Seems crazy but S2 gear is looking better to me than T5, especially with the 2pc bonus. I was thinking about the head and shoulders. It would allow me to finally get a ring of the stalwart protector, and change the enchant on my chest to stats. My guild has downed only Void Reaver so far as T5 bosses go, so only the shoulders would be available to me atm anyway. Hard to believe that BG PVPing could yield comparable/better gear. Is this right? What am I missing?

Nothing, but poor planning on Blizzard's part.

not sure what S2 stuff is but as an avowed hater of pvp i have just recently decided i had to have a couple of items of pvp gear as not being a raider my upgrades in these areas was limited.

so in the space of a few days of pvping i picked up

http://thottbot.com/i31971

http://thottbot.com/i31968

amazing items for such little effort imho.

and yes it shows Blizz have not planned well imho.

S2 = Arena gear from season 2.

S1 = Gladiator's Wyrmhide, etc.
S2 = Merciless Gladiator's Wyrmhide, etc.
S3 = Vengeful Gladiator's Wyrmhide, etc.
S4 = Brutal Gladiator's Wyrmhide, etc.

S1 looks like slightlhy recolored T4
S2 looks like slightlhy recolored T5
S3 looks like slightlhy recolored T6
S4 looks awful, vagueley reminiscent of some sunwell gear.

Every stat increases from S1 through S4 except for resiliance. And yeah, poor planning from Blizz.

I saw somewhere a brief mention that resil won't work in pve instances once the xpac comes out. That would change things alot as far as what gear is required to succeed in pve. Anyone know if this is true or not?

It's true. Resilience won't work in instances at all.

On the flip side, Survival of the fittest is being changed from reducing your crit chance by 1/2/3% to 2/4/6%, which means (currently) you would not need any extra defense or resilience to be uncrittable against +3level mobs. Druids in that respect are going to be able to have huge flexibility in their gear and not need resilience.

I have to admit that makes me really happy. That means that my pvp gear will still be viable for pve, even if it's not optimal.

I don't enjoy 25 man raiding much, so this is a very good thing.

S2 = Arena gear from season 2.

S1 = Gladiator's Wyrmhide, etc.
S2 = Merciless Gladiator's Wyrmhide, etc.
S3 = Vengeful Gladiator's Wyrmhide, etc.
S4 = Brutal Gladiator's Wyrmhide, etc.

S1 looks like slightlhy recolored T4
S2 looks like slightlhy recolored T5
S3 looks like slightlhy recolored T6
S4 looks awful, vagueley reminiscent of some sunwell gear.

Every stat increases from S1 through S4 except for resiliance. And yeah, poor planning from Blizz.

so can i use honour from BG's and buy the s3 or s4 sets as they are obviously a step up again from the s2 items i have just purchased ?



It's true. Resilience won't work in instances at all.

On the flip side, Survival of the fittest is being changed from reducing your crit chance by 1/2/3% to 2/4/6%, which means (currently) you would not need any extra defense or resilience to be uncrittable against +3level mobs. Druids in that respect are going to be able to have huge flexibility in their gear and not need resilience.

how likely is that to remain as the final talent.....seems like if druids were to get that ability warriors and pallys would not be too happy....?

Seems crazy but S2 gear is looking better to me than T5, especially with the 2pc bonus

You should get 2pc T5 anyway, even if you don't wear it for tanking.
Having an instant cast heal as a feral druid opens up all sorts of possibilities, such as easily soloing fel reavers, being utterly invincible in pvp, and saving your rogs' lives at the last possible moment :>
It is a hugely fun set bonus. Remember it reduces the casting time of your regrowth spell by 2.0 seconds, and regrowth has a 2.0 cast time in the first place... so basically it just makes the spell instant cast.


how likely is that to remain as the final talent.....seems like if druids were to get that ability warriors and pallys would not be too happy....?

Heh, I'm sure they'll suck it up, like they always do =P


-Annikk

how likely is that to remain as the final talent.....seems like if druids were to get that ability warriors and pallys would not be too happy....?It's very, very likely.

Right now, plate tanking gear is for two spec. In the xpac it'll be for 3. Making plate tanking gear is as a rule not a waste because of this.

But there's only one spec of one class that needs leather tanking gear. Doing this means that for the most part, rogues and feral druids can share exactly the same gear without issue. It's fine giving warriors, paladins and druids the liability of being crittable because their gear is itemized to remove that liability. It's problematic for druids because it's not. Removing the problem entirely neatly solves this for everyone. Even if rogues and ferals get different gear, it means that feral gear can work well as both cat and bear gear. Essentially, it takes the current tier gear itemization and makes it great for both forms, which is ideal.

It's also a good move because of how defense works; because druids cannot block or parry, defense is massively inefficient by comparison to a warrior, pally or death knight. This is why resilience is so good for a druid in the first place; losing defense just isn't losing all that much.

I very much expect this to stay in.

Kheldar - You can currently purchase S1 and S2 gear with honor, while S3 and S4 require arena points.

When S5 comes out, you will be able to buy S1, S2 and S3 gear with honor, while S4 and S5 require arena points.

Essentially you can always purchase two seasons 'old' or 'older' gear with honor. Currently S1 costs less honor than S2, and S3 costs less arena points than S4.

Annikk - I've always wanted to play around with the 2pc T5 set bonus on my Druid. Looks like a ton of fun, and way OP for solo'ing. Kinda useless (compared to T4 2pc) for 25man raiding (all the T5 2pc are kinda weak imo), but nonetheless, I love it. I also liked the set bonus on moonglade that added dodge to rejuv... anyone else think that was a good idea?

When S5 comes out, you will be able to buy S1, S2 and S3 gear with honor, while S4 and S5 require arena points. I assume when S5 comes out the level cap will be 80, so S3 gear won't be all that useful. So, S5 is more like S1v2. Maybe blizzard will make a lvl 80 starter PvP set that you buy with PvE rep like they did a few patches back with the lvl 70 starter pvp sets.

I very much expect this to stay in.I agree. With this next Xpac, there have quite a few changes that simplify gear stats (no more +heal and/or +spell, there will be +power or something like that). +res doesn't work in PvE. Maybe Blizzard folks are getting lazy. Or maybe this plays into the rumors that we will be allowed to have 2 talent specs. Being able to switch from spec A to spec B would demand a boatload of new gear for each player, but with overlap in gear spec's not so much (+power gear will work for Trees as well as Chickens).

Even recent patchs in BC, Blizzard has been leaning this way as seen in the patch that allows +heal to "convert" to +spell and the patch that changed HotW to buff AP instead of +str so we could wear more Rogue gear.

Though, in a way, this might mean there will be more folks rolling on the same piece of gear. IMO, the fewer DE's the better. So, it ain't all that bad.

Kheldar - You can currently purchase S1 and S2 gear with honor, while S3 and S4 require arena points.

When S5 comes out, you will be able to buy S1, S2 and S3 gear with honor, while S4 and S5 require arena points.

Essentially you can always purchase two seasons 'old' or 'older' gear with honor. Currently S1 costs less honor than S2, and S3 costs less arena points than S4.


cheers Clar.

so have i bought the S2 gear then ? sorry not a clue when it comes to pvp !

just about to buy either the gloves or chest from the same set of which i currently have the 2 items i listed in a post above somewhere....

from other posts do i assume S5 is a long way off and will be after WotLK ?

There won't be a season 5; they'll be changing how all of that works. The old stuff -even S4 gear - will be way behind the curve compared to lvl 80 pve gear, so they'll have to add new sets and stuff anyway.

yeah, you're probably right that WoTLK will come out before S5 does.

Khel right now if you don't want to do arenas (and I don't blame ya... too cookie cutter), then S2 set gear is the best you can get pvp-wise.

Just to confuse things, you can get S3 boots belt bracers ring and neck from honor as well (Vindicator's gear).

cheers Clar i'll take a look at the vindicator's set then !

yeah, you're probably right that WoTLK will come out before S5 does.

Khel right now if you don't want to do arenas (and I don't blame ya... too cookie cutter), then S2 set gear is the best you can get pvp-wise.

Just to confuse things, you can get S3 boots belt bracers ring and neck from honor as well (Vindicator's gear).

to confuse things even more, the Guardian stuff is out now, which is S4 equivalent... you can pick up the belt and the neck without needing an arena rating