Heya,
I am looking for a wee bit of guidance.
I just made it to 80 on my prot pally. Since around level 50 I’ve been in dungeons.
Can’t do heroics at item level 158, need 180. I have some pretty old pieces and not getting upgrades, I’m really like 145, the rest is dps gear in my bags. I just crafted a 75 cloak on my LW.
The AH is well above my overall budget. (Equivalent of 40-50€)
Not that I want to! I am looking for options, but unfortunately all websites moved on and assume I can earn emblems.
So. What content should I do in this scenario?
Sometimes posting these threads works as anti-jinx, so if I just have to run a couple hundred normals, I can do that I guess.
(Also, folks at wowhead and icy-veins, please never remove pre-phase, pre-emblem gearing options. Looking for something like metabattle.)
You can do wintergrap and buy some pvp items, pushes your ilvl a lot.
Alternatively, you can do some quests to get more gear (and badges), or do normal dungeons.
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As above, doing Wintergrasp every time it’s up for easy honor is a good idea. You can buy either some pieces from the the Furious ilvl 238 PvP set (only sold at Area 52, Netherstorm for some unknown reason though). Or Wrathful/Relentless offpieces from a PvP vendor in your capital (Org/Stormwind). Furious weapon/shield/relic could also be considered. Resilience is a surprisingly good stat for tanks starting out, since resilience lowers your def cap.
Hereafter is a bit difficult to answer, since we don’t know your faction, realm or gold budget. But there are some cheap-ish items you can buy from the auction house that shouldn’t be disregarded.
On my server, at the time of writing this post, you can get a decent tanking neck (Burning Skull Pendant) for 134 gold, tanking rings (Signet of the Accord, Titanium Earthguard Ring) for 199 gold and 400 gold, respectively. Darkmoon Card: Berserker! for 80 gold (trinket with resilience, lowers def cap), Cloak of the Iron Council for 174 gold. Even with a small budget, you can probably get a few pieces. I also found several random plate BoE’s between 500-1000 gold which would all benefit a starting out tank. You get the idea. I also wanna do a quick shoutout to the crafted Daunting plate set, “only” 187 item level, but has loads of defense rating for a dirt cheap price.
Doing above will definitely make you ready to tank regular heroic dungeons. I would also advice you to buy cheap gems if possible, everything counts (not towards gearscore obviously, but your overall performance). I always try to get a few gems with hit/expertise when starting out for threat. Vivid Forest Emerald, Guardian’s Twilight Opal are usually cheap. Possibly even cheap enchants on gear you think you will keep for a while.
Edit: Also make sure you’re def capped, that’s crucial for any type of heroic content. There’s a good WeakAura called Avoidance / Defense Cap which will show you your defense cap at your character panel.
h ttps://wago.io/qYKsfPe_W
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Thank you both! 
Also for the specific examples.
I’m on Mirage Raceway alliance. Things are a bit pricier right now, but I’ll keep monitoring. Most items are sold in bulk by one or two names. Likely AH barons.
So I could sit down and reate an i187 slot list.
ps.: Got Forge of Souls, 226 BoP tanking belt drops off second trash mob, three needs, lost. And then couldn’t kill first boss and then there was no healer found in 15 minutes.