Post by Aadramelekh
why so much strength/def gear and so little agi gear?
Your question was answered in short by
Nnoutaja.
Bears still use norma tank jewelry and cloak, that means it str, def and most of all STAMINA.
Agi stuff just doesn't have enough stamina (usually) to warrant their use in tanking.
Some have calculated that agi rings aren't that bad for tanking, but usually you will want the tank versions.
If you want a more detailed explanation to comprehend, try and add up the stats from two rings, one amulet and one cloak. First time use agility based DPS pieces and the second time use strength based tanking pieces. And see what's the grand total. Let me give you an example...
Sindragosa's Cruel Claw vs
Bile-Encrusted MedallionWe'll assume +30 stamina gems in both amulets and talent bonuses. Dodge and defense ratings are considered before diminishing returns.
The agility amulet gives:
-> 114 agility, which gives 228 armor, 2.47% dodge and 1.37% crit
-> 132 stamina, which becomes 196 in Bear Form, resulting in 1960 HP
-> 60 haste rating
-> 127 AP
-> 68 ArP rating
The strength amulet gives:
-> 771 armor (assuming +2% from meta gem)
-> 110 strength, which becomes 233 AP
-> 171 stamina, which becomes 254 in Bear Form, resulting in 2540 HP
-> 54 defense rating, which gives 0.44% dodge and 0.44% miss
-> 46 dodge rating, which gives 1% dodge
The essential difference between the two is as follows:
+580 HP
+543 armor
+106 AP
for the tank piece
+0.59% avoidance
for the DPS piece
The bonuses of haste, crit and ArP offered by the DPS piece are nice, but not essential for tanking. However, wearing 100% tank pieces is only required in progress raids (especially the heroic versions, where the Effective Health provided by the extra HP and armor from the tank pieces goes on the principle "the more, the better"). If you are tanking bosses that don't pose that much of a threat, then you may wear DPS rings, amulet and cloak for some extra avoidance and a nice threat boost from extra crit/haste/armor penetration, to allow your DPS members more room to push up their performance and thus allowing for a faster boss kill.
I think this pretty much gives you the answer to why strength tanking pieces are recommended for Bear Tanks, even though most of the gear naturally provides agility.