A raiding guide, from a newbie, for newbies – Gearing Up.

I know that generally I just post a lot of nonsense on here, but from time to time I do like to make the occasional thoughtful or even (gasp!) informative post. This is one of those rare occasions!

Anyone who has been reading this blog since, oh, at least the last entry, should know I am new to raiding in WoW. I didn’t see so much as a Kara run in BC – I mean, I hit 70 2 weeks before Wrath, why bother? Molten Core? 40 Man raids? I’m sorry, I’m more a modern history person. I don’t go back beyond the 19th century.

So, Wrath is my first taste of raiding. It seems I’m not alone though – in every other group I’ve had so far, there have been new raiders, of varying qualities. I’d like to think of myself as a “good” newbie (Not necessarily a good raider!), and these posts should hopefully help you, my fellow nublets, avoid being the person who wiped on Thaddius by crossing the charges.

Disclaimer!

Please note, this is a general guide. A player of any of the 30 specs in the game should hopefully be able to read this and get some use out of it. As it is a general guide, things such as gear lists and talent spec recommendations are not linked on a spec by spec basis.

I am one person – I simply do not have the time to trawl through hundreds of blogs and forum threads to find a spec and gear guide for every spec in the game. General tips as to speccing and gearing are given here, as are links to help you find more specific information. This guide will point you in the right direction – it will not spoon feed you.

To begin with, I’m going to talk about Gearing Up for raids – an absolutely essential step for all but the very best players.

Faulsey’s Newbie Raiding Guide; Gearing Up

This is hugely important. No doubt you will have seen people talking about clearing Naxxramas in greens and blues. This is probably possible… for people who raided in BC and know what they are doing. You, newbie, did not raid in BC, and if you turn up to Naxx in a green, you should be pushed off the side of the tiny summoning stone chamber. You need to gear up first! There are a couple of steps to this.

Know your stats!

First, make sure you know what stats it is you want on your character. Learn what they do, and which stats are more important than others. This will allow you to make informed decisions on what is an upgrade and what is not, instead of just thinking “Eh, I’m a priest, it’s cloth, it has X stat, I’ll roll on it.” You should be able to find such information at Elitist Jerks, WoW Wiki, or on any number of blogs. Now, you want to actually aquire gear.

Before you begin:

To start with gearing up, make sure you have first gotten to friendly reptuation with the Kirin Tor, Ebon Blade, Argent Crusade and Wyrmrest Accord factions. At this level of reputation, you can purchase that factions tabard, which will grant your rep with them if worn in a level 80 dungeon. Depending on your class, you are going to want different levels of Rep with each of these factions.

Gearing to a heroic capable level:

Next, start running normal difficulty dungeons at the top end of the leveling spectrum in Northrend. These include Halls of Stone/Lightning, Culling of Stratholme, The Oculus, and Utgarde Pinnacle.

Using a combination of Rep Gear (usually from Honored/Revered reputations) and Dungeon gear, you should be able to prepare yourself adequately for doing Heroic Five Man Instances. You may be able to find gear lists on WoW Insider or on Blogs, but don’t count on it. Even if there is a gear list, it’s important you don’t rely on it – you need to be able to make relatively snap decisions on what does and doesn’t benefit you.

Before you run heroics as a DPS or tanking class, you will probably want to reach the hit cap for heroics. The hit cap is the amount of Hit% required to totally eliminate misses. For Melee and Ranged specials in heroics, this is 5.4%, or around 180 Hit. For spells, this is 6% which is around 158 Hit rating. (Physical and Spell hit share the same stat on items, but are calculated differently.) I advise you don’t go over the cap, however, as it’s a waste of the items budget*, which would be better spent on other stats at that point.

*All items have a “budget” based on their item level (iLevel). Usually, you don’t see this in game, though some addons will show it. iLevel calculations are pretty complex and beyond the scope of this guide, but all a normal player needs to know is that having hit that takes you significantly over the hit cap, or any amount of hit at all as a healer, is a waste of those points, and you’d be better served by a similar level item with, for example, more crit rating.

But wait! Don’t forget to enhance your gear:

Once you are geared to a suitable level, you’re not quite ready to tackle Heroics yet. Make sure all your gear is enchanted, and where possible, gemmed. Personally, I feel that if it’s a normal piece you will be replacing in a Heroic, you do not need to buy the best enchant for that slot, nor use Blue gems. Make sure you are still getting a high quality enchant, and if possible, a perfect gem cut (usually only slightly more expensive than normal, but still far cheaper than a Blue quality gem), but don’t worry about forking over hundreds of gold for a top enchant or gem.

