3

I am leveling a shaman with enhancement as main spec and resto as secondary spec.

He is decked in heirloom gear currently, but level 80 is approaching at which point my gear will be too weak to continue soloing as fast as I am now in the Cataclysm zones for levels 80-85.

For my priest, I had a tailor craft me some intellect/stamina gear that helped tremendously in these zones. To my understanding, a leatherworker can do the same for mail intellect/stamina and agility/stamina gear to fulfil both of my specs.

Is there a name for this gear (for both sets) that will make it easier for me to identify with a leatherworker what exactly it is that I need?

Improve this question
5
  • 1
    On a side note, all Cata armor has stam on it.
    – Blem
    Commented Aug 27, 2012 at 5:28
  • 1
    It's np to level the first part with heirlooms in cata (in fact, you should level up to 81 with your heirlooms as they still work still you ding 81). Then you just pick up the quest rewards and replace them step by step. The only bad thing is, that with heirlooms you have a harder time getting into dungeons because of the ilevel requirement. If you use the heirloom head and back (which both work up to 85) make sure you keep quest/dungeon cloaks/heads in your inv so your ilevel gets boosted.
    – Philipp
    Commented Aug 27, 2012 at 6:37
  • @Philipp I don't think the experience bonus on pre-cataclysm heirlooms works through level 81. gaming.stackexchange.com/q/63886/5291. My answer there is pre-5.0.4 and I haven't played in a few months though. Has it changed? If so, please consider posting a new answer (with evidence) over there - certainly many people will want to know whether to keep their 85 heirlooms through 86 or not.
    – dpatchery
    Commented Aug 30, 2012 at 12:18
  • Well to be honest, my source is old and I don't find it first hand anymore. But Athene used Heirlooms until he dinged 81 in his rush to 85 - but some posts that I find with google also indicate (after a few posts) that the do work until 81.
    – Philipp
    Commented Aug 31, 2012 at 8:20
  • last paragraph of this answer At what level does the experience bonus from heirloom equipment stop working? explains that you can upgrade heirlooms so that they scale up to level 85
    – user61492
    Commented Oct 17, 2013 at 13:01

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
3

You should be able to continue levelling in heirloom gear until level 81 - the level restriction on the gear includes level 80, but once you reach level 81 they will stop providing their experience bonus but continue providing their level 80 stats.

Is it worth noting that none of these patterns are specifically 'healing' patterns - this is a trend that shows throughout the Cataclysm expansion in that frequently healers end up going for gear with Intellect and another stat that isn't Spirit on them.

The gear set that can be made by leatherworkers is called The Big Wave. This item set is mail gear with four random stats on each piece of gear;

  • Stamina
  • Agility or Intellect
  • A combination of two secondary stats (ie: Crit, Hit, and in some cases Spirit)

To make the full set you will need the following materials;

  • 80 x Deepsea Scale
  • 53 x Savage Leather
  • 5 x Heavy Savage Leather
  • 5 x Eternium Thread

Personally though, I would recommend that due to how close we are to Mists of Pandaria's release, to go with whatever gear is currently cheapest on the auction house on your realm, regardless of whether it is PvE or PvP gear - whatever gear you use before level 85 is only going to get replaced as soon as you reach the level cap so approach gearing characters at this point in the expansion as an exercise in spending as little gold as possible.

Improve this answer
9
  • Personally, I wouldn't spend a single copper on either AH gear or materials to craft gear. Quest rewards alone will have you more-than-aptly geared to do anything you want to while leveling.
    – dpatchery
    Commented Aug 27, 2012 at 19:37
  • Depends on your levelling method, but regardless he asked what the gear was called, rather than preferred methods of gearing at this stage in the expansion - I agree with you, but then my normal method of levelling is questing.
    – kalina
    Commented Aug 27, 2012 at 20:10
  • Personally, I'd throw down the gold in a heartbeat (purchasing from the AH) if it meant better gear while leveling. Why? Because money (gold) really does grow on trees in WoW (ie - making gold easily in-game is trivial at best). You get a ridiculous amount of it from questing and dailies, and not to mention how much one can make by taking up a tradeskill and finding a niche at the AH. Of course, I suppose if the piece of gear that you're looking at buying is more than 10k then its really not going to be worth it, but this late in the expansion its easy to come by decent gear cheaply at the AH.
    – Jagd
    Commented Aug 27, 2012 at 22:08
  • I don't think pre-cataclysm heirlooms keep their experience bonus through 81. See my comment on the question.
    – dpatchery
    Commented Aug 30, 2012 at 12:20
  • They keep giving experience up to 81.
    – kalina
    Commented Aug 30, 2012 at 12:40

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .