A note about the "find an upgrade" feature. It takes the stats that you have more of into consideration. That means that if you have a few pieces on that you aren't crazy about but that boost your Spirit by a bunch it will think that you want more pieces that boost your Spirit and show you them. I know for a fact that it doesn't always show me the pieces that I would like since they have stats (like Haste) that I don't have much of yet.

Personally, I did go through all the heroic boss drops on WoWWiki and wrote down the ones I was interested in. You could also have a look at the rewards for badges of justice on WoWHead.

I used to have a separate couple pieces with more hit rating but as a duel wielder I'm still really far from the cap even at 240. I decided to just keep my hit rating stuff on all the time.

Also, I've been reading a lot about the changes that are coming to Weapon Expertise. Expect the hit rating numbers needed to be much higher in the next patch.

Go to your armory page, and when you hover over a gear slot a little flash tab pops out that says 'Find an upgrade.' Click it, and the armory will show you every single piece of loot you can use to upgrade that slot, and if you click on one of those it will tell you where it drops and how often.

That's exactly what I've been doing for months, which is why I was asking if the Armory was accurate. If it is, what I've got is just about the best I can get until I win a roll on token drops in Kara.

Lyranne, there is also a ton of new Moonkin gear coming in 2.3 with badge rewards. Give me a minute and I'll find a link to all of them. It's basically the only leather boomkin stuff that is being added.

Lyranne, there is also a ton of new Moonkin gear coming in 2.3 with badge rewards. Give me a minute and I'll find a link to all of them. It's basically the only leather boomkin stuff that is being added.

Yeah, I know, and there will be stuff in Zul'aman, too, I know, but that doesn't help me with the issue of finding an accurate list of what is best for me now.

Here they are. Not sure if any of these are upgrades, though.

* Armwraps of the Kalorei Protector (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=33578) - 35 badges
* Moon-Walkers (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=33577) - 60 badges
* Grasp of the Moonkin (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=33974) - 60 badges
* Pauldrons of Tribal fury (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=33973) - 60 badges
* Starfire Waistband (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=33559) - 60 badges
* Mask of Primal Power (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=33972) - 75 badges
* Blessed Elunite Coverings (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=33566) - 75 Badges

Yeah, I know, and there will be stuff in Zul'aman, too, I know, but that doesn't help me with the issue of finding an accurate list of what is best for me now.

Yes, Blizzard still refuses to address the Moonkin itemization issues. Aro's advice is probably your best bet. Sadly, most upgrades will most likely be cloth items.

You can also check your fellow guildies. I found out some shoulders & bracers that would be excellent by just looking at Jafn when we went to fight Maulgar. "HAY," I said, "Where did you get those?" "Heroic Ramparts," he told me. Thus my being all hot to get keyed for HH. :D

That's exactly what I've been doing for months, which is why I was asking if the Armory was accurate. If it is, what I've got is just about the best I can get until I win a roll on token drops in Kara.

Many apologies. I hadn't yet had my coffee when I responded, and I only got to the point of your post where you said 'wow-loot makes my eyes cross.'

ETA: http://druid.wikispaces.com/Balance+Druid+Equipment+List+(BC+edition) Does that help? There are a couple more interesting-looking sites on a google search for 'gear itemization moonkin list', but I don't know ... well, anything ... about druids so I don't know what's good info and what's not. XD

Many apologies. I hadn't yet had my coffee when I responded, and I only got to the point of your post where you said 'wow-loot makes my eyes cross.'

It's OK. I'm equally befuddled before I have my tea.

Edit: I've seen a list similar to that before. A lot of what's listed is always beyond where we are, so it all comes back to the question of whether I should be rolling on cloth. I'd really prefer not to roll on cloth -- I want the cloth wearers to have dibs on the cloth. But at the same time, if me not rolling on cloth is going to keep me from being able to pull my weight in the end of Kara, I need to know that.

Also, Shadian, Blizzard's definitely not refusing to address Moonkin loot. Moonkin changes are coming with badge rewards and Zul'aman. It's just the issue of what to do in the mean time that I'm trying to figure out...I'm just feeling sort of stuck in terms of Lyranne's gear, especially since it right now is coming down to things like "I could spend all these badges on this cloak, but right now there is one that drops early in Kara that is better for me, and then I would have 25 fewer badges when the next patch gets here..."

For what it's worth I know the feeling, Lyr. There is an EXTREME shortage (as in barely exists) of real Paladin tank gear. Mostly we end up going with warrior gear. We use the same mitigation like agility, stamina, dodge, etc. but strength is utterly useless to Paladin tanking - what we need is + spell damage and + spell hit and there's VERY little plate armor that has that as well as stamina/dodge, etc.

