I also agree that this sets a bad precedent.

Back in BC, there was exactly 1 weapon that had defensive stats (block rating) and spell power. After that Ogrila blue, all upgrades lacked defensive stats and it led to 18 months of constant whining for another tankadin weapon.

I don't think it's a good idea to have DKs starting use a crutch weapon only to realize that as they improve, they'll have to be weaned off of it. 540 Def was doable before the changes. With the new runeforge and the sigil, there's really no reason why these items should be introduced when uncrittable is easier than ever.

Plus the 90 Parry rating Sword doesn't even fall into this category. It fails as a Def buffer.

It's pretty silly to assume that these DK centered tanking weapons are going to be BoP. The only information you all have right now is from data mining, which isn't always accurate. The fact that you all are already whining about it is sickening.

Most likely the information mmo-champion is providing is wrong in this case. Since this would be the first of any titansteel craftable item to be BoP. Additionally, for anyone who looked closely at the axe, it's listed as a freaking sword when the model screams axe.

So ya, don't jump off the cliff yet little lemmings. Wait until you see it in game, then complain.

I would see one benefit of using the defender: slap the new runeforge on it and you can swap 2 or 3 pieces of your tanking gear for dps gear and get more attack power, hit and crit. Ever heard of dk tanks topping the dmg charts?

The bop part is horrible though, since dk is a new class and leveling blacksmithing is such a pain. I prefer jc 100 times over blacksmithing.

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Q u o t e:
I would see one benefit of using the defender: slap the new runeforge on it and you can swap 2 or 3 pieces of your tanking gear for dps gear and get more attack power, hit and crit. Ever heard of dk tanks topping the dmg charts?

The bop part is horrible though, since dk is a new class and leveling blacksmithing is such a pain. I prefer jc 100 times over blacksmithing.

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Armor isn't like gems though. You can't switch one in one slot and make do with another slot.

Tank gear has over-balanced amounts of Stam and any +Def on it would also be accompanied with dodge/parry (or armor in case of accessory slots).

The thing about Blacksmithing now-a-days is that EVERY SINGLE GODDAMN PIECE OF GEAR IS BOE!!! There is NO benefit for rolling BS other than the extra sockets (only reason I have it is because I spent too much damn gold in TBC on it to justify giving it up). They should have at LEAST 1 piece of BoP gear that should offer SOME benefit, else not too many people will be motivated to take this profession. JC's and Enchanters have Prof-only gems and enchants, Tailors have their own perks as well. Engineers have the goggles, something that for DK's is even better than their 10man T7 helm. Why not have BS with something useful other than the 2 extra sockets that would benefit them only?

I want to use the AXE, however I will not drop my JC and Mining for BS. Being able to get the defense from the weapon allows me to socket something else besides defense, that is needed to keep up with threat such as hit.

I really wish they would add defensively oriented two handed weapons. It would make me so happy to tank with one in each hand in my fury build with protection gear equipped.

I wonder if that is why Blizzard refuses to put defensive 2 handed weapons in the game?

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Q u o t e:
I want to use the AXE, however I will not drop my JC and Mining for BS. Being able to get the defense from the weapon allows me to socket something else besides defense, that is needed to keep up with threat such as hit.

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You could always plan out your Blacksmithing progression and use your current mining skill to collect up all the resources you will need to reach 450 blacksmithing skill, then you can drop your mining skill and replace it with blacksmithing. At that point you can just buy the mining ingredients you need for fancy new recipes, or get a miner in your guild to get them for you.

Doing the armorsmith/weaponsmith specializing quests do suck hard though. They are so annoyingly long.

If these sort of "options" are going to be put into the game....they should not be BOP. I do agree though we do not need them and this will in fact only push more DK's into less choices when looking for a weapon. Don't do it Blizzard. You said you wouldn't so why change it now.

Slightly off topic, if you look at the screenshots and tooltips on mmo-champion, the defender looks like an axe but the tooltip says sword. Anyone know if this is a mistake as well? I'm an orc so I'm hoping it ends up being an axe if/when it hits live.

... these weapons look so cool that I would gladly carry them and nothing else for the rest of this expansion. I /cried when i had to replace them from the start zone... i am once again happy... thank you bliz.

I guess I will be the first member of this wave of conformists by saying....my herb/alch is 450/431. Tomorrow- my mining/blacksmithing grind begins....juuuust in case it's BoP (if it even makes it live that is).

I love being pidgeon holed. You should try it sometime- contrary to the exact meaning of its name....it's quite liberating! ...If you're as OP'd a class like mine.

at some point they will very likely be upgrade with a dps weapon for more threat. The 90 parry rating isn't game breaking since there are plenty of other stats required to tank.

You've got to be a complete retard to oppose these things going into the game. First, if a DK wants to tank, it makes it MUCH MUCH easier to reach the defense cap (which is quite a pain in the ass). Second, once a DK reaches the defense cap, they can start shifting to dps gear, so it won't stop them from getting DPS weapons. THIRD, it will allow sensible, FAIR DK tanks (read: GOOD players) to pass on DPS 2handers to allow 2h dps classes (like other dks, fury warriors, and ret palys) to get a hold of the better dps weapons, since they dont need the tanking ones.

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Q u o t e:
The thing about Blacksmithing now-a-days is that EVERY SINGLE GODDAMN PIECE OF GEAR IS BOE!!! There is NO benefit for rolling BS other than the extra sockets (only reason I have it is because I spent too much damn gold in TBC on it to justify giving it up). They should have at LEAST 1 piece of BoP gear that should offer SOME benefit, else not too many people will be motivated to take this profession. JC's and Enchanters have Prof-only gems and enchants, Tailors have their own perks as well. Engineers have the goggles, something that for DK's is even better than their 10man T7 helm. Why not have BS with something useful other than the 2 extra sockets that would benefit them only?

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Not something aimed at a specific class.

I won't bother trying to get these two new weapons. For me a tanking weapon is high Stamina (100+) and decent hit rating. I'm not going to change at all. We don't need a weapon with defense rating, it's already easy to cap defense. The parry rating weapon, well meh.

I'd be much happier if they made these weapons options from a long DK quest chain or something, instead of crafted and BoP.

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Q u o t e:
The two-handed Blacksmithing tanking weapons are not going to be implemented.

Indeed, we did not want to stick DKs with these weapons forever, nor did we want to start itemizing 2H tanking weapons forever. DKs were designed to tank with 2H dps weapons.

The new sigil and runeforge enchant should help players with low defense.

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Woot!

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Q u o t e:
The two-handed Blacksmithing tanking weapons are not going to be implemented.

Indeed, we did not want to stick DKs with these weapons forever, nor did we want to start itemizing 2H tanking weapons forever. DKs were designed to tank with 2H dps weapons.

The new sigil and runeforge enchant should help players with low defense.

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I'm sure this will make some BSers a little sad, but good news for the DKs out there.

Edit: Hmm. GC sure is talkative all of a sudden. I expect we will be seeing the patch "very soon".