T19 Protection Set opinions

[scottish1900 0]

I am looking at the set bonuses for the T19 set, and I was wondering what the overall opinion on it is.

Looking at the set, and the wording, the two set doesn't give a +20% chance to block, rather a 20% bonus, meaning it's more along the lines of 6-8% at my current gear level. Obviously if this I would love to know.

Also, there is the crit blocks generate 5 extra rage, which is nice.

I was wondering if this set bonus will actually change any priorities with the warrior stat priority, given that mastery is already decent because it gives passive block chance and crit blocks are great, I am curious if it will be even better with this set. It would generate more rage, which is just more absorbs and shield blocks flying out, and would also scale better with the 2 set.

[Valks 2,373]

In all honesty, too much could change before than to plan. We won't see any sets before early next year at the earliest, so they could make some big changes before then.

As it stands now, I agree that the wording does sound like a % increase rather than a flat 20% buff.

The stats on the gear are currently fantastic for Prot, with just so much Haste available. If the priority does change, I could see Mastery moving above Vers, but not past Haste. This is mainly due to the fact that we will, in Nighthold gear, be able to reach 100% uptime of Shield Block. 

With 4-set, we will probably push for that 100% SB breakpoint in Haste, then stack Mastery.

[Estarriol 167]

Due to the ear of getting 100% effective Shield Block uptime, this really won't shift the stat priority massively. You'll still want mostly versatility and mastery. The benefit of 100% Shield Block uptime is far outweighed by the benefits of larger ignore pain absorbs and the raw damage reduction from versatility. Also keep in mind that even if you had 100% critical block, you'd still only be getting an extra 5 rage every 1.5 seconds. Having 100% Shield Block uptime and 100% crit blocks is a very unlikely scenario and even them the benefit wouldn't be game breaking. Basically, the set bonus is not at all bad, but it isn't immense. Also keep in mind that increases to your base block chance makes a high Shield Block uptime less important since you'll already have a good chance of blocking. 

[scottish1900 0]

You say 100% uptime on SB, but wouldn't SB still have a 10~ second cd with all the haste? If you stacked two on each other you would get 18 seconds before you had to wait, like in MoP unless I am seriously missing something.

[Valks 2,373]

12 hours ago, scottish1900 said:

You say 100% uptime on SB, but wouldn't SB still have a 10~ second cd with all the haste? If you stacked two on each other you would get 18 seconds before you had to wait, like in MoP unless I am seriously missing something.

It will take around 60-65% Haste to reach a point where Shield Block can be up 100% of the time, assuming you have taken the HR talent at 100. If you don't take it, you're looking at needing like 85% Haste.

As you can see, we are way off that with current gear levels, even probably at NH gear levels. For now, the Prot Warrs of the world are still discussing what we are focusing stat-wise. It is changing and will continue to change a lot.

[Estarriol 167]

The stat weights from the recent Sims from Marok are a decent gearing strategy that is solid and is essentially good enough for now. Versatility>mastery>haste>crit is a solid stat priority, but it is perhaps over simplified. Haste is important and you want to have some. Versatility is important and having a good amount is a good idea, and obviously you want mastery both for its own benefits and the benefits it brings via our set bonuses and traits. Basically, the exact percent of haste that you want is somewhat subjective and highly dependant on the fight and the organization of the top three stats may shift a bit. However, all of our stats  (except crit) are useful enough that as long as you have a decent amount of the big three, you're fine and you don't need to worry. 

 

Now, onto the shield block thing. You can get about 66% uptime by taking heavy repercussions alone. This will allow you to have 100% or nearly 100% effective uptime on any boss with any tanking downtime. Thus, you want some haste in order to help close the gap in fights with minimal or no tanking downtime. However, having 100% uptime on Shield Block will not be quite as useful as big beefy Ignore Pains. As long as you can have a solid uptime, having more effective blocks (mastery) and more effective Ignore Pains (vers and mastery) along with the flat damage reduction from versatility will provide you with far more survivability than a small increase in Shield Block uptime. I suspect this point will be roughly 80% uptime. 

Ultimately, however, your play will account for massively more than your stat priority. 

Also, I just realized that I've gone off the rails of this discussion. I do think the set bonuses make mastery more appealing, but I don't think it will make mastery so much more appealing that it'll cause a paradigm shift in gearing. I think all three of our best stats will end up within a reasonable distance of each other in the end. 

[Valks 2,373]

Yeah, I should have said earlier that this was pre-seeing Marok's new guidelines. Thanks for the detailed analysis on SB though!