Gear: February 2008 Archives


I was reading a blog post from my friend, the ever insightful and interesting Alyviel over on Bitter Roots. While we are of the same guild, officers both, we have differing viewpoints. This does not prevent us being friends, thankfully, as everyone needs friends, but there are issues at times. One of those such issues is a difference in perspective. I am a casual raider, raiding when time and other things in life allow.

I write many things, not just these stories, and I also have the podcast. Raiding is maybe 8th or 9th on my priority list. I like the gear Arita has, and hope to get more for Med to bring him up to par, but if I had a choice between a 3 hour raid and 3 hours of writing, podcasting, or even questing, I would take them. Progression, epics, and all that goes with raiding is great for many, but does not have an overarching dominance within my realm of interest to be honest.

So, when I read Aly's post today, and her statement,
However, I've been looking at some boss fights and I think we're ready to move on.
This made me sad. I love my guildies to death, they are like a family, but I just don't see this push to raid, to move past the content. I am not saying we can't go on to 25 mans, but it takes more than 10 people to go to Mag, ot Tempest Keep, or even Serpentshrine Cavern. What her post shows is that we have 10 people who have hours on end to kill in a dungeon on a Sunday afternoon, forsaking all other plans. Her post doesn't say a thing about the Zul'Aman run that was canceled because their full run tired everyone out.

Perhaps I am taking Aly's words a little too literal. Perhaps she only means less Kara. The way I see it, though, is that there are only 7 days in the week, and we can't run Kara to get people geared for those 25 mans if we hit 25 mans every other night, not as long as we hit Zul'Aman at the same time. I understand burn out, I see what it does to people. I just think that Eledith, her healer, doesn't need to be on a run every week.

We have at least 4 or 5 other decent healers who can main heal in Kara, be it raid or main tank. So let Eledith and the other top geared players who are tired of Kara and don't care about Zul'Aman go off and hit Magtheridon, Tempest Keep, and Serpentshrine Cavern with 15 PUGs or another raiding guild, and let those of us who still want to learn Karazhan, and still feel we have something to experience do so. Just because we now have more raid focus than before, doesn't mean we need to leave the beginner raids behind.

It all started with "Anyone want to go to SV or Heroic SP/UB" which I typed into guild chat. That elicited a few interested people, but not enough for an actual group. It did, however, bring about an interesting conversation with a fellow Ret Paladin in my guild the Shadow Walkers. He asked if I was planning to go to Heroic SP to work on the 'unofficial ret set'. I said no, not understanding what he was referring to. He went on to link me a few items from this Unofficial Ret Set. Ornate Boots of the Sanctified & Ornate Leggings of the Venerated were the pieces he linked, and one look told me the place he was going. The conversation also pointed to Bracers of Just Rewards as another 'classic ret piece'.

For any of you who saw my recent Gear Review for Medros, you will notice that there is a very different tact in gear and stat selection in the gear my beloved Paladin has. Strength. Agility. Attack Power. Hit Rating. Crit Rating. All of these are what I have built my DPS for Medros on. Now, I will admit that Ret Paladins use a fair number of spells. Avenging Wrath, Consecration, Crusader Strike, plus our seals and judgments. However, most of the ret spells I use are based around my attack power and melee damage.

So, friends, allies, Paladins and admirers, what do you think? With the coming changes to Retribution gear, should we just wait and see what blizzard is doing? See what the stat change that they say will increase our DPS is going to be? Do you think we need to focus on spell power or attack power?

Gear review: Arita

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I have had a lot of people find me on my site and in game who are asking me about gear. A lot of new guildies who have just hit Level 70 are also looking at our guild's minimum requirements for Karazhan with shocked disbelief at the disparity between their numbers there as compared to what they are at now. The plan here is to link you my characters WoW Digger Profile, and explain why I chose it and where I got it from.
Profile: Arita
Slots:
Head - Druidic Helmet of Second Sight | Sockets:: Gleaming Dawnstone, Glowing Nightseye, Glowing Nightseye | Enchant: None
Neck - Torc of the Sethekk Prophet
Shoulder - Mantle of Autumn | Enchant: Inscription of the Blade
Back - Shadow-Cloak of Dalaran | Enchant: Enchant Cloak - Spell Penetration
Chest - Tunic of the Nightwatcher | Sockets:: Potent Noble Topaz, Potent Noble Topaz, Solid Star of Elune | Enchant: Enchant Chest - Restore Mana Prime
Wrist - Illidari Bracers of the Invoker | Enchant: Enchant Bracer - Major Intellect
Hand - Clefthoof Gloves | Enchant: Enchant Gloves - Spell Strike
Waist - Windchanneller's Ceinture of the Sorcerer
Legs - Kurenai Kilt | Sockets:: Runed Living Ruby, Gleaming Dawnstone, Gleaming Dawnstone | Enchant: Mystic Spellthread
Feet Shattrath Jumpers | Sockets:: Glowing Nightseye, Great Dawnstone | Enchant: Magister's Armor Kit
Rings - Violet Signet & The Horseman's Signet Ring
Trinkets - Scryer's Bloodgem & Vengeance of the Illidari
Main Hand/Two Hand - Bloodfire Greatstaff | Enchant: Enchant Weapon - Major Spellpower
Off Hand -
Ranged/Relic - Idol of the Unseen Moon


Have questions about gems, improvements, and enchants? Reply to this comment or email me, med2008@allthingsazeroth.com!

Updates:
After a great weekend in Kara, I have replaced: