I thought I would do things a little differently this patch when it came to looking at loot. Instead of starting my loot comparisons with gear from the new 25 man, which is relevant to a smaller portion of players, I decided to start by seeing what is the best gear a PvE resto druid can obtain by running just normal (non-hard/heroic) mode 10 mans. I'm hoping this list will be helpful to a more people than some I made in the past.
Is Casual your middle name? Is your druid your alt? Is resto your off-spec? Have no intentions of walking your tree into a 25 man or hard-mode raid? This list will help you raid, buy, barter and maybe even PUG your way into the best tier 9 gear available! Arthas, here we come!
Here are a few...er... many things to keep in mind:
~ This list does not include Hard-Mode or 25-Man drops. It includes 10 man, heroic, crafted, and badge loot.
~ I'm trying to keep the list down to 5 items for each slot. Personally, I do not spend more than the minimum DKP bid on any items that are below the top 3.
~ I include cloth gear. Your guild policy may vary. Please keep in mind, your relationship with the holy priests in your guild is probably more important than having the number one piece of gear. Bid, roll, or beg with other players in mind.
~ Here the controversial part: I always gem for socket bonuses. This means I assume socket bonuses and assume they will be filled as follows:
~ I ranked gear based on effective spellpower and mana regen, not raw stats:
- Effective spellpower assumes spellpower from spirit for being in Tree of Life.
- Effective mana regen includes raw MP5, replenishment, and regen from spirit and int. Mana regen is a rough estimate - but it should remain more or less proportional when comparing gear. It is a rough estimate since spi/int regen will vary slightly depending on the amount of spirit and int you have currently. I assumed 1000 spirit and 900 int raid buffed before equipping the new gear. I went with lowish numbers, because you are taking off the piece of gear you are about to replace.
- Effective Int and Spirit for the above two calculations assume Blessing of Kings, Living Spirit, the 2% stat increase from Imp MotW, and the 2% Int meta gem.
~ After considering effective spellpower and mana regen I look at haste and crit - both are B stats. You want haste if you aren't going OOM and are not haste capped and crit if you are going OOM or you are haste capped.
~ If you think I'm missing an item that is better than one listed, please please let me know!!!
On the Rating System
More ***'s means it is better for you! When I felt it was a situation tie, I classified the gear and gave it a letter. Pick the letter/classification that seems to best match your situation.
T = Throughput! Gives you crit and maybe haste. This may be for you if you use a lot of crit-able spells. This gives low mana regen and is not for you if you often go OOM.
R = Regen! Gives you lots of mana regen and maybe crit. This is for you if you are going OOM. This gives low haste and is not for you if you are trying to hit your haste cap.
S = Speed! This gives you haste and maybe mana regen. This may be for you if you if you feel your greatest enemy is your global cooldown. This gives low crit and is probably not for you if directly heal the main tank often.
Somehow this list managed to break my feed, so I'm going to break it up over two posts and see if that fixes the problem. Click here to go to the list!
resto druid. Once upon a time she was the spirit stacking tree for the main tank ToL aura. Despite all the spirit changes it is still the stat nearest to my heart.
