Question about the new gear system

[Zergin8r]

Hey, not sure if anyone can answer this but I guess asking anyways couldn't hurt.

Basically I am wondering exactly how the new system works.

Eg if I play an ele shaman, and have a full set of gear I should only need to replace rings/trinkets/neck/cloak to make a resto set as the gear should change based on spec?

The reason I am asking, is because I wanted to get at least 496 pvp gear on alts, and wanted to know if it was worth the time to farm out 2nd spec sets, or just the accessories.

[TyrantWave]

The new gear system is coming in WoD.

[Zergin8r]

I know, that's why I am asking. If I get say a resto/ele set will all the main gear pieces (helm/chest/legs/gloves ect) be the same after they change they system or is the new system only being applied to new gear?

[Shmir]

It doesn't matter whether or not the new system applies to new gear or not in your example.

The stat switching only applies to Primary Stats (Strength, Agility, Intelligence). Resto and Elemental both use Int as their primary stat, so switching between the two will have 0 change in the gear. Secondary and tertiary stats will not change based on spec, so all the PvP power, Spirit, crit, haste, etc. that is on gear as Resto will still be there as Elemental.

[Krisshaman]

Until they give us actual numbers on how mana regen will be balanced for healers, an ele set would be just as effective for resto purposes. They did say that the primary stat on primary pieces would not change across all levels of gear, but hit and expertise will be gone on all gear.

[Annarion]

The system will only apply to new gear going forward, or possibly SoO gear. So to answer your question, yes get the other set if you're going to use it to level up. Alternately it'd be a lot faster to grind the Timeless Isle 496 tokens.

[Zergin8r]

Getting timeless tokens takes way to long on the server/servers I play on. There are like 1-2 alliance and several horde gank squads that roam around killing the few alliance that are there. Anyways thank you for the input, guess I am just going to get a healer set and use that to level once WoD hits.

[Grubjuice]

A Resto Shaman will need some spirit.
An Elemental shaman will recieve no benefit from spirit.

Armor (head/shoulders/chest/bracers/gloves/pants/boots) will no longer have spirit on it ever.
Spirit will only be found on non-armor items (rings/weapons/off-hands/shields/necklaces/trinkets/cloaks)

Both Elemental and Resto will benefit from Intellect, as well as Crit/Haste/Mastery/Amplify/Multi-strike/Readiness
Intellect will only be found on armor (head/shoulder/chest/bracer/glove/pants/boots)
Intellect will never be found on non-armor items (rings/off-hands/shields/necklaces/trinkets/cloaks)
Primary stats may or may not be on weapons; or weapons may have AP and SP respectively
Crit/Haste/Mastery/Amplify/Multi-strike/Readiness can appear on any armor or non-armor item.


Resto will probably not need Spirit on every non-armor item (probably only a few of them)
at most Resto and Elemental will be able to share all 15 item-slots, but in reality a resto shaman may need about 1~8 Resto-only spirit items in the inventory.


PS: Elemental gear is essentially identical to Enhancement gear (excluding weapons)... (in that any armor or non-armor item without spirit is useable by both Ele and Enh.)