Tier Armor?

[Daidoji Sagara]

Hi guys!

So, I've playing a little while now, not in any hurry (lvl 35 NE Rogue), and i've been looking at the future.

Thing is there is a LOT of talk about different "Tiers" of each classe's armors.
So what's up?

What I can guess for now:

1) An Armor higher in Tier will be bigger. Thus Tier is a gradation of armor.
2) Armors drop in specific Instances, then, later, in raids. Does it mean there are different "Tiers" of (pre-BC) lvl 60 Instance/Raids?

If those guesses are right, i'll move to my next question: what are the different Tiers of Instances/Raids? So that I don't charge in MC (which seems to be a pretty high Raid) as soon as I hit 60 :shocked:

Thanks in advance!

[milqueman]

Yes, tier armor goes up in number. There are currently 5 tiers.

When WOW first started, Molten Core (MC) was the highest end game instance, and the Tier 1 stuff drops there, along with Onxyia's Liar, which is the sister of the end boss in MC. She has her own instnace.

As time progressed, they added BlackWingLair, AQ20, AQ40 and Naxx. From those you can get the tier 2 and 3 stuff.

Also, there are Dungeon Sets, or D1 and D2. These are "Blue" armor sets, but sets none the less. The have bonuses to stats if you have enough of the pieces. These sets drop in instance just before MC.

When TBC came out, the added Tier4 and Tier5 sets, which drop in instance's in the outlands.

So all-in-all, if you wanted to progress thtough the sets in order, it will go something like this:

D1
- Stratholme (Strat)
- Scholomance (Scholo)

D2
- Upgrade your D1 set through a series of quests.

T1
- Black Rock Depths (BRD)
- Lower Black Rock Spire (LBRS)
- Upper Black Rock Spire (UBRS)
- Onxyia's Liar (ONY)
- Molten Core (MC)

T2
- AnQuiaj 20 (AQ20)
- AnQuiaj 40 (AQ40)
- Black Wing Liar (BWL)

T3
- Naxxramos (Naxx)

T4 and T5
- Requires TBC. I have it, but not at any level yet to get there with my toons :(


Now, I might be slightly off on where exactly some of these pieces drop and in what instance, but it's something like that. You can look up on several webpages the tier sets, and from there it will say which boss drops what item, and from there you can find out exactly who drops what and where.

Also, I included some instance that may not drop any tier pieces. I put them in there because you have to complete those instances before you can go into the other ones, it's called gett "Attuned" to the instance. for example, you have to go through BRD and complete a quest to get attuned to MC.

Hope this helps.

[Toxicshadow]

2) Armors drop in specific Instances, then, later, in raids. Does it mean there are different "Tiers" of (pre-BC) lvl 60 Instance/Raids?
Correct. Well, parts of Tier 0 drops in all the lvl 60 5/10-mans, and Tier 0.5 is from quests involving Tier 0, but close enough.

ZG got it's own sets.. dunno if they got a tier.. MC is the Tier 1 Raid Instance in which you can also find Tier 2 Leggings (think it's legs, anyway).. just.. only from the last boss: A huge elemental that'll knock back and stun the tank and nuke the entire raid unless you get an OT in melee with him within a few seconds.
Onyxia will drop the T2 Helmets.
BWL is the rest of T2 (I think).
AQ40 is T2.5
Naxxramas (how's that spelled?) is T3.

[moopy]

Milqueman is a little confused, it seems.

Onyxia drops tier 2 helms, not tier 1 armour parts. Tier 2 legs come from Ragnaros. Tier 2 does not drop in AQ, the rest of the set is BWL gear. Tier 3 does not drop in Naxx, components drop there which can be redeemed for tier 3.

Do not worry about tiers 0, 0.5, 1, 2 and 3. They can all be easily replaced with outland blues and greens which are vastly more powerful. Some folks are a bit bitter about having to leave their beloved ZOMFGEPXIXXX behind as they don't feel special any more, but someone wandering about at lv 70 in tier 2/3 is essentially just advertising that they haven't really got the hang of the new high-level instances yet, or don't understand how to itemise. Beware though, a lot of outland blues are slight reskins of old models- you'll see a lot of what looks like Giantstalker, Dragonstalker etc, which is in fact new gear with a subtle colour change :)

Since you can go through the dark portal at lv 58, do so. Even people who used to raid Naxx replace a lot of their gear from the first few instances. There's no reason why you can't be farming Blood Furnace and Hellfire Citadel at lv 60. There's no point worrying about Molten Core, Blackwing Lair, AQ, or Naxxramas any more. The rewards aren't as good as stuff that drops in the new 5 man instances. Other than class quests, there is no good reason to bother with Stratholme, Dire Maul, Scholomance, Black Rock Depths, or even Upper/Lower Blackrock Spire, too.

