Thinking Out Loud On Next Emblem Purchase

Last night was pretty quick. We just took out the four bosses in the Lower Spire. We only had a minor hiccup on Deathwhisper when our DPS wasn’t watching threat and pulled her. We lost about half our DPS right there. Boston and I got it back under control and we rezzed one of the dead DPS. We still one shot her despite that. I didn’t feel any of the fatigue I had felt during Anub’arak, so maybe it was just a one night thing. More than ever I want to get back in there and finally kill that bug.

Next we went over to Naxxrammus for the weekly quest. This week on Altar of Storms, it's Patchwerk. It was kind of funny being back in Naxx again. We all remembered cutting our raiding teeth in there back when iLevel 213 was the hot stuff. Gear inflation has just been crazy this expansion. I have nearly one and half times more health than I did in those early days. Patch went down ridiculously fast.

With the Frost Emblems from last night I'm getting close to my next Emblem purchase. My wish list for Emblems is the Kraken gloves, Cat chest, T10 shoulders and T10 Helm.

As I look over my gear my Boots, Gloves and Shoulders are my last 232 pieces. We are a 10 man guild still a little ways from Arthas and Hard Modes. That puts an effective cap of 251 on any gear we get from drops. My alts are going a great job of slaving away for Primoridal Saronites and by Thursday I should have the last Saronite I need to get our friendly neighborhood guild Blacksmith to craft some Boots of Kingly Upheaval. Once I have the Boots made, I'll get my alts cracking again on the Saronites for the Pillars of Might. I could replace the Shoulders but I'd lose my 2pc T9 bonus. 2 piece Tier 9 is nice but I'm not sure it's needed. The 5% damage increase is probably negated by the strength upgrade I'll get from the rise in ilevel. The shorter CD on taunt is nice but since we have 2 taunts it should be fine. Plus, I will have to live without it as some point anyway.

One thought would be to go for the Chest since it's the most expensive thing I'm after at the moment, but the other line of thought would be the replace my weakest pieces first. I would get Shoulders over Gloves since I can hope to get lucky and get the Gloves from VoA. But I won’t get my hopes up. For some reason VoA only seems to drop Mail for our group.

While I know this shouldn't be a factor, I'd love to get some T10 gear, just so I can start looking like a T10 Paladin. I think I'm on the only Paladin on AoS without his T10 Shoulders.

Comments

Picked up the tier 10 shoulders last week and got the boots crafted last night... I really want to replace my 232 tier 9 gloves but since they drop out of VoA I'm waiting on them. But looks like I'm just going to put my emblems towards the tier 10 helm first. Then tier 10 chest, and gloves last if they don't drop in VoA first. Meanwhile I need to farm up another 9 primordial saronites for pillar's of might.
Anonymous said…
I'm somewhat leaning towards the T10 hat myself, as there don't appear to be any ICC 10 drops for that slot. Seems odd.
Grimadin said…
I love how you have mentioned a couple of times that you think you are the only Paladin on AOS without the shoulders. I too have waited to upgrade my shoulders, and am sporting the 245 shoulders. I passed up my 232 2 piece bonus a long time ago, and can say I really don't notice it being gone. My last piece of 232 gear is my shield. And well, you know how thats going. My only hope is that since a 2 hander dropped for your group, I might finally see a shield.

The other items I still have which are below the 251 level are: back, shoulders, helm, and that shield. If things go my way I will try and get the last 10 frost badges I need for the shoulders tonight from the weekly, a random, and 10 and 25 man VOA. Which would put me at a fresh start for this weeks raids. After that I will be working towards my helm for the 2 piece t10, before the back and lastly the chest. My alts are hard at work on collecting the saronites required for the crafting of the pants. If I finally get the shield, I will effectively be done with tanking drops from ICC10, other then possible weapons to play with.

The question then becomes "What to do now?"
Anonymous said…
what are you thoughts on 25 man gear? as i look at the drops in 25 man icc versus tier gear, it just doesn't get me going. shoulders are the only thing i have seen that might interest me in tier for the 264 version, but the bongard commanders look mighty tasty with the extra socket. i am just curious of your opinion on tier gear because even the broken skull ram helm looks better than our tier on.

-Teurion
Honors Code said…
At 264 it still looks like T10 helm/shoulders to go with Cat/Kraken/Pillars. At 277 it's all T10.
Ken Dollar said…
I know how you feel when you say you feel like you are the only paladin with your t10 shoulders. I'm in a 25man guild on Eitrigg, and the first week the shoulders dropped off of gunship for me.

I just can't bring myself to "upgrade" the gunship-25 shoulders to the tier10-264 shoulders
Anonymous said…
"As I look over my gear my Boots, Gloves and Shoulders are my last 232 pieces." Then get the kraken glove or t10 and buy the level 245 shoulder as the set bonus is gone.

My Paladin has 2p t9 bonus from hands and legs but as soon as Saurfang or VoA drops my pants, I'm getting rid of the gloves, maybe even sooner.

"The other items I still have which are below the 251 level are: back, shoulders, helm, and that shield." No, seriously? 264 cape from frost badges was the second item I bought after the hyper-stamina trinket, because the cape beats all the alternatives hands down.
Honors Code said…
Grim has the 245 Cape from Jarraxus25, so it wasn't a big priority since the other slots provided a much larger upgrade for the Emblems spent.
Grimadin said…
I picked my upgrades, to this point, based on not what was the best items I could get, but what was the best upgrade over my current gear. The stam trinket was my upgrade over the Black Heart. The badge belt upgraded my 226 badge belt. I crafted the boots to replace the 232 TOC 10 boots. I was lucky enough to get the 251 chest and legs from their respective bosses in the first few weeks which left my 2 piece t9 from my gloves and shoulders. My next 60 frost was spent on the Kraken gloves, at which time I bought the 245 shoulders as I didn't have a set bonus to use any more, as I was using the Ony 10 helm already.

Last night I finally broke my pattern and bought the t10 shoulders over the cape. This was done as I wanted a piece of t10 for the off chance that I get a token from running 25 man. I am not a 25 man raider but I do find the odd pug that has the chance of making it past Saurfang, and therefore providing a decent upgrade. The t10 shoulders were a very minor upgrade over the 245 ones, but I did not want to be stuck in the event that the pug only allowed people with a current piece of gear that can be upgraded to roll.

My next purchase will probably be the t10 helm to finish off the 2 piece bonus, leaving the cape until last before the 264 chest and crafted legs. Some people might ask me why I would wait to get the cape. If my group is lucky enough to get the drop from Festergut 10, I will most likely get his cape first as my normal OT is a druid who already has the badge cape, if i don't end up buying it before then.

I think my thinking was sound, and I have had many discussions with Honors and the other tanks in our guild about loot priority and the such. It may not be perfect but it has allowed me to have a very well geared out tank able to comfortably tackle the content my group is working on. Now if only I can get that shield!

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