4.2 is here – what do I do now?

I’ve created a Resto Druid Patch 4.2 quick reference guide over at RestoDruid.info but you still may be a bit overwhelmed about where to go and what to do first, to start upgrading your gear and ensure that you don’t miss out on points, badges, rep.. so much to do!

What do you do first? How do you make sure you’re getting the important stuff done?

1. Head to Hyjal

Grab the quests from your city quest board, so you have those in your log.

Now head to the portal area in Stormwind or Orgrimmar and get started on Elemental Bonds chain (The Call of the World-Shaman (Alliance) or The Call of the World-Shaman (Horde)). The last step in this chain gives you Mantle of Desire, a nice healing cloak.

2. Get started on your daily grind

Get started on your daily quests to get level 365 gear NPCs opened ASAP.

If you haven’t already, you need to do all of the Hyjal quests up to Aessina’s Miracle. This kick-starts the phasing that you need to start your Firelands dailies. If you’re in a hurry and looking to only do the essentials, go here.

The rewards for completing these dailies are Marks of the World Tree, but are not used to buy the rewards themselves. Instead, they are used to open up more quests, NPC fortifications, landscape changes, and eventually the reward NPCs who will sell you epics for gold. For more info on how this works, visit the official WoW blog or Wowhead’s 4.2 guide.

Get these dailies done and dusted for today, so you are moving towards opening the reward NPCs as soon as you can.

3. Do some heroics to start replenishing your Valor Points

Your Valor points have been reset to zero! They were transferred over to Justice Points, and any extra that you had (more than 4000 JP) will turn into cash in your mailbox.

You’ll want to get started replenishing your stash of VPs for the new Valor gear. The cap is 980 Valor per week, and the fastest way to reach this cap (if you aren’t raiding) is to do ZA and ZG heroics for 980 per week. ZA and ZG give you 140 per run; other heroics only give you 70 – so if you want to maximise your points per run, stick to ZA and ZG.

Of course, you can mix and match some troll heroics and some Cataclysm heroics for your 980 total, if you prefer, but it will require more runs. Totally up to you. Just know that your weekly cap for doing heroics is 980, and if you want to get your Valor gear ASAP, you should max it out.

If you’ve been away a while, remember that your heroics are no longer daily heroics but a weekly accumulation, so if you’re too busy to do your heroic dungeon today, don’t fret – you can catch up on the weekend. I would get started on your daily quests before you worry about doing heroics – because dailies can only be done each day, while dungeons can be done in chunks throughout the week, whenever it is convenient for you. There’s nothing worse than missing a day of dailies and then later being just shy of a reward, and thinking, “If only I’d done Thursday’s dailies last week”!

4. Kill Occu’thar in Baradin Hold to try for tier legs/gloves.

Occu’thar will be available at the start of Season 10 (July 5/6). Jump into a Baradin Hold raid if you can – though this will depend on whether you have a guild, and if not, whether you can get into an organised BH run. If you can, and you get lucky with drops, you can save yourself 3850 Valor Points (or roughly a month of heroics!)

If the boomkin gloves drop, consider grabbing them (unless you have a boomkin in the raid) as they have a chunk of haste and this will help you reach your all-important haste breakpoints. The resto ones are good, too – but the boomy ones have yummy haste and a yellow socket to boot.

5. Get new boots and gloves crafted**

If Occu’thar doesn’t drop your gloves, and you’re trying to save your Valor points for other pieces, you can get new gloves crafted, along with new boots.

The crafted gloves are virtually identical to the boomkin tier gloves, with a difference of 5spi vs 3 haste, and a red socket vs a yellow socket. So they are an excellent pair of gloves to have made, if you can’t get the tier gloves and you’re using your Valors for something else.

The crafted boots are better than the normal mode raid drop boots, if you need the haste (in which case you get an extra 187, which is substantial). I would imagine that many people will want to have these crafted (until they can access heroic gear) in order to have that haste wiggle room.

**HOWEVER: The mats include Living Embers which drop from raids (think Primordial Saronite), so I wouldn’t expect you to see them (the embers or the BOE crafted items) available on the AH for quite a while – and if they are, expect to pay an arm and a leg (and who wants to sell off their arms and legs to buy gloves and boots – that’d be pretty dumb, wouldn’t it!).

If you are going to get these crafted, I would prioritise the boots over the gloves, as you have an option for gloves through Baradin Hold and Valor Points, and this option is comparable to the crafted version. The boots, on the other hand, are a huge upgrade if you are chasing haste, and there are no other comparable options for boots. Of course, this is all entirely up to you and how you plan to use your Valors and your gold. The option is there, if you want it.



Note that you can’t earn Avengers of Hyjal rep (for their reputation rewards) without raiding (though you can get to Friendly by killing trash), so that loot will have to wait until you’re raiding and repping up.

Other than that, it’s rinse and repeat. Do your Hyjal dailies to unlock the NPCs as soon as possible, and do your heroics each week to cap your Valor Points and buy the new items.

Pretty soon you’ll be ready to go stab Ragnaros in his shiny new ankles!



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