Is 'Mail Specialization' reason enough to choose mail dungeon set?

[Deleted]

I play a restoration (draenei) shaman and I was bored so I was looking through the dungeon sets.
In stats I actually prefer the ones that the Cloth set gives, it is more or less balanced out but for some reason the cloth set convinces me more, especially with reforging potential.
I then tried the two sets on and the mail set has probably the most boring look out of any shaman tier ever made, for me thats reason enough but I don't want to cause issues whilst raiding.
Mail specc is 5% intel which with the amount of intelect cata gear has will be a big difference, but is it worth looking like a nonce?

[Taalyn]

By all means, nerf your healing so you can look pretty.

[Garnik]

If you're just a little bit serious about raiding, you will be raiding in only Mail Gear. I'm going to assume this is for something RP related? Just have a Raiding Gear Set and a Roleplaying Gear Set.

[Deleted]

Yea, sacrificing 5% of your total Intellect to look prettier is likely to be a very bad idea. Not only does Intellect increase your total Mana, it also increases your Spell Power - Both of which you will need as much as possible of to be a good Healer or Caster.
Also, don't forget why Blizzard actually made those specializations: People will hate you if you roll on Cloth or Leather gear as a Shaman, especially once you reach past level 50.

[RedDragon4275]

Seriously? I really don't get why people think this way... Your class wears Mail... Wear Mail. I can't stand when Plate DPS wears Leather or when Plate Healers wear Mail/Leather/Cloth saying that it "Gives better stats." Look harder... You'll find stuff that gives the same stats with your own armor value... Stop stealing other Armor Classes armor.

In my opinion, if a Class is intended to use only PLATE, they shouldn't be able to wear Cloth, Leather, or Mail.
Mail Wearers shouldn't be able use Leather or Cloth.
Leather wearers shouldn't be able to wear Cloth.

[Deleted]

Umm, sorry, i also stated about the stats... The cloth gear has a lot more intel/spirit whilst the mail one has more mastery/haste. however intel/spirit are better for reforging as it is a percentage of the amount, so sacrificing the difference in spirit between mail and cloth will get you more than the difference in haste/mastery.
I just mentioned the "look" aspect of it as an extra, believe me, if you like your char you will play better with it.

O and im not talking about "rolling" for gear, its with justice points.

[Kruv]

The specializations were implemented in the game for a reason - so that each class would wear what they're supposed to. I agree that the entry stats for mail gear isn't optimal for a resto spec, but that wouldn't be a reason to give up wearing mail. That's where reforging comes in, and as the expansion progresses you'll see more gear that is suitable.

[Volitar]

I feel like this is just a poor excuse for bad mail and plate itemization i remember clothys getting made at me winning gear o i'm sorry your right i should wear gear that is worse for me just because it has more armor

[RedDragon4275]

I feel like this is just a poor excuse for bad mail and plate itemization i remember clothys getting made at me winning gear o i'm sorry your right i should wear gear that is worse for me just because it has more armor

If you were in my Guild/Raid, you wouldn't have been rolling on Cloth.

[redmund]

Umm, sorry, i also stated about the stats... The cloth gear has a lot more intel/spirit whilst the mail one has more mastery/haste. however intel/spirit are better for reforging as it is a percentage of the amount, so sacrificing the difference in spirit between mail and cloth will get you more than the difference in haste/mastery.
I just mentioned the "look" aspect of it as an extra, believe me, if you like your char you will play better with it.

O and im not talking about "rolling" for gear, its with justice points.

This link shows the mail gear purchasable with justice points at level 85. Only 1 item is without spirit.
http://www.wowhead.com/items=4.3?fil...s=1:1;crv=0:10


This link shows the cloth items with spirit purchasable with justice points at level 85.
http://www.wowhead.com/items=4.1?fil...:1;crv=0:10:10

They're almost identical in terms of base stats (int, spirit, stam). The only standouts are the gloves, which have totally different stat allocations, and the mail helm appears to be slightly under budget (but only slightly). Looking at the rest of the gear, there's nothing there to justify taking cloth and losing 5% intellect for that.

Seriously? I really don't get why people think this way... Your class wears Mail... Wear Mail. I can't stand when Plate DPS wears Leather or when Plate Healers wear Mail/Leather/Cloth saying that it "Gives better stats." Look harder... You'll find stuff that gives the same stats with your own armor value... Stop stealing other Armor Classes armor.

Whilst that's not the case any longer, throughout TBC and Wrath, plate gear was in most cases so poorly itemised that the difference in overall DPS was often many thousands. BiS plate sets for Warriors were 2-3k dps behind BiS that included leather/mail items, and if that wasn't a valid reason (not saying it's FAIR) then I don't know what is. Thankfully, with AP being removed from leather and mail, it's no longer worth it for any plate wearer to use gear without strength.

[Amana]

Short answer: Yes.

[Radux]

5% Intellect is awesome. It would really only be worth giving up if all the loots you get (leather + cloth) outweigh the 5% total intellect given by wearing all mail. This would have to some seriously different levels of gear (i.e. ilvl 200 mail vs. full 277 cloth + leather).

[Deleted]

I play a restoration (draenei) shaman and I was bored so I was looking through the dungeon sets.
In stats I actually prefer the ones that the Cloth set gives, it is more or less balanced out but for some reason the cloth set convinces me more, especially with reforging potential.
I then tried the two sets on and the mail set has probably the most boring look out of any shaman tier ever made, for me thats reason enough but I don't want to cause issues whilst raiding.
Mail specc is 5% intel which with the amount of intelect cata gear has will be a big difference, but is it worth looking like a nonce?

Any raid leader worth anything will not invite you to a raid if you are wearing cloth over taking the benefits of mail specialisation. 5% int is massively worth it.

[Volitar]

If you were in my Guild/Raid, you wouldn't have been rolling on Cloth.

I wouldn't raid with someone making me wear gear that is worse for me.

[fuknfreak]

Lets not forget that cataclysm is re-introducing "OOM" you will actually have to consider your mana, so is 5% worth having? FUCK YEAH!

[underdogba]

5% Intellect is awesome. It would really only be worth giving up if all the loots you get (leather + cloth) outweigh the 5% total intellect given by wearing all mail. This would have to some seriously different levels of gear (i.e. ilvl 200 mail vs. full 277 cloth + leather).

And considering that any stat benefits from wearing well-itemized cloth versus poorly-itemized mail would mainly come from secondary stats, it's very doubtful that cloth gearing could ever overcome the benefit of the extra 5% intellect.

[Adahy]

Look at it in simple terms lets say you will have 2000 int 5% of 2000 is a 100 int, so are you going to gain MORE than 100 int, and 100 isn't a small amout of int my any means, not to mention I am pretty sure just by glancing over gear you will have more than 2k int.

[darkwarrior42]

Seriously? I really don't get why people think this way... Your class wears Mail... Wear Mail. I can't stand when Plate DPS wears Leather or when Plate Healers wear Mail/Leather/Cloth saying that it "Gives better stats." Look harder... You'll find stuff that gives the same stats with your own armor value... Stop stealing other Armor Classes armor.

In my opinion, if a Class is intended to use only PLATE, they shouldn't be able to wear Cloth, Leather, or Mail.
Mail Wearers shouldn't be able use Leather or Cloth.
Leather wearers shouldn't be able to wear Cloth.

I assume you mean since the patch only, since it is well known that piror to the revamping of old world it was virtually impossible to find good low level caster gear in mail or plate (literally impossible for most slots in plate, unless you went for either raid gear or random enchant greens with intellect), and that even at level 80 raiding there were many pieces that were better for paladins than plate.

I wasn't happy about this mind, because I too want to see Paladins in plate, shamans in mail, etc. However, I was not going to wear plate over mail knowing full well I was handicapping myself by doing so.

And if you didn't let me roll on cloth, I would also assume you wouldn't let me roll on necklaces, rings, etc... I mean, if you're forbidding me from getting rings for an entirely arbitrary, asthetic, personal, reason, why not do it some more?


Nowadays, armor specialization and reforging means that you'll almost always be best off wearing your own armor. Do not act like this was always the case however. And if you reserved the right to make healers wear inferior gear for personal reasons, can I assume that you also deliberately chose to wear inferior gear for similar reasons?

---------- Post added 2010-12-04 at 12:32 AM ----------

And considering that any stat benefits from wearing well-itemized cloth versus poorly-itemized mail would mainly come from secondary stats, it's very doubtful that cloth gearing could ever overcome the benefit of the extra 5% intellect.

Particularly since you can reforge the piece if it's poorly itemized; doesn't completely remove poor itemization, but it does mitigate it to a large degree.

[Hanto]

Short answer: Yes.

Short, truthful, and correct answer.

[SkodLife]

If you were in my Guild/Raid, you wouldn't have been rolling on Cloth.

So basically you just said "My guild won't do whatever it takes to down a boss."?

An upgrade is an upgrade. A downgrade is a downgrade, no matter the gear.
At least, this was true in WLK, but Cata's Armor specialization reverses that. Finally I won't have to need on cloth-armor because Blizzard couldn't bother give Elemental Shamans proper non-tier-gear.