MC gear - the importance of Fire Resistance

[usonian]

So I'm seeing a lot of forum activity about MC since it does seem we are close to starting that with Twilight.  I personally have never been but I tend to research a lot about the things I don't know.  There seem to be many conflicting opinions about the importance of FR gear in MC and I'd like to get some of Twilight's opinions about it. 

I still don't know at what point sacrificing stats and armor on your current gear for +FR gear is beneficial.  Is it better to have +100 FR with less armor and no stats to survive in MC or does it just drag out fighting longer when you could use your gear with stats to kill quicker?  Since I'm lacking the MC experience I'm quite confused on this issue.

[Shadowwolf]

Most fights in MC for melee are more about resistance then the damage you do. Just about everything down there has a fire attack of some sort, and if you are going to be tanking bosses, resistances will help you better to survive and lighten the load on the healers where the DPS can take care of the majority of the damage. The issue is balancing other stats with Fire Resistance. Dont sacrifice everything for FR, not gonna be much help then. For melee, a good target fire resistance level is 200-225. Yes you can survive most of MC with much much less, but some bosses, especially Ragnaros the higher resist will make or break it.

There is a good list of items in the game to look for in getting your FR up and keep stats decent as well here:

http://www.wow-loot.com/raid_mc.htm#fr

For casters and ranged, you are looking at 150-190 FR to be a good target.

[Emmalina]

I've made a couple of MC pug runs so I have limited experience up through Golemagg, I've never seen Domo or Rag. It seems that there is constant fire damage happening with Fireballs flying around, mobs' and bosses' AoE fire effects, DoTs and so on. Even being a caster standing in the back I brought what little FR stuff I have, somewhere around 70 FR or so and it honestly saved my life a number times where I ended the battle with <500hp. I would imagine for the tanks that are getting that Fire damage constantly it's even more important. I can't imagine that trading a blue plate chestpiece with good stats for a green one with only FR is a great idea, but there seems to be plenty of stuff out there that can make for a good compromise between the two. A lot of the craftable stuff requires mats from MC, so I think a lot of the stuff we will need to succeed in MC will become more readily available to us as we get our feet wet(singed) in there.

Emma

[usonian]

Thanks Shadow, now I have a target to aim for.  I am familiar with that list which is why I'm still wondering about the tradeoff.  Almost all of the items in that list (with the exception of epics) are resistance only without any other stats.  I'm pretty sure I won't own a set of epic FR gear anytime soon so I'm finding it difficult to understand the concept of attaining 200+ FR along with stats to keep me effective - unless that 200 FR includes buffs, potions, etc.

Perhaps as a tank my other stats don't matter as much since my aggro-holding abilities aren't entirely dependent on them.  I don't know.

[Shadowwolf]

You hit the mark with that last sentence =)

I think the class that gets it the hardest for MC success is Rogues. They have to have as much FR as warriors as well as still be able to dish out the damage like they usually do or as close to it. (Heres a prep guide for you rogues too another guild wrote up, lots of helpful tips in there: http://joiwiki.ito.com/joiwiki/index.cgi?rogue_guide_to_molten_core)

Also, keep in mind that trash mobs in MC drop epic gear and most of Tier 1 has +FR. Also, most of the early bosses dont need a huge amount of FR to help in the fight and also...drop +FR gear. So by the time we make it to the bosses that need it the highest, you should be pretty adequately geared up by then. I dont think you could hope to make it to Rag or even close to it easily in all greens unless you had greens from Burning Crusade 

Sacrificing everything for +FR just means you'll more than likely be the last to die, hehe. If you hinder your effectiveness so much in youre role to accommodate +FR its kind of pointless to be there then.

And sadly...those target FR levels are unbuffed =( You want to try and get as high as you can without buffs and pots so that the buffs and pots add to it and you dont want to be heavily reliant on them should either run out in a fight 

[usonian]

Ok I undestand now; the gear should progress through MC and FR will build as I need it to move on to the harder bosses.  Thanks again.  So when do we start? 

[Shadowwolf]

Yea your Tier 1 set will give you about 34 FR by itself, so you pool that with Enchants and trinkets, etc, you will be able to hit the 200+ mark easily.

As far as starting, probably going to look at scheduling a visit after we pay Onyxia a visit. We need to get as close to a full 40 as we can for better survivability in there so those schedules are going to be a bit harder to fill then the likes of ZG and AQ, tho im noticing those filling up quick as of late which is promising.

I cant stress enough how we can still use some more people in the guild. If you end up having someone PUG with you and you think they would be a good addition to the guild, please talk to them =) While im not one for actively stealing people from other guilds and im not asking anyone to do that, we still have some need to expand. Especially certain classes like Priests, Mages, Warlocks and to a good extend Paladins and Rogues still.

[voctovian]

If anyone gets some cores, Voc is honored with Thorium brotherhood so can make [wowitem]Dark iron helm[/wowitem] and the lower items.  For the tanks, I think it would be easier to try to pickup some of the Runic Plate recipes.  I dont have any, but would be happy to help grind for some.  These have somewhat more modest mats requirements (only 2 arcanite each) and have the added bonus of having +NR (for ZG and AQ20).  All told, the 5 pieces give +62FR and +62NR.  Two recipes drop in the Scarlet compound in northern WPL and the remaining 3 recipes drop off Naga in Alcaz island.  The recipes are BOP, so grinding is required

Voc

[usonian]

I'd be glad to grind for those plans with you voc.  Let me know if you ever head out and I'll join you.

[Shadowwolf]

I think I need to clarify a bit more for everyone on the need for fire resist in MC. Those numbers I mentioned are really only necessary on a few bosses inside MC. You can survive in MC with less, the more the better yes but dont start sacrificing stats for FR. Those bosses arent right away so there will be plenty of time to get mats to make the better fire resist gear for down there, plus drops of tier 1 items with FR on it as well. A good target number for everyone in MC to start off being safe at would be in the 50-60 range, melee might want to go a bit higher as some mobs are made out of fire and burn as you make contact, but you dont need 225 for the first pull =)

I had some people contact me and get all flustered about how much to sacrifice in stats for FR and its still waaaay too soon for that yet. Hehe. Just aim for a 50-60 range for safety, if you can get more great, if not thats ok too.

[Kothnok]

Looked at my gear in the bank and on my person and without sacrificing too much, I can get to 73 FR when tanking and 47 when healing.  With a cloak +7 FR enchant, I guess I'm ready for MC then... there's a first

[Drygioni]

Good thing we have a good stable of Paladins. Our +60 Fire res aura will come in handy.

[un4]

Do the bonuses from multiple pallies' auras stack? 

[Darkling]

nope

[magnetite]

I'd like to suggest recruiting more people, because you guys have Onyxia in a week and only have 23 people signed up, some not attuned yet. If you wish to do MC, you will need to recruit more. That's all.