When a guild disbands: It's not pretty.

On Sunday night while Vitare was bashing their heads against Heroic Northern Beasts, we got some pretty shocking news. The #2 Alliance guild on the server was disbanding. These were the players chasing the leading Alliance guild for fastest progression on the realm – and sometimes winning.

I normally take this kind of stuff with a grain of salt, but seeing I have some friends in this guild, I thought I would try and find out what was happening. It didn’t take long for confirmation to come through – the GM and 2 officers were quitting the game. This had left them short of their GM, Main and Off Tank, cornerstones of a stable raiding guild, so things were looking pretty shaky.

This is not the first Barthilas guild that has fallen since patch 3.2 either. Another Alliance guild that consistently ranked in the top 5 on the server changed their goals and pace from “hardcore” to “semi-hardcore”.

I think the reason for these disbands all stem from the completely unreasonable and terrible server instability raiders are experiencing on Barthilas since Trial of the Crusader was released.

Disconnects and Demoralised Raiders

It took us 30 attempts this raid lockout to get Heroic Northrend Beasts. We tried perhaps 20 attempts the week past before giving up and returning to Ulduar.

Each attempt we had at least 1 (more often than not up to 5) players disconnect during the first phase of the encounter. After the third disconnect, people started being replaced. When you’ve played with these same people for months and never seen them disconnect before, at some point you can’t keep blaming their ISPs (or as our GM always claims, their low “upload speed”).

Disconnecting frequently or experiencing 5 second casts times for your instant spells only inside Trial of the Crusader is not normal. At some point you realise the problem is bigger than yourself and your raid and, whatever it is, it’s at Blizzard’s end.

When it comes to heroic modes, you need everyone to be performing their best. When 3 people are dead before phase 1 finishes because they lag or DC during fire or a Snobold drops on them, you have next to no chance at completing the encounter. Just losing 1 DPS temporarily to a disconnect will set you behind the enrage time.

Disconnects and lag impacted a good 90% of our attempts.

We found that the lag spikes occurred in both phase 1 and phase 2 for Northern Beasts. The biggest problem with this was that healers couldn’t reactively heal Impale and we experienced plenty of tank deaths.

Progression Cycles

While Vitare chose to persevere, I have mates in other guilds who have instead elected to work only on Ulduar Hard Modes because wiping due to lag is simply too frustrating.

I think Vitare probably shocked quite a few guilds by downing Heroic Northern Beasts – this pushed us into the top 5 guilds of the server. We are lucky, Cass and I joined after quite a few of their core players left/stopped raiding with the release of Ulduar. The healing team was in tatters. And many other raiders were trials during those early Ulduar weeks.

Sure, this probably slowed down our Ulduar progression, but now for Trial of the Crusader our core group of players (especially the tanks and healers) are strong, experienced at working together and we are determined. If there were players or officers feeling the slightest bit “over it” or negative I’m sure things would have gone very differently in the Trial of Crusader.

A guild will have lows and highs, progress quickly then hit a roadblock or suddenly struggle for numbers. Be confident that you will pull through it. And if you have a dedicated officer team, agree on what your goals are, chances are, you will pull through.

The Last Straw

The guilds that have disbanded on Barthilas in the last couple weeks were used to competing for server firsts. They were the hardcore of the hardcore. The type of players that you would invite to a PuG run of anything and they would (usually silently) kick ass and pull out some weird tricks on a boss fight.

How can you manage a serious attempt at a boss when your long term raiders keep disconnecting? You know your players have the skill, but you are forced to remove them from the raid because they do more harm than good if they disconnect.

Do you recruit more players? Do you keep only those whose connection seems to cope better than others? How do you evaluate their skill when everyone is affected by lag and are performing worse than usual? What if Blizzard fix the server-side issues tomorrow?

At the end of the day, the current server lag issues are outside of our control. Until they are fixed I expect that many guilds with players of great skill will see little progression. And the officers of those guilds will have to perform a difficult juggling act to keep their raiders happy. I can completely understand how, at some points, the urge to quit becomes incredibly strong.

The Fall Out

Vitare are recruiting at the moment. As with any major content release the officers have been evaluating who stuck around when things got boring in the previous patch, and who didn’t.

Many of our new recruits will not make it through their trial period. And not because they are bad players. Because they disconnect.

I expect we’ll see an influx of applications from members these guilds who have disbanded. But I don’t quite think Vitare raids with the same mindset or intensity as these other guilds did. Many a raider has been kicked from the guild for what essentially boils down to loyalty (or lack thereof) and many an applicant has been turned down for questionable behavior in their previous guilds/realm.

I hope to see a new “hardcore” guild or two start up in their place on the server. There ought to be a stepping stone in skill and dedication between us and #1. Or am I just arguing that there are degrees of “hardcore”?

I hope that Barthilas guilds don’t server hop to try and find a more stable raiding platform, there is already such a select pool of players and guilds to choose from at the progression end. I hope Blizzard fix whatever is causing the problem/s before it gets to that point.

Heroic Northrend Beasts: Please no more skeletons.

You may have noticed that Lathere and I haven’t mentioned raiding for weeks. It’s not because we’ve been taking a raiding break. We’ve both spent too much time looking at the bricks on the walls of Trial of the Crusader lately.  Not exactly inspiring stuff.

For the last few weeks we’ve been working on Heroic 25 Northrend Beasts, the first boss in a “Tribute” run. Heroic is really a huge step up from Normal difficulty. The first night of wiping had me convinced that we needed a heck of a lot more gear before we’d be able to beat it. But we’ve been wiping on it pretty much each raid night since then.

Somehow (and don’t ask me how) we beat the enrage timer, shitty server lag and killed Northrend Beasts on Heroic mode. And, to be honest, the only reason why it was possible was because we have an amazing healing team. The fight is demanding because you are given a set amount of time to kill each beast before the next appears. The encounter sets the pace, not your raid. We dropped back to a group of 5 healers to make room for more DPS.

And yes, Lathere did a fantastic job /hug

Tips for Heroic Northrend Beasts

Since we killed him, I suppose that I’m qualified to offer some suggestions on how we did it. You cannot afford to lose even 1 person if you want to make the enrage timer.

All I can say is... thank god.

Phase 1: Levitate all the ranged/healers before the pull
Ok, this is probably a bit of a bug, but if you are floating with Levitate and you get hit by a Snowbold’s fire bomb, Levitate will break, but you won’t spawn fire underneath your feet. No moving/DPS time lost.

Phase 2: Don’t be nearby when the Worms resurface
They like to target the closest player and spit on them. Make sure that person is not you.

Phase 2: Split your melee
Melee players tend to get spat on all at once. To minimise the chances of that happening we split the melee into 2 groups, with one on Acidmaw and one on Deadscale. After killing Acidmaw you’ll come across one phase when Dreadscale becomes stationary. This is his favourite time to fire spit on the melee and wipe your raid. Try and triangulate your 2 melee groups with your tank and get everyone at max range.

