I just can't preach enough..Follow

I have mixed feelings toward Zul'drak. It looks god aweful and uninspiring, but it's a gold-mine for exp in the early-mid 70s with very nice quest hubs and an interesting zone-encompassed story. The rewards are great, and it's LOADED with Cobalt to boot.

Lots of people I know skipped Zul'drak, opting to go to Grizzly Hills instead (if you finish Fjord and Tundra entirely, there's really no reason to do both Zul'drak and Grizzly Hills) but I think it probably contributed to most (or maybe second most behind Icecrown) to my 70-80 levelling experience.

I started a Druid last week and forced myself to play until it got interesting (omg.. 1-30 as a Druid was like pulling teeth the whole time, but then it got smooth). Should be getting into Northrend by the end of December I imagine, and I'll definitly be spending time in Zul'drak on that char too.

QFT. My Druid was sitting at 20 something for a LONG time as I leveled other alts, until recently when I forced myself to play him more. Now he's 70 and I look forward to leveling him again (after my Shaman at least).

On topic though, I must agree about Zul'Drak. Not only did it have a great story, fun quests, and my first tanking upgrades, it also started the Argent Crusade rep (minus the handful of quests in Dragonblight/Howling Fjord). This is important 1) cause I really really really wanted the title and 2) because Argent Crusade has the new tanking Arcanum as well as a nice pair of tanking legs for level 78. Getting an early start on this rep instead of waiting till 80 or almost 80 was a big plus imo.

Edited, Dec 20th 2008 5:19am by Maulgak

From what I've read, that Tank mace you find at the very beginning of Zul'Drak lasts clear into Naxx raiding, or maybe a Heroic Emblem purchase, I forget. Something like that.

I found a Blue Necklace I probably will not replace anyday soon because it has a ton of Stamina (49 is very nice for a necklace) and a freaking GEM SOCKET. On an AMULET. PLUS Defensive stats. It would take quite a bit to replace that, to be honest.

That, and some of the Lv78 crafted gear that you can buy for a tank, will make you "Heroics Ready", in fact half of the set is even Lv76 and the other half Lv78... not 80. Not sure why Blizz did this, but it is nice. I love it.

Edit:

Zul'drak is like a Stepping Stone. Heroics are the 2nd rung of the ladder. Zul'drak and the crafted pieces are the 1st rung. To climb up the ladder, you usually climb each rung in order, no? It is hard to just skip it (unless you wanna be carried through the content by highly-geared guildies), you have to take each step in order. Just skipping things "because I'll replace it soon" is kinda stupid, because that means you're diving into content with less-than-optimal gear, and you really shouldn't do that with Heroics and Raids.

If you step into a Heroic, or a Raid, you are usually expected to have the best you can have, within reason. Quest Rewards in Zul'drak are about the best you can have Pre-Heroic and Pre-Raid (especially that mace), and there's no reason not to. Just go get it. It is a freaking Group 3 quest for the mace, just one mob. Heck, if you are a Lv77+ Prot Pally, you can SOLO it. I did. The Necklace is a solo quest chain, might take you 1-2 hours. Don't be lazy.

Edited, Dec 21st 2008 11:11am by Zariamnk

There's certainly nothing wrong with either the sword or the mace from that quest. By the time I stepped foot into Naxx, however, I had replaced my "tanking" weapon with a Titansteel Bonecrusher. Nominal tradeoff in avoidance for a significant boost to threat. I was already crit immune so I didn't need the defense, and on my first Naxx10 run I got the 1h mace from Maexxna. No tanking stats on that one either (except for a bit of stamina and strength) but the same dps as my Titansteel Bonecrusher on a faster weapon...wee bit more threat from stacking Vengeance a bit faster.



I used the amulet from reg UP until I stored up enough badges to get the starter epic. Again, not saying the quest neck is bad, but it's not the only option.



Temepered Saronite set starts at 74 with the belt, I believe. Great pieces all around, with the two Daunting pieces adding a nice boost to defense as well.



I would say that quest gear, especially pre-80 quest gear, is a stepping stone to reg dungeons. Reg dungeons are a stepping stone to heroics (but not even fully necessary the way they've laid out tanking plate with WotLK). Heroics and the first couple of wings in Naxx are pretty much about the same level of difficulty from what I've seen.



Again, not ripping on the gear, but there's better to be had. (I killed Ragemane solo with both my druid and my pally). It depends on the angle you approach it from. If you're not averse to running some non-heroic level 80 dungeons, you'll find alternatives to Zul'Drak gear. I didn't mind Zul'Drak all that much, but let's face it...the zone is fugly. The quest hubs are all over the place.

I'd have to double check, but I'm pretty sure the pieces you've mentioned are listed in the pre-heroic gear list for prot pallies, so the last thing I'd want to do is lend the impression I think they're sub-par.

What I am seeing a lot of, however, are tanks (players in general, but we'll restrict the discussion to tanks) who show up to 80 in a pantload of quest/low level dungeon blues, can't be bothered to gem/enchant/etc their gear, and still think they're going to be doing a group a service by trying to tank a heroic for them. This, I think, is a throwback from the time between 3.0.2 and expansion release. I still remember running Kara when the level cap was 70 with a paladin rocking 452 defense thinking he was going to be MTing the run.

If you're showing up to your first heroic with 540 defense, it's a pretty safe bet you'll have picked up enough stamina along the way that'll you'll be fine, and that would be the over-arching priority. I had over 540 defense at level 78. Diminishing returns on defense rating kept me pushing at 80 to stay above the cap, but then I found myself in the delightfully enjoyable position of being able to swap out defense rating for other stats...to include going with a dps weapon instead of a tanking weapon for heroics and starting Naxx.

Now, having downed several bosses in Naxx10 and Naxx25 and just downing Sartharion 25 for the first time tonight, I'm 0.14% avoidance from being block capped (unbuffed). Throw a simple Gift of the Wild or BoK on me and I'm block capped for raids. I'm still using a dps weapon, and I've got a ton of leeway to juggle stats without having to worry too much about avoidance. Future upgrades, for example, might have less defense rating but more avoidance (parry/dodge/etc) and I can spare the defense.

More important, I think, than saying, "Get this gear" to an up-and-coming WotLK tank with heroic/raid aspirations would be, "Understand what stats are important and be able to recognize when you can afford to tweak to improve things like threat."


Edited, Dec 21st 2008 9:03pm by AureliusSir