What would you do? I posted a thread like this on our guild forums back in march, and got decent response, but i'm curious to see what EJ would do :)

I'll repost what I think warrior gear should be:

Helm
801 armor
24str
8agi
48sta
15 +defense
(ilvl 88 )

Shoulder
723 armor
19str
8agi
33sta
9 +defense
(ilvl 86 )

Chest
1006 armor
21str
8agi
48sta
15 +defense
Equip: Increases your chance to parry an attack by 1%
(ilvl 90 )

Wrist
412 armor
15str
28sta
3 +defense
(ilvl 84 )

Hands
604 armor
22str
12agi
28sta
9 +defense
(ilvl 86 )

Waist
531 armor
21str
15agi
26sta
9 +defense
(ilvl 84 )

Legs
863 armor
25str
12agi
38sta
15 +defense
equip: increases your chance to block attacks with a shield by 3%
(ilvl 88 )

Feet
660 armor
16str
10agi
35sta
9 +defense
(ilvl 86 )

3 piece bonus: Increases the block value of your shield by 55
5 piece bonus: Gives you a 100% chance to gain 2 rage whenever you block, dodge or parry
8 piece bonus: 5% chance on a block to gain 1 extra attack

Notice that it has no resistances... with negative resist gear coming in for casters, resists are useless in pvp now, and we're needing full resist sets for pve anyway, so don't need it there. Also, +dodge has been largely replaced by agility. It's just more useful IMO, and it's easier to spread it out among the various pieces

Perhaps my ilvls are a bit too low, I don't know... i've heard rumors of prominent blizz devs saying that naxx gear was going to make other gear look like garbage by comparison, but who knows. If tradition holds, the ilvl for the sets will by 86 or thereabouts, but if they really wanted to motivate raiders, they'd make it 91 with difficulty to match. Also, with 18 bosses, there's the possibility of there being multiple sets for classes? I'm excited about this :)

I used a .xls item calculator program I found on the r&d "from epics to errors" thread to come up with the values, I can email it on request if anyone cares.

My thoughts on the sets and Naxx...

I'd imagine Naxx bosses will start at ilvl 80-81. If there's 18 bosses or whatever, that probably means the first several bosses won't drop any set tokens. So, that tells me that the ilvls start at 84 or 85 on the sets. And if we go by the AQ example with the ilvls going up on subsequent pieces, that could in fact mean the chest piece is like ilvl 95 (if it were an epic).

Now something I've been pondering is the fact that Kel'Thuzad will be the first BIG lore boss for us to kill in the game...yes he's not an Old God or the head of the Black Dragonflight etc, but it's freakin' Kel'Thuzad. So how about let's make the Chest piece in the T3 set an ilvl 90 Legendary? :P You think that's too much to ask for?

I'm not a warrior myself, but one thing I'll comment on is +hit gear on tanking gear. Conqueror's is hybrid really, but for instance Mark of C'Thun has +1% hit on it. I think we'll see more tanking gear forthcoming with +1% hit on it. It's a way to increase the Warrior's threat generating, 'cause that way their sunders and such aren't missing.

As for the Rogue set, well obviously more agi, more str, more sta, more crit, and more hit! Rogues aren't that hard to itemize for...though I really would like it if they started giving us agi AND ap on the same piece again. However, one thing I would really like to see on it is a smattering of +skill on it. To the point where you wear the whole set and you have +7 skill to maces, swords, daggers, and fist weapons. Then throw in Death's Sting or another weapon with +skill on it and you hit +10 :).

clearly more spell damage on hunter sets :-P

thankfully, i know for a fact that won't be the case. :) phew.

1) Take Enigma.
2) Remove the MOT.
3) Remove the Spirt.
4) Readd the points gained from the last two points into more +damage/+hit.
5) Remove Engima set bonus, replace with Netherwind-like bonuses (I mean, ones that are useful, not fucking stupid)
6) Win.

Edit- I need to proof read better.

