With the release of Wrath of the Lich King Classic coming to us this late September through December, players are wondering if it’s even worth farming those TBC heroics and raids for gear. The simple answer to that question is yes. Your gear will be useful in WOTLK just for not as long as Classic gear was useful in TBC. If you’re a hardcore player that wants to gain world-first level 80, or even if you’re just a beginner, this guide will be useful to you.
Classic To TBC Classic
To understand what this article is about, you need to look at the consensus for players for when classic was going to TBC classic. Understanding this will allow us to realize that gear from previous expansions wasn’t as bad as players thought or at least not as easily replaced.
The general idea of most players is to not bother with previous raid tier sets as they will get replaced within the first initial quests of the zones; however, this is where they were wrong. The gear from AQ40 was useful up and even into the TBC raids; that’s just how powerful that gear was. As a result, this time around, most players who are paying attention will be keeping their raid gear or farming out as many T5 sets to help with their WOTLK leveling.
TBC Classic to WOTLK Classic
Wrath of the Lich King is possibly the most anticipated expansion of any MMO RPG out there. With that in mind, most players will be gunning for World-First achievements and doing as much research to help them with it. If you’re one of those players, don’t worry; we have you covered because below, we will list what we think will be the top most valued items for leveling and ease of life for questing.
But before we get to the items, we should mention that the TBC raid gear sets aren’t as strong as their Classic counterparts when TBC was released. As a result of this, you cannot expect to have this gear for too long as the stat jump from items in Classic to TBC Classic was not as big as the jump from TBC Classic to WOTLK Classic. Essentially the large stat jump means that you will replace most of your gear by the time you hit 75, or at least before hitting the first initial raid tier. Your gear will need replacing through heroics if you wish to raid in WOTLK.
The Items to Keep from TBC till WOTLK
These items will vary from class to class, but we expect most TBC gear (The Black Citadel) to be relevant till 75.
Apolyon, the Soul-Render
The first one is Apolyon, The Soul Render. As you can see in the above image, Apolyon, the Soul-Render, is a Phase 5 Two-handed Sword received in TBC, and the Icier Barbed Spear, a level 75 arena final quest reward, have some vital differences. Firstly, Apolyon, the Soul-Render has three sockets and greater DPS; remember that the sword from the arena quest line is supposed to be BIS until level 80. Comparing the two is a great way to showcase just how powerful Phase 5 gear is for leveling throughout WOTLK and early Northrend Dungeons. Let’s look at some more gear pieces in less detail, but we assure you they are just as relevant. If you want to skip farming all these items in the game, check out SSEGold to prepare you for WOTLK.
Rogue Two-Set
The Sunwell tier 6 off pieces offer some of the most powerful buffs for leveling throughout WOTLK. Below we will have an image of the rogue set bonus.
Restoration Shaman
Sunwell tier 6 off pieces offer similar benefits to shamans, as seen below.
Feral Tanks
Sunwell tier 6 off-pieces offer similar benefits to the Feral Tank Druid.
Arcane Mage
Sunwell tier 6 off-pieces for mage increase arcane damage by 5%
All Classes
Most of these benefits are specific to these classes, but all of Sunwell’s gear drops will be useful and stronger than the greens given to you within your first questing zones.
Riding Crop Trinket
The Riding Crop trinket is only usable during level 70 and will no longer work after you hit level 71. Just because it only lasts one level does not mean the item is useless; as we said before, this guide is for World First players, too, meaning you should equip this trinket to gain a small advantage over other players, albeit for only one level.
Challenges and Collectables
Along with the items you can collect to increase your arsenal for questing throughout WOTLK, there are a few collectible titles and rewards unique to TBC classic that you cannot achieve once WOTLK Pre-patch releases.
First and foremost, collectible pets and mounts will have their unique tab, meaning collecting these pets can be viable for monetary and collectible reasons without taking slots in your bag. With that in mind, the Zul’aman raid that awards at least one player an Amani War Bear (Flex points) will no longer be available, so you need to find a way to get this mount before it’s gone to the WOTLK Pre-Patch.
Professions
Professions, the money makers of WOTLK, these profession items (Materials) will become the Auction House’s big-ticket items, so farm them up before all the new players flood the market with their low-priced materials. Most players playing from TBC will have professions tailored to their needs, but in WOTLK, professions saw a slight change in that most crafted gear can be bought and sold on the AH. These changes mean we will see many players changing their professions, and those players will need low-level materials to fulfill those needs; that’s where you come in to make a tidy profit. We suggest taking herbalism, mining, and skinning as these raw materials become more profitable than late-game dungeon farms.
Summary
That does it for our list and guide for items that still have an impact on WOTLK from TBC; we hope you enjoyed this guide; if so, check out our profession guides on WOTLK. If you don’t feel like grinding out the WotLK Classic gold and items, check out SSE Gold for epic deals on all the items mentioned, plus great deals on gold. As always, happy leveling!
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