Since
introducing the concept of badges and badge gear in
patch 2.3.0, Blizzard has been dedicated to providing alternate gearing
methods
to players who can’t or don’t want to raid. Patch
3.2.0 has taken it a step
further and the game now offers an unprecedented number of ways to
equip your
character with epic quality raid or raid ready gear. The purpose of
this
article is not to href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/72853">bash
or href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/74478">champion
this development but
rather to help those newer players (or those returning from an extended
WoW-cation)
on how to quickly get their characters caught back up with the game.

 

Daily
Badges

 

The
easiest way to get badges is to run heroic five player
instances every day, even on the most under populated servers there are
groups
forming at any hour of the day. 
You can
run each heroic instance once per day, with one of them being the
object of a
daily quest given out at the Violet Hold in Dalaran by Archmage
Lan’dalock. The
“Daily” heroic will award you with extra gold and
the upgraded Emblem of
Triumph, as well as the standard Emblems of Conquest you will receive
from the
bosses in the instance. For players still wearing all blue quality gear
you can
also pick up quite a few decent item level 200 epics from the end
bosses in
each heroic dungeon. 

[protip]
Also pick up the regular daily for an extra
Emblem of Conquest, extra gold and a reputation token that increases
your
faction with several WotLK factions. This can be accomplished
concurrent with
the Heroic mode and takes no extra time![/protip]

style="border: medium none ; border-collapse: collapse;"
border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
style="border: 1pt solid black; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 153);"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"> style="">Instance

style="border-style: solid solid solid none; border-color: black black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: 1pt 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 153);"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"> style="">Number of Badges

style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 153);"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"> href="http://www.wowwiki.com/Ahn%27kahet" title="Ahn'kahet">Ahn'kahet style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt;"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">5 style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 153);"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"> href="http://www.wowwiki.com/Azjol-Nerub" title="Azjol-Nerub">Azjol-Nerub style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt;"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">3 style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 153);"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"> href="http://www.wowwiki.com/Culling_of_Stratholme"
title="Culling of Stratholme">Culling of Stratholme style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt;"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">4 style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 153);"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"> href="http://www.wowwiki.com/Drak%27Tharon_Keep"
title="Drak'Tharon Keep">Drak'Tharon Keep style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt;"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">4 style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 153);"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"> href="http://www.wowwiki.com/Gundrak" title="Gundrak">Gundrak style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt;"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">5 style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 153);"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"> href="http://www.wowwiki.com/Halls_of_Lightning"
title="Halls of Lightning">Halls of Lightning style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt;"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">4 style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 153);"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"> href="http://www.wowwiki.com/Halls_of_Stone"
title="Halls of Stone">Halls of Stone style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt;"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">4 style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 153);"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"> href="http://www.wowwiki.com/Nexus" title="Nexus">Nexus style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt;"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">5 style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 153);"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"> href="http://www.wowwiki.com/Oculus" title="Oculus">Oculus style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt;"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">4 style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 153);"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"> href="http://www.wowwiki.com/Utgarde_Keep_%28instance%29"
title="Utgarde Keep (instance)">Utgarde Keep style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt;"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">3 style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 153);"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"> href="http://www.wowwiki.com/Utgarde_Pinnacle"
title="Utgarde Pinnacle">Utgarde Pinnacle style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt;"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">4 style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 153);"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"> href="http://www.wowwiki.com/Violet_Hold" title="Violet Hold">Violet
Hold style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt;"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">3 style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 153);"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"> href="http://www.wowwiki.com/Trial_of_the_Champion">Trial
of the Champions style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt;"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">3 style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 153);"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"> style="">Total

style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt;"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"> style="">51

 

As
you
can see you can quickly rack up tons of badges that
are redeemable for item level 226 loot, including two set pieces of
tier 8.5.
Each tier piece costs 58 badges, which may seem like a daunting task
but if you
did all of your daily heroic resets it would be less than three days
until you
had both. Obviously most players simply do not have the time to spend
running
that many dungeons a day, but the average player should be able to pick
up both
items as well as a neck or idol in less than two weeks.

