Question:

Do you ever 'Need' cloth items when you group?

Any one that can wear leather, like a druid, should wear leather as its better then cloth.

My thoughts as well. Do you find that there is a paucity of leather casting/healing gear out there?

There are maybe one or two really nice cloth pieces that I actually needed, after asking a group if they would be ok with it. One was the Padres Trousers from Dire Maul. Something like +51 to healing and +6mp5. I did use some cloth stuff in my healing gear prior to running endgame, and a lot of moonkins will use cloth +dmg stuff (cause there is an absurdley low amount of +dmg leather gear in the game).

Though yeah, if you have the choice, leather is always better.

My concern is really with how people I group with will react. Is it acceptable practice for a druid to 'need' cloth items? I don't want to be a ninja of course.

Just looked at our guild bank and most of our leather items have either int or spirit.

only difference between cloth and leather is AC value...so if you are playing your druid has a healer/nuker and dont plan on getting hit, and the stats out weigh your current gear, I would roll on it.

Of the many druids I have leveled up...my caster armor set usually always had a few cloth peices, till I get into my set peices.

Are you going to be running with your guild, or PuG's? On guild runs there really is / should be no such thing as ninja'ing. In PuG's, you almost expect something to be ninja'd (though to be fair, I have been in quite a few really good PuG's... just a few unfortunate bad experiences that really hurt my perception of PuG's), unless the PuG leader Master Loots and has people roll 1 need 1 greed 1 set.

I'd say talk to your group before the run, and see how they feel. If there is a priest in the group that wants the cloth +heal gear, or a mage/warlock that wants the cloth +damage gear, I personally would pass it to them.

Though I never played Moonkin, and as such never wanted or competed for +spell damage gear. I focused on Str Sta and Agi leather gear, being feral. My only competition was rogues, and they usually prefered Agi, AP and Crit%. And once you get up into the high 50's and start building a healing set, there are a lot of really good leather healing pieces littered throughout Dire Maul, UD Strat, Scholo, etc.

Question:
What level are you, and what instances are you running? We can probably point you to some good leather gear for your level with the appropriate stats.

There aren't too many leather pieces with +damage on them that are reallll goood (I know theres one from Kazzak)....My moonkin buddy wears half cloth for the +damage.


/cry I miss gwmort.

I think the only time i need cloth is either when my armor sucks sooo bad that a piece of cloth has a better ac or when there is a really good +heal attached to it...

Yea, I lean more towards Leather because it also won't make you a squishy if you pull aggro. Cloth seems likea good choice (especially for moonkins) but once you start raiding, for resto anyways, you'll outgrow the cloth with good healing leather. As for +damage leather seems to be rarer. So I doubt you'll use much +damage leather unless you have an insane guild to get it for you.

Went Raiding in a tuxedo once. Didn't last long though.

we had a couple moonkins raiding a while back and they started to roll on cloth items with +dam.

caused a big fuss with the more 'normal' clothies.

both have since moved on / left the game so its not an issue atm.

also tbh the AC difference on leather is not usually enough to make a big difference to live or die and did not stop them getting cloth and doing very good dps.

Im a resto and i wear some cloth.

It does take away some armor, but that does not mean leather is better at all.
Blizzo would not give us ability to wear cloth if it really was so entirely useless.

See, cloth is usually stronger in stats and +healing.
With better +healing my lifebloom is better and saves my tail if i do take aggro. Other healing spells too but i usually reach for lifebloom first to slow the damage since it is instant then cast a bigger heal.
Also, I've found since cloth generally is better with stats that the stamina is very nice and also helps make up for the loss of armor.

Honestly, theres absolutely nothing wrong with needing on cloth if it is better than what you have and you will wear it. Thats what need is for and theres absolutely nothing wrong with wearing cloth.
I have seen many very experienced level 70 restos and balanced running around in half cloth.

Wear whatever is better for you. There isnt a need for a lot of armor if it takes away from stats and you take hits well enough for tank to take aggro back before you die.

Im resto. I wear half cloth right now and it takes a lot to take me down.
If someone tells you simply, cloth isnt as good as leather then they havent really given it much thought or looked into it.
:physics:
They just see leather has more armor and think that other than that they are the same.

We are not tanks, aside from ferals of course. We do not need a lot of armor, just enough armor and stamina to keep us alive long enough for the tank to take aggro back.

I know this is long already, but another thing you can do is get a threat meter.
I watch my threat and i very rarely take aggro anyways.

Hope this helps!

Nilly :wavey:

Whoa! Blast from the past!

Resto and Feral leather wasn't too difficult to come by preTBC but ever since the xpac, even +dmg leather is much easier to comeby and wearing cloth +dmg for balance spec seems to be less common. This shouldn't be a problem anymore

Moonkin gear is still a huge problem. Personally I'm getting close to going Resto to help our raid. When I do, I'm rolling on any piece of leather or cloth that matches the stats I need/want and is better than what I have. I serve the raid better by having better gear. Priests and Druids have similar needs for stats. Cloth vs leather doesn't mean much. Mobs in Raiding will one shot you regardless of your armor if your a squishy.

Im rolling a lvl 70 balance (Very new 70)and was forced to take a couple of leather pieces in first heroic by my guild. DPS went from around 550 to almost 700. If you are a caster wear the most +damage

If someone tells you simply, cloth isnt as good as leather then they havent really given it much thought or looked into it.
:physics:

When I do, I'm rolling on any piece of leather or cloth that matches the stats I need/want and is better than what I have. I serve the raid better by having better gear. Priests and Druids have similar needs for stats. Cloth vs leather doesn't mean much. Mobs in Raiding will one shot you regardless of your armor if your a squishy.

Since this has already been necroposted to death, I'll only post to say that I completely agree that toons should take whatever gear gives them the stats they want in the largest quantities. Period. QQ all you want, clothies--WE DON'T CARE.