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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsNew Dalaran rings on the PTR
by Adam Holisky 
Dec 13th 2008 at 3:00PM
There are two new rings that the Kirin Tor are offering to us all on the PTR (Public Test Realm). They are called the "Loop of the Kirin Tor" and the "Ring of the Kirin Tor." These rings were added, one can assume, over a lot of protest and QQing by tanks and healers. While the two rings currently in the game can be used by both roles in some situations, they are by no means what healers or tanks would be looking for.
As a Protection Warrior I'm looking forward to this change going live. I'll have to fork over another 8,000g or so, but such is the price of epics.
A closer look at the rings and their stats after the break.
The loop is nice for those casters who want mana regen (Warlocks, har har har). The spell power increase of 59 points is equal to that of the Signet of the Kirin Tor, however this ring is lacking the direct increase to critical strike and haste that the Signet has. Expect healers to be happy with this one.
The Ring of the Kirin Tor is a good tanking ring. Some might like it for PvP as well. High stamina (+75) and high strength (+50) make it ideal for a Protection Warrior. The expertise and critical strike are icing on the cake (although it should be noted that I tend to stack critical strike after my other stats are at acceptable levels). Overall this ring is a much better tanking ring than the Band of the Kirin Tor.Filed under: Patches, Items, Analysis / Opinion
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
DeathPaladin Dec 13th 2008 4:34PM
My DPS-specced Death Knight would take the "tank" ring over the "melee dps" ring any day. They have the same amount of crit rating. The expertise isn't ideal, but I'd take it over haste. A good deal of stamina for when I need extra hit points. And strength. Lots of strength. Probably more strength than I'd be able to find on most so-called "dps" rings out there. The tanking ring strength gives me the same amount of attack power as the dps ring, more once you factor in strength boosting talents. As for the loss of agility for taking the tank ring, it's a second-tier stat at best for Death Knights. Like haste and expertise. It provides some benefit, but it's item points that would be better spent elsewhere (like in more strength or crit).
It's probably a bit of a misnomer to call a ring like Band of the Kirin Tor the dps ring. It's really more of a rogue/hunter dps ring. Us strength-loving dps get some benefit out of it, but really only if there isn't anything else available.
Skier Dec 13th 2008 4:35PM
Expertise and tanking
When a parry occurs it automatically resets the white damage swing counter. This ends up resulting in spike damage. Get two parries in a row on a boss as a tank and the resulting burst damage usually kills the tank. Expertise is a mitigation stat and an important one at that. It's also why making sure your melee DPS is not attacking from the front otherwise they will be causing additional burst damage on the tank.
See: http://www.wowwiki.com/Formulas:Parry
cbadger Dec 13th 2008 4:36PM
Damn just damn.
As Ret I bought the melee DPS one and now there's one that will benefit from Kings more? How do I trade rings without shelling out another 6900g at Exalted for second ring?
Charneldeath Dec 13th 2008 4:55PM
Expertise does not make that a tanking ring, not at all. It also has crit on it, and show me where any high end tanking gear has crit rating on it. A tanking ring should have str and stam, yes. It should also have def rating, dodge, parry, block, block value, extra armor, etc.
This ring has no avoidance stats at all. Parry gibs are never such an issue that you would overlook pure avoidance first. The ring is bunk, and no tank worth his salt should be caught wearing it.
Grinn Dec 13th 2008 6:47PM
This guy is such a hack o.O
SimpleSurvival Dec 13th 2008 7:16PM
forgive him, he's tryin his hardest to make his quota...
its hard to come up with articles that are both thoughtful and informative while at the same time being the most awesome entitled endgame maintank EVAR
Just feel lucky that he's connected enough to the common man to understand that the average reader has around 8k lying around for a subpar ring to replace the previous subpar ring that we paid too much for and just occupied bag space until we wanted to go back to town and our hearth was on CD
zugthu Dec 13th 2008 7:20PM
This is good, as a DK.
It is really hard to find good gear and mot rep or emblem gear, even drops are all really bad for us, they suck.
Haste, agility,ArmorPen. Its all full of it.