Edit:

Bah, toxic beat me to it :)

[Toxicshadow]

Bah, toxic beat me to it :)
On the other hand you got the bit about Naxx totems right. And now that I think it over.. isn't AQ40 on a similar system?

Also I may be mistaken about where exactly T0 drops, I remember rolling against a druid on who should get my first T0 piece on a LBRS run (I won), but at the time I wasn't big on theory craft so could've been just some random blue item.

[moopy]

T0 drops all over the place. BoE parts like belts can drop anywhere, BoP parts come from specific bosses- Gand in Scholo drops t0 heads, Drakki in UBRS the chest, etc. Jandice in Scholo drops Warlock t0 shoulders, the Rookery boss in UBRS (the Leeroy room!) drops priest tier 0 shoulders, and so forth.

AQ40 armor isn't tier set, it's misc set stuff. Yes, you need components and rep to redeem for a lot of it, but lots of other random boss-specific epics drop too, just as with any other raid instance. Also, the AQ40 stuff is strange, the stats are also slightly more PvPish than you'd expect.

ZG does a similar thing too. I never did like ZG gear, however.

[Daidoji Sagara]

So all, in all, I know what I want:

The lvl 60 Inst/raids are in there for a few quests/some fun, but still, don't wander anywhere NEAR Naxx with a single 5-man team :grin:

Okay! I think i'm pretty clear for my gaming till 70! Wish me luck! :wave:

[moopy]

Yep, quite. To be fair, there's no good reason to go to naxx with any size team at present- not unless they add a "heroic" mode with improved gear. It would still be quite a resource grind to get attuned, and then collect enough stuff to redeem for set parts, which aren't as good as outland blues.

Anyway, enough of that, have fun :)

[shifttusk]

Yes, tier armor goes up in number. There are currently 5 tiers.

When WOW first started, Molten Core (MC) was the highest end game instance, and the Tier 1 stuff drops there, along with Onxyia's Liar, which is the sister of the end boss in MC. She has her own instnace.

As time progressed, they added BlackWingLair, AQ20, AQ40 and Naxx. From those you can get the tier 2 and 3 stuff.

Also, there are Dungeon Sets, or D1 and D2. These are "Blue" armor sets, but sets none the less. The have bonuses to stats if you have enough of the pieces. These sets drop in instance just before MC.

When TBC came out, the added Tier4 and Tier5 sets, which drop in instance's in the outlands.

So all-in-all, if you wanted to progress thtough the sets in order, it will go something like this:

D1
- Stratholme (Strat)
- Scholomance (Scholo)

D2
- Upgrade your D1 set through a series of quests.

T1
- Black Rock Depths (BRD)
- Lower Black Rock Spire (LBRS)
- Upper Black Rock Spire (UBRS)
- Onxyia's Liar (ONY)
- Molten Core (MC)

T2
- AnQuiaj 20 (AQ20)
- AnQuiaj 40 (AQ40)
- Black Wing Liar (BWL)

T3
- Naxxramos (Naxx)

T4 and T5
- Requires TBC. I have it, but not at any level yet to get there with my toons :(




Erhm Completely Wrong. Someone else may have corrected but I had to the second I saw this:


D1 AKA Tier 0
Drops are in (exceptions for some classes)
Lower BRS
Upper BRS
Scholo
Strat


D2 Aka Tier 0.5
Quest lines that can be done once you have certain pieces of T0

T1 Tier 1
- Molten Core ONLY BRD drops no set pieces LBRS and UBRS drop dungeon 1 Ony drops tier 2

T2 Tier 2
Head Ony
Pants Ragnaros in Molten Core
Rest in BWL

T3
Naxx

T4
From what I know Head Pants = Karazhan
Shoulder Chest = Gruls Lair
Gloves = Magetherdon (sp)

