Tech and Talk > Gaming > World of Warcraft > [Raiding] Pride and Ego (Nathrezim) hits level 25!!

Can you supply some of the text Tier? Behind a firewall. I like to read up as much as I can prior to getting bombarded when I get home.

Many people have been asking for the written version. Since it was already written, I figured I should just go ahead and post it here, as a reference, or something...

How to Gear for Mogu’Shan Vaults - A General Guide for all Classes

Recommended Gear

The first thing we’ll discuss today, is the recommended gear and ilvl for a first step in Mogu’Shan. As a reminder, Mogu'shan Vaults is the first raid we’ll be able to access In MoP. It won’t be accessible directly on the 25th, but rather a week later on the 2nd of October.
Meaning everyone will at least have a full week to level to 90, and farm some gear, no matter you being in the world first hardcore guild or in the last casual one. Well I guess if you’re in the last casual guild, you’ll take a bit more than a week - but you know what I mean.
A gear level of about 463 to 470 is gonna be mandatory in normal mode, in order to expect any reasonable result. And sure, you can always try it with a bit less gear, but that would really be pushing it, and things might get really stressful, not to say totally impossible, at some times.

Getting to this required 463 ilvl, then to the recommended 470, will truly take all you’ve got. From questing, to Heroics and Scenarios and LFR farming, then gear crafting, and justice and valor points usage, to even PvP gear. Yep, PvP gear shouldn’t be neglected here, as in MoP they aren’t as penalizing to have in PvE anymore. But of course, they’ll still remain exceptions, and will only be equipped if you can’t find any better PvE piece for a specific slot.

Here’s a gearing step by step diagram to have a more accurate view on how we’ll be proceeding :

The idea is to start farming heroics as soon as possible for lvl 463 pieces, then later on LFRs as well, as soon as they become accessible for some epic lvl 476 gear. While doing that, you‘ll have to increase your reputation with factions like the Klaxxi, the Golden lotus, or the August Celestials, and the Shado-pan with dailies, for some more epic gear once revered with any of them.
You’ll also have to farm materials and gold for the crafted Gloves and Chest pieces. They aren’t that hard to get, if you’re a bit invested, so you absolutely must have both of them. And if you have more gold than you can actually spend, then buy yourself one of the epic Darkmoon card trinkets, it would be a great improvement and even immensely facilitate things. Still, it’s absolutely not a must have, so only get one if you can.

Once you reach some 466 equipped ilvl, start fully optimizing your gear with enchantments, gems, reforges, etc… for some badass action in normal Mogu’shan, ; )

Quest Rewards

When you hit level 90 for the first time, your gear will mostly consists of some low level quest reward items, and this of course won’t even be enough for random heroics. However, If you manage to get a few lvl-90 quest rewards, things should be much easier and quicker to get to the minimum ilvl required for heroic dungeons.
It’s thus a good idea to get to the Dread Wastes as soon as possible, then to the Vale of Eternal Blossoms (which are the level 90 zones), so you can collect some higher level quest rewards. You should certainly be able to quest in the Dead Waste at level 89, and possible at level 88. Try it out.

It’s also a good idea to spend some more time in these two zones as later on, once you get exalted with the Klaxxi and the Golden Lotus factions (which are the two factions of the zone) you’ll get to win an awesome level 489 ilvl amulet and ring, useful for your spec and class. Check the description for more on this.

Heroic/Scenario Gear Farming

In order to use the dungeon finder to queue for a random Heroic, you’ll need to have a max gear lvl of 440. As we just saw this won’t necessary be the case when you first hit lvl 90, and so you’ll need to farm some higher level gear elsewhere even at this stage.

One way to do this is buy or craft a couple of PvP lvl 450 gear to facilitate this, especially if you‘re only missing a couple of levels. In MOP, those pieces are much less crappier than you may think, and will most certainly be better than what you already have, when you freshly hit 90. Don’t hesitate if you need to get moving quickly.

