It has been a while since I finished gearing up my Paladin Tank for raids, mainly because Cataclysm has been out for a while now, however I have seen many players struggling lately to gear up and get into raids. With so many players at max level and relatively few instances to complete there is a lot of pressure to get into raids if you want to keep improving your character.

Many players though, are not used to the way to gear a character since they either joined the game during the WotLK cycle when gearing was a complete joke due to being so simple, or they never really have raided before. There are other reasons as well, but no matter the cause, I have recently seen and helped many players in the two guilds I have characters in finish gearing up for raids and thought it was time to talk about it a bit more.

Before we get into to much detail though, keep in mind that to start gearing for Raids you really need to already be geared for Heroic instances. To get into a heroic you need to be at least item level 329 and preferably higher. This is your goal before you start working through the raid gearing process simply because many of your best ways to gear up for a raid involve running heroics. If you are not yet at this point, please check out our Getting ready for Heroics Guide and once done with it, return here.

My Gearing Experience

The first character that I geared up for raiding in Cataclysm was my Paladin tank. This was due to a high requirement for tanks in my guild and having filled a tank slot last expansion I was eager to get there and be ready to start tanking some new bosses this time around.

While gearing a tank can be slightly easier than other class types the same process can be applied to all. I only say it is easier since tanks are always in demand and the queues to get into heroic instances are, well, pretty much instant. This means you can run two heroics in the same time it takes a DPS to run one, since they will likely sit in the queue for almost an hour.

My experience gearing up my Paladin though was a relatively enjoyable one. Blizzard has provided a lot of options this time around for many of your gear slots for what is essentially tier one raid entry. There are some that are severely limited really only having 1 or 2 good choices, but even there, if you get all your pieces to 346 or higher other than 1 or 2 slots, you will still be ready to go raiding. In the past there was often only one choice per slot that would get you truly ready and you would end up having to run the same instance over and over again until you got lucky. In Cataclysm there are many varied ways to get gear that I will outline below that kept the whole process fun, varied, and enjoyable. It didn’t feel like a grind fest to get ready.

One thing that can keep the whole experience even more fun, and did for me, was to get a group of friends together to do it with. You are looking to raid, therefore you obviously have a base of at least 9 or 24 other players to draw on for groups. They are most likely either gearing up themselves, or geared already and probably willing to help you. Running instances, grinding rep, and even farming mats for crafting is a lot more fun when you have other people in a group or in ventrillo chatting and discussing things as you go.

Best Practices

These are some of the many things that I try to keep in mind as I gear up a character. They may sound simplistic, and in fact they are, however it is truly amazing how many players don’t keep them in mind. Walking players through the process of gearing up recently has reminded me that not everyone is as methodical and organized in their approach as many long time raiders. They don’t take these things for granted, and really do need to be taught them.

Talk with your guild about what they expect – If you are running with a group of 10 expect tighter requirements, if it’s a 25 player raid and your coming into an established group it might be OK to be a little light. Know ahead of time what the expectations are though, so you can gear appropriately. A good baseline is item level 346, but your raid group might be different.

Know your role and stick to it – This may sound too simple, but you really need to keep in mind your role in the raid and not let it slip. Are you a tank, healer or DPS? If that is your set role, don’t get sidetracked and switch gearing to another role just because you get a few lucky drops for it. However, you should find out ahead of time if you are expected to have an alternate role for raiding and keep it in mind to gear it up as well. As a Paladin Tank I was expected to have a healing spec as well, for our group composition. This allowed a ranged healer to go ranged DPS on one tank fights and for me to fall back and take their healing role over.

Don’t get sidetracked – This is another simple one, stick to gearing up. Don’t get sidetracked and start to go PvP or get sidetracked on other characters. If you really want to get ready to raid, get it done, then go back to the other things.

Find out the items you need – This can be done in many ways. Some of the many ways are looking for upgrades on the armory, on wowhead, asking guildmates, and more. Basically look around and find out what you need looking for item level 346 or higher.

