Nostalrius Begins - Quality wow vanilla realm (1.12)

The gear list is intended for fighting bosses (lvl 63 mobs), using Greater Arcane Elixir, Brilliant Wizard Oil, Elixir of Frost Power and Flask of Supreme Power (+Major mana potions and Demonic Runes / Dark runes), using either the Winter's Chill spec or the Arcane Power spec. Tailoring is required because of the bloodvine set bonus. Engineering is required for the pre-raid headpiece. More than 3-5 hit is worthless vs lvl 60-62 mobs, so it has to be stressed that this is the BiS list for fighting bosses, not anything else.

The list
Helm: Mish'undare, Circlet of the Mind Flayer (Nefarian, BWL)
Neck: Choker of the Fire Lord (Ragnaros, MC)
Shoulders:Champion's / Lieutenant Commander's Silk mantle (R10 PvP)
Back: Cloak of Consumption (Hakkar, ZG)
Chest: Bloodvine Vest (Craftable, ZG)
Wrist: Bracers of Arcane Accuracy (Broodlord, BWL)
Weapon: Staff of the Shadow Flame (Nefarian, BWL)
Wand: Cold Snap (Azuregos)
Gloves:Blood Guard's / Knight-Lieutenant's Silk Gloves (R7 PvP)
Waist:Mana Igniting Cord (Magmadar, Garr, Baron Geddon, Golemagg, MC)
Legs: Bloodvine Leggings (Craftable, ZG)
Feet: Bloodvine Boots (Craftable, ZG)
Ring 1: Ring of Spell Power (Lucifron, Gehennas, Shazzrah, Sulfuron Harbinger, MC)
Ring 2: Mindtear Band (Taerar)
Trinket 1: Mind Quickening Gem (Vael, BWL)
Trinket 2: Neltharion's Tear (Nefarian, BWL)

Honorable mentions
Shoulders:Mantle of the Blackwing Cabal (Razorgore, BWL)
Ring: Band of Forced Concentration (Ebonroc, BWL) (Switch with Ring of Spellpower)
Gloves:Bloodtinged Gloves (Jin'do, ZG)
Chest:Robe of the Archmage (Craftable, LBRS)
Boots:Ringo's Blizzard Boots (Trash, BWL)

Using these five items instead of whats listed on the BiS in an ideal situation will make pretty much no difference at all. If you are not flasking (or lack plenty of BiS pieces), I would recommend the Ringo boots over the Bloodvine boots. If you tend to have mana issues, I would recommend Robe of the Archmage for the use effect (which also means that you have to swap boots into Ringo's).

Do note that you can't use Bloodtinged gloves and Band of Forced Concentration without also replacing Bloodvine Chest with Robe of the Archmage (Because of the hitcap). The pvp set gloves+shoulders remain better than bloodtinged gloves until you have Mantle of the blackwing Cabal.

Weapon:Claw of Chromaggus (Chromaggus, BWL)
+
Off-hand: Tome of the Ice Lord (AV Exalted)
Which is a very small improvement over:
Off-hand: Jin'do's Bag of Whammies (Jin'do, ZG)
Shoulders: [url=db.vanillagaming.org/?item=20686]Abyssal Cloth Amice of Sorcery[/url] (Baron Kazum, Silithus)
Ring: Zanzil's Seal (Mandokir, ZG)
Ring: Zanzil's Band (Venoxis, ZG)
Don't actually try to get these rings over warlocks, they need them more than you do. We have a way easier time with hitcapping ourselves.