Farming Scenarios is also an option as they don’t have any gear restriction, and at the end of each random event you receive a chest that can drop a level 463 gear, useful for your class. Since they are quickly done, they may definitely become a very effective way to get some useful pieces, since those pieces will necessary have useful stats for you.
Once you reach the required 440 ilvl, jump head first into random heroics, and start farming some 463 ilvl pieces. Don’t forget to use the loot journal neither, to pin point any specific item you might want to loot first.

LFR Gear Farming

Raid Finders won’t be accessible during the first raid lockout. You’ll have to wait till the 9th of October to access the first one, and hope to loot any lvl 476 ilvl gear.
The loot system has changed as well, as there’s no longer a raid rolling, or need and greed mechanism. In MoP LFR, once a boss dies, every single player gets a given fixed chance to loot an item, which will always be useful for his spec and class.
This chance to loot something is absolutely independent of who’s in the raid, and is totally the same for every member of the raid. No more frustration thus, because some greedy dude decided to ninja this one piece you’ve been farming for months.

There’s also a new item called Elder Charm of Good Fortune which will allow you to get a second loot roll after a boss kill, to try to get a loot anyways, if you were unlucky during the first die roll. There’s more on this in the descriptions.

Mogu’shan LFR raid will thus have to be done every single week, in order to hope to loot couple of 476 lvl gear and get closer to the recommended ilvl for the normal mode.

Crafted Gear

There’re 2 gear pieces you can craft through Tailoring, Leatherworking, and Blacksmithing as long as you have a little bit of gold to spend, or time to farm some basic crafting materials.
The first one is the crafted level 476 Gloves, then you have the crafted Chest with this same ilvl. The plans and patterns are fairly easy to get, as you only need to be honored at the Klaxxi, or the Golden Lotus factions to buy them.

Here is a list of the deferent materials you’ll need for each craft :

As you can see, Spirits of Harmony are needed for every single craft, since they represents the new Chaos Orbs. However, unlike Chaos Orbs, they are bind when picked up and so, although you can farm or buy the required Leather, Cloth and Ore, your crafter will personally need to farm enough Spirits of Harmony for every craft.
Fortunately the Spirits of Harmony you’ll loot during your heroic farming and questing, etc… will be usable as currency to buy the needed Leather, Cloth and Ore, and hence allow you to save some time and gold in the process.

There is also another set of crafted gear, with a 496 ilvl, that will only be accessible at a latter time. This is mainly because you’ll need couple of Blood Spirits which are the equivalent of the Essence of Destruction in DS, and thus will be very expensive and rare in the first few weeks. Link fest in the descriptions for more on these lvl 496 crafts.

Justice/Valor Points Gear

In order to use your Justice and Valor points to buy gear in MoP, you’ll first have to increase your reputation with 4 different factions. The first one being the Shado-pan faction, then the August Celestials, then the Klaxxi, and then the Golden Lotus faction once you reach lvl-89/90.

Here is a list of the different pieces of gear you can buy from them :
Again, check the descriptions for more on these factions.

Gearing Timeline

Use the first week to level to 90, and farm Heroics and Scenarios as much as possible, and also to craft epic gear and start grinding your different reputations for some more epic items later on.
In the second week, T4, Normal Mogu’shan progressing can come before T3, LFR’s, if your raid is confident enough, and can manage to gear up quickly without the use of LFRs. If not, simply keep increasing your reputations and farming heroics, and raid finders, till your raid gets ready.

Don’t forget to farm conquest/honor points every week as well, to buy some 464/483 ilvl PvP gear. As I said earlier, in MoP PvP gear are often just as strong in PvE, so don’t hesitate a second to replace any lesser ilvl gear you might still have with a better PvP one.

That’s it really, if you follow all of this, there’s absolutely no reason you shouldn’t gear up quickly and effectively enough to go kick some butts in the Mogu’shan Vaults.

Good luck !

Keep up the great work, Pride and Ego!