Yesterday, I talked about How to Read PvP Gear for PvE, and shortcuts on how to evaluate PvP gear when it comes to enhancing your PvE set. The big takeaway from the article was: use PvP gear to patch your PvE set, not for overall gearing.
Today, I’ll list as many of the commonly-patched cases I can think of. If Blizzard’s going to keep polluting sprinkling in pvp items in your pve instances/raids, you might as well cherry-pick pieces from the pvp side that will actually help you in PvE.
Remember, continue to block out the lines I mentioned yesterday as you size these items up.
Weapon-based classes: key weapon
What’s a weapon-based class? Any class that has abilities based on “weapon damage +X” (for example, Steady Shot for hunters). Melee weapons for melee classes and ranged weapons for hunters. All that matters for those classes is how hard their weapon hits. You can make up for the lack of PvE well-roundedness in the rest of your gear.
For these classes, where weapons are one of the largest parts of overall damage output, and PvP rewards are guaranteed rather than a drop chance in a raid you can run once a week. Dagger rogues love [Merciless Gladiator’s Shanker], hunters love [Merciless Gladiator’s Crossbow of the Phoenix], and so on. Those pvp weapons offer comparable damage to the weapon drops you’ll get in raids.
This is why you’ll frequently the following classes rocking pvp weapons: dps-warriors, dps-pallies, rogues, melee-shammies, and hunters.
Nukers: spell haste items
Spell Haste is something that was introduced about halfway through the Burning Crusade. This means that it’s tough to get on crafted/instance/heroic/early-raid/early-badge gear. It turns out that for casters, spell haste is typically the second or third best stat you can stack. So, if you have everything else covered, maybe a spell haste item from this list could be a good move for you, depending on where you are in the game.
Paladin tanks: weapon
Pally tanks basically gear up just like a tank warrior in every slot except for their one purely paladin-tank item, their weapon. There aren’t many choices available for this weapon. [Merciless Gladiator’s Gavel] is a good pickup.
Druid tanks: everything
Ok, I exaggerate. I initially ducked talking about tanks and pvp gear because tank mechanics are a deep enough topic to get mutliple articles of their own. However, druid tanks and pvp gear is really easy. I learned druid tank optimization for my wife’s feral tank side project, and the state of the rawr-tank union can be summarized thusly:
Druid tank players should obtain a thick piece of leather, bite down on it, and run battlegrounds/arena until they can’t take it anymore.
Check out emmerald’s excellent guide on feral tank gear priority, browse those item slots, and see how often pvp items appear in the top 10 spots for each item. Blizzard still has some serious class design work to do for my rawr tank friends. What a mess! As much as I don’t like how my protection warrior plays in battlegrounds, at least I don’t have to run them to improve my character. I’ll write more on this subject soon.
Conclusion
These items are the exception rather than the rule. Follow them closely. For example, spellcasters don’t use their staves in the same way that physical classes use their swords/bows. They have no spell that says “this spell does weapon damage +100 fire damage”. Basically, a casting staff could be a bottle of shampoo for all you care, you just want the bonuses it gives it gives to your primary abilities.
(I’ll add any other exceptions people can think of, just post in the comments)
Where PvP Gear Often Helps
Yesterday, I talked about How to Read PvP Gear for PvE, and shortcuts on how to evaluate PvP gear when it comes to enhancing your PvE set. The big takeaway from the article was: use PvP gear to patch your PvE set, not for overall gearing.
Today, I’ll list as many of the commonly-patched cases I can think of. If Blizzard’s going to keep polluting sprinkling in pvp items in your pve instances/raids, you might as well cherry-pick pieces from the pvp side that will actually help you in PvE.
Remember, continue to block out the lines I mentioned yesterday as you size these items up.
Weapon-based classes: key weapon
What’s a weapon-based class? Any class that has abilities based on “weapon damage +X” (for example, Steady Shot for hunters). Melee weapons for melee classes and ranged weapons for hunters. All that matters for those classes is how hard their weapon hits. You can make up for the lack of PvE well-roundedness in the rest of your gear.
For these classes, where weapons are one of the largest parts of overall damage output, and PvP rewards are guaranteed rather than a drop chance in a raid you can run once a week. Dagger rogues love [Merciless Gladiator’s Shanker], hunters love [Merciless Gladiator’s Crossbow of the Phoenix], and so on. Those pvp weapons offer comparable damage to the weapon drops you’ll get in raids.
This is why you’ll frequently the following classes rocking pvp weapons: dps-warriors, dps-pallies, rogues, melee-shammies, and hunters.
Nukers: spell haste items
Spell Haste is something that was introduced about halfway through the Burning Crusade. This means that it’s tough to get on crafted/instance/heroic/early-raid/early-badge gear. It turns out that for casters, spell haste is typically the second or third best stat you can stack. So, if you have everything else covered, maybe a spell haste item from this list could be a good move for you, depending on where you are in the game.
Paladin tanks: weapon
Pally tanks basically gear up just like a tank warrior in every slot except for their one purely paladin-tank item, their weapon. There aren’t many choices available for this weapon. [Merciless Gladiator’s Gavel] is a good pickup.
Druid tanks: everything
Ok, I exaggerate. I initially ducked talking about tanks and pvp gear because tank mechanics are a deep enough topic to get mutliple articles of their own. However, druid tanks and pvp gear is really easy. I learned druid tank optimization for my wife’s feral tank side project, and the state of the rawr-tank union can be summarized thusly:
Druid tank players should obtain a thick piece of leather, bite down on it, and run battlegrounds/arena until they can’t take it anymore.
Check out emmerald’s excellent guide on feral tank gear priority, browse those item slots, and see how often pvp items appear in the top 10 spots for each item. Blizzard still has some serious class design work to do for my rawr tank friends. What a mess! As much as I don’t like how my protection warrior plays in battlegrounds, at least I don’t have to run them to improve my character. I’ll write more on this subject soon.
Conclusion
These items are the exception rather than the rule. Follow them closely. For example, spellcasters don’t use their staves in the same way that physical classes use their swords/bows. They have no spell that says “this spell does weapon damage +100 fire damage”. Basically, a casting staff could be a bottle of shampoo for all you care, you just want the bonuses it gives it gives to your primary abilities.
(I’ll add any other exceptions people can think of, just post in the comments)
More Words!