I want my epics without having to group with YOUFollow

So this is basically another one of those "leatherworking or alchemy?" threads cleverly disguised as a long boring story I want you to read before making my decision for me, okay?

As those of you who've read my long boring stories in the past may recall, I rarely if ever group and I don't run instances with my druid as a general rule. One of the things that's frustrated me about leatherworking when I've checked it out while leveling is that a lot of the nice stuff requires an ingredient that can only be found in a dungeon. But I know with tailoring there're nice sets of purples you can make with mats you can solo so I thought I'd check out leatherworking one more time before I made my final decision (I'm herb/skin now) and see.

BTW, if you're going to argue that I don't need purples to fight mobs outside instances, yeah okay but they're pretty.

So the Heavy Clefthoof set looks like it's for tanking. The Primalstrike stuff looks more like solo gear to me (AGI, STA, and AP - I admit I'm forever wearing rogue gear cause that works for what I do), and it appears as though I can make it by farming solo and buying mats at the AH. It might take forever, but I don't mind putting work into it, I just want to be able to solo it.

My questions -
1. Is that right, that this is probably the right set for me and I can make it on my own? Or have I missed something?
2. Is it worth it, or can I get comparable or even better stuff at the AH? Who's worn it? Was it worth it to you?

Edited to add: I realize I'd have to buy primal might or find an alch to transmute it for me. Is that generally impossible to do?

Edited, Jan 16th 2008 8:23am by teacake

getting primal might transmutes is easy as long as you are willing to tip people 5-10g for it.

You guys are awesome, thanks for your answers. I kind of want a farming goal right now to mix into my routine (I'm 66 and getting a little bored with doing 5 quests for 2 bars every night) and thought I could get started on something like this, but OTOH I'd be sad if I ground out a bajillion pieces of heavy clefthoof only to find later that it's impossible to get my hands on the primals. I'm grateful for your experiences to point me in the right direction.

if you find a transmute spec alchemist they are normally willing to exchange the mats for a primal might str8 up.

the nethers really arent THAT bad. you can get them in normal lvl 70 end-game instances, or any heroic instance from the last boss (normal instance end bosses have about a 20% drop rate for em). so it does require some grouping, but not a crazy amount.

the best thing to do would be get a few trusted folks together and run slave pens a few times for your nethers. good loot, some extra badges, a relatively easy instance (that a clever group can avoid a LOT of pulls in) and some extra cenarion rep if applicable.

as a side note, stealthing heroic slave pens is entirely feasible. get two druids (one tank, one heal), two rogues, and either a third rogue or third druid, and skip 90% of the trash in there while nailing all the bosses.