A rign with a good chunk of STR crit and expertise seems to be made with a DK in mind and I hope blizz makes more gear options.
Stillwell Dec 13th 2008 8:03PM
Mp/5 and Spirit on the game ring? Worse itemization is hard to find.
Ian R. Dec 13th 2008 9:11PM
The Ring of Kirin Tor is really good for Death Knights who use the STR for Parry. Heck, because DK's don't really care about haste, I'd say the Ring is great even for DPS DK's (same DPS stats for us, more with the expertice, and more survivability than the live ring).
StoNe Dec 14th 2008 2:30AM
A good tanking ring? O.o
I'd say someone is new to tanking...there is nothing about it being a tanking ring?
To me it spells Fury/Rogue/EnhShammy but what would I know...I'm just a tank.
Don't get me wrong...stam and expertise is nice to have, but they're only high stats because it's a decent epic level item.
Give me a blue with def and block on it anyday.
hehehe...tanking ring
Lemons Dec 14th 2008 4:53AM
blizz is just being strange in wotlk...
prot warriors seem to be complaining they're getting a bunch of expertise foisted upon them when they want defense.
And us rogues are wondering about our stats too...I mean...I kinda need some hit rating to...hit stuff...and I can't seem to get anything but haste, haste, and more haste!
I liked BC, things were really cut an dry for a rogue. It was like "How's your hit rating?" and you'd say "Stupidly high" and they'd say "Alright, your in."
Dave Dec 14th 2008 10:38AM
Without a gun to my head I would never, EVER equip a ring with critical strike as a tank. What would that get you, another .75% crit? Oh hooray! And my threat was in so much trouble, I really need more considering I alt-tab out of half the pulls we do in heroics because my Omen bar is always twice as big as the next highest DPS character.
I'm wholly unconvinced by the contribution of expertise to my tank gear (but then I'm a paladin, and we need it the least). With the SoV glyph and the stuff on my gear I've almost hit the soft cap anyway. But crit? Shame, shame on you. Even for AoE pulls. No, no. Just... no.
Kanuris Dec 14th 2008 9:20PM
If i could afford it, i'd probably buy that tanking ring for my Ret Pally.
Unfortunatly i've better things to spend 8k on.
Reynald Dec 15th 2008 3:32AM
If you plan to dish out cash just go with the crafted BoE Titanium Earthguard Ring.
Titanium Earthguard Ring
Binds when equipped
Unique-Equipped
Finger
+50 Strength
+63 Stamina
Blue Socket
Socket Bonus: +4 Defense Rating
Requires Level 80
Equip: Increases defense rating by 25 (5.08 @ L80).
Equip: Increases your dodge rating by 34 (0.86% @ L80).
Most of the mats you can farm or AH yourself:
Titanium Bar (2)
Dragon's Eye (4)
Eternal Earth (4)
Eternal Life (4)
Frozen Orb
Don't waste your money on the Kirin Tor one.
Deadly. Off. Topic. Dec 15th 2008 11:01AM
So another ring that goes into the backpack and only comes out when needing a port back...
Honestly, everyone has 10 fingers, gives us 8 more slots to equip rings on. ^____^v
Glaucon Dec 15th 2008 4:08PM
Um yeah. That's a dps ring not a tanking ring. It is perfect for an arms warrior.
Blobber Dec 17th 2008 12:18PM
The melee ring has ret paladin written all over it
Moo Dec 16th 2008 3:09PM
As a Healadin the Spirit is pretty much wasted on me. The MP/5 is nice but I'll take the crit and haste of the original ring over 11 MP/5.
Truth be told, it probably doesn't matter, it will likely spend most of the time in a bag to be used as a hearth when needed. Blizz, you're nerfing some items to bring them "more in line with their level" why don't you buff these a bit given the price and effort required to get them?
Llama Jan 21st 2009 11:31AM
Ring + Tank = FAIL
I know it's flogging a dead horse with all the other comments, but I just can't help it. Anyone who thinks that that's a tank ring needs to plug jerk and go play Second Life.