Phase 3: Strafe for your life
Tuskarr’s Vitality, run speed pots, engineering tricks, whatever you need to get out of the way in time when Icehowl charges, use. He enrages if he hits someone and that’s a near guaranteed wipe. Oh yeah, watch out for those upright struts that stick out from the wall.

Why I Hated Heroic Northrend Beasts

Working on this encounter was not fun. And I think I know why:

I miss trash.

There, I’ve confessed. There is no trash to clear before starting the encounter. You don’t move forward. You can’t even muck around, because, well it’s only trash.

The same four walls.

It all takes place in 1 room. You stay there. You buff run into position and fight. Repeat. Now repeat that 50 times. The only thing that changes is the amount of skeletons on the floor.

Oh yeah. Lag.

The Barthilas server lag appeared before Anub’arak was released. And it hasn’t really gone away. Some nights are worse than others.

So what is the problem? It is just Bloodlust at 2am PDT (7pm server time)? Are Bloodlust guilds raiding at other times of the day experiencing the same unbearable lag as we are? What is the problem with Patch 3.2? Why do we disconnect in Trial of the Crusader and nowhere else?

Best Part of Trial of the Crusader

To end on a positive note, and lift my spirits, here is my absolute favourite moment in Trial of the Crusader:

Free Fall: You fall right through the floor to reach Anub'arak

When you defeat the Twins the floor of Trial of the Crusader shatters and you free fall down into Anub’arak’s Nerubian cavern. And just like in Azjol-Nerub, the fall is just so fun. I think I would say it’s my favourite part of the instance. And with Levitate, you can make it last even longer.

Note: If you have Death Knights in the raid, they will try and kill you.

Update: Went back again this week and video captured the fight and vent conversation for you. We organise CC and determine so much of the fight “strategy” during combat, it seems incomplete to watch it without Vent. The rest of this article describes our first kill (not video captured).

Last night we killed the Horde Faction Champions in Trial of the Crusader (third boss). I loved it. I loved it so much that not only did I forget to hit record, I completely forgot to take a screen capture.

The Faction Champions fight is chaos. It’s a simulated Arena/BG fight where you face off against 10 of the opposite faction (since I play Alliance I get to kill Tauren and Trolls and stuff). 25v10. In 10 man it’s 10v6.

Their Team

The enemy team of 10 is randomly selected from a pool of 15 champions and has a bit of everything and includes  healers (Resto Shaman, Disc Priest, Holy Pally and Resto Druid), armored melee-ers (DK and Ret Pally) and some extra casters and dps.

Strategy

The general strategy is to keep a couple of their healers under CC constantly, kill off at least 1 healer and then take out the most damaging/dangerous dudes. We found it necessary to kill 2 healers up front, CCing the last one for the rest of the fight. Our kill order was something like:

1. Resto Shaman
2. Discipline Priest (CCed)
3. Rogue
4. the rest of the damage dealers
5. Resto Druid (CCed)
6. Warrior (CCed by 1 DK with Chains of Ice)

Leaving the Discipline Priest or Resto Druid up and about will get you nowhere fast – these guys are a problem and will easily keep your kill target alive so keep them under control.

We didn’t wear Resilience gear or PVP gear and I’m not completely sure if those defensive stats do make a difference in this fight.

In general be aware of your class/spec abilities that you may not use in PVE all that much and be ready to adapt. Keep away from the Rogue/DK/Warrior as much as possible and use your Kick, Silence, Earth Shock, Hex, Polymorph, Cyclone, Fear etc all the time.

A Word of Caution

No strategy I read gave this piece of advice:

Before someone begins the fight (by talking to the NPC on the Arena floor), move your entire raid to stand underneath where your Faction Leaders are above you. So, if you to play Alliance, move and stand underneath Tirion and Jaina. When the fight begins your enemy jumps down from where they are on the bleachers and if a player is nearby they’re going to get slammed. We learnt this the hard way and I was the victim. If you’re on the other side of the room you have time to quickly mark up some targets.

Raid Symbols Please!

On our first attempt (described above) we had no targets raid marked with {skull} etc.  With the second attempt we marked up some on the fly which is better than nothing. With our third, and successful attempt, our Raid Leader had a macro that threw up our kill order and priority CC targets and this made a HUGE difference.

Our macro was something like:

/tar Thrakgar
/script SetRaidTarget("target", 8);
/tar Caiphus
/script SetRaidTarget("target", 7);
/tar Erin
/script SetRaidTarget("target", 4);
/tar Liandra
/script SetRaidTarget("target", 1);

This selects and marks the first two kill targets (Resto Shaman = skull and Disc Priest = cross) and the other two healers (Druid = triangle and Pally = star) to be permanently CCed. The rest were marked on the fly.

Why I Loved It So Much

It’s random, it’s about adaptability. But most importantly, the  reason I loved this fight is because it’s a bit like a crazy BG but it’s actually a team sport. I was playing with a team of people who are genuinely trying to keep the whole team alive, playing smartly, in order to succeed.

I also thought it was amusing that so many of the current class/spec strengths and weaknesses come across in this fight. At one point our GM was convinced we had to kill the Shadow Priest because a guide he read said to. Which made all us Shadow Priests pipe up and sarcastically reply “what’s he going to do? Mind Flay us? Fear us every 30 seconds?”. We had hunters yelling “kill the hunter’s pets!” with glee – for once exploiting their own class’s weaknesses.

Just like it often is in a battleground the Resto Druid is way too hard to kill, the Discipline Priest is hard to wear down and the Pally and DK are true forces to be reckoned with. The Shamans are easy kills (sorry guys but it’s true), as is the Shadow Priest, and the Warrior, once deadly, isn’t your biggest concern.

I played this fight in my Shadow PVE spec and it was really strange. I had no idea what to do! I tried to keep Mind Blast (now it has the reduced healing debuff) on cooldown and used Psychic Scream and Mass Dispel to help. I did try Mind Control on one of our targets at one point but it was immune. You can also Fade and some classes were taunting with some success so it’s not exactly like a BG.

I wonder if next time I can try it as Discipline? I think it’s a sign that the encounter really does feel like a PvP encounter because I was so uncomfortable as Shadow (I never PvP as Shadow spec) and kept hovering over my Raid Frames to start healing!

New gear for Alliance and Horde Shadow Priests in 25 man ToC

It’s always hard to get your head around what gear/upgrades are the smartest to make when a new bunch of gear is released in game. This post is for:

1. The 25 Man raider who plays a Shadow Priest as their main spec
2. The 25 Man healing Priest who intends to gather a offspec Shadow set
3. The raider who also completes 10/25 hard or heroic modes
4. Me

My weightings are based off the theorycrafting work done by Shadowpriest.com (with some personal preference to how Haste and Hit are valued). This list showcases the best items available to you – as a 25 man raiding priest – with a Hit/Haste/Crit option per slot.

