Ghostcrawler discusses healing gear in Mists beta dungeons
Ghostcrawler took to the official forums to address the lack of spirit cloth gear that some players have experienced in the Mists of Pandaria beta dungeons currently available for testing. Spirit gear for pure healers is necessary to retain mana regeneration levels and output as content increases in difficulty. With a lack of spirit gear, some healers found their jobs more difficult. Ghostcrawler confirmed that the level-up dungeons found throughout the 85 to 90 content cannot be over-challenging due to the nature of their place in the progression.
The meat of the answer is that as you approach endgame content at level 90, more gear appears with endgame stats on it -- dodge, parry, and block for tanks, spirit for healers, and so on. When that gear becomes important is when the stats start appearing. Until then, pop some reforge, check reputation vendors and other sources of level-up gear for spirit stuff, and mish-mash together a set of decent healer gear. (Or, at the end of the day, you're just really unlucky with drops.)
Note however that healer cloth is any cloth without hit on it. If you are expecting Spirit on every single piece, you might be disappointed. If you did manage to get Spirit on every single piece, you might find that your regeneration is higher than you really need for level up content. We know we can't make the level up dungeons super challenging, or players will just skip them and quest instead (given that even the most awesome level up dungeon gear won't last very long, so it's not possible to offer high reward for high risk).
As you are nearing level 90, and start gearing for end game content, stats for healers and survival stats for tanks start to become more important and you should find more of them.
Also, don't neglect the vendors. Their gear isn't best in slot by any stretch, but can be useful to fill any holes if you missed a piece or have just been unlucky.
It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
