5.2 has dropped today. And honestly, I’m mostly apathetic. Why? Because there’s only really one change that effects me, because I am not remotely, raid, rated BG or arena ready currently.
“Players in low level battlegrounds will have their effective level raised to the maximum level allowed in that battleground bracket. Players’ base stats and spells are scaled accordingly and are treated as the same level when determining hits, misses, and critical effect chance.”
I’m not quite sure how that is going to pan out. I know it is an anti-twink measure. (Which I’m all for considering I had a level 29 rogue hit me for almost 2/3rds of my health.) But there is always the law of unintended consequences and I feel someone better geared than me will still eat me alive and it won’t really matter. I guess time will tell. Onto the real post though.
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So you want to experience the world of PvP as a feral druid? See what it’s like battling that other faction through the levels? I thought I might go into the life of a pvp feral on a new server with no heirlooms 1 – 30 today.
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First of all, expect to die…a lot.
I’m level 27 and have played in 38 battlgrounds so far.
Warsong Gulch:
Record 10-14.
Deaths: 127.
Arathi Basin:
Record 9-5.
Deaths: 54.
Overall:
Record: 19-19
BG Deaths: 181 (out of 197 total)
That is correct. I average almost 5 deaths a BG. And after 26 levels (only 16 of which could I participate in BGs.) my deaths in BGs are over 10x that what I’ve accrued in PvE. And I have an advantage, I’m a stealthy. They can’t always find me to kill me.
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Gear:
So the PvP route is full of fun and profit! (laughs) Or at least the first part. 😉
Lets look at the honor gear through the levels.
Level 1 – 9: Sayeth the Blizzard, “N00b, stay out of the BGs!”
Level 10 – 17: You have exactly one honor gear item you can buy during these levels that is useful, unless you somehow get some tons of honor quickly. (Insignia of the Horde or Insignia of the Alliance) Don’t get me wrong, this is a highly important item to have, but you’re not exactly bustling with gear at this point. I ended up questing in the Ghostlands to get Tranquillen rep items, as good gear is hard to find.
Level 18 – 27: Finally, you can spend your hard earned honor on gear. As a Feral Horde Druid here are the options available to you. All require level 18 unless otherwise noted.
Scout’s Medallion: ilvl 23, +6 AGI, +2 Stam, Cost 20 Honor. A good little piece itemized well.
Advisor’s Ring: ilvl 23, +2 Stam, +4 Int, +6 Spir. Cost: 20 honor. Casty, skip it.
Legionnaire’s Band: ilvl 23, +4 Str, +4 Agi, +2 Stam. Cost: 20 honor. I miss the days we could double dip AGI & STR. Still, this one is one to get.
Battle Healer’s Cloak: ilvl 23, +4 Stam, +4 Int, +2 Spir. Cost: 20 honor. Casty, skip it.
Scout’s Blade: ilvl 23, 15.2 DPS, +4 AGI, +2 Stam. Cost: 70 honor. You’ll have to remove the filters if you want to see this one on the vendor. The stats are better itemized for us, but since weapon DPS is such a big deal and the lack of DPS off hands I ended up going with:
Advisor’s Gnarled Staff: ilvl 23, 19.8 DPS, +8 Stam, +4 Int, +8 Spirit. Cost: 70 honor. Obviously not ideal, but the DPS is hard to beat at this level and that is an ok chunk of stam.
The only level 20 item is:
Rune of Perfection: +4 Stam, +10 Hit. Cost: 20 Honor. Eh, it’s a trinket, which are extremely hard to come by at this level, even if they are just stat stick trinkets.
All but the insignia are available from your Friendly Neighborhood Warsong/Silverwing Supply Officers. (Kelm Hargunth for Horde and Illiyana Moonblaze for the Alliance)
So, if you get what I did that will put you at a grand total of 150 honor to spend before level 28. If you’re only BGing, that will leave a ton of open gear slots and a ton of honor left over. (I’m planning on eventually getting heirlooms with the honor, because I’ll have enough to do so before I can get full sets of gear.)
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Level 28 will get you mostly upgrades to the items listed above. To upgrade to the ilvl 33 versions of the Scout’s Medallion, Legionnaire’s Band & Advisor’s Gnarled Staff will run you 175 honor.
Added to the line-up at level 28 you can add feet and waist (there are casty versions too, skip ’em):
Defiler’s Leather Girdle: ilvl 33, 95 Armor (+12 Bonus Armor), +12 Agi, +4 Stam. Cost: 45 Honor. Great itemization for us.
Defiler’s Leather Boots: ilvl 33, 113 Armor (+12 Bonus Armor), +7 Agi, +8 Stam. Run speed boost. Cost: 45 Honor. Great itemization for us and a run speed boost to boot!
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Level 30 gives you a couple of new options.
Sergeant’s Cloak: ilvl 35, 67 Armor (+16 Bonus Armor), +9 Stam. Cost: 40 Honor. Unless your current cloak has no AGI, probably not worth the upgrade.
Defiler’s Talisman: ilvl 33. Absorbs 0 to 302 physical damage. Lasts 15 sec. I think I actually like the stat stick better on instinct. But if someone were to show me why this was better, I wouldn’t argue.
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Honestly, on a low level PvP toon you’re gonna have to quest or AH to get gear. It’s just not available on a purely PvP basis.
I was going to suggest getting a PvP weapon with your excess honor, only to do my research and realize there is no PvP Agi two-handed weapon…~headdesk~
That means to get a non-PvP weapon, it takes converting the honor to justice. Whic would make the Burnished Warden Staff or Repurposed Lava Dredger cost 5250 honor. 😦
I guess that means the Exceptional Stormshroud Shoulders are the way to go with any excess honor. (Or maybe trade goods to make money.) I am thoroughly floored at the fact there isn’t a good PvP weapon heirloom for us. The fact that there is a one hand casty item is beside the point, there are plenty of good off hands for casters. There are 6 off-hands items in the entire game that have Agility, all of which have 3 or less AGI on them.
If you wanted a PvP weapon with resilience, I would more than likely suggest going, as I did above, with the casty version. Grand Staff of Jordan, at level 30, it has more than twice the resilience and stamina of the Sharpened Scarlet Kris, the DPS is much higher, more than making for the fact we’re trading AGI for hit and spellpower. (And you can heal yourself better to boot.)
So there is my ramble down the route of sub-30 PvP gear. I’ll probably break these up into smaller chunks going forward. But take from this what you will. (And get Blizz to give us some Heirloom PvP Weapon Love!)
Feral Instincts 