Tier 8 and 9 Set Bonuses Compared

Tier 8 (Conqueror’s Sanctification from Ulduar)
Tier 8 Items and set bonus/s
2 set bonus = 122 dps or 61 dps per item
4 set bonus+2 set bonus = 231 dps or 58 dps per item

Tier 9 (Velen’s/Zabra’s Triumph)
Tier 9 items and set bonus/s
2 set bonus = 133 dps or 66 dps per item
4 set bonus+2 set bonus = 259 dps or 65 dps per item

As you can see with both Tier sets you’re really not gaining a significant boost in DPS for your investment when you wear 4 pieces of Tier gear. Basically I translate this into: if you get a really really awesome piece of gear that’s going to drop you down to 3/5 Tier 8 or 9… take it.

I plan to be wearing a 2 piece Tier 8 and 2 piece Tier 9 set for a while.

Weakest Piece in Tier 9
If you do intend to try the Tier 9 4 set bonus (and I’d still like to try it) the helm is the least desirable item in the set. The Priest healing Tier 9 helm or, cheaper still, the badge option are better.

Weakest Piece in Tier 8
In Tier 8, the Shadow Priest legs are the weakest piece in the set.

Hit (Cap) and Haste

The gear goals are:

• About 11% haste
• 263 hit rating (Heroic Presence) or 289 hit rating (No Heroic Presence)
• Heaps of Spellpower and Critical Strike

Gear List

View the list at LootRank.com. Excluded items from hard, hard, hard modes – but they’ll show up if you click through to Loot Rank.

Not all ToC 10 and 25 Heroic loot has been announced and some of this may be incorrect.

Helm
Velen’s/Zabra’s Cowl of Triumph ToC 25 Heroic (Crit)
Hood of Fiery/Smouldering Aftermath 75 Emblems of Triumph (Hit/Haste)
Helm/Hood of Clouded Sight 75 Emblems of Triumph (Crit)
Velen’s/Zabra’s Cowl of Triumph ToC 25 (Crit)

Neck
Cry/Wail of the Valkyr ToC 25, Twin Val’kyr (Crit/Haste)
Pendant of Fiery Havoc Ulduar 25, Flame Leviathan HM (Hit/Haste)
Pendant of the Shallow Grave Ulduar 10, Thorim HM (Crit/Haste)
Darkbane Amulet/Pendant ToC 10, Twin Val’kyr (Hit/Crit)

Shoulder
Velen’s/Zabra’s Mantle of Triumph ToC 25 Heroic (Tier 9/Crit)
Mantle/Pauldrons of Catastrophic Emanation 75 Emblems of Triumph (Hit/Crit)
Velen’s/Zabra’s Mantle of Triumph ToC 25 (Tier 9/Crit)
Amice of Inconceivable Horror Ulduar, Yogg-Saron HM (Haste)

Back
Cloak/Shroud of Displacement ToC, Faction Champions 25 Heroic (Hit/Haste)
Drape of Mortal Downfall Ulduar, Iron Council 25 HM (Hit/Crit)
Cloak/Shroud of Displacement ToC, Faction Champions 25 (Hit/Haste)
Pennant Cloak OS, Sartharion +2 or +3 Drakes (Crit/Haste)
Drape/Shawl of the Refreshing Winds ToC, Northrend Beasts 25 (Haste)

Chest
Merlin’s Robe Crafted (Crit/Haste)
Velen’s/Zabra’s Robe of Triumph ToC 25 Heroic (Crit)
Velen’s/Zabra’s Raiments of Triumph ToC 25 Heroic (Tier 9/Haste)
Skyweaver Vestments/Robe ToC 25, Twin Val’kyr (Hit/Haste)
Velen’s/Zabra’s Robe of Triumph ToC 25 (No Tier bonus/Crit)
Flowing Vestments/Robes of Ascent ToC 25, Northrend Beasts (Haste)
Velen’s/Zabra’s Raiments of Triumph ToC 25 (Tier 9/Haste)

Wrist
Bejeweled Wizard’s Bracers Crafted (Crit/Haste)
Dark Essence Bindings ToC 25, Twin Val’kyr (Hit/Crit)
Grasps of Reason Ulduar 25, XT-002 HM (Haste)
Armbands/Bindings of the Ashen Saint ToC 25, Anub’arak (Haste)

Hands
Velen’s/Zabra’s Handwraps of Triumph ToC 25 Heroic (Tier 9/Hit/Crit)
Gloves/Handwraps of the Lifeless Touch ToC 25, Anub’arak (Crit/Haste)
Velen’s/Zabra’s Handwraps of Triumph ToC 25 (Tier 9/Hit/Crit)

Waist
Belt/Cord of Biting Cold ToC 25 Heroic, Faction Champions (Hit/Crit)
Belt/Cord of Biting Cold ToC 25, Faction Champions (Hit/Crit)
Belt/Cord of the Tenebrous Mist ToC 25, Northrend Beasts (Haste)
Cord of the White Dawn Crafted (Crit)
Sash of Ancient Power Crafted (Hit/Haste)

Legs
Velen’s/Zabra’s Pants of Triumph ToC 25 Heroic (Tier 9/Hit/Haste)
Breeches/Leggings of the Deepening Void ToC 25, Anub’arak (Hit/Crit)
Velen’s/Zabra’s Pants of Triumph ToC 25 (Tier 9/Hit/Haste)
Leggings of the Soothing Touch ToC 25, Jaraxxus (Haste)

Feet
Boots/Sandals of the Mourning Widow ToC 25 Heroic, Faction Champions (Haste)
Treads of the False Oracle Ulduar 25, Yogg-Saron HM (Crit/Haste)
Boots/Footpads of the Icy Floe ToC 25, Anub’arak (Hit/Haste)
Boots of Fiery Resolution Ulduar 25, Flame Leviathan HM (Haste)
Sandals of the Silver Magus/Sunreaver Magus’ Sandals ToC 10, Faction Champions (Hit/Crit)
Boots/Sandals of the Mourning Widow ToC 25, Faction Champions (Haste)

Finger
Nebula Band Ulduar 10, Algalon (Crit/Haste)
Band of Deplorable Violence/Lurid Manifestation ToC 25, Anub’arak (Crit)
Band of the Invoker 35 Emblems of Triumph (Haste)
Signet of Manifested Pain Naxx 25, Kel’Thuzad (Crit/Haste)

Trinket
Reign of the Dead ToC 25, Anub’arak
Rumored to drop from Anub’arak in ToC 25 man. Sounds sweet!
Flare of the Heavens Ulduar 25, General Vezax HM
Eye of the Broodmother Ulduar 10, Razorscale
Illustration of the Dragon Soul OS 25, Sartharion
Dying Curse Naxx 25, Multiple Bosses (Hit)

2 Handed Weapon
Excluded because the ToC 25 maces and daggers are vastly superior.

1 Handed Weapon
Sunreaver Disciple’s Blade ToC 10 Heroic, Faction Champion (621 Spellpower/Crit/Haste)
Val’anyr, Hammer of Ancient Kings Ulduar (621 Spellpower/Crit/Haste)
Misery’s End/Suffering’s End ToC 25, Anub’arak (621 Spellpower/Crit/Haste)
Barb/Blade of Tarasque ToC 25, Northrend Beasts (621 Spellpower/Hit/Haste)

Off Hand
Symbol of Transgression/Talisman of Heedless Sins ToC 25, Lord Jaraxxus (Hit/Crit)
I’m so glad I spend DKP on this!
Chalice of Searing Light/Mystifying Charm ToC 25, Twin Val’kyr (Crit)
Chalice of Benedictus/Lightbane Focus ToC 10, Twin Val’kry (Hit/Haste)

Wand
Rod/Scepter of Imprisoned Souls ToC 10, Northrend Beasts (Crit/Haste)
Scepter of Lost Souls Ulduar 25, General Vezax (Crit/Haste)
Brimstone Igniter 25 Emblems of Triumph (Hit)
Scepter of Creation Ulduar 25, Ignis (Crit)

Lots of new gear for Alliance and Horde Shadow Priests

Bring on the shiny new gear! This post is aimed at Shadow Priests who fit into the below 4 descriptions and want to see some of the cool new loot available in game:

1. The 10 Man raider who sometimes PUGs the easy 25 Mans
2. The 25 Man raider who is trying to gear up a Shadow Priest alt or dual spec set
3. The casual player who runs heroics with friends and PUGs easy 25 mans
4. The player who has just come back from a break and wants to get back into 25 man raiding

This is not about this-item-is-better-than-that-item. The folks at Shadowpriest.com run some heavy duty DPS simulators and maintain a Best Raiding Gear list. Worth checking out and getting a sense of the true best-in-slot Shadow Priest items available from any source in the game: from Arena to 25 man and 10 man hardmodes.

In this list I have used my preferred stat weightings to create a list of achievable gear for the 10 man raider. Not all items have been listed but I’ve tried to find the best Hit, Haste and Critical Strike piece for each gear slot.

Some Goals

Be smart about your gear decisions. I would recommend aiming for:

• 10% or 11% haste
• 10% hit (if you always party with a Draenei for Heroic Presence)
  otherwise 11% hit
• Heaps of Spellpower and Critical Strike

Know Where You’re At

Look at your gear right now. You’re maintaining two caps – Hit (hard cap) and Haste (soft cap) – so be prepared to shuffle around gear as you win more new, shiny gear.

If you have more than 11% haste you’re probably not getting the most out of that extra haste unless you are a machine or have really good, low latency (which is why I tend to value haste lower than most simulations and shadowpriest.com).

Don’t disenchant and don’t be afraid to “down grade”. If you have too much haste or too much hit, look and see if you have a Spellpower/Crit alternative that you may have picked up in the past.

Now onto the gear… note: minimal hard mode gear listed here.

Gear (oooh, shinies!)

To see more options, or to change my stat weightings to suit you, please head over and view the entire list at Loot Rank.

Head
ilvl245 Hood of Fiery/Smoldering Aftermath: 75 x Emblems of Triumph (Hit/Haste)
ilvl245 Helm/Hood of Clouded Sight: 75 x Emblems of Triumph (Crit)
ilvl226 Conqueror’s Circlet of Sanctification: 58 Emblems of Conquest (Crit/Haste/Tier 8 bonus)
ilvl219 Gaze of the Unknown: The Black Knight, Trial of the Champion 5 Heroic (Hit/Crit)
ilvl232 Valen’s/Zabra’s Circlet of Conquest: 50 x Emblems of Triumph (Hit/Tier 9 bonus)

Neck
ilvl232 Darkbane Amulet/Pendant: Twin Val’kyr, Trial of the Crusader 10 (Hit/Crit)
ilvl226 Pendant of the Shallow Grave: Thorim Hardmode, Ulduar 10 (Crit/Haste)
ilvl219 Pendant of the Piercing Glare: Kologarn, Ulduar 10 (Hit/Haste)

Shoulder
ilvl245 Pauldrons/Mantle of Catastrophic Emanations: 45 Emblems of Triumph (Hit/Crit)
ilvl245 Pauldrons of Revered Mortality: 45 Emblems of Triumph (Haste)
ilvl232 Valen’s/Zabra’s Mantle of Conquest: 30 Emblems of Triumph (Crit/Tier 9 bonus)
ilvl219 Valorous Mantle of Sanctification: Thorim, Ulduar 10 (Crit/Tier 8 bonus)

Back
ilvl219 Kurisu’s Indecision: The Black Knight, Trial of the Champion 5 Heroic (Hit/Crit)
ilvl226 Cape of the Unworthy Wizard: Kel’Thuzad, Naxxramas 25 (Crit)
ilvl219 Drape of the Spellweaver: Ulduar Trash 10 (Crit/Haste)

Chest
ilvl245 Merlin’s Robe: Crafted, materials at AH (Crit/Haste)
The items necessary to craft this robe drop in 25 man raids – possibly on hard mode – and will probably cost a small fortune!
ilvl226 Conqueror’s Raiments of Sanctification:
58 Emblems of Conquest (Hit/Haste/Tier 8 bonus)
ilvl245 Flowing Robes of Ascent: Northrend Beasts, Trial of the Crusader 10 (Haste)
ilvl232 Vestments of the Sleepless: Anub’arak, Trial of the Crusader 10 (Hit/Crit)
ilvl232 Velen’s Raiments of Conquest: 50 Emblems of Triumph (Haste/Tier 9 bonus)

Bracers
ilvl245 Bejeweled Wizard’s Bracers: Crafted, materials at AH (Crit/Haste)
The items necessary to craft these bracers drop in 25 man raids – possibly on hard mode – and will probably cost a small fortune!
ilvl232 Felspark Bracers: Lord Jaraxxus, Trial of the Crusader (Hit/Haste)
ilvl213 Bindings of the Expansive Mind: Instructor Razuvious, Naxxramas 25 (Hit/Crit)
ilvl213 Bands of Impurity: Noth the Plaguebringer, Naxxramas 25 (Crit)

