BOA Items

[Delmania]

So, my warlock got the Crusader title a few nights back, but I am up in the air about what to do.  I'd like to level a tank and healer as an alt, so that means I leve either a paladin or a druid.  Should I buy the EXP items that both can use (leather) or just pick one and buy that armor?

[AutomaticZen]

Pick one.  You won't be doing your paladin any favors by having them wear leather.

I just bought the Chest and shoulders to prepare for leveling my goblin shaman.

[Arrrgh]

Friend of mine used the cloth shoulders all the way up on his pally and never complained. Its not like you need max def/armor/whatever while leveling.

[Shrike]

If you've got a pally, get the shoulders and sword. Then get the trinket. Chest later, but it's kinda optional (obviously a PvP oriented queue, but it works well in PvE, too--just put the trinket off to last). Which shoulders don't much matter; I have both, but my warrior twink has priority over my paladin twink. I tend to mail them back and forth, but the Valor is more PvE oriented. Also, if a warrior is in the mix, then get the axe over the sword (axe spec > all others). Don't ignore the trinket; I rarely (make that practically never) see it in PvP encounters. My warrior often lives or dies on the damned thing (can't wait for Juggernaut).

The main reason I never bought the chest was enchants. The +hps stuff is pretty much necessary for PvP and really nice in PvE, so no Valor for my plate twinks. Crusader on the weapons-- though you can make a strong argument for +9 to damage, especially the further you progress past 60.

[Fordel]

The Biggest deal will be the weapon you get.

Sadly, the Feral Druid Weapon and the Plate DPS weapons don't really overlap very well.

[Shrike]

If you're a feral druid, you're pretty much stuck with the lava dredger. Otherwise, it's crap. I've seen a few shaman with it, but they didn't know what the hell they were doing anyway. Don't be them. Or do, if you're horde. I like free HKs. I'm kinda dreading the 49 bracket and enhance shaman. They're strong in that level range. Still, most don't have a clue and I'll have Juggernaut (finally).

[Fordel]

Having that automatic Best in Slot weapon every level as a paladin or warrior is pretty much cheating for the first 50-60 levels really.

[Ingmar]

Unless you plan to park in BGs ignore the people telling you to skip the chestpiece. 10% more xp outweighs by far any benefit you might get from a dinky +HP enchantment while leveling to 80.

You should definitely just pick one and buy the appropriate gear for them. 2h weapon + shoulders + chest, BOA trinkets are pretty optional. If you go with plate you'll have gear you can re-use to level a DK and a warrior, too. If you go with leather you'll have armor for a rogue but would need to get weapons separately.

Oh, and the fishing ring if you can get it. (Good luck).

[Fordel]

You could probably use the leather for a hunter as well, since a hunter isn't really getting hit while leveling up.

[proudft]

Yeah I've been using the leather chest on my hunter, and the stats are still better than most of the blue drops I've come across (I'd still wear it for the xp bonus even if they weren't, but still, it ain't shabby).

[Fordel]

The Lava Dredger is probably a decent hunter stat stick as well, so there is that.

[Ingmar]

The Lava Dredger is probably a decent hunter stat stick as well, so there is that.

It would be if they could equip it anyway.

[Fordel]

Oh right, it's a silly mace ain't it.

[Sheepherder]

Silly person, hunters can't use clubs.  That would make no sense.

[Lantyssa]

So, this stuff is gotten with tokens from heroic dungeons right?  Any way else to buy it?

I've got a lot of alts and I like the idea of BoA gear that levels with you...

[Ingmar]

So, this stuff is gotten with tokens from heroic dungeons right?  Any way else to buy it?

I've got a lot of alts and I like the idea of BoA gear that levels with you...

