Prot pallies, how did you level 80-90?

[calinass]

I'm asking as I'm nearing 80 (well, 55 but I'm leveling ridiculously fast with heirlooms). When you hit 80, did you guys go dungeon or quest? When questing how did you gear? I ask because I had a monk and thank god he used leather dps gear which made dps offspec a bit better/faster.

Did you guys gear priority for Prot then secondary ret? Just wondering.

[Deleted]

You could go tank with haste gear, as it's still one of the better stats for Prot and have a 2-hander in your pocket to quest with, since ret also loves dat haste.... hmmm dat haste

[calinass]

I was actually thinking of just going sword and board as ret. bad idea? I know they use 2h but it'll be my OS

[Angrybathtub]

Fastest way from 80-90 is questing. For the kill quests just pull huge packs and aoe them down.

Thats how I leveled my prot warrior and brewmaster monk.

[Nairobi]

Whatever you choose (traditional ret or traditional prot), please, for the love of baby jeebus, don't sword-n-board with a ret. Ever.

Personally, since I had ~410 gear from DS, I just smashed through things as Ret in pandaland. The BOA agi polearm from Arch was insane. In 5.0, self heals were fine, so with the buff in 5.2 you'll be more than OK to quest as ret.

Problem with Prot is that you can't feasibly pull enough stuff to get decent vengeance to do damage. You'll spend more time gathering up mobs, watching others leash, and re-chasing them than you will killing them.

But, FWIW, ret and prot use the same gear, so play whichever you find to work better.

[calinass]

Wait. Ret and prot use the same gear? Like dps and brm monks use the same gear? Was this a change in cata/mop?

And why use an agility 2h? Ret is strength yeah?

[mookspal]

I would go prot and level (mix in a few randoms to keep you sain). I would mount up and pretty much pull everything I can. It is next to impossible to die. I also did this from 85-90 but try and be a little more careful in the 89 zone. Stuff hits a little harder there.

[Tomana]

I did the 85-90 quest leveling as Prot on Beta and didn't like it, so I just went ret. As long as you get str heirlooms and a 2hander you should be fine. If you can get your hands on the 463 arch polearm, leveling is quite fast

[thewespie]

I was just pulling 10-20 mobs at a time and just word of glory heal through it and golden. Also mixed the dungeons for the quests and once done with quests stop dungeons until next quests are avail I.e. lvl 87 que up again

[lebowski]

Wait. Ret and prot use the same gear? Like dps and brm monks use the same gear? Was this a change in cata/mop?

And why use an agility 2h? Ret is strength yeah?

Anything without crit on it is prot gear. Haste is nomnomnom for both specs, mastery is strong, both need hit and expertise.

And the polearm he is referring to is a 463 that is usable at 85, that will outclass any strength weapon leveling up

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

As retribution.

[xebtria]

And why use an agility 2h? Ret is strength yeah?

the archaeology polearm is with agi, yes. but it is ilvl 463 (maybe even 471 if you upgraded it), and requires lvl 85 to use. a 463 weapon at lvl 85 would be better than a lvl 404 or a 429 weapon, even if it (the 463) would not have any stats at all except for the dps. The gain of maybe 6-700 str does not make up for the loss of 34-59 itemlevel, which means about half the dps on the weapon.

[calinass]

How do you get it?! Since I started in wotlk I've never picked it up. Us there a guide to get it??

---------- Post added 2013-03-19 at 02:42 PM ----------

Picked it up as in archaeology

[Deleted]

I'm asking as I'm nearing 80 (well, 55 but I'm leveling ridiculously fast with heirlooms). When you hit 80, did you guys go dungeon or quest? When questing how did you gear? I ask because I had a monk and thank god he used leather dps gear which made dps offspec a bit better/faster.

Did you guys gear priority for Prot then secondary ret? Just wondering.

For leveling, just get the highest item level gear you can. If it's plate and has strength, it'll be fine. (That said, there are nasty gear jumps between expansions so be careful. )

Do each dungeon once for the fun and for the quests. But otherwise, from 80 onwards, quests are more efficient. I would quest as ret, instance as prot. I actually leveled Cata as prot but that was before MoP nerfed tank damage when there is no vengeance. The last couple of zones in MOP - Townlong and Dread Wastes - I've found tank specs to be fine. Those zones can be pretty hairy for dps in my limited experience and I usually feel more comfortable with my alts doing them in tank spec. Leveling can also be great practice for active mitigation - soloing is so repetitive and low stress, the playstyle becomes second nature.

[Vorret]

Wait... so if I was to level a new pally as tank I'd be better off with the dps heirloom than the actual tank heirloom ? (minus the weapon, that is).

[Nairobi]

Wait. Ret and prot use the same gear? Like dps and brm monks use the same gear? Was this a change in cata/mop?

And why use an agility 2h? Ret is strength yeah?

Sorry, left the office for the day, but yes Ret and Prot share gear almost mutually. Ret values Crit where Prot values Expertise to hardcap (15%), but other than that, the stat priorities are shockingly similar: Exp/Hit caps > Haste > Mastery > Crit.

And the polearm is Agi based, but 1) it is 463 ilvl, aka ilvl of 90 heroic dungeons in pandaland that you can use at 85, and 2) you could upgrade it to 471 (though I didn't as I got it on day 1 of expac) and 3) is haste/mastery secondaries (I think, may be crit/mast). Basically it's a shitton of weapon DPS (best stat) and good secondaries at the cost of some STR. Def a win. Used it leveling my DK and warrior (and monk and druid) as well, all with great success.

Wait... so if I was to level a new pally as tank I'd be better off with the dps heirloom than the actual tank heirloom ? (minus the weapon, that is).

You'd be best served with getting the DPS set, as tank stats are largely useless at low levels (where incoming damage doesnt matter) as well as higher levels thru 85 (where it still doesnt matter). It's also a great boost to YOUR damage, as tanks will be ~50%+ of the groups damage while leveling, and great for speeding up questing (or owning BGs) if you choose to do so as Ret.

[xebtria]

How do you get it?! Since I started in wotlk I've never picked it up. Us there a guide to get it??

---------- Post added 2013-03-19 at 02:42 PM ----------

Picked it up as in archaeology

as you pick it up any archaeology items. farm sites from the respective faction until it appears. took me three afternoons of about 4 hours each of digging until it appeared. can go faster, but damn sure it can take a lot longer as well. archaeology is pure RNG.

[Hilde]

I leveled with questing as prot and it was painfully slow. The mobs just went down really slowly and I aggroed everything with my consecration XD However if you like leveling through dungeons prot would be nice with the fast ques. You could also use ret for questing and respec and throw on a shield and a one hander when you feel like doing a dungeon. The quest reward system allows for that.