Defense Minimum Hard to Hit as a Casual

So hopefully this doesn't turn into a QQ post, but damn, the Defense Minimum is hard to hit. Or at least, harder to hit as a totally casual player than I thought it would be. Oh, and yeah, it's NOT a Cap.

I've been buying gear and enchants and such. I've been looking at all my gear and the gear that I still haven't gotten that has defense on it. If I switch out a ring that I have in my inventory, one that is a much lower-level item but has defense on it, I get within 2 points of the heroics defense minimum of 535. Not good enough, and I refuse to wear gear that is less beneficial overall. I shouldn't have to anyway. Just because it has defense on it doesn't mean I should be wearing it, especially in starting heroics (I mean, it's green for gods sakes...). Still, I have to do something. So what will it be..?

Frankly, I was really hoping I'd be able to run to Outlands, to the Hellfire Peninsula and finish a quest to get a Regal Protectorate. Damn if I hadn't already done the quest and destroyed/sold the trinket some time ago. I don't remember doing it and I don't remember getting the trinket, but Nazgrel or whoever isn't giving me the quest and I don't have a trinket. Gah! Why does my life have to be difficult.

Of course, that really only leaves me one option. And, you know, this is what I should have been doing anyway: I have to run Halls of Lightning. Instead of wasting all this time trying to find some easy way out, I should have been running instances, especially HoL. You'd think as a tank I shouldn't have any issues running instances. That's what tanks do.

I've realized that I'm not aggressive enough, though. I hate going into instances, especially with a PuG group, when I don't feel familiar with the instance. As a tank, I'm usually supposed to be the leader. I run the instance, how fast we pull, how fast we go, which direction we take... and if I've never been in before, I often feel very foolish trying to take over that leadership role. I guess it's time I grow a backbone, though, and get some runs under my belt.

Why Halls of Lighting? Simple: The Seal of the Pantheon. It's the only tanking trinket with defense on it (and that's some good defense) outside of Heroics and Naxx. The Eternally Folded Blade is icing on the cake, in my opinion. The RNG comes into play, though. I've already read plenty of horror stories regarding the drop rate of the Seal. I'm going to have to hope that I have better luck. I don't mind running an instance over and over to get something I really want, although the poor guy who's run it 20 times and still hasn't seen it may want to take a break and come back to this.

If I can get the seal, I'll be golden. And surely that sword will drop for me while I'm running for the trinket. You know what sucks, though? Once I do all that... I'll need to start stacking Stamina.

/sigh