My Character is lacking....

[Zub Profile]

Edited for posting on the wrong Forum..Should be in Kitty. My mistake, I apologize.

While I am here, I might as well ask.

My initial threat generation is sometimes lacking specially if Berserk is on CD. Between, FFF, charge and magle(Maul Macro), sometimes I still have bosses turning around and looking at the DPS for a sec or 2 while I frantically click my taunt.

I am over hit capped in my bear gear and 30+ expertise, I have a feeling that my weapon is the culprit (Orca Harpoon). Shoul I go ahead and spend the money on the Battered Hilt or just wait till RotFace drops the weapon?

Thanks
Zub

[Grenache Profile Website]

I'd be surprised if that alone was the issue (i.e weapon). Befriending your local hunter might help a little also.

I read recently that at the ICC 10/25 level of gearing, bear tanks are starting to feel the pinch a little bit in terms of threat (especially if gemmed for pure Stam), but I assumed that was for multi-target tanking. I thought we were holding up reasonably well on single targets. Maybe a better qualified bear than me could comment on that though.

[Alaron]

Yeah, it really depends on what level you're talking about. For heroics, gear disparity is so high that there's really not a lot you can do (besides letting DPS die). If you're landing a FFF + Mangle + Maul and the DPS are immediately pulling off of you, that's their fault. (Destro locks and ret paladins are very bursty and can easily pull aggro.) For raids, MD/TOT should take care of you for single-target fights, and 2pT10 solves most AOE issues.
I wouldn't get Battered Hilt if you can raid ICC10, as you've got three ilvl 251 weapons in there, none of which drop from wing bosses, so you should get one fairly soon.

[Captain Fizz Profile]

Weapons make a big difference to threat.
232 -> 251 is 500 AP + the extra stats.
I noticed a jump going from Hellion Glaive (245) to Distant Land (264).
Same ilvl diff. But wait for the drop ^^

In raids as Alaron advises, MD/TotT should be enough for initial threat - BigBrother can keep an eye on this for you, or you can use a MSBT trigger for when a TotT/MD lands on you... Just so you know they are landing.
2 x T10 is also very strong. (No problems with AoE tanking at all here - Stronger than Warriors/DK's anyway)

If on easier bosses look at wearing more DPS related gear... I have a 'trash' set & 'boss' set of gear.
Trash set gets used for easy bosses too ^^ Likes of the Agi & Crit meta instead of Sta & armour/reduced spelldmg.

Basically if you never die on a boss - You can work on gemming more Agi or using a more DPS orientated piece of armour.
Still have the most HP/Armour set for the likes of Fester, but for Lady D / Adds on the boat etc - Have a more threat orientated gearset.

Using the likes of Darkmoon Card Greatness (Agi) instead of a sta/armour trinket can make a difference too.
I'll generally swap trinkets out on a fight per fight basis.
Double sta for lots of spelldmg, armour/sta for hard hitting, DPS/sta for easier bosses, double DPS trink for OT'ing/adds

[Zub Profile]

Thanks for the tidbits. Will definitely be experimenting this coming ICC run.

[Alaron]

Fizz nails it. Regarding threat pulls, I've always said that if a DPS pulls off a tank in the first 10s, it's the DPS's fault (excepting straight DPS checks like Hodir HM or BQL); any later than that, it's the tank's fault, as you should be able to chain taunt to keep aggro even if you're being slightly outthreated (If you're being massively outthreated, you're either undergeared or you're doing something wrong, rotation-wise.). Let me use a quick example to illustrate. Say you, hypothetically, do 4000 TPS, and the lolret does 6000 DPS. (No MD/TOTT/Vig.)
If you have a 1s headstart, here's the threat values per second:
Bear: 4000, 8000, 12000, 16000
Lolret: 0, 6000, 12000, 18000 (>110% threat, pulls aggro and dies, blames you most likely).
If you have a 3s headstart:
Bear: 4000, 8000, 12000...40000 (at 10s)
Lolret: 0,0,0...42000 (105% threat...boss stays on you, you have time to taunt to jump back even)

Of course, it's more complicated then that, but you get the general idea, hopefully.