How to! Warrior Tank - Level 73-74

<--(Yeah, I got rid of that ugly helmet...)

Here we are, yet another step toward the big 80! You should look pretty neat in your Cobalt Set but there are some other tank items to be had now, I'll get to that in a moment. If you like me play on a server without a main or friends to help you out, you're stuck with a regular ground mount until level 77. Boo. You probably have your hearthstone set to Dalaran already (if you don't you should asap! It is a great place to have your hearthstone from level 20 and up) but unfortunately you need a lot of flightpaths between Vengeance Landing/Warsong Hold before you can fly between those places and Dalaran. If you start out in Vengeance Landing you have to run all the way to Wyrmrest Temple, grabbing all the flight paths on the way. If you start out in Warsong Hold you'll have to run to Agmars Hammer (and I always think about "by Grabthars Hammer!" when I hear that). Oh and I'm sorry, but I don't know what the alliance holds are named in Howling Fjord and Borean Tundra :S But you probably need to run to Dragonblight too, to be able to fly between those places and Dalaran.

Level 74 is also the first level to improve the old Cobalt Set by switching to the Tempered Saronite Set. At level 74 you can use the Legplates and Belt. Beware though, most people take alot of money for these on the AH, although they're worth about 15-20g each in mats (some want up to 70g each for them!). As with the Cobalt Set, the best choice is to have someone craft them for you.

If you really want to pimp yourself, I recommend the Borean Armor kits that increase stamina by 12 on your head, chest, shoulder, legs and hands (that's a total of 60 extra stamina), or if you really wanna pimp it the Heavy Borean Armor kits that increase stamina by 18 on the same items (that's 90 extra stamina, so pretty dang nice!). These can be really expensive, but if you happen to know a skinner and/or leatherworker or just feel like spending, this is a good place to do it.

No new interesting skills or glyphs for these levels.

Talents
Not much to say here, just go along with what you had planned. I've kept on placing points in Toughness and will do so the next two levels as well. But we'll get there.

Instances
There are two new instances to be pugged into for these levels, Azjol-Nerub and Old Kingdom. As usual there are some quests for the instances that give some nice loot, two for AN and one for OK. You can get them just outside the instance entrances without having to do any prequests.

(No this picture has nothing to do with Azjol Nerub)

Azjol-Nerub (level 72-74)
One of my favorite instances because it is so short and simple. Well ok, it isn't simple actually. It has some rather difficult pulls, especially if you don't know how the mobs work yet. Well that is why you've got me so don't worry! I remember the very first time I did this instance and I was really stunned by it's beauty. Its not something you think about the 100th time you do it but you should. AN is a really special instance that has gotten some extra love and care from the Blizzard designers. Maybe that is why I like it so. Here are some things to think about;
- The first room, with Krik'this and his packs, you can pull one pack at a time. Once you've pulled one however, the others will come by themselves after a while, so just wait for them to come or you might pull too many. Krik'this will not attack on his own though, like he does in heroic mode, so you can take the moment for a little mana break if your party needs it.
- The Skirmishers will randomly attack one party member after a while, and they hit quite hard. You can not taunt them when they are doing this so better kill them first of all.
- Although the Shadowcasters are casters, they will run all the way to you before starting to cast. This was not always so and that made this instance extremely annoying to tank as a lowbie warrior. Guess Blizzard decided to change that!- When fighting Hadronox, remember not to stand in her poison :P
- Anub'arak does a rather evil Pound. It works sort of like the Smash that Ingvar in UK does, so run through Anub'arak to avoid it. This is a little more evil since it not only deals alot of damage (about 10k), it also stuns you for 6 seconds making you unable to do any threat or avoid attacks. This skill can be iffy at times, so you've gotta learn the "flow" of it to avoid it properly. But like I said, running through the boss is the best and simplest solution.

And in this instance we'll finally get some tank loot to hope for! Anub'arak drops a really nice ring - Signet of Arachnid Command, which you should try to get your hands on.
Old Kingdom (level 73-75)
This used to be the hardest instance in the game, before the implementation of the ICC instances (and maybe the ToC one too). And then they nerfed it too... so yeah it's not very difficult anymore. Except for the first few packs;
- The Spellflingers are probably the most horrible mobs in a heroic at the moment. Ok there are some really annoying mobs in PoS too... But anyway the Spellflingers. They are quite easy to handle, but you have to do so because they cast some really evil spells. They do a Shadow Blast which does 50% of your max hp in damage. It has a really long cast time so there should be no trouble to silence it with Shield Bash, or Concussion Blow if you miss SB. It also does a Shadow Sickle which does a lot of damage to a random party member. Also easily interruptable. Tell people in your party to help you with that too! And mark it for death with a pretty skull.- Most of the bosses are skipable, but some like to do them for exp of course. I personally really dislike the first boss in the row, Elder Nadox, because of his annoying immunity bubble. When he goes immune you have to kill the Guardian that spawns.
- The Eye of Taldaram mobs often put a silence on the healer. If you have a priest/paladin healer this shouldn't be a problem this shouldn't be a problem since it is dispellable. But if you have a druid/shaman healer you might want to be ready to pop some cooldowns.
- After Prince Taldaram you come to an area in which it easy to overpull. There used to be more mobs there than now so this was quite the wipe place before! It's not too hard now. Just pull back, and watch the flamestrikes.

There is tank loot to be had in OK as well - Battlechest of the Twilight Cult which drops from Jedoga Shadowseeker.