Hands
Apologies for leaving this out by mistake!
ilvl226 Pulsar Gloves: Algalon, Ulduar 10 (Hit/Haste)
ilvl232 Looming Shadow Wraps: Twin Val’kyr, Trial of the Crusader (Hit/Haste)
ilvl232 Velen’s/Zabra’s Handwraps of Conquest: 30 Emblems of Triumph (Tier 9/Hit/Crit)

Waist
ilvl232 Icehowl Binding/Cinch: Northrend Beasts, Trial of the Crusader (Hit/Haste)
ilvl232 Belt of the Tenebrous Mist: Northrend Beasts, Trial of the Crusader (Haste)
ilvl226 Cord of the White Dawn: Crafted (Crit)

Legs
ilvl232 Velen’s/Zabra’s Pants of Conquest: 50 Emblems of Triumph (Hit/Haste/Tier 9 bonus)
ilvl226 Leggings of Profound Darkness: General Vezax Hardmode, Ulduar 10 (Crit)
ilvl226 Leggings of the Wanton Spellcaster: Eye of Eternity (Hit/Haste)
ilvl226 Legwraps of the Master Conjurer: 39 Emblems of Conquest (Crit)
Notice how the Tier 8 Shadow Priest legs didn’t even make the list? *cough*

Feet
ilvl232 Sandals of the Silver Magus/Sunreaver Magus’ Sandals:
Faction Champions, Trial of the Crusader 10 (Hit/Crit)
ilvl226 Spellslinger’s Slippers: Crafted (Haste)
ilvl219 Boots of the Crackling Flame: The Black Knight, Trial of the Champion 5 Heroic (Hit/Crit)
ilvl226 Savior’s Slippers: Crafted (Crit)

Finger
ilvl245 Band of the Invoker: 35 Emblems of Triumph (Haste)
ilvl226 Shimmering Seal: Flame Leviathan Hardmode, Ulduar 10 (Hit)
ilvl226 Signet of Manifested Pain: Kel’thuzad, Naxxramas 25 (Haste/Crit)
ilvl245 Heartmender Circle: 35 Emblems of Triumph (Crit)

Trinket
ilvl213 Illustration of the Dragon Soul: Obsidian Sanctum
This one is about pure spellpower. I hope you’re lucky enough to win it!
ilvl219 Eye of the Broodmother: Razorscale, Ulduar 10 (Crit)
ilvl213 Dying Curse: Multiple Bosses, Naxxramas 25 (Hit)
ilvl200 Sundial of the Exiled: Emblems of Heroism/Conquest (Crit)
ilvl200 Abyssal Rune: Trial of the Champion 5 Heroic (Haste)

2 Hand Weapons
ilvl232 Illumination/Enlightenment: Twin Val’kyr, Trial of the Crusader 10 (550 SP/Crit/Haste)
ilvl232 Perdition/Cold Convergence: Anub’arak, Trial of the Crusader 10 (550 SP/Crit/Haste)
ilvl232 Icecore Staff: Hodir Hardmode, Ulduar 10 (550SP/Haste)
ilvl219 Unraveling Reach: Freya, Ulduar 10 (487 SP/Hit)

1 Hand Weapons
ilvl232 Blade of the Silver Disciple / Sunreaver Disciple’s Blade:
Faction Champions, Trial of the Crusader 10 (550 SP/Crit/Haste)
ilvl232 Mace of the Earthborn Chieftain / Argent Resolve:
Anub’arak, Trial of the Crusader 10 (550 SP/Crit)
ilvl226 Torch of Holy Fire: Kel’thuzad, Naxxramas 25 (550 SP/Haste)
ilvl219 Spectral Kris: The Black Knight, Trial of the Champion 5 Heroic (487 SP/Crit/Haste)

Offhand (to pair with your 1 Hand Weapon)
ilvl232 Chalice of Benedictus / Lightbane Focus:
Twin Val’kyr, Trial of the Crusader 10 (Hit/Haste)
ilvl219 Igniter Rod: Ignis, Ulduar 10 (Crit)
ilvl213 Matriarch’s Spawn: Maexxna, Naxxramas 25 (Haste)

Wand
ilvl232 Petrified Ivy Sprig: Freya+3 Hardmode, Ulduar 10 (Hit)
ilvl232 Scepter of Imprisoned Souls/Rod of Imprisoned Souls:
Northrend Beasts, Trial of the Crusader 10 (Haste/Crit)
ilvl245 Brimstone Igniter: 25 Emblems of Triumph (Hit)
ilvl213 Plague Igniter: Grobbulus, Naxxramas 25 (Crit)
ilvl213 Gemmed Wand of the Nerubians: Anub’rekhan, Naxxramas 25 (Hit/Haste)

Who set the tree on fire?

On Wednesday night me and the guild got to play Snake … er … kill Lord Jaraxxus, the second boss in Trial of the Crusader (video capture at the end of this post).

Lord J was a super fun fight – once you’ve got everyone in position it’s pretty much easy peesy as a ranged DPS caster. I think perhaps healers might struggle with this fight the most – lots of raid damage going around with one or two players requiring tons of heals at any given moment. We tried it with 7 healers, all marked and carefully distributed in a circle around the boss. The way to win is to pretty much to kill the boss, kill the stuff that appears (crazy knife ladies and infernals) and, if you’re lucky, play Snake around the edge of the room.  I liked him better than those Northrend Beasts I think.

Snake - on a phone near you

Do you remember Snake? It must have shipped with every mobile/cell phone in the 90s. It’s the game where you control the head of the snake and you have to move around an empty room, making sure not to run into your own tail.

Actually now that I think about it, Lord J would have been more fun if the trail of fire you leave in your wake kept growing longer.

Anyway! Heaps and heaps of mistakes in my video – it’s our absolutely first go at the boss and, even though we got him first time, that means lots of hesitations and mistakes (what? these infernals don’t just despawn?). But lets not dwell on all that – we killed him right?

So what dropped in Trial of the Crusader on Wed night? Plate, plate, mail, a shield and a LW receipe. Must have been a trophy or two aswell.

Video – Vitare vs Lord Jaraxxus

[youtubehq 4VTxApmwciI Vitare vs Lord Jaraxxus - click through to YouTube to view in full size]

I apologise for taking so long to post this! Unfortunately the Lord J video soundtrack was all messed up everytime I played it back after upload and I’ve been trialing different export settings to see if it fixes it. Makes for a lot of 150mb uploads, therefore, delayed post. Seems to work on YouTube, so no more WeGame.com video hosting, I think.

The Argent Tournament Grounds

OK, this post has been much harder to collate than I expected.  Blizzard have made this especially difficult considering they have the same items with different names for Horde & Alliance. They have also named items that drop from both normal and heroic versions of the Trial of the Crusader raid the same… but given them different stats arghhh!  To top this off items that have been data mined by MMO Champion, are not showing in Wowhead yet so its hard to get a full view of which items are best.