 

style="color: rgb(45, 100, 209);">Weekly Badges

 

In
addition to the daily accumulation of reward badges,
players can also gain these tokens in 10 and 25 player raid dungeons.
The raid
dungeons have a weekly reset timer and all feature a minimum of item
level 200
epics, with most offering 213 and higher. style=""> Naxx
10 will award you level 200 loot with all
boss kills except Kel’thuzad who will drop 213 items. Naxx 25
features 213 loot
with KT dropping 226. Eye of Eternity loot on 10 player is 213, while
25 player
rewards are 226. Obsidian Sanctum items are 200 for 10 player and 213
for 25,
with higher level loot being awarded for each drake you leave alive.
Ulduar 10
player grants you 219 loot while 25 player features 226 (232 for
weapons). 
If you are fortunate enough
to clear these
instances weekly your purchasing power from the vendors will be
substantial and
there will be no shortage of epic choices for you.

 

[protip]
Winning a Wintergrasp match offers your faction the
ability to kill six additional bosses each week, three on 10 player and
three
on 25. These bosses drop a mixture of all item level gear as well as
badges and
PvP items.[/protip]

 

style="border: medium none ; border-collapse: collapse;"
border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
style="border: 1pt solid black; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 153);"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"> style="">Instance

style="border-style: solid solid solid none; border-color: black black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: 1pt 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 153);"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"> style="">Number of Badges

style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 153);"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">Eye
of Eternity 10 style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt;"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">2 style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 153);"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">Eye
of Eternity 25 style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt;"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">2 style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 153);"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">Naxxramas
10 style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt;"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">16 style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 153);"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">Naxxramas
25 style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt;"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">16 style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 153);"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">Obsidian
Sanctum 
10 style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt;"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">4* style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 153);"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">Obsidian
Sanctum 25 style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt;"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">4* style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 153);"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">Ulduar
10 style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt;"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">18* style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 153);"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">Ulduar
25 style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt;"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">18* style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 153);"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"> style="">Total

style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt;"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"> style="">80

*Heroic
mode clears will offer additional badges

 

style="color: rgb(45, 100, 209);">Emblems of Triumph

 

The
current pinnacle of the badge loot system is the Emblem
of Triumph. These emblems are currently only found in Trial of the
Crusader and
the Onyxia encounters, however with patch 3.3 they will begin to drop
in other
raid zones. 
You should also be able to
earn an additional two Triumphant Badges each day as your reward from
the
Heroic Daily Quest. These emblems, besides being useable at a vendor
like the
aforementioned Conquest, are also used to purchase set armor pieces for
tier 9
and 9.25. Patch 3.2.0 introduced a trophy system that allows players
who kill
the bosses in ToC 25 the ability to trade a trophy plus a number of
Emblems of
Triumph for whichever piece of 9.25 they desire. Tier 9.0 can also be
purchased
with badges and does not require a trophy. style=""> Also
keep in mind that the non heroic version
of 5 player Trial of the Champion offers some very nice level 200 epics
from
each boss and there is no 24 hour lockout timer like the heroic
version, for
players looking for a trinket upgrade this is the place to look.

 

style="border: medium none ; border-collapse: collapse;"
border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
style="border: 1pt solid black; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 153);"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"> style="">Instance

style="border-style: solid solid solid none; border-color: black black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: 1pt 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 116.75pt; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 153);"
valign="top" width="156">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"> style="">Number of Badges

style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 153);"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">Onyxia
10 style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 116.75pt;"
valign="top" width="156">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">3 style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 153);"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">Onyxia
25 style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 116.75pt;"
valign="top" width="156">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">3 style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 153);"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">Trial
of the Crusader 
10 style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 116.75pt;"
valign="top" width="156">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">15 style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 153);"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">Trial
of the Crusader 25 style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 116.75pt;"
valign="top" width="156">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">15 style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 153);"
valign="top">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"> style="">Total

style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color black black -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 116.75pt;"
valign="top" width="156">

style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"> style="">36

Gearing
your character in WoW has never been faster or
easier than it is right now; with a little bit of effort on your part
you can
be raid ready or a raiding champion in a matter of days. style="">  Until
next week, stay safe and have fun in
Azeroth!