I was interested on how to spend my valor points, which depends in which bits of gear are available and what raid drops I might be getting anytime soon.
Dailies
Firelands and Hyjal dailies unlock various item level 365 stuff, which is a mere 6 point upgrade over Tier 11 i359 stuff, but an upgrade nevertheless. My plan is to take everything, then replace it all with 378 gear as and when I get it. Other than whether to grind the hell out of the dailies, getting all of this stuff is a no-brainer. Plus there is also a load of tasty Moonkin and Cat gear.
Getting to the Molten Front
Matoclaw's Band
Vendor (Additional Armaments):
Ricket's Magnetic Fireball
Vendor (Filling the Moonwell):
Band of Glittering Lights
Moonwell Phial
Relic of Elune's Shadow
Vendor (Calling the Ancients):
Aviana's Grips
So I'll be unlocking the Moonwell vendor first, purely because they sell the most items.
BoE trash drops
Bored? Join a trash run for reputation and a crack at some BoE drops. Rich? Head on over to the Auction House or trade channel for the chance at some expensive BoE epics.
Scales of Life
Riplimb's Lost Collar
Ranseur of Hatred
I am 2 out of 3 for the BoE drops, thanks to lucky dice and a generous guild. Now if Riplimb's Lost Collar could get unlost, that would be handy. It is definitely worth doing some trash farming, for BoEs and the reputation items.
Avengers reputation
While running that Firelands raid trash, you can haz Honoured reputation with The Avengers of Hyjal. But no more, unless you can kill bosses. No sign of Emma Peel either, which is a shame.
Friendly: Sleek Flamewrath Cloak
Honoured: Flamebinding Girdle
Revered: Stay of Execution
Exalted: Viridian Signet of the Avengers
Riplimb's Lost Collar can stay lost once I get to honoured if I don't have it, although it has better secondary stats than the Flamebinding Girdle.
Valor points
Not killing bosses? Don't let that get you down, just grind 7 heroics into the dust for Valor points! Then die lots in the new, long and quite tricky Zul'* heroics!
Chest (2200 VP): Obsidian Arborweave Raiment
Gloves (1650 VP): Obsidian Arborweave Grips
Legs (2200 VP): Obsidian Arborweave Legguards
Neck (1250 VP): Necklace of Smoke Signals
Wrist (1250 VP): Flamebinder Bracers
Ring (1250 VP): Splintered Brimstone Seal
Relic (700 VP): Covenant of the Flame
Neither the Tier 12 head nor the shoulders can be bought with Valor Points, you need a token from Ragnaros and Staghelm respectively. The Legs and Gloves could drop from the new boss in Baradin Hold, Occu'thar. The bracers are BoE, so they could be gotten from the AH eventually (at great cost). The two piece set bonus is pure threat (and damage) increase, the 4 piece bonus is the one which might help survivability.
Crafted
Patterns for the crafted items drop from trash in Firelands.
Gloves: Clutches of Evil
Feet: Treads of the Craft
The Witch-Hunter's Harvester is also crafted from a pattern from the Firelands Dailies, but it is item level 365 and given the likely cost, might not be worth picking up. As ever your purse will be the deciding factor.
Boss drops
The least likely thing to get, at the moment for our guild, is the boss drops. Mostly because a boss has to drop dead before we get a chance at their shinies, and progress has been lackluster of late.
Head: Hood of Rampant Disdain (Lord Rhyolith (one of first 4 bosses))
Shoulder: Shoulderpads of the Forgotten Gate (Baelroc (5th boss))
Chest: Breastplate of the Incendiary Soul (Baelroc)
Wrists: Flickering Wristbands (Alysrazor (one of first 4 bosses))
Hands: Gloves of Dissolving Smoke (Shannox (one of first 4 bosses))
Legs: Cinderweb Leggings (Beth'tilac (one of first 4 bosses))
Feet: Sandals of Leaping Coals (Staghelm (penultimate boss))
Ring: Widow's Kiss (Beth'tilac)
Trinket: Spidersilk Spindle (Beth'tilac)
Trinket: Matrix Restabilizer (Ragnaros)
Neck: Choker of the Vanquished Lord (Ragnaros)
Cloak: Dreadfire Drape (Lord Rhyolith)
Weapon: Fandral's Flamescythe (Fandral)
Now here the first 4 bosses might be dying at some point, for our guild the latter ones are going to be difficult. It is nice that Ragnaros drops a trinket, but I doubt I will be seeing it, so that makes it worth getting the trash drop trinket. However I would hope Shannox, Beth'tilac and Rhyolith are within our reach, giving a good chance at legs, gloves, ring, helm and a different trinket.
What is harder to get is the items from later bosses; the chest, shoulders, feet, fire kitty staff (damn), neck and wrists. This is a good pointer for what valor gear to grab first. Shoulders are not on the valor vendor, neither are feet. Feet can be bought as a crafted epic, so keep an eye out for those, same with wrists or you can grind them. The weapon needs to come from trash. There are no relic drops either.
Thus the chest, neck, relic and ring are prime purchases for Valor, plus maybe hands or legs to get the 2 piece Tier 12 bonus. That will really come down to which drop I didn't get, hands or legs. I think I will grind up the chest first, then see where I am with the legs or gloves. Recall the 2 piece set bonus is just threat, and I don't hold out massive hope of getting 4 pieces, so I may go for relic, neck and rings cos they are cheap, once I get the chest, and hold out for drops on the legs and gloves. If you are in a more progressed guild, you may want to snag things in a different order and be ready to grab the 4 piece set bonus.
Posts
Is this http://www.wowhead.com/item=71228 even useful for a druid tank? It doesn't have good stats.. no mastery versus the Mantle of Doubt.
ReplyDeleteI think even though the mantle of doubt has mastery, 201 agility and 301 stamina, it is a 365 item. The Sleek Flamewrath Cloak has 227 agility and 341 stamina but critical strike. However, the Flamewrath has higher agility and stamina, and these in my book are the best stats of all.
ReplyDeleteThe secondaries are not ideal, but the bump of item level and associated increase in agility and stamina really make the difference. I have reforged the critical strike to dodge, the hit is useful in avoiding misses, although with the boost to threat, hit is less useful than before.
My rule is to take the higher item level PvE item for the primary stats, then if the items are the same level, go for the best secondary stats. PvP stuff is a different matter, and I would take a PvE item of 7-8 item levels less in preference.