Instead of waiting for everything to be added properly, I’m still releasing this now, however will most likely edit the post with an update in a few weeks after all the bosses are unlocked to ensure the information is still accurate. For any Horde looking that this post, all the items I’ve listed are the Alliance versions – do not fear! You also have the same items available to you, the names are just slightly different.

Notes:

• I’ve tried wherever possible to only include leather items. Some slots for example wrists & feet had an abysmal selection of decent items to choose from so I’ve added some cloth options also.  For a completely expanded list, check out my Loot Rank Template with weightings included!
• I’ve included the Item Levels for each piece to try to help simplify everything considering many items have the same name.
• For some slots the Balance tier gear actually ranks better than the Restoration pieces. I’ve not included these because I’m assuming trees will be aiming for the 4 piece bonus.
• I’ve tried to only add 4 items per slot, however to ensure that the raiders out there who do 25s but don’t do Hard Modes still have an option, some slots will have 5 or 6 to choose from.
• Items that aren’t yet showing in WowHead but have been data mined are linking to the MMO Champion Database.  Unfortunately you actually have to click on these links to view the item statistics.

Head
ilvl258 Malfurion’s Headpiece of Triumph: Regalia of Triumph, Trial of the Crusader 25H
ilvl245 Helm of Abundant Growth: 75 x Emblems of Triumph, Dalaran
ilvl245 Malfurion’s Headpiece of Triumph: Trophy of the Crusade, Trial of the Crusader 25
ilvl232 Helm of the Snowy Grotto: Twin Val’kyr, Trial of the Crusader 10H

Neck
ilvl258 Wail of the Valkyr: Twin Val’kyr, Trial of the Crusader 25H
ilvl245 Amulet of Binding Elements: Lord Jarraxus, Trial of the Crusader 10H
ilvl239 Charm of Meticulous Timing: XT-002 Deconstructor, Ulduar 25H
ilvl239 Sapphire Amulet of Renewal: Iron Council, Ulduar 25H
ilvl226 Watchful Eye of Fate: Iron Council, Ulduar 10H

Shoulder
ilvl258 Malfurion’s Spaulders of Triumph: Regalia of Triumph, Trial of the Crusader 25H
ilvl245 Malfurion’s Spaulders of Triumph: Trophy of the Crusade, Trial of the Crusader 25
ilvl245 Shoulders of the Fateful Accord: 45 x Emblem of Triumph, Dalaran
ilvl239 Shoulderpads of Dormant Energies: Flame Leviathan, Ulduar 25H

Back
ilvl272 Bolvar’s Devotion: Tribute Chest, Trial of the Crusader 25H
ilvl272 Jaina’s Radiance: Tribute Chest, Trial of the Crusader 25H
ilvl258 Shawl of the Refreshing Winds: Northern Beasts, Trial of the Crusader 25H
ilvl258 Maiden’s Favor: Anub’arak Raid, Trial of the Crusader 25H
ilvl245 Shawl of the Refreshing Winds: Northern Beasts, Trial of the Crusader 25
ilvl258 Cloak of Displacement: Faction Champions, Trial of the Crusader 25H

Chest
ilvl258 Vestments of the Shattered Fellowship: Faction Champions, Trial of the Crusader 25H
ilvl258 Malfurion’s Robe of Triumph: Regalia of Triumph, Trial of the Crusader 25H
ilvl245 Vestments of the Shattered Fellowship: Faction Champions, Trial of the Crusader 25
ilvl245 Lunar Eclipse Chestguard: Crafted

Wrist
ilvl258 Bracers of Autumn Willow: Lord Jaraxxus, Trial of the Crusader 25H
ilvl245 Bracers of Autumn Willow: Lord Jaraxxus, Trial of the Crusader 25
ilvl239 Grasps of Reason: XT-002 Deconstructor, Ulduar 25H
ilvl245 Royal Moonshroud Bracers: Crafted

Hands
ilvl258 Malfurion’s Handguards of Triumph: Regalia of Triumph, Trial of the Crusader 25H
ilvl258 Gloves of the Lifeless Touch: Anub’arak Raid, Trial of the Crusader 25H
ilvl245 Malfurion’s Handguards of Triumph: Trophy of the Crusade, Trial of the Crusader 25
ilvl239 Gloves of the Frozen Glade: Hodir, Ulduar 25H

Waist
ilvl258 Cord of Pale Thorns: Twin Val’kyr, Trial of the Crusader 25H
ilvl245 Cord of Pale Thorns: Twin Val’kyr, Trial of the Crusader 25
ilvl239 Star-beaded Clutch: Algalon, Ulduar 25
ilvl226 Belt of Arctic Life: Crafted

Legs
ilvl258 Malfurion’s Leggings of Triumph: Regalia of Triumph, Trial of the Crusader 25H
ilvl258 Leggings of the Awakening: Anub’arak Raid, Trial of the Crusader 25H
ilvl245 Malfurion’s Leggings of Triumph: Trophy of the Crusade, Trial of the Crusader 25
ilvl232 Malfurion’s Leggings of Conquest: Emblem of Triumph, Dalaran

Feet
ilvl258 Boots of the Unrelenting Storm: Northrend Beasts, Trial of the Crusader 25H
ilvl258 Boots of the Mourning Widow: Faction Champions, Trial of the Crusader 25H
ilvl239 Boots of Fiery Resolution: Flame Leviathan, Ulduar 25H
ilvl245 Boots of the Unrelenting Storm: Northrend Beasts, Trial of the Crusader 25

Ring
ilvl258 Ring of the Darkmender: Lord Jaraxxus, Trial of the Crusader 25H
ilvl258 Band of Deplorable Violence: Anub’arak Raid, Trial of the Crusader 25H
ilvl245 Band of the Invoker: 35 x Emblem of Triumph, Dalaran
ilvl245 Band of Deplorable Violence: Anub’arak Raid, Trial of the Crusader 25
ilvl258 Ring of the Darkmender: Jaraxxus, Trial of the Crusader 25
ilvl239 Conductive Seal: Mimiron, Ulduar 25H

Trinkets
ilvl258 Solace of the Defeated: Lord Jaraxxus, Trial of the Crusader 25H
ilvl245 Solace of the Defeated: Lord Jaraxxus, Trial of the Crusader 25
ilvl219 Spark of Hope: Kologarn, Ulduar 10
ilvl226 Meteorite Crystal: Algalon, Ulduar 10
ilvl239 Show of Faith: Yogg-Saron, Ulduar 25H
ilvl226 Pandora’s Plea: Mimiron, Ulduar 25
ilvl213 Illustration of the Dragon Soul: Sartharion, The Obsidian Sanctum 25