Waist: Firemaw's Clutch (Firemaw, BWL)
Wand: Dragon Finger of Frozen Wrath (21) (World Drop)
Back:Cloak of the Brood Lord (Razorgore, BWL)
Gloves:Netherwind Gloves (Dragons, BWL)
Gloves:Gloves of Delusional Power (Emerald Dragons)

Pre-raid BiS
Helm: Eternal Crown of Frozen Wrath (World Drop)
Neck: Orb of the Darkmoon (1200 tickets, DMF)
Shoulders: Champion's / Lieutenant Commander's Silk Mantle (R10 PvP)
Back: Archivist's Cloak of Frozen Wrath (The Archivist, Strat)
(The only difference between this and a normal +21 world drop cloak is the mp5)
Chest:Bloodvine Vest (Craftable, ZG)
Wrist:Dryad's Wrist Bindings (WSG Exalted)
Weapon: Sageclaw / Mindfang (AB Exalted)
Off-hand: Tome of the Ice Lord (AV Exalted)
Wand: Dragon Finger of Frozen Wrath (21) (World Drop)
Gloves:Blood Guard's / Knight-Lieutenant's Silk Handwraps (R7 PvP)
Waist: Defiler's / Highlander's Cloth Girdle (AB, honored)
Legs: Bloodvine Leggings (Craftable, ZG)
Feet: Bloodvine Boots (Craftable, ZG)
Rings:2x Freezing Band (World Drop)
Trinket 1: Eye of the Beast (Quest)
Trinket 2: Briarwood Reed (Jed Runewatcher, UBRS)

Additional notes
Mind quickening gem is the best trinket in the game.

Regarding the Netherwind 3-set bonus: It's pretty obvious that on fights where you can't dps due to threat issues, this set bonus is what you want.

Is the t2 8set worth it? No, it's not. It's a PvP bonus.

There are a lot of items in the game now, and while I will maintain that the gear sets listed are correct, if you lack certain pieces, other alternatives are in some cases superior. Use common sense.

Zandalarian Hero Charm can make for some great burst damage when combined with Arcane power, but over a long fight it's about as good as a Talisman of Ephemeral Power. ToEP wins in the long run.

Don't make the mistake and think you HAVE to get a mindtear band, it is a super small upgrade over Ring of Spell Power that will make no real practical difference.

Crit is going to go up in value when aq40 hits and possibly change things up a bit for us, keep this in mind if you are wondering what items to prioritize!

Best enchants currently in the game
30 SP to weapon
7 int to wrists
4 stats to chest
18 SP to shoulders (ZG exalted)
5 to all resistances to cloak
ZG Enchant (Primal Hakkari Girdle + Mage Voodoo Doll + Arcanum of Focus) (leg/head)
Minor Speed Increase to Feet

Thanks for this, btw

Thanks for the work Lazermon, much appreciated.

Nice list, how much of this shit changes once the big item change happens?

RosettaStoner wrote:Nice list, how much of this shit changes once the big item change happens?

There will be gradual changes. The one closest at hand is the back and neck slots and the leg/head enchants, which will change with the release of Dire Maul. We do not currently know how the gear will look in BWL / what will be available, we will likely have to wait another month for that.

The nostalrius crew is not clear enough with how and when the item updates will happen to be able to plan ahead further in the future than dire maul at this moment, but my guess from what ive heard is that while they will gradually update the loot tables, they will likely do all of the item updates in one single big change. When this change will hit is not confirmed.

I just can't wait for new water man! DM can not come soon enough for that water!

BTW what are your thoughts on Maiden's circle? Seems like an honorable mention in the ring category as a world BOE?

RosettaStoner wrote:BTW what are your thoughts on Maiden's circle? Seems like an honorable mention in the ring category as a world BOE?

Yeah, I guess both Maiden's circle and Eye of Orgrimmar / Songstone of Ironforge deserves a mention. Adding them.

Inventor's Focal Sword + Spirit of Aquementas?

Is that viable?

biffsteken wrote:Inventor's Focal Sword + Spirit of Aquementas?

Is that viable?

No, there is no fight currently in the game where the mana matters enough to justify that damage loss. I don't know how good the damage are in your raids, but I currently only need to use evocate on baron geddon, and i can cancel it after the first tick. Even with a low damage raid, you shouldnt be going oom on a single fight with evocate.

(also: blade of eternal darkness from maraudon is better than Inventor's Focal Sword with the current gear available, azuresong & blade of eternal darkness are pretty much equivalent, the difference is too small to matter)