It'd be cool if there was a universal +weaponSkill modifier that applied to all weapon types. :D

there are certain maximum allowable stats per slot based on blizzard itemization formulas - like hunter/rogue gear can't have over X agi per slot based on item level or whatever. taking the stuff you like less off a set won't mean it gets stacked on your most desirable stat.

realistically, i'd like to see points spent on +RAP on hunter gear in the future, since that's clearly our most efficient way to get more damage, and yet rhok/ash/blessed musket of armament wasting are the only items that seem to have it.

While that be true, compare the Warlock AQ shoulders to the Mage AQ shoulders. (And I dont think they have hit this "cap" of stats, look at Death Dealer, and Ring of the God Slayer)

I am not asking for an extra 40 damage on my shoulders, but instead to remove the retarded MoT, and add 1 hit and maybe 5-10 more damage to increase the ilvl to the same level as the rest of the loot as should be in Nax.

AC, MP/5, +healing, +sta, +int, +spirit, set bonus to give you a damage clearcast (like the talent) on a heal.
or
AC, +sta, +str, +crit, and a set bonus that improves your self weapon buff.

Hard to say what will come of the new talents and possibly new class mechanics, I would imagine the desired itemization will shift a little bit depending on what is changed.

Rule: Can you post that excel sheet to yousendit or something? I would be interested in playing around with that.

Yeah the spell damage thing is still really odd.

If they aren't going to make spell damage really useful for hunters (and it seems they haven't been able to), they should just replace it with mp/5

True, but it's still a good thing. Considering points would be taking from the LEAST desirable stats like MoT and spirit, then anywhere else you distribute them is a good thing. I wouldn't cry over more stamina or intellect, although I like spell damage more.

But then you have alliance hunters bitching because they already have infinate mana.

I'd definatly like to see more than 3 set bonuses, something like the tier 0.5 ones with 2/3/5/7/8 piece bonuses.

Warriors have enough DPS and hybrid plate, particularly with Conqueror's out there now. I'd like to see a more pure tank set than Wrath. Take the set in the OP, remove virtually all STR and AGI, and add +parry, +dodge, or +hit (or more than one!) to every piece and then dump remaining points into more sta/def.

Tank mitigation hasn't improved significantly in a very long time. PvE progression requires that it does, I think.

I'm just hoping that priests get to keep their extra 15% regen without having to still hang onto 3/8 trans for the extra regen.

Also hoping they keep resists off of the tier3 sets since most often when you need resist, you have a different set of gear for it anyway.

yeah, the fact that 8/8 wrath is still the best tank gear after AQ is pretty sad as far as progression is concerned. AQ is more of a neat sidestep instance rather than one legitimately involved in progression. few of the sets seem to be definitive raiding upgrades except some of the DPS gear, and even that's debatable (i still need to crunch the numbers between 8/8 DS proc and rapid fire cooldown reduction).

What Rule said about warrior sets would be ideal, but I think it's a step in the right direction when blizzard put +1% to hit on the best tanking neck in the game (off c'thun) and I would like to see this implimented in the tier 3 warrior set if possible. Getting enough +hit in a tanking set is close to impossible.

Additionally, I would like to see a bit less strength if there is going to be a distinguishment between pvp and pve warrior gear. I like strength more than any other stat for damage dealing and pvp, but for tanking I'll take .5 agility for 1 strength any day of the week. And if the new Deathbone set is any indication as to how blizzard is rethinking the old defense nerf, get me close to 425 defense on armor alone please?

PS. Grats on your axe Rule.

Also gurg beat me to the -str idea. T_T

My dream hunter set would look something like this:

Ranger's Headband
Binds when picked up
Head Mail
421 Armor
+31 Agility
+21 Intellect
+29 Stamina
Classes: Hunter
Requires Level 60
Equip: Improves your chance to get a critical strike by 1%.
Equip: Improves your chance hit with missile weapons by 1%.
Equip: Regenerates 4 mana every 5 seconds.

Ranger's Pauldrons
Binds when picked up
Shoulder Mail
384 Armor
+29 Agility
+19 Intellect
+26 Stamina
Classes: Hunter
Requires Level 60
Equip: Improves your chance to get a critical strike with missile weapons by 1%.
Equip: Regenerates 2 mana every 5 seconds.

