Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Paladin Tier 11, first Cataclysm armor set

Keep in mind that as my previous posts, these are only Beta PTR versions and could be changed before coming to live (which was postponed to early/mid December it seems).

The Holy Paladin set is here (from MMO Champion):

Head - Reinforced Sapphirium Headguard
cost is one head token from raids
+281 Intellect
+512 Stamina
+228 Spirit
Equip: Improves critical strike rating by 168.

Shoulders - Reinforced Sapphirium Mantle
cost is one shoulder token from raids
+233 Intellect
+380 Stamina
+149 Spirit
Equip: Improves critical strike rating by 169.

Chest - Reinforced Sapphirium Breastplate
cost is 2200 valor points (gained in raids and probably daily heroics)
+301 Intellect
+512 Stamina
+228 Spirit
Equip: Increases your mastery rating by 188.

Hands - Reinforced Sapphirium Gloves
cost is 1650 valor points (gained in raids and probably daily heroics)
+233 Intellect
+380 Stamina
+169 Spirit
Equip: Increases your mastery rating by 149.

Legs - Reinforced Sapphirium Greaves
cost is 2200 valor points (gained in raids and probably daily heroics)
+301 Intellect
+512 Stamina
+213 Spirit
Equip: Improves critical strike rating by 203.

All are epic ilevel 359 plate armor items. The set bonus is:
I won't discuss costs or valor points, I have my views on the topic but it is not the day for that, and we're not yet sure about anything related to them.
The items themselves reflect the changes to spirit regen, though int will stays a very important stat as it now provides you with the equivalent of spellpower.
If you've followed my last posts about Holy Paladin talents, you know that crit does not provide us with any sort of mana regen anymore. Hence I am sad to find 3 pieces with a huge amount of crit on this set and only one with haste. I guess a lot of us will be reforging them into more haste, at least we have this option now.

About the set bonus mmm ... I'll have to see it live to decide. The crit bonus isn't bad but I wonder if Holy Light will be of much use in raids, remember that it is now our "medium" heal hence not useful for emergencies neither for big pushes on the tank.
The 4 pieces bonus seems to be a nice mana regen bonus, though Holy Radiance is both on a 1mn cooldown and consumes 40% of our base manapool to cast. Once again, has to be tested.

Not much comments from my part, but if you wanted to look at our next gear set, that's a first view of it.
See you soon for more cataclysmic news.

edit (10/13):
Patch 4.0.1 is now live. You can find the last update concerning gear, stats and reforging on this post:
Patch 4.0.1 is going live. You are not prepared!
It is worth noting that Spirit is considered a secondary stat and can be reforged into. It is hence possible to change half the crit rating of an item into spirit. I'll probably do that on most of my gear.

edit (12/30):
I'd advise you to read the neat Home | Best in Slot Holy Paladin Resource. You will find there a complete list of BiS items for Holy Paladins and for each slot an alternative to our poorly itemized T11 with some greatly needed haste rating.

2 comments:

  1. I dont like the teir set at all. I dont think the benifits of the bonus are good enough for me to sacrifice haste. Even if we reforge crit to hast its not enough. I have 12.81% haste. To keep myself mana efficient I tend to use instant spells as often as possible and my holy light when I can. That being said with 12.81% haste including my judgement + priest speed buff, my holy light is still to slow to be an effective heal. Even my Flash of light is to slow. That being said I have refordged every crit to haste and farmed haste gear. I have epix from raid bosses that have huge haste on it and still I'm only at 12.81%. I would never sacrifice my Leg armor "Legguards of the Emerald Brood" which have 188 haste for Reinforced Sapphirium Greaves that have crit for 203.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello, and thank you for the comment.
    Most Holy Paladins are thinking as you. Our T11 gear is very badly itemized. Haste seem to be the preferred stat among crit/haste and mastery. Mastery being probably the worst of the three.
    Haste allows for shorter cooldowns, faster Divine Lights (that are necessary to keep a tank up), more efficient Holy Radiance with more ticks during it's duration ... etc
    I would advise you to read http://bis.vilepickle.com/ you'll find a list of BiS items for Holy Paladins, with for every slot, the choice between our T11 and a haste item.

    ReplyDelete