My first 85, how to get geared for raiding?

[dr-acula]

Hey everyone, this is my first post.
I played a disc/shadow priest all the way to 85, and I loved it, once I hit 85 I re spec'd to holy/shadow, and I love it even more
The problem is, since this is my first 85, I'm a little confused about how to get gear that's good enough for raiding. I would leave a link to my characters profile, but the Blizzard website is currently down :|

Basically, I just want to know if I should spend my time getting Justice Points to buy gear, or Honor, etc? As of right now I'm using some of the 85 PVP gear, and the rest are all blues. My item level is right around 333, so I definitely need to get that up to do some of the newer heroics.
I can heal random heroics perfectly fine, the only problem is barely any cloth gear (worth using) drops! What's the best way to get better gear?

[FatMF]

Wait for 4.2, then spend your points.

[atlasoptic]

Wait for 4.2, then spend your points.

This and basically, do dungeons for Justice Points, PvP for honor to convert to Justice Points and then try to find some gear that just is better then the stuff you have now.

[IamTheJesusMonk]

If your sole intent is to raid, then farming heroics for jp/vp is your best way (outside of buying the overpriced BoEs on the AH) of gearing up. PvP gear will typically have a lot of its itemization budget invested in resilience which is entirely useless in PvE, so you're better off with PvE gear as that will have 2 secondary stats that are useful to you (spirit, haste, mastery, crit)

With today's patch, your jp can be used to buy a lot of ilvl 359 epic gear which will help you out considerably. Also, doing the new dailies in the Molten Front will open up vendors for 365 epics. Also, after a few upgrades you'll be able to queue for ZA/ZG which will give you access to that gear.

[dr-acula]

If your sole intent is to raid, then farming heroics for jp/vp is your best way (outside of buying the overpriced BoEs on the AH) of gearing up. PvP gear will typically have a lot of its itemization budget invested in resilience which is entirely useless in PvE, so you're better off with PvE gear as that will have 2 secondary stats that are useful to you (spirit, haste, mastery, crit)

With today's patch, your jp can be used to buy a lot of ilvl 359 epic gear which will help you out considerably. Also, doing the new dailies in the Molten Front will open up vendors for 365 epics. Also, after a few upgrades you'll be able to queue for ZA/ZG which will give you access to that gear.

Awesome, thanks! I only have two questions now: Would I buy my gear from the "Justice Quartermaster", or from someone else? I checked out the gear that the quartermaster sells, and there's only 2-3 pieces in there that are cloth. My other question is: do you know where the Molten Front is located?

[Madam]

Here is a list of gear that will help you get into the new five mans. http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...raid+gear+list (Malic has not updated it, but still very useful)

[Deleted]

Do normals and look at www.askmrrobot.com, he is a cunning robot and will help with your gearing. Also he will point out which reps you need.

[Madam]

Do normals and look at www.askmrrobot.com, he is a cunning robot and will help with your gearing. Also he will point out which reps you need.

Note: Be careful when using MrRobot as his stat priority is way off.

[dr-acula]

Note: Be careful when using MrRobot as his stat priority is way off.

Alright, I'm going to stick with that link you gave me; it seems a lot easier and self-explanatory. it's basically exactly what I was looking for, so thanks

[zakaluka]

In full 353 from za/zg, plus whatever 359 you can get from rep/jp in 4.2,

plus 1 or 2 pieces of valor gear from the new system in 4.2,

you will be boasting ilvl 355 or so, and your character itself should be capable of raiding firelands.

This said, raid awareness / your grasp on how to get the absolute most from your class will have a much larger influence on your performance than filling every single one of these gear slots.

What I'm saying is as you're farming these pieces always be thinking about how you can squeeze out a little more from your manapool/regen/throughput. Be critical of your own decision making process. Recognize when you're being wasteful and figure out how to improve.

[dr-acula]

In full 353 from za/zg, plus whatever 359 you can get from rep/jp in 4.2,

plus 1 or 2 pieces of valor gear from the new system in 4.2,

you will be boasting ilvl 355 or so, and your character itself should be capable of raiding firelands.

This said, raid awareness / your grasp on how to get the absolute most from your class will have a much larger influence on your performance than filling every single one of these gear slots.