There are a few ways:

- One set of things you get with dungeon badges. This includes shoulders, a variety of weapons, and a couple trinkets.
- Another set of things you can get with Wintergrasp shards (which can be obtained either via Wintergrasp not-actually-daily quests or by killing dungeon bosses while your side owns Wintergrasp.) Again these are shoulders and weapons, typically with slightly worse PVE stats than the badge items because they have resilience on them for PVP purposes, but the opportunity cost of buying them is a lot lower since there's really not that much exciting stuff to buy with shards, unlike badges.
- Chest pieces can be bought with either dungeon badges or champion seals from the tournament.
- There's a ring coming that you get for winning the Northrend fishing contest.

[Nebu]

Can't you also get it from the jousting quests?  That's how I got the chest and shoulders. 

- Chest pieces can be bought with either dungeon badges or champion seals from the tournament.

Oops... missed that part. 

[Nevermore]

So, this stuff is gotten with tokens from heroic dungeons right?  Any way else to buy it?

I've got a lot of alts and I like the idea of BoA gear that levels with you...

I like the shoulders and chest for leveling, since both of those give you exp bonuses.

[AutomaticZen]

Friend of mine used the cloth shoulders all the way up on his pally and never complained. Its not like you need max def/armor/whatever while leveling.

Someone completed an entire Ulduar 10 in blues.  *shrug* Doesn't mean one recommends it.

If you've got a pally, get the shoulders and sword. Then get the trinket. Chest later, but it's kinda optional (obviously a PvP oriented queue, but it works well in PvE, too--just put the trinket off to last). Which shoulders don't much matter; I have both, but my warrior twink has priority over my paladin twink. I tend to mail them back and forth, but the Valor is more PvE oriented. Also, if a warrior is in the mix, then get the axe over the sword (axe spec > all others). Don't ignore the trinket; I rarely (make that practically never) see it in PvP encounters. My warrior often lives or dies on the damned thing (can't wait for Juggernaut).

The main reason I never bought the chest was enchants. The +hps stuff is pretty much necessary for PvP and really nice in PvE, so no Valor for my plate twinks. Crusader on the weapons-- though you can make a strong argument for +9 to damage, especially the further you progress past 60.

Listen to this if you plan on PVPing all the way up.  Otherwise, ignore it.  The PVE BOA chest has the EXP boost.

[Gobbeldygook]

I recommend buying the leather shoulders/chest for all your physical DPS since the stats are applicable for anyone.  You're wearing the BOA stuff for the experience boost, any additional perk from stats is just a perk.  The Swift Hand of Justice can be put to good use by any physical or caster dps class, so I highly recommend buying one or two of those too.

[Draegan]

How long does it take to get BOA items from scratch?  The next time I will play WOW will probably be in 4.0 with the new leveling content. 

Just curious.

[Nebu]

How long does it take to get BOA items from scratch?  The next time I will play WOW will probably be in 4.0 with the new leveling content.  

Just curious.

If you're trying to do it solo with tournament seals, it takes a LONG time.  I think every other path to get them is light years faster.  

If I recall correctly you have to
- become a champion of all
- get exhalted with all major cities
- grind dailies to get something like 7 seals a day.  I think the chest cost 100-150 seals. 

[AutomaticZen]

How long does it take to get BOA items from scratch?  The next time I will play WOW will probably be in 4.0 with the new leveling content. 

Just curious.

It's about 90 Heroism Badges for the Shoulders/Chest combo.  So, 30 Heroics or thereabouts from scratch.  120 Champion's Seals, so if you're maxed out completely on the Argent Tournament stuff... 12 days.  The weapons vary in cost.

And again, if you're leveling a Ret Pally, the difference between:

http://www.wowhead.com/?item=48689

and

http://www.wowhead.com/?item=48685

Paladins gain 2 AP for every strength, so the difference in AP is around 19.  Strength scales with Kings, AP does not.  More armor as well.  At that point it becomes a difference of Hit or Crit.  I'd go with Crit personally.  Up to you.

