As I mentioned in my last post, I was very surprised to see that the new itemization also affects all former tankadin badge gear, offering us even more options to blow badges before Nov 13. I reckon I am not the only person in the world who was not aware of that change, so here I am, boldly looking at badge gear I never looked at before.
Chest:
Previously, there was only one plate chest for warriors purchasable with badges: Chestplate of Stoicism. This is one of the SSO badge items, costing 100 badges.
Its two contenders that previously were not itemized for us:
- Chestguard of the Stoic Guardian for 75 badges
- Shattrath Protectorate’s Breastplate for 100 badges
Let’s assume you are currently wearing Panzar’Thar Breastplate or below. The cheapest badge chest is surprisingly powerful, but with its chunk of dodge, it’s an avoidance chest. Of the three available chestpieces, I personally would still go with Chestplate of Stoicism because it has dodge for avoidance and SBV. I wuv SBV, and I personally value it higher than the hit rating on the former tankadin 100 badge chest. Which also is very nice, no doubt about it, a very solid threat piece.
Feet:
- Sabatons of the Righteous Defender for 60 badges
- Blue Greaves of the Righteous Guardian for 75 badges
More gear with pompous names for us! We went from 0 badge boots to two very solid pieces of gear. I can’t praise the 60 badges boots enough, they were a very pleasant surprise. In these days where we’re pressed to remain def-capped, it’s nice to have defense and very nice threat values plus two sockets available in that slot. The 75 badges ones are a bit disappointing compared. You lose 18 defense, 7 SBV and a blue socket, but gain 108 armor, 14 strength, 13 stamina and 4 hit. Basically, it’s a zero gain when it comes to SBV and stamina, and I am not sure the 108 armor and 4 hit are worth an extra 15 badges.
Hands: Nothing to see here, no extra gear in that slot aside from the already available Bonefist Gauntlets.
Head: Also nothing new here.
Legs:
Previously, we had Unwavering Legguards for 60 badges and Sunguard Legplates for 100 badges.
New on the scene: Inscribed Legplates of the Aldor
That’s a helluva lot of dodge on those legs, making them a fantastic avoidance piece. However, in two weeks we’ll start leveling, and dodge will do little for us. The Sunguard Legplates are more well-rounded because they have expertise as threat stat on them, aside from the dodge. Me, I remained with the Unwavering Legguards, because of the nice chunk of SBV.
Shoulders: Aw, come on, Blizzard, why did you never make tanking shoulders available via badges?
Waist:
We previously had two belts available: Iron-Tusk Girdle for 60 badges and Girdle of the Fearless for 75 badges.
As new option: Girdle of the Protector for 60 badges. Much like the Sunguard Legplates, this belt is well rounded, in both dodge and hit, with a widdle bit of defense. I would still always go with the Girdle of the Fearless. More defense, and the very attractive expertise make that one still a winner.
Wrist: Nothing. But why would we need anything but Bracers of the Ancient Phalanx anyway?
As summary, we get a couple more interesting gear options. Variety is never bad. Most previous warrior gear still comes out on top. Your mileage may vary.
Opinions? Share them. 
Nice comparison i gotta say
In general i have 2 sets. One avoidence set with parry, dodge and shield block rating on. And offcourse loads and loads of stamina.
And a threat set where shield block value, hit and expertese is important. I use the chest from Zuljin with 3 10 hit gems in to get alot of hit. Together with the shard of contempt they are my most powerfull pieces of threat gear; avoidence gear is mostly tier stuff.
But indeed with the expansion coming up i’ll be running around mostly in my dps gear as bladestorm for lvling
Love the blog btw
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I’ve got over 150 badges and nothing worthwhile remaining to buy. I guess I could do more in having different sets but with WoTLK so close I don’t see the point. I’ll probably trade the badges for something to sell like nether vortexes or gems.
Tankette´s last blog post..Weekend raids, Kara, ZA, Vashj
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Those boots definitely are a huge diamond in the rough and haven’t been talked about near enough. I have to disagree with you on legs though. I prefer the Sunguard Legguards by far especially these days where you should have far more Block Value than you ever had.
You have reminded me though that I’ve probably been neglecting throwing my Expertise belt back on for most tanking situations.
Veneretio´s last blog post..The New Warning signs of a Bad level 80 Spec
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admin Reply:
October 30th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
I am already back up at 55 badges, and given your praise, I might get the Sunguard legs after all. Badges come easily these days.
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Every time I look at what I can buy with badges I lament the lack of shoulder options. The only options we have are drops (gear or gear token drops).
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admin Reply:
October 31st, 2008 at 12:16 am
Yeah, I do not understand at all. Shoulders are the worst slot for tanks. As blue options you have the shoulders from normal UB or the Bold shoulders, in Karazhan you can only get the Mantle of Abrahmis with its abysmal drop rate, and the ZA shoulders come from the first chest.
Hope we will see a lot more options in WotLK.
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Veneretio Reply:
October 31st, 2008 at 4:53 pm
S2 Shoulders!!!
The PvP grind is boring (well less boring now) but simply losing some BGs for a day or two can score you the Season 2 Shoulders that are a far cry better than anything Blue and almost as good as the Mantle of Abrahmis. (remember resilience will help you reach uncrittable faster than defense)
Veneretio´s last blog post..The New Warning signs of a Bad level 80 Spec
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Lack of badge shoulders makes me sad. You’re only choices outside of getting drops or tokens are the PvP sets, and I despise PvP, so I have yet to pick them up. Here’s to hoping the ZA shoulders drop this weekend.
I have a group of people that I run my heroics with, and one of the people in it is a friend from my previous MMO that we dragged over to WoW with us. He does all of our tanking, so I spent the majority of my badges on DPS gear, and I’m just now getting to spending my badges on tanking gear. With all these new choices that 3.0 has created, I’m having to reprioritize my badge choices. Ugh!
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Thanks for the wicked comparison! I ended up not upgrading my t5 legs to the sun gaurd leggings but decided to get the Righteous defender boots so now I have a bit of threat gear where I was lacking some =D
Maybe before Nov. 13 I’ll get the leg plates or maybe upgrade another peice of gear… The T5 2pc set bonus is still pretty nice!
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Enjoyed the comparison! One thing about that pally badge gear is that the defense rating is significantly lower on the pally version that on the top warrior piece. Nowadays I would be surprised if anyone sporting badge gear would have that much defense to spare. Maybe it’s only me . . .
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