k and 1.8k rep respectively from memory, it's more than you'll get from most hc dungeons).
Gearing will go faste rnow that 84/85 normal dungeons bosses gives jp.
(Spauldrons, gloves and legs are the first slots to get, depending on your gear and drops).

[Deleted]

Make sure you get all the quests done in all the Cata zones.
Get all the appropriate tabards.
Grind normals until properly geared.
Don't just jump into a heroic because your itemlevel has reached 329.
Make sure you get the basics of tanking in normals.
Grow a thick skin.
Prepare for insults.
Prepare for facepalms.
Prepare for ragequits.
Buy beer.
Grow a thicker skin.
Prepare for more insults.
Prepare for more facepalms.
Prepare for more ragequits.
Buy more beer.

[Deleted]

Depends on some conditions or what you're looking for:
- guild with helpful members, enough gold and/or appropriate profession
--> craft or let so. craft epics or blue tankitems; buy epics or get some epics from your guild bank -->most expensive but fastest way to get to decent gear if your goal is joining a raid group asap
- craft or let craft some blue tankitems till you're reaching the hero-cap of ilvl 329 and start directly with doing heroics
--> not recommended, because it's your first 85 so you have no heroic experience
- start with normal modes, gain experience and gear till you're ready for doing heroics
--> buy tabards and gain besides gear and experience additionally reputation by wearing the right tabards

You should take the third option, i think...

[Twilightdawn]

Go with Hyjal or Wildhammer rep first, i'd go hyjal since if you did the quests there your already revered, and get the 359 cloak from hyjal, then the 359 boots from wildhammer and the 346 helm, then get rahmkehen up for the 359 tank bracers ( 1 out of 2 total right?) then do therazane for 346 ring and shoulder enchant ( unbreakable quartz) then Earthen ring, just for the head enchant.
While grinding all of this rep you would have made enough JP to fill in the spots left open, and what JP won't cover, the drops should
good luck!

[Ashareth]

Honestly, for reps, go revered for all first. It unlocks quite some nice gear (enchants for head and shoulder, rings, leggings, helm) then go for Hyjal (both the cloak AND the dps belt reforged are really nice), then go Ramkahen, all the while doing Dragonmaw dailies (really they are supra fast as a tank it's a huge boost), which should make you have quickly Hyjal and Ramkahen exalted, with Dragonmaw-Wildhammer/Therazane well into revered and easy to finish after.

Exalted Therazane is roughly the last useful rep, because the gain of the exalted enchant compared to the honored one isn't that big (compared to the wrath one/honored one), and can wait, it won't be that nice, compared to what you can get with other reps.

Cloak and Bracers are must have, there is roughly no good alternatives out there.

[Gredge]

Rep Vendors
Craftables
BOE blues/epics
Non-heroic dungeons

[Deleted]

complete all quests in the twilight highlands these quests are ilevel 318 greenys which i believe is the hiest non-blue quest reward you can get outside a dungeon.

[4KhazModan]

In terms of rep order, this is what I did:

1. Wildhammer for the helm and boots
2. Hyjal for cloak.
3. Ramkahen for the bracers
4. Eathern Ring for the enchant

I was already revered with Therazane after finishing Deepholm. But its what I'm working on now.

Just do normal modes until you can que for heroics if you feel comfortable tanking. Then just run heroics for gear until you have about 340. Then you can start throwing BH into the mix and try your luck at tier pants and gloves. Also, use the justice points you get on gear that you really need upgraded.

[Bassnectar]

Yeah, farm normals and reps untill your almost full 333. Once you hit 329 DO NOT queue, alone at least. People will just kick you and be douche bags.

[yjmark]

Also, part of running the regular dungeons instead of heroics is that you need to learn them. Make sure you understand all boss mechanics, and how to avoid damage/when to pop CDs. Since this is your first lvl 85, that means you have no heroics experience. So really focus on strategies.

Heroics will throw in additional twists on most boss fights, so you need to learn those too. If you do the research up front, your party will thank you for it. If you understand all the regular boss strats, then heroic strats will only add 1 or 2 additional things - making it much easier to learn.