On the plus side the stats on the belt buckle go nicely with the tier 9 set which is loaded with crit. So my rejuv crits left and right … given I no longer get to raid I suppose it not that bad.

WTB raiding guild that play on Perth time GMT+8 willing to transfer !

http://www.wowhead.com/?item=49894

The only better boots than these are the 277 ilvl Plague Scientist’s Boots, which won’t be available until heroic Festergut is released.

The crafted legs are trumped by T10, which is haste/spirit in that slot.

The reason why I went belt before chest is because the belt was quite a good upgrade, whereas I only just recently picked up the heroic Shattered Fellowship robes from TOC. It hurts to swap out brand new heroic gear! Otherwise I probably would have gone with chest > belt.

For reference, if I had taken the chest first, I would have gained:
1int
1sta
10haste
3 spellpower

over taking the belt upgrade instead. So – barely a difference; and this way, I don’t have to give up my pretty robe so early

At any rate, the BiS list that I have created for myself only lists available gear. It has no heroic gear on it – because we can’t get to that. It only has the first 7 normal boss loot. As bosses open up, and finally, as we get access to heroics, I’ll revamp my list to encompass all of the “true” BiS gear.

I just don’t see any sense in working from a list that is 80% unavailable gear. For the time being, I’ve ignored everything with a (H) next to it, and gone down the list to the next available items.

I should have clarified this in my post – that when I say “this is BiS” I am really saying “this is BiS out of all available gear”.
Keeva´s last blog ..My Emblem of Frost priority list

Since the belt is leather haste/spirit, I believe moonkins will be opting for the leather badge belt which is haste/crit (but I’m no moonkin expert, so I could be wrong). Your only real competition for the drop is other trees; depending on how your DKP system works, that probably makes it a pretty cheap item overall.

If you’re upgrading from a low-ilvl belt (232) or a crit belt, I can understand prioritizing the badge belt, but otherwise I think most druids should gut it out for another week of badges and grab the badge body first, or just immediately upgrade to the T10 hands, and hope to score on Professor in the meantime.

Verile: Since we’ve only been back to 25s for a short while, there’s a long list of healers seeking Solaces. I figured it was best not to wait for it
Euqsarrat: As I said, the belt and chest are BiS regardless of hard modes, tokens etc – so that’s why I’m prioritising those. I’ll still be chasing tokens, and by the time I manage to get one, I think I’ll be ready to grab T10. As for 10s – I’ll definitely grab any small upgrades – but this is my shopping list for “best available right now and facilitating my BiS set later”, I suppose. I wouldn’t turn down an upgrade – but I’ll still be aiming for these items.

Orbitz: It wasn’t so much the mp5 but the spellpower. I may have been better getting a different piece for a bigger nett upgrade – but I felt my trinkets were weak and wanted to patch that hole first. As above – I’d rather buy a badge belt than wait for a drop – it may seem like a waste, but this way I save my points for other upgrades that aren’t available through grinding heroics. I’ve been so unlucky with particular items – so I’d rather not bank on RNG to give me what I want. I’m not the kind of person who hangs onto emblems hoping that bosses will drop what I need – I want to upgrade as early as possible. The belt is BiS, why not grab it immediately? RNG has not been kind to me in the past – my trinket slots will attest.

Beru: I’ve seen one Solace And sitting on badges isn’t a bad idea. The T10 (base) pieces are barely an upgrade, some are a downgrade – I’d be tempted to sit until I had tokens, really.

Jasyla: I wouldn’t have bought the trinket if I had better ones, definitely. I chose the belt over the chest because it was a nice upgrade and I happened to have 60 badges last night But the chest is definitely next.

Kayeri: My two other druids usually do heroics each day, they’ll definitely be donating saronite later

::sigh:: so much gear, so many choices! My BIG happy lately is having the Blessed Cenarion Boots crafted yesterday, they are SO awesome, and I’ve seen nothing in the loot lists thus far that are so perfect for restos as they are. I am pretty darned sure I’ll be wearing these boots into Cataclysm and I’m very happy about it. Yeah, I admit, my rogue and warlock who gave up their frost badges for the primordial saronite arent too pleased, but Kayeri IS my main.

I bought the Vestments of Spruce and Fir first, because it was a direct upgrade over the chest from TotC. I will eventually be getting the tier pieces once I get the tokens to upgrade them, but for now I will hang on to my 4t9 bonus.
Jasyla´s last blog ..Druid Gear Wish List

But…Lady RNG is fickle, and we’ve not seen a second one yet. And have only seen a total of 4 Solaces (2 normal, 2 heroic). I think if I was sporting an iLevel 200 trinket, and had the opportunity to invest in one that is significantly better, based on just the value of the spell power increase alone, I probably would have done so too.

As for how I’m going to spend my badges, I honestly just don’t know yet. I’ve ~150 in my possesion, and I’m just sitting there holding onto them, like I’m Scrooge McDuck counting my gold. I’m just so hesitant to buy anything yet, with so much unknown. I haven’t broken my 4T9 yet, and probably won’t break it for 2 10 at the 251 level, as they peices aren’t a huge upgrade stat wise until I get 264 tokens.

I guess I sorta figured I’d let others pick up set tokens and grab mine when they aren’t so high in demand, and nab up non-set pieces for now.

Aaaarrrrrgggghhhhhh, too many decisions to make! (afk head exploding).
Beruthiel´s last blog ..Getting GRID Ready for Icecrown’s Plagueworks

As far as the other epics on the vendor – PASS. Really pimpy belt drops off Professor Putricide (Professor’s Bloodied Smock) and although he is a final gated boss – I’m sure he will be down for most guilds in 1-2 lock outs, if they don’t decided to run 10-mans to test strats and 1-shot in 25man. (Yes! I have high-quality hopes.)

As far as T10. Why? Rejuv is overhealing all over the place and I am for sure not going to tell people in my raid group “wait on my HoT’s!” After giving them the ability to crit and basically the time between ticks reduced to the point w/ haste to be even stronger then it was before… I would wait until they nerf T9 or buff T10 – regardless I love my T9. Love.

It’s going to hop on someone on full duration, which if it works like the other smart heal items (Abacus for example) it will most likely hop on someone who is getting spam healed up on anyway…