Other ways of gearing for Flex besides LFR?

[Furyous]

So yeah, LFR has really struck a chord with me due to long queues, people unwilling to follow mechanics, and wasting my time (sorry, I know this sounds like a QQ, but it's true in my experience. If you like LFR, more power to you). So here I am asking if there are any alternatives to gearing for Flex besides LFR. My current ilvl is 514, but that's probably not sufficient.

[Deleted]

Aside upgraded Timeless-gear and crafted 553-epics you can allways find a Throne of Thunder normal pug easy now when it has been nerfed.

[Lord Pebbleton]

You can:

-Run heroic scenarios (yielding ilvl516 loot)
-Kill Ordos and the Celestials every week, using seals aswell
-Run ToT normal (thunderforged items are ilvl528, same as SoO LFR)
-Run ToT heroic (heroic thunderforged items are better than flexible items by 1 item level)
-Craft ilvl522/553 gear
-Farm for Burdens and get ilvl535 Timeless Isle gear

[greysaber]

-Farm for Burdens and get ilvl535 Timeless Isle gear

ugh. this is far more dreadful than the few bad runs you get once in a while in SoOLFR.

[Oncereborn]

Tbh without a real raid group (10/25) and getting some normal pieces its very hard to get your ilvl up as majority of pug flex groups ask for higher ilvl than the gear that actually drops in there.

[Alvito]

Oondasta loot is also 522 and easy to come by.

[Deleted]

Timeless isle is easy, just farm bosses and use the coins on chests from the monkey dude in the cave i farmed quite a few burdens that way to get access to flex.

[Lord Pebbleton]

ugh. this is far more dreadful than the few bad runs you get once in a while in SoOLFR.

How so? Just aim for something "bigger", for example Shaohao reputation. You will get Burdens along the way and you won't burn out. That's how i got 7 Burdens and I still have more than 200000 Timeless Coins.

[Annoroth]

A few runs through normal ToT (or Heroic if you can handle it) should be more than sufficient to gear you for Normal SoO, and by extension, Flex.

[TheWindWalker]

As everyone else has said, Timeless Isle is your best bet. You may have bad luck and it take over a month over grinding every, single, day or you may be done in a week. I was lucky enough to go from ToT LFR to fully geared 530+ in about two weeks because of hammering it all day and night before they nerfed the burden droprate within the first few weeks.

Your biggest challenge is going to be dealing with Flex pugs requiring an ilvl equal to someone who's finished flex for good and been into normal.

Oondasta loot is also 522 and easy to come by.

Depends on the server. I visited him just a week or so after 5.4 landed and that island is devoid of players. (US-Proudmoore)

[Giscoicus]

Pretty much timeless isle and crafted gear until your friends can bring you.

ToT pugs are rare since LFR is easier and still better loot. Most ToT groups I've seen are after mounts/pets, not too many going for gear.
Oondasta groups face the same issue with not many being interested, but there is no gear requirement for them.

LFR has hurt the pug community badly, nullifying old content entirely with each new patch, offering better and easier rewards.

[Deleted]

There is 1 free burden in the blazing chest on timeless isle if you haven't gotten that yet.

[Blade and Soul]

I'm going to echo what has been posted:

1) Best bet is timeless isle gear and upgrading it via Burdens of Eternity.

2) Run Ordos and Celestials every week and use a Warforged Seal on Ordos at least.

3) Run ToT LFR to get at least your weapon(s) and trinkets, and upgrade them to 510 item level. You can get Mogu Runes for 1000 timeless coins for extra rolls.

4) Purchase one of the trinkets from the Timeless Isle and upgrade it. I know it takes a lot of coins but will help boost your item level and may actually be "ok" depending on your class.

5) Run Galleon, Nalak, and Oondasta every week for a chance at 496 and 522 item level loot.

6) If you have the gold, get the 553 item level crafted belt and pants.

7) Again, if you have the gold, get the 522 item level crafted boots.

8) Get your Legendary cloak. This may not be feasible though, depending on how far along you are in the quest chain.

9) If you can get into a normal mode ToT run, do that and hope you can get some gear.

I can't really think of anything else off the top of my head. For Flex Wing 1, you should be able to get in with a 515-520 item level. It all depends on who is running the raid. A lot of people just want to burn down the content as fast as possible now, so it's hard to get into Flex raids unless you have an awesome item level or are a healer (tanks are usually not taken unless they have a high item level, at least from my experience). Flex Wing 2 actually seems to be harder to get into than Flex Wing 3, in terms of item level. And based off of oQueue, you won't be getting into Flex Wing 4 without at least a 540 item level at this point.

Hope that helps =)

[greysaber]

I don't know how you guys are getting burdens so easily. I've seen ONE drop, besides the one in the super special treasure chest, on 2 different characters. And I've spent enough time there to collect around 200k coins and most achievements are done or close to done. No I'm not counting the fact that I could buy 3-4 burdens with coins. You guys are making it sound like they drop all the time or are frequently in chests. My experience is, they do/are not.

[Taralack]

Timeless isle is easy, just farm bosses and use the coins on chests from the monkey dude in the cave i farmed quite a few burdens that way to get access to flex.

This would be a viable option if they hadn't nerfed Burden drop rates from that guy's chests.

[Deleted]

Timeless isle is easy, just farm bosses and use the coins on chests from the monkey dude in the cave i farmed quite a few burdens that way to get access to flex.

I once blew 10k coins on the cave. NOT ONE burden.

[SlippyCheeze]

I don't know how you guys are getting burdens so easily. I've seen ONE drop, besides the one in the super special treasure chest, on 2 different characters. And I've spent enough time there to collect around 200k coins and most achievements are done or close to done. No I'm not counting the fact that I could buy 3-4 burdens with coins. You guys are making it sound like they drop all the time or are frequently in chests. My experience is, they do/are not.

Rares. Kill the rares, which have a much higher chance of dropping burdens than random mobs. Especially the summoned and static archerus of flame, who has the highest rate in the game at five percent. Rumor has it that killing different rares gives better chances than the same one many times, but honestly, I don't actually believe that.

[Raugnaut]

You can also read up the fights and do heroic ToT runs. With a good leader, you should be able to get up to durumu down easily enough. Just gotta explain fights and hold the group together. This can yield 535+ ilvl pieces, with the potential of BiS for some classes.

[Halicia]

My current ilvl is 514, but that's probably not sufficient.

More then sufficient for the first 2 wings. Even moreso if you're competent and actually put that gear to use.

I'm more then happy to carry guildies/alts through the first 2 wings of flex just for the fun/gear. THATS WHAT ITS THERE FOR.

If the bosses are dying but someone starts complaining, tell them to save the complaints for a 'real' raidgroup, like normal/heroic.

If you're on US servers, toss me a message with your ingame info and I'll get you into flex (schedules permitting)

[kaikoraimi]

If you have any sub-496 pieces, the honor gear is equivalent or even superior to 496 PvE gear, likewise with Conquest and 522 gear, since the PvP stats are not in the ilvl budget. Otherwise, I'd say do timeless isle world bosses & farm for burdens, give pug ToT groups a shot, & just try listing yourself for flex.