Druid of the Moon

The Miser guide to upgrading in 3.2

August 7th, 2009 |

By now I am sure you have seen some gear lists for both Cat and Bear.

As I tweeted the link from the new gear list from Runy I started thinking about what made the most sense for me to do with the limited playtime I get each week.

Bottom line is it is unlikely I am going to do the daily Heroic every single day and frankly I dislike the fact that Blizzard has made that the modus operandi for gearing up with the latest gear. I didn’t mind people having the daily heroics in place for extra Emblems for loot to break into raiding but for it to become the gear replacement to raiding still irks me especially since I feel obligated to use this new method of getting geared to best fill my role as a 25 man raider.

So, I am going to look at upgrades from the view point of someone who wants to spend the least amount of time getting them… both in how long to wait and time invested.

Lets start with the fact that I raid 9 hours per week. That is my time to myself away from the family… daddy time. I don’t hunt, fish, or golf… I relax alone playing video games late at night where it least inconveniences my wife and family and I like it that way. In these 9 hours of raiding it is strictly 25 man so I am not going to mention 10 man gear. Sure, every now and again I get to raid 10 man content but it is an exception to the rule for sure.

I would say after everyone goes to sleep I might play another 6 hours per week when not raiding. So I am not going to farm gold for the latest crafted gear and I most likely am not going to see many extra Emblems from running Heroics or Naxx… etc.

I am only covering gear that would be a sizable upgrade in DPS from Ulduar gear, for example I have Mechanist’s Bindings and the BiS is crafted and probably expensive and the Heroic 25 man bracers that drop are not a huge upgrade either.

With that in mind here is what I am planning in order of importance.

Weapon! – Yes I have Twisted Visage and it is a great weapon, however it is also the biggest DPS upgrade when moving to something new in 3.2. Here is where I plan on focusing quite a bit of DKP. There are 2 version of each polearm and staff weapon, a normal mode version and a heroic mode version with higher stats with different names depending on if you are horde or alliance. In order of awesomeness…
- Archon Glaive / Hellion Glaive – Heck I give it a nod over the staff just for the coolness factor of wielding a Glaive… that and I am not a big fan of haste on the staves. 25 man Anubarak
- Lupine Longstaff / Twin’s Pact – 25 man Twin Valkyrs

Finger – Dexterous Brightstone Ring – This might be one of the biggest bangs for your emblem buck – 35 Emblems… man I need to do the Heroic Daily… ugh.

Shoulders - Duskstalker Shoulderpads would be a huge upgrade over my Treacherous Shoulderpads and at only 45 Triumph Emblems not a horrible deal. I don’t think the 2T9 bonus is worth getting til Heroic level T9 so I will use these with the dropped chest and have T8.5 helm and hands to maintain the 2T8 bonus.

Chest – Cuirass of Calamitous Fate / Vest of Calamitous Fate coming from Heroic 25 man Lord Jaraxxus. Another nice place to spend some DKP.

Legs – Leggings of the Broken Beast / Legwraps of the Broken Beast from 25 man Heroic Icehowl unless of course you have Legguards of Cunning Deception from Yogg 25 man Hard mode.

Back – Drape of the Untamed Predator / Cloak of the Untamed Predator from 25 man Heroic Icehowl

Other Finger – Spend some DKP and nab Ring of Callous Aggression / Band of Callous Aggression from Heroic 25 man Faction Champions

Trinkets – RUN 5 MAN NORMAL TIL YOU GET Banner of Victory to replace the mirror if you are still using it. If you are lucky enough to have a ArP trinket pared with the darkmoon card spend DKP to replace the card with Death’s Choice / Death’s Verdict

Idols – Try to get them all because depending on your gear situation and fight mechanics you never know which one you might want to use. Fortunately for me I got Idol of the Corruptor from Ulduar so I only need to buy Idol of Mutilation for 25 Emblems but I am not making it a huge priority. Runy had a nice Idol POST you might want to read.

Belt – Belt of the Merciless Killer / Belt of the Pitiless Killer Heroics versions are just awesome. Drops from Heroic 25 Fjola… even the normal 25 man versions are darn nice.

Neck – You should end up with the Emblems for Broach of the Wailing Night and then can replace it come 25 man Heroic Jaraxxus with Charge of the Eredar / Charge of the Demon Lord. A decent upgrade if you have DKP for it after all the other priorities.

Now, if you raid with a guild you most likely have some sort of DKP system. You will need to think ahead about spending DKP on Trophy of the Crusade which will buy you the best non heroic T9 gear. I am going to say that this is the absolute worst way to spend DKP if you feel that your guild is capable of getting to Heroic 25 man. Use your DKP for the bigger upgrades I listed above and save your DKP for the Heroic Tokens for T9 which will allow you to buy the highest ILvL of T9 with no Emblems needed. IMHO, if you are sitting on 4T8.5 don’t bother getting the lowest level of T9 for the 2T8 /2T9 bonus. Use DKP to upgrade everywhere else and then save DKP for tokens from Heroic and get the best T9 time can buy.

So, make sure you get the best 2T8 pieces you can for the bonus and then fill in your leather around it until you can get the top T9 items from Heroic 25 man. I would recommend T8 Helm and Hands and going with non tier Chest. Shoulder, and Pant.

For the weekend raider, I think these strategies for using Emblems and DKP makes the most sense for the DPS feral. Have patience and you should be going into Icecrown in a nice DKP position and with the biggest bang for your buck gear. Stockpile Emblems and DKP until you need to use it, consider where you rank week to week on WWS and meters as a guide… maybe sit back and let the pure DPS classes catch up a little bit

Now more than ever I feel in big trouble as I am not sure I am going to have the time to upgrade both my bear and cat sets… let’s just hope I continue to have a place as a DPS kitty and don’t have to return to tanking.

So here is my Emblems shopping list for DPS items…