Ok, I raid resto but hate soloing resto. I levelled dreamstate and have recently discovered the joys of being feral after respeccing for a change of pace. I bought the dragonhide rep gear, my Earthwarden and some green gems and went to town.

Now I've discovered that with very little effort or expense I am very near the Kara minimum stats for my guild for both kitty dps and bear tanking without decent gems or enchants, except for the +35 agi on the Earthwarden. And I'm uncrittable in bear. I'm having so much fun dpsing and offtanking that I only spec resto when needed and am feral the rest of the time.

Now with S2 gear coming available through bg honor I can kit myself out with the best available honor gear, blue quality gems, and a full set of enchants and be Kara and potentially Mag/Gruul's/ZA viable as dps or tank all with one set of gear. The item level of the S2 stuff is higher than the T5 set!

So my question is is there another set of gear that will give me as much bang for the relatively small amount of time and gold invested as the S2 gear? Eventually I'd like to be raid useful to my guild in all druid specs.

Thanks.

Oiy

There are a few crafted and badge items that are great for tanking.

Here's a good write-up...
http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/04/15/shifting-perspectives-gearing-your-bear-tank-from-70-to-karazha/

Also note that PvP gear typically lacks armor compared to similar level PvE gear. 2-3 pieces of PvP gear is OK, but at some point you'll want some real PvE gear.

While the ilvl of the s2 gear is above the T5 set, the big thing that S2 is lacking is armor. It has tons of stam, but the armor loss is huge from a piece-to-piece basis. And that's what allows you to easily tank things like Gruul or Morogrim. Or really, ZA; Nalorakk and Jan'ali hit hard enough that having close to an armor cap is really desired.

S2 is not bad for kitty either, but it isn't as ideal as a lot of the rogue gear you can get.

Belt of Natural Power (crafted) is a great belt that can be used for both forms.

Also a good read/reference http://www.emmerald.net/forum/index.php?topic=328.0

Thanks alot for the input. Obviously no need to level another 70, having a druid is like having 4 70's!

I'm leveling a second druid just so I can use all flavors of druid.

I'm leveling a second druid just so I can use all flavors of druid.
thats dedication !

The number one item I would recommend is the Idol of Terror.

This is an idol available for 15 badges from Gher'as in central Shattrath City. It is generally considered the best druid tanking idol in all but a very few theoretical situations.

It gives your mangle ability (for both bear and cat form) an 85% chance to grant you a +65 agility buff which lasts for 10 seconds. There is a hidden internal cooldown of 10 seconds which will be triggered even if your mangle misses or does not proc the buff. Realistically the buff is up about 30% - 40% of the time.

This would give you the most possible bang for your (15) buck(s). The S2 gear is totally fine for tanking all of Karazhan. Regular Karazhan runs will also help your gear a lot. If you use dkp I would recommend saving it for rings and cloaks. The number one boss for feral druids in Karazhan is Terrestian Ilihoof.


-Annikk

yeah have to agree on the Idol of Terror - i did not believe how good it was from everyone on here until i got it and saw for myself the amazing proc rate. (ps i think its 20 badges cos a guildie said he had 18 the other night saved up and needed 2 more for the idol?)

Yeah its 20 badges, the Shred idol is only 15 (just bought mine last night).

Ah, the price must have changed since I bought mine. Or mayhaps I just made a mistake. I stand corrected, anyhow..


-Annikk

From blizzard's POV I can see why the shred idol is cheaper as there isn't even a crappy lvl 60 idol that is good for Kitty PvE, so they made it 15 'cause they realized the left a gaping hole in gear progression. Whereas there are a few "sort of good" tanking idols you can pickup while questing (idol of wild, lacerate idol drop, etc.) so the "good" tanking idol cost more.

well either way its well worth 20 badges :grin: