As an aside, from the looks of it, there will be a Hunter/Feral statstick added to the Heirloom items. I think they're currently listed for Champion's Seals, but who knows what they'll be in the final version. They're adding a 1handed mace as well, for those poor Shamans.

Quite a nice find, Duillath. That does certainly open up a few more options. If you really wanted to cheap out, the Lava Dredger could certainly pinch-hit for the Paladin / Warrior weapon, while the Mass of Mcgowan is definitely better than the Heirloom Dagger/Sword, since both the Shaman and the Rogue could use it.

Ideally, that hunter/feral stat stick would be a polearm, rather than a 2h mace; otherwise, it's a no-go for hunters. It's not really a big issue, though, since hunters have the option of 2x heirloom daggers, while ferals haven't had much of an option (I can't think of any off hands with stats ideal for feral; maybe some off-the-wall green). Plus, if it were a polearm, Blizzard wouldn't get to reuse the nifty looking Lava Dredger graphic.

To share my experiences with DK leveling, the axe is by far the best choice. The top-end damage on the axe at any given level (usually 100+ higher than a blue you'd find in an instance) simply outweighs any benefit a Rune will give you. I leveled my DK to 80 with the axe and never regretted it for a second. Fallen Crusader may be good, but if you've got the axe from another alt or the extra emblems, there is no comparison.

p.s. the 2H axe also kicks ass for shaman (I used it until 61 when I bought two blue maces off the AH that I used until Northrend)

Eh, I went with dagger and was not unhappy, because I was also able to use it on my enhancement shaman. It's not optimal (too fast), but it turned out to be decent, especially with Crusader on it (had the mats more handy than the agi mats). I will probably get a sword in addition to it soon (my shaman is already 80 now and is no longer using heirloom gear -- heck, he's my new main now).

Also, right now I have one of the 2h axes, but in a while I'll be getting a second -- when my warrior is of the level to get Titan Grip, he'll be using two of these axes.
I asked this question a while back, and someone tested and reported that the answer was "no". Out of wishful thinking, I intend to repeat the test myself, but have not gotten around to doing so yet.
Oooh. One-hand, not unique, decent stats, speed 2.8... that's glorious for an enh shaman.

The shoulders do not affect the gold from quests done at level cap.

2.8 is great for Rogues and leveling Fury Warriors pre-Titan Grip as well. Too bad it wasn't an Axe (for Orc Expertise).

You don't want to spend another 40 Embles for Plate version. It doesn't get any more "valid" than this. I've used cloth shoulders on Shaman and Druid, leather on Hunter and it gets the job done. Minimal bonus you'd gain from armor->ap conversion is secondary to 10% exp boost anyway and those 40 badges could be spent on yet another heirloom.

Yeah, you're best bet is to get leather gear for melee characters, and cloth gear for casters. It allows the most flexibility to re-use the gear on multiple chars.

One thing I'm curious about is whether or not the xp bonuses will work from 80 to 90 (provided the next expansion raises the level cap again). I can see them putting the 'Does not work for experience gains over level 80' caveat on the items in the 4.0 (or whatever the preload prior to the expansion) patch.

It's sort of similar to the +stamina weapon enchant they scuttled figuring every tank would have it so all it would do is just normalize encounters around the new numbers. Here it would just normalize the leveling curve around the 20% bonus (shoulders and chest) the vast majority of players would have.

While I'd agree with using leather for a Warrior or Paladin or Death Knight, you're losing quite a bit of Intellect if you use leather on a Shaman or Hunter. A Hunter could probably get away with it if you're BM and never use shots, but any other spec or an Enhancement Shaman assumes your mana pool is scaling from your gear.

There's also the issue of cloth pieces having useless Spirit for Elemental Shaman (and Holy Paladins?), but I assume those are rather niche leveling specs in the first place.

It's only 2 slots being used for these "non-optimum" stats. FFS its just leveling. It's not hardcore min-maxing.

People are getting these items for the 10% XP bonusses, the other stats have negligble value. Spending so few emblems to get the most flexible items frees up emblems to spend on the multitude of BoA weapons, which will have a much more significant impact stat wise.

I have no proof of course, but I can't imagine Blizzard allowing heirlooms to work 80+ (if they do raise the level cap). It would simply be too good and weird, you should use your best items. Not a bad heirloom item simply because of the bonus on it. Also it would be a significant boost for old characters that have access to them compared to new players, and most of Hellfire and Borean/Howling items from quests is about leveling the playing field.

I'm sure they'll patch in so that the heirlooms won't work 80-xx at first and then at a later patch either make new heirlooms or remove the restriction on the old ones, or both.

The answer is pretty obvious to me. Look at the tooltip for the Dreadmist BoA shoulders. It says "Requires level 1 to 80". I would assume that when you hit 81 they are unequipped and you can no longer put them on or their stats/effects simply go read and no longer work since you don't meet the level requirement.

I'm leveling a rogue as combat with the sword MH and the dagger OH. I've enchanted both with crusade, the minor healing keeps me going in less than intensive situations. I chose combat because of extra dodge, parry, riposte, unfair advantage, all great solo stuff. I use the cooldowns to kill pairs (rush, flurry, killing spree uncombined) or groups (cd's combined) depending on how mobs are placed throughout the area. I've found that not using stealth to open with CS cuts down time unless I take considerable damage per mob (30+%) if I use bandages and food. Some areas in WotLK require CS now - I blame my current gear (with exception of the heirlooms). I took Endurance as talent - great synergy with unfair advantage and fits very well in pair/group killing as evasion then has the same cooldown as blade flurry.

Hmm, I think Heirlooms will work 80-90. Do you expect the tooltip to read "requires level 1 to 90"? Heirlooms were introduced as account "trophies" that can be passed around, I don't think they'll become obsolete this next expansion. However I do believe they'll change their cost.

Taking Tome of Cold Weather Flight as the template my thoughts would be that Heirlooms wont be equipable beyond level 80 initially. A bind to account item which is purchaseable at 90 would then allow alts to use Heirlooms above level 80. This means the player has to play 80 to 90 legitimately for their first time through and then gets the experience benefit if they want to level an alt(s).

I was under the assumption Blizzard would just prevent us from wearing it past 80. And then in some later patch, say either 4.1 or 4.2, change them to allow us to use it from 1 to 85 or what not.

But adding a Tome-type thing seems pretty elegant to me as well.

I imagine their would just be new heirloom items available at the new level cap for us to get, both with new models/name set. What the name and graphics might be is anyone's guess but it would likely take the form of an existing raiding set. Reinforced Bloodfang Spaulders, Stained Slayer's Chest guard, etc.. you get the point.

I can't imagine they would want you to be stuck with the same heirloom items for leveling until the end of WoW for a few reasons. One it gets rid of something at level cap that you can work towards (making your alts have an easier time leveling). It diminishes the value of those items you earned in the ultimate raid prior to the expansion, and lastly they would have to tune the experience curve around everyone having a 20% bonus. Finally I think they want the leveling experience to last for your first character to reach the new level cap, speeding up the leveling process for non alternate characters doesn't seem like something they would do.

Really there's a bunch of ways they could go about doing it.

-Old heirlooms simply are changed to reflect the new level cap
-Old heirlooms won't work past 80 and you're expected to purchase new ones (which have similar stats, if not better)
-Old heirlooms will work past 80 but there are upgraded ones available at the new level cap (like the items assume an epic of equal iLvL instead of rare, or have a bigger experience bonus)

The point of the heirloom items is to benefit those that have reached the current max level and to aid them in leveling an additional character. A good system would be one that you can purchase an upgraded item, in terms of max level on the item, for the existing heirloom and some arbitrary amount of badges. It could also be purchased with a greater quantity of badges without the heirloom.

I can't imagine them just saying no to the heirloom items. I would bet that there will be something purchasable with new badges that extends the level range, perhaps a scaling enchant for each available slot. That way you need to level through at least once without it.

The heirloom items for Cataclysm will be coming from the Guild Advancement system. The current heirloom items are definitely cut off at level 80; it remains to be seen if/when Blizzard will extend those to be useful for the 81-85 levels. It's likely that they'll just leave them on the current vendors but not update them -- the same as the level 60 and 70 PVP gear.

You're certainly entitled to conclude that all heirlooms will come from the guild advancement because some will. But that strikes me as a hasty conclusion. While I do doubt that current heirlooms will suddenly, magically work to lvl 85, I suspect character-based access to heirloom items will become part of the game again.