What I'm saying is as you're farming these pieces always be thinking about how you can squeeze out a little more from your manapool/regen/throughput. Be critical of your own decision making process. Recognize when you're being wasteful and figure out how to improve.

my only problem is getting my ilvl high enough to do za/zg

[Ynna]

Wouldn't pugging BoT and BWD (as soon as you get decent gear from heroics) help with gearing, while also giving valuable raid experience?

[Chireru93]

well, for one, you got lucky getting there right as 4.2 hit for your first toon I think, lol. so far ppl have needed to get crafted items, or farm JP for blues and needed a full 346 set (which could take a while depending on how many dungeons per day you did) before going into the new heroics/raids.

now though, what you want to do is farm heroics and save up your JP. a couple pvp pieces is fine for gearing up but try to replace those before you go into the new dungeons/raids, if you can at least. grab any cloth you may need (even if it's say, a chest piece and you'll get another one from your JP purchase in a few purchases), but don't worry about enchanting/gemming it honestly unless it's a 346 piece that you can't buy an upgrade for with JP, then I'd suggest throwing some cheapy gems/enchants on it (like +30 int instead of +40 int gem, it's cheaper). but just keep on farming up JP for your ilvl 359 epics from the justice point vendor and you'll be well geared in no time at all. once you have a 346 ilvl you can go to the troll dungeons which are more fun (imho) or keep doing the easier heroics to get your JP, or you can start raiding but you probably won't find many pug raids with a 346 ilvl (even when it's new content, my server you couldn't get into a pug for bwd/bot if you didn't have 350+ ilvl =/). if you got a good guild, start raiding with them once you get 346 ilvl and doing the bwd/bot/tot4w raids with them to get yourself some 359 gear that you can't get from the vendor (or even a lucky chance drop and you'll get say a chest piece and won't have to buy one!).

good luck! don't worry about ilvl your ilvl will be crazy high once you start being able to grab 359 epics from JP.

[dr-acula]

well, for one, you got lucky getting there right as 4.2 hit for your first toon I think, lol. so far ppl have needed to get crafted items, or farm JP for blues and needed a full 346 set (which could take a while depending on how many dungeons per day you did) before going into the new heroics/raids.

now though, what you want to do is farm heroics and save up your JP. a couple pvp pieces is fine for gearing up but try to replace those before you go into the new dungeons/raids, if you can at least. grab any cloth you may need (even if it's say, a chest piece and you'll get another one from your JP purchase in a few purchases), but don't worry about enchanting/gemming it honestly unless it's a 346 piece that you can't buy an upgrade for with JP, then I'd suggest throwing some cheapy gems/enchants on it (like +30 int instead of +40 int gem, it's cheaper). but just keep on farming up JP for your ilvl 359 epics from the justice point vendor and you'll be well geared in no time at all. once you have a 346 ilvl you can go to the troll dungeons which are more fun (imho) or keep doing the easier heroics to get your JP, or you can start raiding but you probably won't find many pug raids with a 346 ilvl (even when it's new content, my server you couldn't get into a pug for bwd/bot if you didn't have 350+ ilvl =/). if you got a good guild, start raiding with them once you get 346 ilvl and doing the bwd/bot/tot4w raids with them to get yourself some 359 gear that you can't get from the vendor (or even a lucky chance drop and you'll get say a chest piece and won't have to buy one!).

good luck! don't worry about ilvl your ilvl will be crazy high once you start being able to grab 359 epics from JP.

ahhh alright, thanks for all your help! and by jp vendor, you mean the justice quartermaster right?

---------- Post added 2011-06-28 at 01:59 PM ----------

Wouldn't pugging BoT and BWD (as soon as you get decent gear from heroics) help with gearing, while also giving valuable raid experience?

Yeah, it would. I'm just nervous about pugging raids, most of the time they're looking for geared players.

[Ynna]

Yeah, it would. I'm just nervous about pugging raids, most of the time they're looking for geared players.

Start with Baradin Hold, it's not hard and will give you a basic experience with healing in raids.
If you see someone advertising a BoT/BWD PuG in Trade just give them a whisper explaining that you have enough gear (which you probably have if you have full heroic blues) and that you know the tacts. Additionally you could tell him that you won't mind being kicked if it turns out you don't heal well enough. If he still doesn't want you, well, bummer but not that bad, if he takes you (and a reasonable person would), hooray for you.

If you, probably not, are playing Alliance at Kor'gall EU I'd start a PuG on my Paladin Alt and take you with me.