Vexryn's Cataclysm Master Tank Gear List & Gear Progression

[Digren]

Love this List, was exactley what I was looking for, Many thanks to you dude, and just a question below.

Reinforced Sapphirium Faceguard (Tier 11) - Essence of the Forlorn token - Dodge/Hit

I believe this to be incorrect. Essence of the Forlorn is used to purchase Heroic Upgrade pieces. The tokons to upgrade class pieces arnt droping from bosses after looking at WowHead.
So you would need to purchase Reinforced Sapphirium Faceguard with JP and then to upgrade you need to get a Essence of the Forlorn From Lady Sinestra (Speculation) and with the Essence of the Forlorn purchase a Crown of the Forlorn Conqueror and then you can upgrade your tier piece to Heroic version.

This isn't correct. You need a [Helm of the Forlorn Conqueror] token to purchase a Reinforced Sapphirium Faceguard (T11). The Valor Point (not Justice Point) vendor only sells the chest, hands, and legs for VP. I checked this myself when writing my gear guide last weekend.

After that you are correct. To upgrade from T11 to T11.5, you then use an Essence of the Forlorn, likely from a selection of T11 raid bosses, to purchase a Crown of the Forlorn Conqueror, and then use that along with your existing Reinforced Sapphirium Faceguard to buy a Reinforced Sapphirium Faceguard.

[Marilee]

The OP is ridiculously comprehensive, well-designed, and helpful. It is the most awesome thing written by anybody ever about anything. Okay, that's an exaggeration, but it's fantastic. Thanks a bunch!

[vexryn]

Love this List, was exactley what I was looking for, Many thanks to you dude, and just a question below.

Reinforced Sapphirium Faceguard (Tier 11) - Essence of the Forlorn token - Dodge/Hit

I believe this to be incorrect. Essence of the Forlorn is used to purchase Heroic Upgrade pieces. The tokons to upgrade class pieces arnt droping from bosses after looking at WowHead.
So you would need to purchase Reinforced Sapphirium Faceguard with JP and then to upgrade you need to get a Essence of the Forlorn From Lady Sinestra (Speculation) and with the Essence of the Forlorn purchase a Crown of the Forlorn Conqueror and then you can upgrade your tier piece to Heroic version.

This isn't correct. You need a [Helm of the Forlorn Conqueror] token to purchase a Reinforced Sapphirium Faceguard (T11). The Valor Point (not Justice Point) vendor only sells the chest, hands, and legs for VP. I checked this myself when writing my gear guide last weekend.

After that you are correct. To upgrade from T11 to T11.5, you then use an Essence of the Forlorn, likely from a selection of T11 raid bosses, to purchase a Crown of the Forlorn Conqueror, and then use that along with your existing Reinforced Sapphirium Faceguard to buy a Reinforced Sapphirium Faceguard.

Digren,
Ahh, thanks for clarifying. I saw the earlier post from the road and had a feeling this was the issue - I didn't catch the difference between the [Helm of the Forlorn Conqueror] (which, I presume, is a raid drop) and the Crown of the Forlorn Conqueror which is the heroic upgrade token that you purchase with an Essence of the Forlorn.

I'll get this sorted out shortly in the list. Thanks.

[vexryn]

This isn't correct. You need a [Helm of the Forlorn Conqueror] token to purchase a Reinforced Sapphirium Faceguard (T11). The Valor Point (not Justice Point) vendor only sells the chest, hands, and legs for VP. I checked this myself when writing my gear guide last weekend.

Hrm, on the flip side... it appears that the chest, hands, and legs are ONLY available for Valor Points. Wowhead only appears to have tokens for the head and shoulders for regular Tier 11. And then the Essence of the Forlorn buys one of 5 different tokens for the heroic tier upgrade.

So it looks like head and shoulders are only drops (for regular Tier 11), while the chest, hands, and legs are only Valor Points.

[vexryn]

Updated posted for the Tier 11 corrections, both in the gear list threads and the Valor Point gear priority discussion. Thanks for pointing it out!