In addition, I recommend that you reach Honored with the Sons of Hodir faction, and Revered with an appropriate championed faction, before you do a heroic. The Sons offer impressive Shoulder Inscriptions, and the championed factions have powerful Helmet Enchantments available at Revered. Melee DPS/Hunters will want Revered with the Ebon Blade, Tanks with Argent Crusade, and spellcasters with either Kirin Tor or Wyrmrest Accord, depending on what stats are most valuable to your spec.

Onto Heroic Five Man Instances:

After you’ve enchanted and gemmed your gear properly, the process of gearing begins anew in Heroics. I hope you didn’t get too attached to anything you have equipped, because it will be getting replaced in short order.

As with Normal Dungeons, you may be able to find gear lists, but don’t rely on finding one. Checking the loot lists on WoWHead and taking note of upgrades can be a good way of building your own gear list. Also, be sure and find your factions Emblems of Heroism vendor in Dalaran – a number of excellent pieces can be obtained via EoH’s, which are dropped by bosses in Heroic Five Mans. You’ll also notice a large increase in Rep rewarded for your championed factions whilst running Heroics – there are some good epics that can be earned when you reach Exalted with factions, so make sure you look into what is available from them, too.

As you get upgrades from Heroics, be sure to Enchant and Gem them as required. Again, you do not need the top enchant, but where possible, I strongly advise you do take it. For example, Massacre (110 AP) can cost up to fifteen times the price of Greater Savagery (85AP) – a price simply not worth it for a weapon you’ll be replacing in one of your first raids. On the other hand, Superior Agility (Cloak, 16 Agi) may cost only 60 gold less than Major Agility (Cloak, 22 Agi), so you should go for the better enchant in this case. For gems, you should be using blue quality gems, and, if possible, a good Meta gem. There should be a helm available from Heroics, or even tradeskills, with good stats and a Meta gem slot, which you should aim to get.

Other enhancements you should consider with heroic level gear are Eternal Belt Buckles, which add a gem slot to a belt, and Leg Armours/Spellthreads, which offer a variety of stats for improving your legwear.

Gearing up from Heroics is relatively easy, even with pick up groups, and can be enjoyable, though it’s significantly more difficult than a normal instance. Be prepared to spend a lot of time trying to get upgrades. Sometimes, an item just will not drop, even after repeated runs, and it’s important not to get too worked up over it. Or, you’ll have a streak of bad PUGs, saving you to an instance where you haven’t beaten a boss. This is something that will happen to everyone at some point, so just bear with it, and eventually, you’ll get what you seek!

What you’ll be aiming for before raids varies between class and spec, but I’m going to mention hit rating again here: To be ready for raiding, you will want to be at the Hit Cap. If gear and talents are leaving you short, be aware that there are some consumables which can help – I’ll go into more details about consumables in the third post in this series.

More on Hit Rating

I discussed the Heroic hit cap briefly in the relevant section, but the Heroic hit cap is different from the Raid hit cap. In raids, you should be aiming for around 8% hit to ensure that melee and ranged specials always hit. This is roughly 263 Hit Rating. For Spellcasters, the Hit Cap is 17%, which is roughly 446 Hit Rating.  Those numbers may seem quite daunting, but many specs have talents that affect their hit%, requiring less pure hit rating from gear.

Hunters, Casters, and I assume classes like Paladins that use one melee weapon, are able to totally eliminate misses for their usual abilities. Dual Wielding class, such as Enhancement Shaman and Rogues, require far more hit rating than is worth it to totally eliminate misses on normal swings, and should aim for the cap relevant to their class specials (Melee or Spell.)

So, you think you’re ready?

When you have completed your gearing up from Heroics, you aren’t quite finished your preparations for raiding yet. There are still some vital steps you’ll need to take, which will be covered in the next post in the series.

Feedback:

Do you have any questions about this article? Are you a veteran WoWer who thinks you’ve got something to add? Leave me a comment! Good questions or additional suggestions will be added to the post.

Faulsey’s Newbie Raiding Guide:

Part 1 : Gearing Up

Part 2 : Researching: Specs, Strats and Addons

Part 3 : Your first raid

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