[Draegan]

The only classes I havn't leveled over 40 is a rogue and druid.  If I were to come back at all and reroll, it would be with those two classes or a mage.  I already have 60+ Priest/Paladin/Shaman/DK and 40+ Hunter/Lock/Warrior

[Zetor]

Stone keeper shards are my preferred way of getting heirlooms, since you can get ~40 every week in wintergrasp for free (and you should be doing that for the honor anyway), and a ton of them for running instances and heroics when your side controls WG. I ended up buying the shoulder piece + staff from stone keeper shards; sadly you can only buy weapons, shoulder pieces and a leveling pvp trinket (useless) that way. You have to buy the chest and pve trinkets via emblems or maybe crusader seals. It's true that the stone keeper pieces have less PVE-ish stats, but they're just fine for leveling, and obviously much better if you pvp as you level.

If you're thinking about leveling multiple alts, you should optimize what pieces you get; I leveled a druid as boomkin spec with the spellpower staff, the *cloth* spellpower shoulders, and the *cloth* chestpiece.. then I gave them all to a mage alt who I might level sometime down the road.
It pays to make sure your chosen heirloom(s) are useful for as many classes as possible, in case you want to level another alt later or get bored of your 'chosen' alt. The 2h sword (or axe) and plate shoulders/chest are pretty much a staple for plate characters, though you can downgrade to leather; the axe is probably a bit more useful to hunters, but if you have a LOT of shards / badges to burn, you can buy the daggers with +agility and dual wield them (along with a suitable ranged weapon, of course). Hunters can probably get away with using leather pieces that you can also use to level a feral druid, enhance shaman, or rogue with. You probably don't want a one-handed spellpower weapon, since very few useful offhands exist until level 60+. The only decent shaman leveling weapon is the Venerable Mass of McGowan, and you'll want two; daggers are only good for rogues/hunters or -maybe- to stick in the offhand for a leveling shaman; the slow 1h swords are only good for rogues and MAYBE warriors/paladins if you want to level as a tank. Etc etc.

Edit: the pve trinkets (discerning eye of the beast, swift hand of justice) are pretty awesome for leveling generic melee / caster classes and reduce downtime significantly. I'm still using the discerning eye on my level 80 boomkin since no trinket wants to drop for me... sigh.

[Draegan]

Leveling is incredibly easy, so it's not a great big deal.  I'm not playing the game right now.  I havn't since maybe January.  I was wondering if I were to want to play again with the next expansion, how much effort would I have to put in to get those pieces just to make my leveling time easier.

[Ingmar]

How long does it take to get BOA items from scratch?  The next time I will play WOW will probably be in 4.0 with the new leveling content.  

Just curious.

If you're trying to do it solo with tournament seals, it takes a LONG time.  I think every other path to get them is light years faster.  

If I recall correctly you have to
- become a champion of all
- get exhalted with all major cities
- grind dailies to get something like 7 seals a day.  I think the chest cost 100-150 seals.  

It actually isn't quite that bad - you only have to be a champion with one city to open up the first bunch of champion seal quests (and don't need to be exalted), which if you do all of them I think amounts to 5 seals per day or so. I think there are more once you get to be an exalted champion of everything, though, I don't know anything about those. The tournament instance also drops champion seals on heroic that anyone can get. 60 seals for a chest piece. Can you get shoulders that way? Not sure.

The reason I'd personally spend champion seals on it rather than dungeon badges currently is there is still stuff I can buy to improve any given level 80 character with badges; seals just buy things like pets and mounts for me as I don't need any of the blue or Naxx level other stuff you can buy with seals. WG shards are the most attractive thing to spend, although the items you get are lamer from a PVE perspective. When heroics/Naxx still just dropped heroism badges is when I bought most of my BOA stuff, as I just had no other use for them. Now that they drop conquest (and soon triumph) I still have things to buy.

On the other hand I suspect Lanty would probably buy every pet in existence before starting on BOA chestpieces.

[Nevermore]

On the other hand I suspect Lanty would probably buy every pet in existence before starting on BOA chestpieces.

This is exactly why I used the Stone Shards for the shoulders, even though they're 'pvp' shoulders. 

[Lantyssa]

It's a definite worry.  (Pet or goodies for alts? )  I think I'm up to 40-41 seals now.  I only do the jousting and kill cultists quests.

