Bug? Defense Stat in character window not display correct values:

Trying to see if this is a bug or just how it works (never played tank before warmane)

As a feral druid when i equp an item with defense stat on it i would expect my base defense (350 @lvl 70) to go up by that amount. But it does not. It goes up by some other seemingly random amount.

See below
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1h3...JyHiam_kUIQidj

note that the leggings have 29 defense, but the character sheet shows 362 (350+12)

Is this normal behavior, or a bug?

If i am trying to cap out defense, should i be going by what my gear adds up to, or by what the character sheet says?

This is normal behavior. Defense rating is not the same thing as defense skill, as it was in Vanilla.

You should go by what your character sheet says. Because your character sheet it showing your actual defense skill.

http://wowwiki.wikia.com/wiki/Defense

TLDR:
At level 70, 2.36 defense rating gives 1 point in defense skill.
The cap (to be uncritable) is at 490 defense skill, so 140 defense skill more than your base 350 from lvl70, meaning you need 332 defense rating from your gear to achieve it.

Also it's recommended to get 491 defense because the UI interface will show 489.5 as 490 defense, meaning you won't be immune to crits aka crushing hits by trash and bosses.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kronosxviii

meaning you won't be immune to crits aka crushing hits by trash and bosses.

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Crushing blows are not the same thing as crits.

Crits add 100% damage and can be done by any mob. The purpose of 491 defense is to push critical strikes from a level 73 mob off the table.

Crushes add 50% damage and can only be done by a mob at least 3 levels higher than you. At 491 defense you will still take crushing blows if your dodge+parry+miss+block does not = 102.4%. IE: using shield block.

Thanks for the replies.. it took me a while to realize the UI is hiding 2 numbers ( rating & skill) in a not-so-easy-to-tell-them-apart kind of way.