Icecrown (first wing) loot and emblem of frost pick order
The ICC loot available to us is fairly limited until January 5th when the next wing opens up. Furthermore, between patch day and January 5th the maximum EoF potential is 146 emblems, severely limiting how many badge items we can pick up before the next group of bosses. Here’s what we have to work with:
Marrowgar
Bonebreaker Scepter (10)
Marrowgar’s Scratching Choker (10)
Bracers of Dark Reckoning (25)
Legguards of Lost Hope (25)
Lady Deathwhisper
Ghoul Commander’s Cuirass (10)
Broken Ram Skull Helm (25)
Juggernaut Band (25)
Gunship Battle
Abomination’s Bloody Ring (10)
Neverending Winter (10)
Unidentifiable Organ (10)
Boneguard Commander’s Pauldrons (25)
Corpse Tongue Coin (25)
Deathbringer Saurfang
Deathforged Legplates (10)
Trash Drops
Harbinger’s Bone Band (25)
EoF Gear
Sentinel’s Winter Cloak 50
Libram of the Eternal Tower 30
Cataclysmic Chestguard 95
Gauntlets of the Kraken 60
Verdigris Chain Belt 60
Corroded Skeleton Key 60
Lightsworn Shoulderguards 60
Lightsworn Legguards 95
Lightsworn Handguards 60
Lightsworn Faceguard 95
Lightsworn Chestguard 95
Pick Order
This is tricky because there are so many amazing items to choose from. What’s making me torn right now is deciding which gearing goal I want to pursue first: more stam/EH, or more avoidance. Generally, getting the badge trinket or offset gear will fulfill the first goal, and tier gear will fulfill the second. Personally, with regards to how the boss encounters of the first wing are shaping up, I’m going to start on goal two, dip into goal one in preparation for the magical damage-heavy future wings, and then swing back and forth intending to pick up tier pieces when I anticipate I’ll have the Marks to upgrade them. To be less obtuse, my personal order will be:
- Lightsworn Shoulderguards
- Corroded Skeleton Key
- Gauntlets of the Kraken
- Lightsworn Faceguard
- Verdigris Chain Belt
- Lightsworn Chestguard
- Sentinel’s Winter Cloak
- Lightsworn Legguards
- Cataclysmic Chestguard
- Lightsworn Handguards
I will be avoiding the new libram until maybe my dead-last choice.
Eventually my goal is to have three sets: a high avoidance set with the tier four piece, a high armor set with lots of offset gear, and a high stam set with a conglomeration of the pieces with the most stamina from each.
This of course is very subjective, your personal gearing preferences may vary. Let me know in the comments how you intend to approach badges purchases!
Armory Feed
@AvengingWrathy
18 December 2009 at 3:51 pm #
First off, you have to remember that most of the pieces that have bonus armor do so at the cost of defense. They have lots of lovely stats but no defense, making it hard to wear all of them (as I am sure blizzard intended).
As for the badge order, I am in the lucky position of out gearing the instance, so I won’t be picking up anything with badges until I need to. To clarify, after a long discussion and a few blog posts on the subject, I don’t know what I am under geared for yet, magic damage fights, huge unavoidable damage, or lack of avoidance. Until I hit the point where my gear is making a large impact on the success of the raid, I’ll be sitting on my emblems for a rainy day.
@Rhidach
18 December 2009 at 4:06 pm #
This is true, but it looks like the crafted pieces are trading more defense for armor than the offset pieces, so I think I’ll be fine weaving in the offset stuff. My major question is, much like you, I have no idea what I’m missing and should be gearing up to fix. Sure, avoidance would be nice for the first four bosses, but I really don’t need to gear specifically for them because they’re so easy. I’ll be more comfortable making a decision once I’ve seen what the fights in the other wings are like. Until then I’ll just hedge my bets and alternate between avoidance and EH pieces so I’m not caught unawares.
Currently i am just doing what you guys are doing, sitting on mt emblems waiting for the rainy day where i’ll actually need the gear, but untill then i’ve already made my gear sets from the pieces i found on mmo-champ. Wish it would be easier to decide, but heck, this is why it is fun being a tank.
I was writing a comment here, breaking down how you could equip all of the badge and crafted gear and still sit comfortably above 689 defense rating, but it started to turn into one of those giant comments that really shred the rhythm of the page, so I posted it to my blog instead.
In regards to your choice in purchases, I would question the choice of taking the T10 shoulders first. the fact that there’s a superior set of shoulders off Gunship 25, which is basically free loot that’s actually fun to get, they slipped to just above the new libram on my priority list. Aside from that, I didn’t prioritize the tier very high because I need a mark of sanctification before I can get the 264 tier, and the off set peices in ICC 25 and from Frost Badges outstrip the itemization on the 251 tier very handily.
I believe the unidentifiable organ may actually be a drop from a later boss in ICC. It drops off of Professor Putrecide according to wowarmory.
It’s way too early to spend, unless you have a massive weakness in your gear that you need to cover up. I’m personally unlikely to buy anything until we hit heroic modes. I’d rather not get a drop and suddenly have a slot double-covered with a weak slot elsewhere.
This may be bad advice for 245 geared tanks, but I don’t think so. We run 2 ICC25s (15 mains, 10 alts), and plan to do that for the entirety of normal modes. None of our 245-geared alts have had any issues with the tank checks.
Yeah, but a good chunk of the non tier badge gear is going to be BiS until you start getting heroic drops. I’d be wary of buying the 251 tier if you’re running 25 mans, but the 264 tanking gear isn’t going to get replaced by drops in the easymode instance.
I know that I had planned out a similar progression to yours, but now, since I have been luck enough to get the shoulders off of Gunship25, I have moved the Corroded Skeleton Key up to the top of my list. Heart of Iron is my last piece of 226 gear in my main set, so it will finally be replaced come tonight once I hit 60 emblems.
@wrathy:
Does anyone really have defense troubles these days? Even purposefully avoiding stacking it, I have over 550. I love me some extra armor, and the list of non-set gear has really piqued my interest.
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Im going for the cape and tinket since those are the weakest spots in my gear, not sure which first.