i encourage you to reach out to the information coming out of the Beta of the upcoming expansion. sure, you can spend hours reading and digesting the information being pumped out in Wowhead.com etc; however, there are some great class niche level authors that are doing that for you and if you can trust the sources or the hosts, you can get some great information.
for example, i’ve heard through sources that the level gear at T4 and ZA is replaced early in the expansion; however, i have also heard that the T6 gear in many slots will be great for starting to raid at level 80 and only replaced once you get drops from Naxx.
from my perspective for Ironhelm’s gear, i use resources like:
http://www.tankspot.com/forums/gear-lists-rankings/39462-wotlk-tanking-gear-list.html
to help me put gearing into perspective and to understand how the expansion’s changes to my class are shaping up.
it is helping me decide to keep Blacksmithing which for the most part has been wholly useless in TBC. the only BS items I used, were BOE that I bought from someone else. however, that tanking gear list is a good resource to help me understand the impacts of class and profession changes as known now in the Beta.
if you do not yet have some ‘often read’ sources that you rely on for class/wow information, i encourage you to ask others – both in guild and outside – what resources they read. if there is one thing that differentiates a n00b from a veteran, it is knowledge — gained either from experience or research. for many of us that are not experiencing the Beta, research is the best way to make informed decisions.
