Tanking stats patch 3.0+?Follow

I'm still trying to get a clear grasp of what the new changes in 3.0 mean for druid tanking. I'm hoping I can sort of think out loud here and make sure I'm correct.

Pre-patch, we needed our Defense to be at least 415, or have a combination of Defense and Resilience to get us to 5.6% to avoid crits. It was easy enough to just run:

/script DEFAULT_CHAT_FRAME:AddMessage(5.6-((20+GetCombatRatingBonus(CR_DEFENSE_SKILL))*.04+GetCombatRatingBonus(CR_CRIT_TAKEN_MELEE)),1,0.5,0)

and see if you were over the thresh-hold or not.

Now with 3.0, I think my understanding is that 415 no longer means anything since with talents, we can get 6% crit reduction eliminating our need to get the extra 2.6% crit reduction (or 65 additional Defense). Now, we just need to be at 350 Defense and any Defense over that increases our dodge. This is to the tune of 25 Defense = 1% Dodge = 14.7 Agility.

So, currently, I'm still equipped with the Clefthoof set--it's my third alt, and I'm a relatively new 70, for the record. With the massive reduction in armor on the set, it's on the top of my list for replacement. But, the set has large amounts of defense rating on it. I'm thinking of replacing it with PvP gear, which still has green armor values and would provide a fairly significant armor upgrade for me. The PvP gear also has Agility that the Clefthoof set does not have. So, if I get the PvP gear, I'll get a lot of resilience which won't do anything for me in PvE but, also I'll get Agility (and Strength and Intellect). I believe the additional Agility will more than compensate for the Dodge lost by losing Defense, as well as give additional armor from the Agility.

Am I missing something here? Or, is my thinking correct? I'm just trying to make sure I understand this before I invest time in gear if it's not what I need.

Thanks for any input.

Thanks for the reply.

Yeah, you're correct about the script. I just pulled that off Wowwiki real quick, mainly as an example of what I meant. I should have found the druid specific one.

I, too, will be trying for badges. But in the meantime, I thought I'd spend time honor farming as another option. It does seem the gear is worth the effort. Great bonus armor and the other stats, too.

While writing the post, I was also researching the issue, so I probably answered my own question. But, I thought it might be useful to post anyway, since I couldn't find anything that summarized it elsewhere.

I have to say I like my new tanking stats. Sure I have roughly 10k less armor but my health is higher and my dodge has remained roughly the same. In 5 mans with standard buffs I can hit 20k health and 40% dodge so it's all good to me. And no healer has yet to complain about me taking more damage with the less armor.

Yea my armory is going to have me in my cat/dps gear right now. I've been running with a dps spec lately that isn't very optimal for tanking. I will log out in my tanking gear and while my stats won't necessarily represent what I am used to in my tank spec (since I'm not tanked spec) you'll at least get a better look at what I tank in.