This may not be 100% right Head and Pants are though

T5
Not sure as of yet, Magetherdon and perhaps Mt Hyjal although it is guessed that Hyjal drops a t6 or just upgrades to T5

There are some other sets:

ZG -> 5 piece classed sets including a trinket neck piece and 3 other pieces
A20 -> Wepon Cloak and Ring
AQ40 -> 5 Piece armor set like T4 T5 that had stats that fit between T2 and T3

[shifttusk]

Yep, quite. To be fair, there's no good reason to go to naxx with any size team at present- not unless they add a "heroic" mode with improved gear. It would still be quite a resource grind to get attuned, and then collect enough stuff to redeem for set parts, which aren't as good as outland blues.

Anyway, enough of that, have fun :)

I would farm Nax in a heartbeat for a PVP hunter t3 still blows away T4 and T5 in many ways, too much was spent on int in the new hunter PVE sets to be usefull in pvp. The T4 and T5 set bonus's are blown away by the new dungeon set as well as T2/T3 if you ask me....

BLIZ GIVE ME A REASON TO RAID!!

[Toxicshadow]

AQ40 armor isn't tier set, it's misc set stuff.
Then again, T0 and T.5 aren't tier sets either, but names commonly used to refer to them, as D1 and D2 doesn't tell you how they compare to T1 if not in such a context.
Or is my server the only on which the AQ40 set is refered to as T2.5?

BLIZ GIVE ME A REASON TO RAID!!
Watch out what you wish for.. it might just come true..
I can almost imagine it.. the patchnotes saying "Hunters: Increased costs of all abilities by 200% to give a reason to raid"...

[Fursphere]

No raid bosses in outlands require tranq shot?

Tha was the only reason to bring a hunter to MC/BWL/etc... and kiting some group pulls around...

[moopy]

Then again, T0 and T.5 aren't tier sets either, but names commonly used to refer to them, as D1 and D2 doesn't tell you how they compare to T1 if not in such a context.
Or is my server the only on which the AQ40 set is refered to as T2.5?

Tier 0 has always been regarded as a tier set. I'm really not sure what you base your assertion on.

Tier 0.5 was not extant long enough for a lot of people to even care about it, though the baron run was fun. By the time that it was in the game, even very casual guilds stood a fair chance of getting better random stuff from AQ20 and ZG- so call it what you want, I reckon. It seems to be tier stuff, inasmuch as blizz included it in the list of tier sets on the official web site- along with t0,1,2,3 and the PvP sets- but didn't bother with the AQ stuff.

The AQ stuff is a "misc" set in most folks' minds, including, it seems, blizzard's. They never take a consistent line on these things, so I am sure we're free to call it whatever we like without defiling canon or some such rubbish.

I never really liked most of the misc sets, the ZG set items were lame for priests, for instance, and the AQ stuff really didn't light my fire. I just stuck to the t2, as if I wanted PvPish stats, I'd use PvP sets- it was actually inferior for PvE purposes for a lot of classes. I mean, a set bonus which knocks half a second off mind control- what were they smoking? The AQ40 hunter set was quite cute though, but there's a lot more PvE utility for a PvPish DPS set, I guess. Some folks did indeed call it tier 2.5, but I've seen some heated arguments spring out where people pointed out that it was less useful than tier 2, so I just kinda dodge the issue and call it the AQ40 set, and let people decide for themselves rather than yelling at me :)

Fursphere:

Tranq shot is needed in TBC. Hell, I found that you could tranq Aeonus in Black Morass even- which makes him hit like a kitten. My tank was highly amused that this point. I'd suggest not ruling out speculative tranquing of other 5 man bosses, and indeed raid bosses- though with raid bosses it's usually really obvious as they wipe you if you don't tranq them, and generally emote first. The end boss of steamvaults has an enrage-style effect, rather than a frenzy though, if you don't pop the fishtank he's draining fast enough. This can't be tranqued away, even though it looks at first glance like it should.

So yeah, it's useful. However, people are forgetting one of the fantastic new hunter utility shots which might be even better in a rotation- Misdirection. Cast on a party/raid member, it gives the victim the threat from your next three attacks. Hunters can actually help out by giving extra aggro to the warrior now- which is pure joy. It's a two-minute cooldown, so not spammable, but in some situations, it's really really handy.