Ranger's Jerkin
Binds when picked up
Chest Mail
567 Armor
+42 Agility
+25 Intellect
+32 Stamina
Classes: Hunter
Requires Level 60
Equip: Improves your chance to get a critical strike by 1%.
Equip: Regenerates 10 mana every 5 seconds.

Ranger's Wristguards
Binds when picked up
Wrist Mail
231 Armor
+27 Agility
+10 Intellect
+18 Stamina
Classes: Hunter
Requires Level 60
Equip: Improves your chance to hit with missile weapons by 1%.
Equip: Regenerates 2 mana every 5 seconds.

Ranger's Grip
Binds when picked up
Hands Mail
331 Armor
+29 Agility
+17 Intellect
+26 Stamina
Classes: Hunter
Requires Level 60
Equip: Improves your chance to hit by 1%.
Equip: Improves your chance to get a critical strike with missile weapons by 1%.
Equip: Regenerates 3 mana every 5 seconds.

Ranger's Waistband
Binds when picked up
Waist Mail
289 Armor
+29 Agility
+18 Intellect
+25 Stamina
Classes: Hunter
Requires Level 60
Equip: Improves your chance to get a critical strike by 1%.
Equip: Improves your chance to hit with missile weapons by 1%.

Ranger's Legguards
Binds when picked up
Legs Mail
460 Armor
+39 Agility
+28 Intellect
+29 Stamina
Classes: Hunter
Requires Level 60
Equip: Improves your chance to get a critical strike by 2%.
Equip: Regenerates 8 mana every 5 seconds.

Ranger's Treads
Binds when picked up
Feet Mail
370 Armor
+34 Agility
+12 Intellect
+23 Stamina
Classes: Hunter
Requires Level 60
Equip: Improves your chance to hit with missile weapons by 2%.
Equip: Regenerates 4 mana every 5 seconds.

(2) Set: When casting Aimed Shot, Multi-Shot, or Arcane Shot, has a 20% chance to restore 300 mana.
(4) Set: +15% Pet movement speed and +20% Pet attack speed.
(6) Set: Increases ranged attack speed by 3%.
(8) Set: Pet is immune to area of effect and randomly targeted abilities.

I predict agility(yay), hit(yay), crit(yay), stamina(yay), and strength(boo) in roughly equal proportions such that each piece has .1-.2% more crit and 3-5 more AP/STA than the corresponding piece of Deathdealer or Bloodfang.

You know, I don't know of one, but I'd be really surprised if there isn't one out there. Seems like someone is bound to have whipped up a simple standalone app or website that incorporates the original Hyz findings into an item creator. If not, someone should -- would be a fun concept and would generate some traffic.

For the warlock tier 3, I would hope that item designers finally realize that putting even 1 point of spirit on the set just pisses us off. We have a talent that reduces spirit by 5% for fuck's sake.

Give us more stam/int/dmg/hit/crit or even health regen if they feel the need to spread out the itemization points. The warlock item designer needs to be slapped.

I'd like to see them start fully optimizing the ilvl points before they go raising it up a ton. Something about having ilvl100+ items when we're only 60 (or 70 in TBC) seems silly to me. You could squeeze quite a bit more out of the current ilvl items for the majority of spots and get still get a significant increase in power. hi2u prestor's talisman of connivery.

One thing I'd like to see, other then optimized stats, is items that fit into previous sets and count towards the overall number. Bloodfang rings, necklaces, trinkets etc.. You could make another effect for having a complete set of the new pieces, or not. But, for some classes the set effects on previous tier armor is so good that it's not worth switching until you've got a full set of the new armor.

Make the new items have the higher ilvl of the dungeon they drop from, so you can upgrade to new items without losing the good effects.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a lot of min/max'd items that abuse the item budget system to cap off pre-expansion content, actually. Normally if you min/max items then you have to min/max the next tier too or they won't be upgrades. But with the expansion, it might be a good way of letting Naxx items remain desirable in the post-expansion world while still allowing for meaningful ilvl progression without things getting out of hand.