Now, the idea of this post might seem kind of silly to some; but I'm just looking for solid info. Every time I talk to someone about shielding i get a different answer about how it works. Ethierway, I'm not to worried about that as much as I'm worry about how effective it is for a druid. In the past month or so I went form 0% to 8% shielding, and I honestly can say i noticed a difference. I don't look at hit damage and record it, but it seems like I'm living through situations where I would have died in the past.

Does anyone have parsings or any info about regarding shielding's effectivness for a druid?

From what I read on the Steel Warrior, shielding takes a straight percentage off the minimum damage (hit amount = minimum + {1..20} * multiplier). I haven't done a controlled test, but just from observation it's obvious that shielding isn't a straight percentage off the total amount -- e.g., I noticed that 7% shielding only reduces max damage by 2%. Therefore, the more you get hit for the minimum, the stronger the effect, up to a theoretical maximum of just under the % amount listed on the armor piece.

Therefore, the more you get hit for the minimum, the stronger the effect, up to a theoretical maximum of just under the % amount listed on the armor piece.
This is why it's normally much better for plate tanks... to really make shielding worth it you need the mitigation and ac to move the avg hit from mobs towards the lower end of the hit range spectrum consistantly. Taking consistant dmg also works to the same effect.

It's something that's probably well to have but unless you specifically MT a lot in grps / off raids it's not something I'd focus to hard on... AC, avoidance,and defensive aa's (and oaken guard) work better towards general surviability on raids.

Mhmmm there's another debated topic....avoidance. Anyone got info on wheather or not there's a cap (or softcap) to it, and if yes, what is it?

an old monk in the guild said it was still giving ac past 100 but someone else a week or so ago said 100 is the cap. For now I'd probably just say that's the number to get.. would take some major loot dibbing to get enough avoidance to really test a cap I think.

I'm pretty certain avoidance is capped at 100, I'll test again some day to be sure I guess. Last time I did tho, any avoidance above 100 did not give an AC increase, where any avoidance before that did.

Not to happy about it either, pretty far over cap :(