plate-armor
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Should transmogrification limits be lifted?
I love transmogrification -- it seems like every week I have a new arrangement of armor. But there are limits to what I can and can't do with this feature, limits that simply can't be worked around. As a rogue, I'm limited to leather items -- and there aren't a ton of really fashionable leather items out there. Some of the best sets I've seen and craved have been druid tier, or druid restricted PvP items. As for weapons, as an assassination rogue, I'm limited to daggers. I can't use any other weapon in that particular spec choice, and that's frustrating. We had a brief hint earlier this week that we might see some changes to transmogrification limits in future patches. Nothing set in stone of course, but the thought of being able to transmogrify weapons with similar animation styles is a pretty cool one. A sword and a dagger are fairly similar in animation style, right? Well ... maybe not so much. Still, it's nice to see that they are considering stretching the limits of transmogrification as far as weapon choices go. But is that enough?
Ashen Verdict strength ring in minor content patch
Bornakk popped onto the forums late Thursday to confirm that Blizzard is planning to add a +strength version to the Ashen Verdict rings in an upcoming mini-patch. The appearance of the four current rings with patch 3.3 caused a minor furor on the forums, with plate DPS being left out in the cold. While there are +strength DPS rings available elsewhere in Icecrown Citadel, there's no replacement for a reputation ring's valuable proc. One of the interesting things about the +strength ring's initial absence wasn't its absence per se, but the reason for omitting it. Apparently the Ashen Verdict choices were a reproduction of older reputation-linked quest items (e.g. Violet Eye and Scale of the Sands rings) that allowed only four choices, and Blizzard wasn't able to get past the programming issues to add a fifth option before 3.3 went live. Well, that's going to get fixed in the upcoming mini-patch, which will also see a few other class-related changes. The date of the patch is still anyone's guess, but we'll keep an eye out for you.
Gearing up for Season 5 continued
PLATE MELEEWarriors, Death Knights, and Retribution Paladins can all look forward to the Savage Saronite non-set, which is crafted by Blacksmiths. The recipes are available from the trainer, so all players have to do is look for a Blacksmith who has Blacksmithing at 425 and didn't scrimp on his training. The Plate PvP items have higher Stamina and Resilience overall compared to the other gear, making it an excellent investment for Northrend starter PvP.Savage Saronite SkullshieldSavage Saronite PauldronsSavage Saronite HauberkSavage Saronite WaistguardSavage Saronite LegplatesSavage Saronite WalkersSavage Saronite BracersSavage Saronite GauntletsThe materials to craft the Savage Saronite pieces aren't as straightfoward as the Leatherworking items, but they're still quite simple. It will take a total of 102 Saronite Bars (or a shade over five stacks), 2 Eternal Airs, 2 Eternal Shadows, 2 Eternal Waters, 1 Eternal Fire, and 1 Eternal Earth. All eight pieces confer a total of 559 Stamina, 360 Resilience, 380 Strength, and 340 Critical Strike Rating. PLATE CASTERFor now, Holy Paladins get a free ride in raids and dungeons because all Plate caster drops automatically go to them. Unfortunately, as far as crafted PvP gear is concerned, they get an awful compromise. The set has one piece with Strength, the belt, which is utterly useless for Holy Paladins. Some pieces also have token MP5 when it should simply have been Critical Strike. And there's a dearth of Intellect. Still, the key is Resilience, and this non-set has quite a bit of it.Ornate Saronite SkullshieldOrnate Saronite PauldronsOrnate Saronite HauberkOrnate Saronite WaistguardOrnate Saronite LegplatesOrnate Saronite WalkersOrnate Saronite BracersOrnate Saronite GauntletsIt's advisable to wear some pieces of PvE gear at the expense of Resilience in order to inflate the Holy Paladin's mana pool. All the pieces grant a whopping total 87 Intellect, an odd 44 Strength, laughable 36 MP5, and 567 Stamina, 355 Resilience Rating, and 139 Critical Strike Rating. Assuming you'd want to have the entire non-set crafted -- it's still 355 Resilience, after all -- you'll need the same materials needed for the melee version. It takes 102 Saronite Bars, 2 Eternal Air, 2 Eternal