[Digren]

This isn't correct. You need a [Helm of the Forlorn Conqueror] token to purchase a Reinforced Sapphirium Faceguard (T11). The Valor Point (not Justice Point) vendor only sells the chest, hands, and legs for VP. I checked this myself when writing my gear guide last weekend.

Hrm, on the flip side... it appears that the chest, hands, and legs are ONLY available for Valor Points. Wowhead only appears to have tokens for the head and shoulders for regular Tier 11. And then the Essence of the Forlorn buys one of 5 different tokens for the heroic tier upgrade.

So it looks like head and shoulders are only drops (for regular Tier 11), while the chest, hands, and legs are only Valor Points.

Yeah I saw that. So non-raiders can slowly grind out 3/5 while only raiders have access to the 4-piece bonus.

[vexryn]

So it looks like head and shoulders are only drops (for regular Tier 11), while the chest, hands, and legs are only Valor Points.

Yeah I saw that. So non-raiders can slowly grind out 3/5 while only raiders have access to the 4-piece bonus.[/quote]


Well, or the "casual" raider can get 3/5 Tier 11 while only "better progression" raiders have access to the 4-piece bonus. Not knowing the bosses that drop the Head and Shoulders and their relatively difficulty, we'll see. But you're literally talking about almost 3 months of rigorous dailies just to get the 3/5 Tier 11 from 5-man dungeons only (not to mention the other Valor Point gear to buy), so I'm assuming that you'll have to be at least a casual raider to rack up enough Valor Points to see much of the Valor Point gear anytime before Valentine's Day or so.

[Exogen]

Love this List, was exactley what I was looking for, Many thanks to you dude, and just a question below.

Reinforced Sapphirium Faceguard (Tier 11) - Essence of the Forlorn token - Dodge/Hit

I believe this to be incorrect. Essence of the Forlorn is used to purchase Heroic Upgrade pieces. The tokons to upgrade class pieces arnt droping from bosses after looking at WowHead.
So you would need to purchase Reinforced Sapphirium Faceguard with JP and then to upgrade you need to get a Essence of the Forlorn From Lady Sinestra (Speculation) and with the Essence of the Forlorn purchase a Crown of the Forlorn Conqueror and then you can upgrade your tier piece to Heroic version.

This isn't correct. You need a [Helm of the Forlorn Conqueror] token to purchase a Reinforced Sapphirium Faceguard (T11). The Valor Point (not Justice Point) vendor only sells the chest, hands, and legs for VP. I checked this myself when writing my gear guide last weekend.

After that you are correct. To upgrade from T11 to T11.5, you then use an Essence of the Forlorn, likely from a selection of T11 raid bosses, to purchase a Crown of the Forlorn Conqueror, and then use that along with your existing Reinforced Sapphirium Faceguard to buy a Reinforced Sapphirium Faceguard.

Thanks for clearing that up, I did it at Work where my WowHead tooltips dont work (Stupid IE) was was confusing tabbing between 2 sites.
Good to hear that a Casual cant get the full set.

[vexryn]

Updated Mixology benefit of Alchemy, per a Blizzard blue post on hotfixes - it's now +120 Stamina when using the Stamina flask, putting it in line with other profession buffs.

[Jarvick]

Vex, great write up, this is by far the best one I have seen leading into Cat. My hats off to you on this, and thanks for a great guide.

[gibborim]

Very nice compilation of information. Thank you for your work.

[Protigy]

Just wanted to drop in an pass along my thanks for your work!

[Maikro]

Vex--You da man! Many thanks for the comprehensive evaluation!

[vexryn]

Thanks everyone for the kind words.

I'll be updating this list over the next 24 hours as we get any new details (including drops for a number of the epics) from the content going live.

I'll also be adding further updates over the next week as I grind out level 85 and the early gear itself, and discover any "unexpected changes" along the way!

In the meantime, if there's anything that you discover that's incorrect, or that you'd like to see added, please feel free to post in this thread.

Thanks, and enjoy!

/salute

[TonabShin]

Just pointing out Raz's Pauldrons drop in Blackrock Caverns from Ascendant Lord Obsidius, not Halls of Origination.