Post by Nulgar
For example, I was in Hellfire Ramparts( I think that's the name) and a nice chest plate came up. I couldn't roll need and I threw a fit because the armor rating was 200 more than my current chest plate. The instance leader threw a fit back saying it wasn't the stats i needed so tips about stats and stuff like that would be appreciated.
The "main stats" are Strength, Agility and Intellect.
Technically, this also includes Stamina and Spirit, but for most classes/specializations, they aren't that important.
On higher levels of armor (should start at Outland gear already) Stamina, like Armor Rating, is in sync with the main stat, the more of the main stat the item has, the more armor and Stamina it has, so you only need to care for the main stat.
Spirit is only interesting to healers and the caster specs of classes that have a healer spec, namely Shadow Priests, Balance Druids and Elemental Shamans (so that they can share gear with the healer specs)
These caster specs receive Hit Rating from Spirit, see e.g.
.
To put it the other way around, Mages and Warlocks don't need Spirit, but all other Intellect users like it.
Cheatsheet for the main stats, grouped by armor class (due to the
armor specializations, you'll want to use your main armor clas above level 50 - excluding the Cloth users, who just get that bonus since they can't use another armor class. Also, necklaces, rings and trinkets have no armor class, they are ignored in that regard)
Cloth: Mage, Warlock, Priest:
Intellect.
Leather:Rogues, Feral and Guardian Druids, Brewmaster and Windwalker Monks:
Agility.
Balance and Restoration Druids, Mistweaver Monks:
Intellect.
Mail:Enhancement Shamans and Hunters:
Agility.
Elemental and Restoration Shamans:
Intellect.
Plate:Warriors, Death Knights, Retribution and Protection Paladins:
Strength.
Holy Paladins:
Intellect.
The item you wanted to roll on most likely had Intellect, or Dodge Rating, which is only interesting for tanks, so you were not able to choose Need for it in the Dungeon Finder mode. That it had higher armor isn't that important while levelling as long as you can kill your enemies fast enough, which is mostly determined by your main stat, so increase that instead of your armor or Stamina ;)
I also want to get into the lore part of the game but I have no idea were to start. links to lore and help would be much appreciated.
The Story of Warcraft is a guide to what happened when, and for details, you can look up characters, locations and events on
Wowpedia to find out more about them.