Staves
ilvl258 Clemency: Tribute Chest, Trial of the Crusader 25H
ilvl239 Staff of Endless Winter: Hodir, Ulduar 25H
ilvl232 Icecore Staff: Hodir, Ulduar 10H
ilvl232 The Lifebinder: Freya, Ulduar 25

Main Hand
ilvl258 Misery’s End: Anub’arak Raid, Trial of the Crusader 25H
ilvl245 Blade of the Silver Disciple: Faction Champions, Trial of the Crusader 10H
ilvl245 Misery’s End: Anub’arak Raid, Trial of the Crusader 25
ilvl245 Argent Resolve: Anub’arak Raid, Trial of the Crusader 10H

Off Hand
ilvl258 Chalice of Searing Light: Twin Val’kyr, Trial of the Crusader 25H
ilvl245 Chalice of Searing Light: Twin Val’kyr, Trial of the Crusader 25
ilvl226 Ironmender: Kologarn, Ulduar 25

Relics
ilvl245 Idol of Flaring Growth: 25 x Emblem of Triumph, Dalaran
ilvl213 Idol of Awakening: Multiple Bosses, Naxxramas 25 OR 25 x Emblems of Valor
ilvl226 Idol of the Flourishing Life: Trash Drop, Ulduar OR 19 x Emblems of Conquest

Lathere and I came somewhat late to the raiding game in Burning Crusade, dipping our toes into Karazhan several months later than the serious raiding guilds on Barthilas. We were pretty noob. We wiped, oh man, we wiped. But, in our casual two-nights-a-week way, we understood we would be forever playing catch-up, and we didn’t mind. We kept raiding and trying to kill bosses at our level.

Greater rewards for more difficult challenges? Nah.

At the near end of the Burning Crusade, Blizzard created a ton of purchasable items for players using Badges of Justice, the precursor to Emblems, in order to bring newcomers and recently turned level 70s up to Tier 6 item stats (the items were equivalent in stat level – not actual Tier armor pieces) and therefore have a chance to participate in Mount Hyjal and Black Temple raiding. They also removed the attunements so you didn’t have to complete the Tier 5 raids – a significant challenge on its own.

Well at the time I can tell you that I was absolutely a “casual” player. And I ran Karazhan over and over again for Badges in order to upgrade my gear. Did it push us to do Tier 6 raiding as a guild? Not really. All we did was spend more and more time collecting badges.

Sunwell Plateau, the final raid instance of the expansion, was released at the same time as all this new Badge gear. I knew that I would never be skilled, geared and committed enough to enter Sunwell Plateau. Guilds who cleared Black Temple each week impressed the heck out of me. But I thought, if we could just get a bit better and wipe less, maybe one day we’d be good enough a group to gain entry into those raid zones.

Let me repeat, when the rest of us were clawing our way to Tier 6 equivalent items, the leading guilds were given a shiny new raid zone with depth to experience. We’re not talking just one or two bosses here completed in a hour or two.

When Wrath of the Lich King was released it only included one Tier level, Tier 7, implemented in the game. Naxxramas, whilst having a ton of bosses, was simply too easy/quick to complete. Obsidian Sanctum and Eye of Eternity are both really really short – 1 boss. You could do the three combined within a few raid nights per week.

Ulduar has satisfied me as a raider (and as a semi-serious raider at that). The early fights are easier than the last bosses. There are unusual challenges along the way. The instance itself is a good length to clear in the space of a lockout week once you’ve downed each boss. Friends who have beaten some of the tricky hardmodes earn my respect.

We’ve been in Ulduar for about 4 months. In that time our casual friends from Burning Crusade have talked about doing 10 Ulduar on and off but it never seems to happen. Doesn’t really surprise me, because they tend to organise events on the spur of the moment based on who’s online. You could have 8 people ready to go and then one person will change their mind and say they’re going to log off to watch some TV.

In comes Patch 3.2. Theoretically I knew that Emblems of Conquest were going to be made freely available, instead of limited to Ulduar bosses, but the reality is much more disturbing than I thought. Two points of view:

Option A – Miss Dedicated

• “Experience” Ulduar as soon as it is released
• Attend as many of your guild raids as possible and be patient when you wipe. Make time to do 10 mans as well because Emblems of Conquest drop there too and it takes weeks to get enough Emblems for a Tier armor token.
• Consider splashing out gold to get Runed Orbs to upgrade your belt and boots… nah too expensive
• After 4 months be content with your gear – it’s not the hardmode stuff, but it’s good, and sprinkled with Naxx 25 items anyway

Option B – Mr Patient

• Know that eventually you and some mates will go check out Ulduar when you’re ready
• Run raids when you feel like it, DC when you’ve had enough
• Consider splashing out gold to get Runed Orbs to upgrade your belt and boots… nah too expensive
• Hope you’ll get lucky and get the BiS Naxx stuff – Torch of Holy Fire ftw!

After four months. If only WoW were a fashion parade...

Now, 4 months later, all Mr Patient has to do is run alot of heroic instances (something he finds pretty darn easy) and he too can get Ulduar equivalent gear and three pieces of Tier 8.5 armor. If he got those BiS Naxx/OS/EoE stuff, well his gear models might not match as prettily as someone wearing 5/5 Conquerors, but the stats will be as good.

I’m not being stereotypical here. Mr Patient is my brother. I live with him. When I’m up 4 nights a week to dutifully complete my raids and not leave before raid’s over, he’s watching TV. On the weekends he’ll make an effort and PuG Naxx, but after a couple wings he’ll DC and take a break. In the last few days he has earnt more Emblems of Triumph than I, does daily dungeons while I raid, and has already gotten his Tier 8.5 helm.

He has been running the new dungeon – the 5 man Trial of the Champion – on normal and heroic and has picked up several great epics including the tanking one that my guild’s main tank – in full Ulduar gear – is desperate for. Even I swapped out Cosmic Lights for a new neckpiece from the heroic for my healing set. And the heroic wasn’t hard.

It’s as simple as this. You can’t compare the difficulty of Ulduar and Heroics and give out the same rewards.

This is a complete turn around from Blizzard’s stance at the launch of Wrath of the Lich King. When it was announced that each raid instance would be tuned for 10 man group (normal) and 25 man groups (heroic) they made it clear that the item level of dropped loot would be different, just as the Emblems would be different. And the rewards would be commensurate.

People are not jumping from Tier 4 to Tier 6 here. They’re going from the easiest, entry level raid (Naxx – Tier 7) to the next tier of gear (Ulduar – Tier 8). Is this the way of the future? Wiping the slate clean with each new patch?

Has nothing been learned from the Badges of Justice days?

So my brother, Mr Patient, can close the gear gap now. That’s true. Is it going to open up “doors” for him and allow him to experience Ulduar and other end-game raids? Nope. He’ll just keep running heroics and Naxx 10. Why not?