Shadow, 2 Eternal Water, and 1 each Eternal Earth and Fire.FILLER GEARTrinketsThe most important filler gear for any PvP situation is the all-important trinket. This should be your first priority in terms of gear, above and beyond any other piece of armor. The start of Season 5 introduced Level 80 versions of the Medallion of the Alliance and Medallion of the Horde. If you're serious about doing Arenas, this 49,600 Honor trinket is the first thing you should buy with Honor. It grants a massive 84 Resilience, almost double that of its Level 70 epic counterpart. You can purchase this at the Hall of Legends in or Champion's Hall.You can put anything else in the other trinket slot, but considering how it's only the beginning of the Arena Season, I'd recommend padding Stamina until you can get better from epic gear. Jewelcrafters have great options in the Bind-on-Pickup Monarch Crab and Ruby Hare figurines, both of which have over 60 Stamina. Both also have two sockets each, with a +9 Stamina socket bonus, making them incredible for PvP. Between the two, Ruby Hare would be the safest bet as you'll be able to use the sprint use more often than the Dodge of the crab trinket. Can't have Warriors and Death Knights insta-gibbing you.Alchemists have an awesome trinket in the Indestructible Alchemist's Stone, although the Dodge rating is terrible against the aforementioned classes. But +75 Stamina is +75 Stamina, and the added bonus of healing effects of potions is extremely useful. This brings to mind the only potions usable in Arenas... the Alchemist-only Endless Healing and Endless Mana Potions. Note that these aren't trinkets, merely endless charge items that stay in your inventory.Engineers can use a Sonic Booster, which is a melee trinket. But the sweet thing about this trinket isn't the proc but the amazing +81 Stamina. The caster version, the Noise Machine, provides no Stamina but has a defensive proc that just might prove useful against those pesky melee classes. If you're not a Jewelcrafter, an Alchemist, nor an Engineer, there's a perfectly good alternative which is the Essence of Gossamer, which is a great tanking trinket but works equally well in PvP. A whopping +111 Stamina from one trinket slot is insanely good. The proc is pretty sweet, as well. This beauty drops from Hadronox in Heroic Azjol-Nerub.RingsObviously, the best upgrades in the ring slot are the currently available Honor items. The Hateful Gladiator's Band of Dominance and Band of Triumph provide great Stamina and +33 Resilience Rating. The rings cost 38,000 Honor, which should be a good Honor sink for those who've capped at 75,000. Barring those, Jewelcrafters can make a Savage Titanium Band and Savage Titanium Ring, caster and melee rings respectively. Both have sockets and provide +32 Resilience.CloakLikewise, the Hateful Gladiator epic cloaks, which require no Arena ratings, also cost 38,000 Honor and are a significant upgrade from old PvP cloaks. There are eight versions of the cloak (which makes you wonder why there are only two rings), so it might get a bit confusing. The good thing is that players are certain to find a cloak that will fit their play style perfectly. We'll take a look at all the newly available Honor and Arena gear soon. For now, gear up and get PvPing!
Lichborne: Gear upgrades for Death Knights in the starting zones
Welcome to Lichborne, where Daniel Whitcomb really needs a bigger boat. And maybe a more imposing minion to steer it. So by now, I assume a good chunk of us are managing to get through Outland again and are hitting the 68-70 level range, ready to jump onto a boat or zeppelin and head to Northrend. Now, up til now, I'm sure a lot of you have been sticking with your Death Knight quest gear, hoping to avoid the clown look of Northrend, or have been leveling so fast through Outland that you haven't had time to replace most of it anyway. But we're in Northrend now, guys. The difficulty is ramped up a bit, and you're really going to have to start replacing stuff pretty quickly. No worries though, Blizzard's art team has done a pretty decent job of making most of the Northrend quest rewards look like something you'd be willing to be caught dead wearing, so to speak, especially if you're into Norse mythology and imagery like I am. Today, we'll be discussing some of the best quest upgrades for a Death Knight in the first few zones of Northrend, but before we do that, I'd like to mention one more gear-related thing from our tanking column last week: The Cobalt "set."
