Got an essay(full of questions) coming your way =)

I check this blog fairly frequently and I do it to hear experiences and hopefully some game theory. Much like you I hit 80 and started grinding instances/heroics and rep. Unlike you, I'm "trying" to be more casual this expansion. It's hard because everything has been pretty easy and the content seems to melt away. However, I'm at least trying to slow things down a bit so I don't find myself in the situation you are in now.

Here are a few of the things I've run into and thought about. Some of these are potential class changes, some of them are spec/number related issues, etc.

Specs
I've run a few different specs at this point for dps and tanking. There are some talents that are better than I expected and a few that have really disappointed me. One thing to discussion might be some of the specs you've used, why you skip certain talents, or new talents you find very useful.

For me I check recount after each instance run and certain bosses and I was very surprised to see where certain talents fell. For instance, wandering plague even with 20%+ crit and AE'n almost every single pull wasn't nearly as much of a damage boost as I'd expected.

AMZ is another talent that is situational and that I've played around with in some specs. In most PvE cases it drops super fast, but it can help on certain fights. I'm also a pretty big fan of the pre-req's boost to AMS + AMS glyph. 10 seconds out of every 75 vs 5 out of every 60 can be a big difference. (that could also be a bit of a gear discussion)

Gear
Guess I'll transition into the gear discussion now. The defense cap has been a PITA for me to deal with. It is possible to put together a blue set of crafted/quest gear that puts you to the cap, but most of the "upgrades" you get offer lower defense for additional dodge/parry/hit. Due to the healers I play with I'm very hesitant to drop below the cap at all unfortunately. 8(

Potentially discussion some of the early tanking gear available and some of the gems/chants/etc. to help at least get closer to the cap might prove useful for some. Additionally, there are some great pieces of gear that provide solid boosts to other stats that might deserve mention. Additionally, it can't hurt to mention how crummy +10% on plague strike is for a set bonus and how it *SHOULD* be changed to rune strike at the very least.

Issues/bugs/etc.
There are a few things I've run into from mechanics to quests that I would have at least liked to have known others ran into. For example, the pet likes to dance with a mob and pull it 20+ yards away sometimes. What happens is your pet goes running at a mob, it aggros it, the mob re-positions, the pet re-positions, etc. and they do this dance and pull *WAY* away from you've. I've had situations where they repositioned right into another group of mobs, I've had them go out of LoS, etc.

It's only an issue when the pet pulls aggro, but since they go running over in cases where you simply lob a DC or IT it can happen quite a bit if you aren't careful. It would have been nice to know about that and hopefully for it to get fixed at some point.

On the quest front I had issues in storm peaks with "the darksysomething". It's the cool quest where you ride the drake around the tower of storms and harpoon your way from mob to mob. Great concept, kinda cool quest, but it hates me. The first time I did it the drake bugged after I harpooned one of them and dropped me to my death. The next time I did it the harpoon wouldn't take me to other drakes. It even took several tries for it to hook one of the fixtures and get back to the platform.

The real issue with the above quest is that it is necessary for Son's rep. That rep will take awhile to grind regardless, so that made everything even more annoying.

Runeforging
Overall I'm pretty bleh on the whole thing. It started off as a great idea, but it really isn't that great. I hit 70 and put FC on my weapon, ground to 80 and I tank with +4% parry.

One of the biggest issues I see is that when duel specs go live runeforging will still be a limitation on deathknights. Other classes will toggle specs/gear and everything and be ready to go. If a deathknight is going from dps to tanking though they'll be down 4% parry if they don't go reforge their weapon. If they do, then they'll be missing some nice self healing and damage when they "spec" back to damage after the fight.

At a minimum I'd like to runeforging to work through the death gate. It's a cool spell/graphic that doesn't see a ton of use and would allow some channeling or lore that enables the user to adjust their runeforged enchants without having to be *AT* a runeforge. This way the DK doesn't step through the portal and need a re-summon back to get the same basic functionality other classes will have via the duel-spec option.

Of course, runeforging can't be mentioned without pointing out that there are no new ones past level 70. It's partly a balance thing and partly a flavor thing, but really it's more of a hassle than a benefit at this point. They could just roll the +parry into frost presence for all I care at this point and let me run FC on my weapon full time. *shrugs*

Stats
Perhaps a bit of discussion about your stats at various points to give people an idea when you were hitting heroics. Some like to mention flat values like 20k armor, 20% dodge+parry or whatever. It'd also prove useful to know the kind of group you run with (again better healers/dps will skew things). Some talk about the different heroics might prove useful to those debating how to get started as well. For example, I've found heroic VH to be fun/quick and sometimes very annoying. 8P

The fact that you don't know which bosses you are getting greatly changes the instance. A couple of the bosses are very easy and a couple can be annoying (especially if you have weaker players in group with you). Talking about which heroics you've found easiest/fastest/hardest/etc. could help give new DKs a feel for where to start.

Things like the above I think would help other DKs get a better idea of where they stand and how they might want to progress. Once they settle into a certain situation it'll be easier to make choices that best fit their situation, but for now many are just starting down the path and information like the above can prove useful.