In regards to loot and what is relevant to your spec, wow-loot.com makes a decent effort at this. Take a look.

In regards to loot and what is relevant to your spec, wow-loot.com makes a decent effort at this. Take a look.

I know. But does it have everything? Is it accurate? That's what I was asking. That, and do I need to be rolling on the cloth?

I know. But does it have everything? Is it accurate? That's what I was asking. That, and do I need to be rolling on the cloth?

I think if it's an upgrade you should be rolling on it.

Take a look at wow-loot.com it's accurate and even breaks down different set options for you. It's the best effort I have seen in regards to catering to each class and spec. They even try to break down the raid loot tables for what class each piece of gear is tailored.

From what I've read, you should take a serious look at rolling on cloth. In my brief ponderance of boomkin, it really seemed that most of the good stuff was cloth.

Here they are. Not sure if any of these are upgrades, though.

* Armwraps of the Kalorei Protector (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=33578) - 35 badges
* Moon-Walkers (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=33577) - 60 badges
* Grasp of the Moonkin (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=33974) - 60 badges
* Pauldrons of Tribal fury (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=33973) - 60 badges
* Starfire Waistband (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=33559) - 60 badges
* Mask of Primal Power (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=33972) - 75 badges
* Blessed Elunite Coverings (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=33566) - 75 Badges

Now that I have had time to look at this...these are all upgrades. YAY. So I need all the badges in the world!

Thank you Shadian!

Well, soon you'll get badges in Kara & ZA. That will be awesome.

They should back pay us our badges from Kara. :D

They should back pay us our badges from Kara. :D

yea they should. that would be awesome

edit: just looked at all the stuff you can get with badges. mmmmmm. I need like 116, lol.

A rookie Kara group would be a good idea. It could be run for fun and experience, knowing in advance that they would wipe a fair amount and maybe only take down 1 boss per night. I think we are getting close to having enough people keyed to be able to have an introduction to Kara run at least once per week.

The people in the progression group have gone through this and taken their share of bumps for the past couple of months. The 2nd group would allow the new people to go through this same progression with an improved ramp up time from the wiki and other lessons learned and shared from the progression group.

That's actually the way that a lot of raiding guilds ran Kara... or continue to. They would have one group that progresses through, and a second that is trying to progress but not as fast. The main reason we didn't want to go this route is that it leads to elitism. We have more than enough people that can run 1 group as far as we've gone. So telling people that they need to be in group "B" leads to a lot of drama that we've been trying to avoid. When we have enough for two groups we try to divide them up as evenly as possible so that no one feels that they aren't in group A. That's also why on the occasions that we've had two groups we don't name them 1 and 2 or A and B but Autobots and Decepticons :)

We'll get back to Kara shortly and with the experience people get in Heroics over the next 2 weeks we should be able to get to the Prince without any difficulty! In the meantime we're not locking people into the instance so if you have friends that run it and you want to join them or you see people advertising a PuG that you'd like to try out go for it!

Hmm, I apparently need 195 badges.

...


This is why I should never look at loot lists.

So, I sat down last night to compare the moonkin badge gear with the moonkin gear that drops in ZA so I could prioritize. And it turns out that there is no moonkin gear in ZA -- not a single leather caster item on any of the loot tables. There's also significant overlap with T4 -- incluing all three of the tokens that drop from the bosses we've downed so far.

I am hugely disappointed.

So, I sat down last night to compare the moonkin badge gear with the moonkin gear that drops in ZA so I could prioritize. And it turns out that there is no moonkin gear in ZA -- not a single leather caster item on any of the loot tables. There's also significant overlap with T4 -- incluing all three of the tokens that drop from the bosses we've downed so far.

I am hugely disappointed.

I'm sorry. Was there anything you saw that wouldn't break tier set bonuses?

So, I sat down last night to compare the moonkin badge gear with the moonkin gear that drops in ZA so I could prioritize. And it turns out that there is no moonkin gear in ZA -- not a single leather caster item on any of the loot tables. There's also significant overlap with T4 -- incluing all three of the tokens that drop from the bosses we've downed so far.

I am hugely disappointed.

What about the badges? I'm noticing that ZA does not use a token system. The boss just drops a piece of loot & badges. So "gearing up" from ZA is largely about buying the new badge rewards.

However, I am seeing some hot DPS caster weapons in ZA. http://www.wowhead.com/?item=33494, for example. I'm not sure how that compares to what you've got now.