Gear Needed for Starting ZA

[Ashkicker]

could a guild just starting Kara make worth while attempts into ZA or do you need to atleast me mostly Epic'd out from Kara to be able to effictively start ZA?

[jere]

While I won't say it is impossible, I would say the odds of you taking 10 people that are not at least 75% kara geared each and having success on the instance as a whole is low. The bear boss isn't too bad, but some of the bosses are an exercise in Tanking/Healing gear checks. You could always try and see how your group does, though. You might have fun either way.

[Arcand]

As a very rough guide, however hard you get rocked by Malchezaar in phase 2, Nalorakk the bear avatar is 10-15% worse. I don't have any numbers to back that up, it's just my sense based on what I see my health bar doing in those two fights.

So you want to be pretty solid against Prince before you try the bear...and of course, you need a second tank who's comparably good.

(Eagle is less of a tank check. If you have lame gear but think you're good at run-over-here, run-over-there fights, turn left instead of right and see how he goes.)

[Blaen99]

As a very rough guide, however hard you get rocked by Malchezaar in phase 2, Nalorakk the bear avatar is 10-15% worse. I don't have any numbers to back that up, it's just my sense based on what I see my health bar doing in those two fights.

So you want to be pretty solid against Prince before you try the bear...and of course, you need a second tank who's comparably good.

(Eagle is less of a tank check. If you have lame gear but think you're good at run-over-here, run-over-there fights, turn left instead of right and see how he goes.)

Amen, Eagle and Bear are both very doable IMNSHO.

However, Eagle is your best bet by far if you have "smart" players - I'd bet you could handle him.

[Lieris]

"smart" players

and players with 10K health buffed.

With how good arena and badge gear is today I'm sure a raid of aware players can kill the eagle and probably even the dragonhawk. The bear boss is the only stark healer/tank gear check.

That said it's quicker to gear up in Karazhan and if you can kill a boss or two in ZA you should be able to steamroller Karazhan anyway. There's very little raid damage in Kara or much in the way of concentration checks. Until you can consistently clear Kara it's not really worth the repairs and time spent to go in ZA just to kill one boss for 1-2 badges and 1 piece of loot unless you really enjoy the challenge and want to see the place.

[Ris]

Depending on the dedication of your raid to progress themselves not only in kara/za but outside by doing heroics for badges will directly effect how well you do in ZA.

My guild cleared kara 2-3 times and did eagle/bear aspects 2-3 times before completing a full clear on ZA. With no prior 25 man gear either. Most of us were very dedicated to running heroics between kara and ZA runs to gear ourselves.

Most of the fights are tank/healer intensive and you can squeeze by with some subpar dps. Make sure your tanks and healers dedicate themselves to get gear and you can definitely make good progress.