Catch-up epics?

So what's available for the newly dinged 90? I know about the boots from the 5.3 event. Can I use my justice points to buy gear from the Kirin Tor vendor (2 rings and a cloak)? Anything else or is it slim pickings?

Epic wise you have the 5.0 crafted items 476 or 496 gloves/chest. 5.3 Quest boots. and the 5.2 crafted helm and boots.

That's about it. Epic wise. A few BoE 476s drop but probably aren't worth the money.

Mostly you want to work on the 458 crafted PvP gear, 450 engy trinket and 450 scenario weapon.

You have a couple weeks to get a few 489s from The Barrens events. Can run through the intro 5.2 solo scenarios and get to honored with that faction and buy a 476 belt for gold while doing the treasure room for Elder Charms. Can also start to make Lightning Forged Ingots, assuming it is your alliance Paladin, for a fallback weapon, starts at 463->476->502 and have to make each one to learn the next step in the chain.

For JP you can either upgrade all of the 458s you have for 750 JP per item or trade them in for honor and buy honor items. For me on fresh characters it has been rings and trinkets that have been my lowest items but the JP trinkets are horrible.

Once you hit item level 460 you hit up LFRs and if you're lucky you can go from 460 to 480+ in one week with 32+ chances for loot.

The 476 pvp epics are a good way to raise your ilvl quickly.

Also consider that in 5.4 all the gear that is VP behind rep (except 522 ones) are going to be converted to JP and rep removed, thus you will be able to almost-fully deck yourself in 489/496 with almost no effort

Ahh quite a few options there then, thanks you two!

I believe with the JP conversion for old rep items the price will increase to "normal" prices of 1250 for weak slots to 2250 for strong slots.

So spamming dungeons returns as the catch-up mechanism.

Was there any weapon/offhand item available from the Valor gear? No, right?

Blacksmiths can make a 463 weapon and shield relatively cheap. A 502 weapon is also available, but it's quite a bit more expensive, and not optimally itemized for tanks. For retribution it should be fine.

I thought the 502 tank weapon is a hit/expertise axe? It is expensive though. Aside from the 30 days of cooldowns and the spirits farming, just buying the mats on my server cost 10k (I think it is a bit lower now...maybe 8k).

Correct. The new BS axe is pretty okay. The old BS str 1H kinda sucked for tanks.

Presumably too late for Lieris, but with the coming patch, honor gear still looks a great way to boost a new L90. Its 496 ilevel is probably going to be the item level requirement for SoO LFR.

There will be item level 520 and 535 epics on the new Timeless Isle with random stat enchants iirc.