Getting ready for NaxxFollow

Well, I started playing the game after BC came out and never really had a chance to get into raids. I did kara a few times then left for work all summer, so I never really got the chance to get in on them very much.

Now though, I've got both a hunter and a pally going through heroics. For my pally, I play him as holy spec, and just love it.

My question is, what stats would you say would be decent for starting raiding? I've met a few nice lads in instances that were impressed enough with my healing that I was offered raiding spots when I get geared up. I just don't want to go in there undergeared and waste everyone's time.

Thanks. I've read the stickies before, I guess I should have done so again.



I'd be more than comfortable healing any of the heroics. UK/Nexus/VH have become so easy I barely need to hit divine plea.

Well, I might as well post my toon and see if anyone has any more suggestions for me.

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Gnomeregan&n=Stripf%C3%B2rgold

If you have half an idea what you're doing, that gear is plenty good enough to get in the door. You're a bit light on mana, but unless you're 2-healing it or your group is undergeared/not paying attention/etc. that can be worked around.

As for suggestions:
- I second the recommendation for the AC helmet and ring.
- If you're flush with cash, there's some BoE drops (Wispcloak, Zom's Crackling Bulwark) along with the crafted (Titanium Spellshock jewelry) that are almost BIS.
- I don't rate any Titansteel gear because of lack of Int. In fact, I'd go for one of the 408sp drops (the only one from heroics is the War Mace from H-Nexus).
- The badge Necklace (25), Shield (35), Libram (15) are all tasty. And while your current belt is nice, the 40-badge belt is BIS for 10-man gear.

Lose the mp5 gems, mp5 is a stat that is now inarguably completely useless for paladins in Wotlk. Mp5 is to Paladins as Str is to Hunters. Can't stress this strongly enough its the absolute worst gear/gem choice for a paladin with the exception of spirit.

Which brings me to your legs, get the SP+Stam gem, as a paladin you don't need spirit at all. Also replace helm enchant with Kirin Tor as soon as you replace that helm. Mp5 should be avoided like the plague unless it is a purple vs blue situation while gearing up but even then keep an eye out to replace it as fast as possible with something with crit/haste. Definitely try to replace the Titansteel Mace, Intellect is key for Paladins, still its not bad in terms of stats.

Other than that you are definitely 10 man ready and probably be fine for most 25 man content.

Sorry about the double-quote but I wanted to touch on both of these without starting a separate subthread about Bodhi's answer, which I am almost completely in agreement with...

- Mp5 is suboptimal in LK for paladins - its usefulness basically declines starting at 71, then more sharply with heroic gear, then as Bodhi says becomes severely meh when you and your raid are 25-man geared (and have the threshold int/mana/crit to support "endless" mana). It still works, and in fights over five minutes (even with Replenishment) regens more mana per point than Int - so if you're pushing Patchwerk's enrage timer, it's still useful to you. Don't reject gear just because it has mp5, value it appopriately - which means never gem or enchant for it, and realize that gear that has too much of it is suboptimal because mp5 costs too much itemization. But it's not useless like spirit is useless - spirit provides no benefit at all, while mp5 just costs too much and can soon enough be replaced by Int which will serve you better.

- I usually ignore blue socket bonuses, as they are mostly trivial amounts of a secondary stat (i.e. +2 mp5). For my meta activation, I use green +int/+mp5, although purple +sp/+mp5 would work as well.


- Gearing up for Naxx? IMO, the choice is the admittedly mp5-heavy War Mace of Unrequited Love. Despite the nerf, the Titansteel Guardian still has enough raw spellpower to "outweigh" the rest of the competition. Grieving Spellblade drops early in Naxx (theoretically - I have yet to see it) and is better balanced, and no mp5 at all, but slightly less Int.

- For stat comparisons:
-- In my experience a set of fixed weights (my leveling rule of thumb: 3 int = 4 mp5 = 6 sp = 9 haste = 9 crit) works fine for gearing up, since you're replacing gear so quickly and can't really benefit from the synergies at high stat levels anyway.
-- If you're serious, get a tool like "rawr". Not that it will give you significantly "better" stat weightings, but that it will help you understand the therorycrafting and what considerations affect how effective certain pieces of gear are relative to others. What it can also help with is to point out the achievable gear choices that provide the best upgrade path given your current gear, the type of fights (heroics aren't the same as Anub/Faerlina aren't the same as Patchwerk/Noth, etc), and your raid composition (run with a shadow priest/ret pally/survival hunter? makes a big difference...). So you know what heroics to run or what factions to cuddle up to first.