Pick your faction reps to focus on – Since you are already geared for heroics, it is pretty safe to assume that you have some rep ground with each of the cataclysm factions. It’s now time to look at which offers 346 gear that you don’t have or better yet 359 gear that you need. Plain and simple, you need to then get these, as they are as simple to get as running the heroics you are going to run anyway while just making sure you have the right tabard on. Nothing could be simpler. For example, as a Paladin tank I had to get to Exalted with Hyjal for the cloak and Wildhammer for the boots. What you want will depend on your class and spec. You can find lists of the items each faction provides here:

• Guardians of Hyjal Reputation Guide
• Earthen Ring Reputation Guide
• Therazane Reputation Guide
• Ramkahen Reputation Guide
• Wildhammer / Dragonmaw Reputation Guide

Make a list of the heroics you need in priority – Once you know which heroics have gear that you need, prioritize them. If HOO has 4 different items for you, GB has 3, and LC, SFK and DM each has 2, then your priority is the HOO, GB, everything else. This overrides anything other than getting your daily random heroic in for the extra Valor points. You can find a list of all the Cataclysm instances on our Zone and Instance Progression Flowchart and all the guides have information on the heroic versions of the fights to help you out.

Justice and Valor Points – These points are earned very easily by doing random instances and heroics. You should do at least one of each everyday to maximize your points. Since you will be running quite a few heroics you will be getting a lot of justice points, make sure you get any pieces you need from there. Also you will accumulate a few valor points if you are doing a random heroic daily. Keep these points accumulating and you can probably pick up one piece before starting to raid.

Group with friends - While heroics are harder in general than WotLK, they are surprisingly easy with a group of friends that coordinates and communicates. Since you are doing this to get ready to raid, you obviously have a group of at least10 or 25 players that you can run heroics with. This makes them at least 10x easier than using the looking for group tool! Remember you can still sign up for a random instance even if you are with a full group of friends.

Craft what you can – Each crafting profession can make a few very solid item level 359 pieces that go a long way to filling in your gear for raiding. What can you make and what materials do you need to do so?

Check the Auction House – Make sure you check it often for BoE’s and some crafted items. Sometime items go up that players make a mistake on the price and sell for less than they should, snap them up. Often this happens with crafting items as they sell it off for less than the materials would cost to actually make the item. I picked up my 359 shield there for ½ of what it would cost to have crafted it myself.

Make a list – No, I’m not joking. Get out a good old pen and paper and make a list of items per slot, and where they come from. I just went over how to find them above, now make use of that dig up a complete list and write out the items that you want and where they can be found. If you don’t like pen and paper you can always make a quick spreadsheet on your computer and keep it updated as well.

The Messiah's Final Word

Once again this looks like a fairly simple process to follow, it’s all about being organized, structured, and staying on task. However, even though I say stay focused, don’t let it get you down, if your burning out, take a break. This is a game after all and if being this focused burns you out, take a break.

Also remember to always look at options. Sure you may have put down on your list that the best cloak for you to aim for is a crafted one, but if a raid BOE pops up on the AH for cheap, jump on it.

One point I can’t stress enough is to keep a list, and maybe more importantly make sure it shows progress. I use a simple count system showing how many slots I have filled out of how many I need to before being ready. For example as a tank I had 17 slots to fill, having the list and a 10/17 beside it made it easy to see progress. Each time got a piece of gear I added it to the count to try to get to 17/17 upgrades needed pre-raid. It showed how close I was to being ready which provided more motivation to keep going.

Remember that bigger and better gear will come because of your effort and use that to help motivate and drive you. Even MORE importantly though, remember that because of the effort and work you put in now, you will get to see a ton of brand new and very cool content that you wouldn’t otherwise get to see.

Lastly I want to finish up that even though this may sound daunting to a new raider, overall gearing up for raids is a lot easier than in the past. There are many different ways and means now to get gear that will make you viable in a raid instead of only one as was often the case previously. Also gearing for raids can be extremely simple if you have a group of players to play with you all working on the same thing. The time and gear will fly by and before you realize it, you will be raiding.

Zone and Instance Guides | Getting ready for Heroics Guide | Cataclysm Raid Instance Overview