I wouldn’t be so disappointed by this if it weren’t for the new raid instance: Trial of the Crusader. We’re being given 1 new boss per week. And if that doesn’t satisfy you, you can’t try it on Heroic mode until you’ve cleared the whole place on Normal. The Northrend Beasts encounter was fun. But it took up 1 hour of our time. Then we headed back to Ulduar, uncertain if it was worth pursuing Ulduar hardmodes at all. Trial of the Crusader is where our next Tier upgrades are after all.

So, other than Algalon, I’m pretty confident that I’ve experienced all the end game bosses available in Wrath. Yet I have nothing left to strive for. Blizzard can dream up a new boss and drip-feed it to us each week in the Trial of the Crusader and until they believe it’s gone on long enough. And then they can open up Heroic mode.

In the days of Burning Crusade I knew it was my skill that held me back. Now there is no boss/raid to anticipate and strive towards implemented in the game, Blizzard will give it to us when they’re ready, not when we are.

Remember those candles you had to “collect” by killing Kobolds/Snobolds in the mines near Goldshire? Well the Snobolds haven’t forgotten either.

I had done very little prepping (ok, I’ll admit, none) on the Northrend Beasts encounter because I tend to enjoy content more if I experience it first hand with no preconceptions. But I was told going in “DPS the adds first, people with poison and fire have to move towards each other and run away from the person he targets and stuns”. Well the advice was more or less sound. Still didn’t prepare me when an angry Snobold Vassel jumped on my back and attacked me!

The Snobolds are back and they're angry

The Northrend Beasts encounter has three phases – a different beast form for each.

You’ll start out fighting against Gormok the Impaler in phase one and his Snobolds. The Snobolds will jump on a player’s back and slow/daze and interupt them from casting. They won’t let go until they are dead. And surprise, they like to grief the healers first and foremost. Perhaps they keep track of all those Devout Candles we burn in prayers.

The second phase consists of killing a pair of giant Jormungar. This is the hardest part of the encounter I think. Lathere tells me you’re meant to use a ranged DPS class to “tank” one of the worms, but we just had 2 of our normal tanks handle it.

In the second phase each worm will periodically spit and cover several people with poison or several people with fire. The only thing that can remove the poison (which freezes you in place, thus effectively removing you from the fight altogether, after about 15 seconds) is a player with the fire (which damages everyone around them). The worms don’t spit at the same time which is what makes it tricky.

In the third phase you’ll fight Icehowl, a giant snowy gorilla. He likes to target a player and charge them. The first time this happened I watched a guildie get stunned and then trampled which was pretty damn amusing to watch. Then people started experimenting with their survival talents and racial abilities and, unfortunately, nobody else died in the same manner.

The video below is a capture from our first Northrend Beasts kill, our third attempt at the encounter, and it’s pretty long because I think only about 10 people are still alive by the time we reach Icehowl. (If the video proportions are out-of-wack click on the video below and watch it at WeGame – seems to playback better.)

BTW, aside from those first 5 or 10 candles which I lifted, I paid for all the rest. I swear!

Patch 3.2 fun: new raid and new druid forms!

Last night my guild ventured into the new raid – Trial of the Crusader keen to see how we matched up against the first encounter released – Northrend Beasts.  This fight was surprisingly fun and we got the beasties down on the 4th (I think) attempt.  With this dropped the first Trophy of the Crusade and the bidding war began!  Cass & I are in a guild with an open bidding system where you can bid until you run out of DKP.  This first Trophy went for 6.5k which is pretty high for what is effectively a tier token (You also need 45 Emblems of Triumph).  Generally only weapons/trinkets make it above the 5k mark.

I’m just not sure that this new gear is worth spending that much DKP.  As the Trophy of the Crusade is universal between all classes, I just know that the pricing will be pretty steep for a while.  I really love the 4 piece bonus of my Tier 8 so much I wanted to see the actual stat increases I would gain replacing my pieces with the new Tier 9 set.  I’m still a bit skeptical on the new 2 & 4 set bonuses of Tier 9 which also makes me less inclined to spend big.  Lets have a look at the stats on 5 pieces Tier 8 vs 5 pieces of Tier 9 (Triumphant version dropped in Normal 25 Man Raid).

Tier 8

Conqueror’s Nightsong Regalia
Item Level 226, Found in 25 Man Ulduar

Set Bonus:
(2) Set: Increases the healing done by your Swiftmend spell by 10%.
(4) Set: Your Rejuvenation spell also provides an instant heal for your target.

Stats:
Stamina: 381
Intellect: 386
Spirit: 318
Armor: 2400
Critical strike rating: 174
Haste rating: 107
Spell power: 525
Sockets: 1 x Meta 4 x Red 1 x Yellow 2 x Blue

Tier 9

Triumphant Malfurion’s Garb
Item Level 245, Found in 10 Man Heroic/25 Man Trial of the Crusader

Set Bonus:
(2) Set: Increases the critical strike chance of your Nourish spell by 5%.
(4) Set: Your Rejuvenation ability now has a chance for its healing to be critical strikes.

Stats:
Stamina: 463
Intellect: 463
Spirit: 364
Armor: 2530
Critical strike rating: 223
Haste rating: 149
Spell power: 629
Sockets: 1 x Meta 3 x Red 1 x Yellow 3 x Blue

What Stats do We Gain?

There is actually a quite significant gain on all stats across the board.  I also feel that Blizzard are adding more crit gear on leather gear.  I’m not sure if this is to align us to the new set bonuses, but I’m definitely not complaining as it makes it easier to change into a Balance spec for the odd fight here and there and still pull competitive DPS figures.

Stamina: 82
Intellect: 77
Spirit: 46
Armor: 130
Critical strike rating: 49
Haste rating: 42
Spell power: 104
Sockets:  0x Meta -1 x Red 0x Yellow 1 x Blue

Set Bonuses & Talents

I’m not a theorycrafter and never will be.  I look at gear and make educated guesses on its usefulness and then look for hard evidence to support it.  So far I haven’t had much luck finding any number crunching on the 4 piece set bonus but it is early days!

From a talent perspective I know many resto druids that don’t bother spending a full 3 points on Nature’s Grace.  I think the 4 piece talent is a perfect compliment to this talent and makes it a no brainer.

Lath’s Plan of Attack

My current plan is to keep wearing 4 pieces of Tier 8 until I have collected 4 pieces of Tier 9.  The 2 piece set bonus is just not worth giving up the instant Rejuvenation heal.  My guild has much better tank healers in the form of Paladins, Shamans & Disc Priests and those rare times I need to solo heal the tank I can make do with the gear and talents I have.

I’ve also decided that I’m not spending gallons of DKP on Tier 9 until I’ve finally replaced my trinkets.  Currently my 2 trinkets are by far my most out of date, lacklustre items.  Once I have these replaced then all bets are off!