Should I even bother gearing up before the patch starts ?

[a C e]

Hey guys,

I came back to wow after a long vication and decided to make my lock my main pvp character since its my main pve, and i dont know if i should start farming gear from now or wait untill the patch hits where it is easier to gear up through crafting and bgs plus arena caps

[asb]

If you can find someone to help you with arena, getting gear through low-mmr 2v2 right now is probably going to be your best option. Because of a new catchup mechanic, you'll be able to do arenas for enough points to get an entire set of arena gear right now. If you wait until next season, you'll be able to get the same gear through honor which is a somewhat slower process.

[Asphyxiate9]

I agree with asb but if you don't end up doing that you can grind 4000 honor and buy a few pieces on patch day since only conquest is getting reset.

[Saffa]

Well, after the patch they will start to release news of the next expansion. That too will have patches every month or so (according to blue tweets - hoping for monthly patches and annual expansions) so you may just as well stop playing because there will always be something new coming just around the corner.

[Terahertz]

Hey guys,

I came back to wow after a long vication and decided to make my lock my main pvp character since its my main pve, and i dont know if i should start farming gear from now or wait untill the patch hits where it is easier to gear up through crafting and bgs plus arena caps

The arena cap is so huge right now you can basically deck yourself out in full arena gear you'll be able to buy next patch for honor. So in theory it's faster to do arena, else you'll have to farm BGs for them which will ultimately take longer.

[Tyrean]

I would like to add that if all you are doing is gearing up for next season then this is the plan I would attack with:

Cap your justice points first. That will be 2000 honor after conversion changes in 5.4
Cap your Honor. That gives you a total of 6000 honor to spend on day one.

Now we need to talk conquest point generation this last week. If you are just looking for gear play a team with 2dps, if you join a game and it lasts longer than 5 minutes just leave and re-queue. You don't care about losses, only your conquest per hour. You want fast games win or lose. The more games you lose, the lower your rating tanks and the worse the players are and the easier the wins. Healer/DPS teams if you can't win in the opener just leave. DPS/DPS teams if you can't win in the first few minutes just leave.

Now for gearing strategy to be up and running as best you can for next season:
They removed the requirement for points on weapons, so you should buy that with your first conquest points. The weapons cost 2250, which means you will have to wait until week number two, but it is the biggest upgrade you can get to start out. In order to do that you will have to go MH/OH. So the total gear requirement looks like this:

Have 6000 honor to spend on 496 gear.

MH - Get a crappy 476 with honor to make the games not so tedious while you grind the points.
OH - Spend 1250 Conquest on that this week.
Helm - Spend 2250 Conquest this week.
Neck - Spend 1250 Conquest this week.
Shoulder - Spend 1750 honor in 5.4
Back -Spend 1250 conquest this week.
Chest - Spend 2250 honor in 5.4
Wrist - spend 1250 conquest this week.
Gloves - spend 1750 conquest this week.
Waist - spend 1750 conquest this week.
Legs - spend 2250 honor in 5.4 (will require one BG win)
Feet - spend 1750 conquest this week.
Ring1 - spend 1250 conquest this week.
Ring2 - spend 1250 conquest this week.
Trinket1 - spend 1750 conquest this week.
Trinket2 - spend 1750 conquest this week.

That means you need to grind out 8k honor this week for the conversion and save. You also need to grind out roughly 100 arena games. Assuming you spend 1 minute in queue and the games don't go over 5 minutes and you have a 50% winrate (what I would expect) You need 20 hours of arena play this week. The BGs will take you much longer to cap out, at roughly 300 a win in a 15-30 minute game at 50% winrate it would take you about the same 20 hours.

The reward for all that gameplay? Week one of the new season you will have a full 496 Armor set, a 498 OH and a 476 MH. The first game you win on week two you will have a 522 MH and be completely geared and ready to compete instead of just get points.

[Galluccio]

If you can find someone to help you with arena,

That's a big if. Arena is pretty much dead from what I can see.

[Cirayne24]

That's a big if. Arena is pretty much dead from what I can see.

Not sure what server you're on, but on Korgath I see people asking to do 2s for points all the time.

Just tank 2s and play against similarly geared/skilled people. I have a DK i haven't touched since near the end of Season 13, and can potentially earn another 20k before next week. Not saying that I will, but farming 2-4 minute arena games is a lot faster then waiting until next season and farming honor.

[DiscoGhost]

grind as much conquest as possible, dont farm honor. three weeks ago i had 25k catch up conquest on my pally and i finally got all tyranical for him last night. since u have less time i still recommend just grinding 2s. get as much tyranical gear as possible and then get the rest from honor next season.

[slime]

After a long time gone, I wouldn't worry too much about gearing - why not just play for now.
If you can't separate those to like you cannot enjoy playing unless you know you are gearing - then no, I'd say wait for 5.4.

[loki504]

Well, after the patch they will start to release news of the next expansion. That too will have patches every month or so (according to blue tweets - hoping for monthly patches and annual expansions) so you may just as well stop playing because there will always be something new coming just around the corner.

sure but 5.2 this also inc the latest season lasted for 6/7 months. that diffrent then the 2 weeks the current season is lasting.

[Ultima]

Well, after the patch they will start to release news of the next expansion. That too will have patches every month or so (according to blue tweets - hoping for monthly patches and annual expansions) so you may just as well stop playing because there will always be something new coming just around the corner.

Yes, patches every month. Not a new Arena Season/ Raid Tier. I believe their aim was for a Season & Raid every 3-4 months with smaller content patches (think Barrens scale, possibly/ hopefully more IoQ'D, BH, IoT though) monthly.

OP - I levelled my fourth healer for Arena over the last couple of weeks and the plan was to hit 90 the day after the patch. I did arrived on time but the patch did not. I am just capping Honor and Justice at 4k and waiting. In the mean time I have maxed my professions and chilled out in other games before preparing for the grind.