The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Reset/Packrat
When expansions come to World of Warcraft (well, at least when the last expansion did) people either get Beta invites or they don't, people start fretting about gear resets, new abilities get discussed, alternating doom and gloom and wild, frenzied excitement over new talents rages... but while all that is going on, the game is still being played. My own guild has marched firmly into BT and Hyjal, and we're one boss away from clearing the later, ol' Archie himself. In the process of clearing the other four bosses, gear has started trickling in and with it comes the realization that sometimes, higher tier gear is optimized for the places it drops.
I've been using Shield Block Value as my primary threat stat on my armor. As time has gone on, without really realizing it, I've been moving to a more hit/expertise system which relies less on big shield slams and more on consistent white damage and specials that don't miss and are not dodged or parried. While this has been occurring, armor with higher dodge rating has been steadily dropping, meaning that my avoidance goes up and my rage generation is more and more dependent on not missing or being dodged or parried. T5 content, with the reliance on SBV, allowed me to stack stamina and block value in a way that T6 content does not. I've dropped my block value from around 800 to a little more than 600 lately, while looking to increase my hit and dodge for bosses like Azgalor, who doesn't crush. (He's a nice little preview of the future in that regard.)
My point is two fold: one, especially for a warrior (be he a tank or DPS, I'm just using tanking as my example because it's what I primarily do) gear obsolescence is constant. You're always changing and upgrading your gear as you go through content. (This is true for just about every class, mind you, but I'm talking to warriors.) Furthermore, however, you also become a bit of a packrat, holding on to outdated gear because it has a stat that may be desirable for a specific fight. I still use The Sun Eater if I feel dodge is absolutely essential for a fight, despite having overall better weapons now.
What you will be is not what you have been
One of the biggest issues coming up for me as I consider regearing post expansion is how long will my current gear last me? Weapons like Lydia's Sharpened Swordbreaker are itemized well for tanking with the new system of attack power adding to various tanking abilities like Thunder Clap, but I doubt it will significantly outperform my current weapon. In fact, I expect it will be inferior to it. Sooner or later, however, a blue is going to drop that I'm going to want to use instead of any of my current gear, even if we get to Kalecgos in time. This is just a consequence of progression, whether it be through raiding, PvP or expansions and leveling. Gear gets better, and we're always faced with the prospect of having to replace what we have. (Heck, if Anetheron ever drops my sword, I'll be replacing my axe before I even get to move out of the content level I'm in.)
I'll still hold on to any gear I have that has a hard to find stat or otherwise might be suitable for a fight that requires a specific gimmick. But with threat being totally reconsidered in Wrath so that Arms or Fury warriors will be able to match Protection warriors for threat, gear being altered so that stats like strength/attack power contribute to threat generation meaning that DPS becomes part of the tanking equation, there's simply no way to know for sure what gear will be viable and what gear won't be. Since talents that add defense are going away, crushing blows will no longer be an issue (and thus going for crushing blow immunity will no longer be a concern, especially with the massive changes to Shield Block) we're looking at a whole new paradigm wherein the gear I've painstakingly collected (and am still collecting, as the expansion isn't out yet) will no longer be optimally itemized for tanking.
This is bad for me in the short term as Wrath finally launches, but good for warriors overall. As a main tanking protection spec warrior, I gear for whatever specific fight I expect to be tanking in a way that will no longer be necessary or even viable. Similarly, DPS warriors are going to have to reconsider how they gear... is a fury warrior with Titan's Grip going to start looking at fast 2h weapons for his offhand? This depends of course on how many fast 2h weapons enter the game. He's not going to be offhanding an axe, it looks like. Even level 75 blues like Troll Butcherer (with the second highest melee DPS in the game to date, just behind Apolyon) are fairly slow for a fury offhand (especially when considering how Titan's Grip will slow your attack speed) if you're looking for rage generation. This makes me consider how important haste is going to be for fury, as well. These are issues any DPS warrior will be considering, be he arms or fury.
A lot of people tend to find this irritating. "Gear reset" is almost a dirty word among some of my friends even as we're working to complete T6 content and move into Sunwell. To my mind, knowing that my gear will probably last me well into level 75 or beyond and that there's upgrades available doesn't bother me at all, because I've been replacing and resetting my gear every couple of months anyway. Pretty much from the moment I walked into Karazhan, through Gruul's, Magtheridon, SSC, TK and now Hyjal and BT, my gear gets replaced. If we get to Sunwell before the expansion then the replacing of my gear will start all over again. At the same time, there are pieces that have ridiculous longevity which you will hold onto. I still use Styleen's Impeding Scarab for trash pulls in my block value set, I will probably stop using it now that it will have 20 levels of decay but at 70 it's still an impressive trinket. There are pieces at 70 now that you just might keep to 80, or at the very least use up until the mid 70's.
Change is both inevitable and exciting
As a warrior, you'll effectively always be 'resetting' your gear. Epics come and go, you'll always be on the hunt for a piece with even an incremental upgrade for your DPS or tanking viability. You'll build arms and fury sets, dodge sets, block value sets, stamina sets, consolidated threat sets, consolidated avoidance sets, threat/stam sets... and each of these sets will share pieces which, over time, you'll drop from one set but keep in another. My largest stamina kit keeps pieces of gear I don't use for any other purpose anymore, gemmed and enchanted to maximize my stamina over all other considerations. Even when I get Tier 6 I'll probably keep that chestguard for its dodge and stamina potential. You never know.
Eventually of course all gear resets. That's the way the game works. For right now I push my way through the content because I want to see it, and gear is purely a means to that end. If a piece of gear helps you do that, hold onto it, and if not, discard it. Don't sweat the gear reset, it's always happening to you anyway. (Now if your issue is that you're afraid you'll end up with gear that doesn't look as cool, well, you're probably right on the money there. Hey, maybe they'll bring back the Tier 3 look in Naxxramas 2.0? That was a hot set. I'd love to get me a set of DPS plate with that skin on it.) It is important as a warrior to have a sharp, calculating mind about this, to be philosophical about what you use. Some gear you may want for looks, it's your bag space and your bank space. But keep your gear sets constantly up to date and be ruthless in weeding out the gear you just don't need vs the gear you may well find a use for.
Like the opening header stated, you're forever torn between tossing gear and keeping it just in case. And I doubt that will change any time soon.
I don't actually know what we'll cover next week. I do want to step away from Wrath for a while and get back into issues like shifting your itemization for new content (finding out you don't have enough dodge for a specific boss because you stacked stamina/block value is not fun, take it from me) and DPS warrior utility in the here and now, but we'll see.
Check out more strategies, tips and leveling guides for Warriors in Matthew Rossi's weekly class column: The Care and Feeding of Warriors.