Maybe I should consider doing that Wintergrasp thing.  The only instance I've run since hitting 80 is the Stockades...  I had signed up for Naxx on Saturday, but realized I have a big annual event I need to attend.  So heroic badges just aren't happening.

[AutomaticZen]

It actually isn't quite that bad - you only have to be a champion with one city to open up the first bunch of champion seal quests (and don't need to be exalted), which if you do all of them I think amounts to 5 seals per day or so. I think there are more once you get to be an exalted champion of everything, though, I don't know anything about those. The tournament instance also drops champion seals on heroic that anyone can get. 60 seals for a chest piece. Can you get shoulders that way? Not sure.

The reason I'd personally spend champion seals on it rather than dungeon badges currently is there is still stuff I can buy to improve any given level 80 character with badges; seals just buy things like pets and mounts for me as I don't need any of the blue or Naxx level other stuff you can buy with seals. WG shards are the most attractive thing to spend, although the items you get are lamer from a PVE perspective. When heroics/Naxx still just dropped heroism badges is when I bought most of my BOA stuff, as I just had no other use for them. Now that they drop conquest (and soon triumph) I still have things to buy.

On the other hand I suspect Lanty would probably buy every pet in existence before starting on BOA chestpieces.

I bought all of mine with Conquest badges.  As a tank, I've done a good number of Heroics, VOAs and Ulduars.  Had them lying around.

Think I'm sitting on 140 Seals.  But you do get 10 per day if you get exalted with all that Argent Tournament jazz.

[Ingmar]

I've been reluctant to spend Conquests on them since I haven't picked up the tank belt or any DPS suit goodies yet, and I have been mostly off this month anyway. But then I have a full suit of cloth and plate and trinkets plus a staff and 2h sword BOA stuff already from WG shards and old leftover heroism badges, so it hasn't been a pressing question either I guess.

[Sjofn]

Silly person, hunters can't use clubs.  That would make no sense.

It makes the same amount of sense as paladins not being able to handle staves.

HOW U WERK STICK?!

[Merusk]

I've been reluctant to spend Conquests on them since I haven't picked up the tank belt or any DPS suit goodies yet, and I have been mostly off this month anyway. But then I have a full suit of cloth and plate and trinkets plus a staff and 2h sword BOA stuff already from WG shards and old leftover heroism badges, so it hasn't been a pressing question either I guess.

Why buy conquest gear? Do the daily heroic and pug Ony for Triumphs and buy the better tier.  Conq are the low end.  Everything's switching over to triumphs on heroics in a few weeks, anyway.   Cash those conqs in for the sweet, sweet twink gear.

[Ingmar]

I've been reluctant to spend Conquests on them since I haven't picked up the tank belt or any DPS suit goodies yet, and I have been mostly off this month anyway. But then I have a full suit of cloth and plate and trinkets plus a staff and 2h sword BOA stuff already from WG shards and old leftover heroism badges, so it hasn't been a pressing question either I guess.

Why buy conquest gear? Do the daily heroic and pug Ony for Triumphs and buy the better tier.  Conq are the low end.  Everything's switching over to triumphs on heroics in a few weeks, anyway.   Cash those conqs in for the sweet, sweet twink gear.

Because I was getting conquest badges by raiding and not spending much time in Heroics? We've killed Ony a few times, but the triumph stuff is not particularly cheap, and for various reasons over the last month we haven't been doing much at all. Also note that the triumph and conquest items don't exactly overlap completely in every slot.

At this point the only twink gear I would possibly use anyway is some stuff for a rogue, and I'm just not going to worry about that since I won't be leveling one til Cataclysm anyway.

Ultimately the point I'm making is, to me it's not a good tradeoff to sacrifice an upgrade for a character who is already 80 in order to get leveling gear for an alt.

[Musashi]

If you get the leather shoulder/bp, you can use to to level a warrior, rogue, hunter, paladin, shaman, or druid.  I'd recommend it over anything else.  I guess you could use it on a DK too for that matter.  20% bonus xp is worth much more than a few stats when you're leveling up.