Getting gear is not always the most important thing in World of Warcraft, but it is an essential aspect to raiding, killing other players, and exploring dangerous places. If you’re struggling to get the best gear, you should know that you are not alone. Although Patch 5.4 makes it easier to get gear, not many players know what to do and they end up wandering around without any good items wielded.
World of Warcraft is all about progression. While you can definitely make leaps from bad gear to good gear, you WILL need to put in a lot of effort to get the “best gear”. In Patch 5.4, we can easily skip a lot of the content that other players were forced to grind through in previous patches. This patch we can start on the Timeless Isle.
Timeless Isle – 496 & 535 Gear
This place is hated by long time players and loved by newer players. The gear is literally handed out, as if the mobs are part of a charity organization and we are the poor. The Timeless Isle is to the East of Pandaria, and it’s a nice standalone island. To get there you can get a quest near your faction’s Shrine (in Pandaria), and then take a portal.
You can also use any flight path to get there as well. Once you are there, you should start getting all of the quests, killing mobs and opening chests.
The chests can be found all over the island. Some chests can be opened every day, others can be opened once per week and some chests can only be opened once. The best chests are the one time only ones as they have a high chance of having awesome loot. For example, one chest will reward a “Burden of Eternity” which can upgrade an item to an ilvl of 535 (very good for being easy & free!).
One of these pieces can be upgraded to 543 ilvl for 500 Valor Points.
LFR – 528 Gear
LFR, or Looking-For-Raid, is a system in place that allows multiple players to queue for a raid and then take down bosses together. LFR is not for everyone as the average skill level is low. However, if you complete the Siege of Orgrimmar raid in LFR you’ll probably have at least three 528 pieces of gear. Some people get even luckier!
You can spend 500 Valor Points and upgrade one piece to an ilvl of 536.
Flexible Raids – 540 Gear
Flexible Raiding is a unique system that Blizzard added to the game in Patch 5.4. Flex raids will “scale”, meaning that you can do the raid with any amount of players between ten and twenty five. In theory the raid will always be similar in difficulty, with mechanics being added per player that is present.
Flex Raiding is by far one of the best systems as it allows raids to occur with people from any realm. Simply invite them to your group and once you have ten you can begin a raid. Unlike LFR, everyone you bring in is approved by you – So don’t worry about being put in a bad group or anything like that!
Flexible raids reward ilvl 540 gear, which is upgradeable (for 500 Valor Points) to 548. The gear is very easy to get, and you can expect to get between 3-6 pieces of gear if you kill every boss each week.
Professions – 553 Gear
Professions may not be ideal for everyone as they can be costly to level up to 600, and the items that are crafted can be expensive as well. In Patch 5.4, the crafted items can take up to 30 days to make – Yet, they’re absolutely worth it! If you have the gold to spend, you should buy one of the crafted items.
Crafted items are ilvl 553. There is a belt, as well as pants, and the prices will simply depend on your realm’s economy.
Normal Raids – 553 Gear
Completing a raid on Normal difficulty can be exciting, but also challenging. For this reason, some of the best gear is available for people who successfully kill the bosses on Normal mode. The 553 gear from these raids is incredible, and can be upgraded to an ilvl of 561 for 500 Valor Points. One thing to note is that unlike Flexible raids, Normal raids can only be done with players from the same realm as you.
After doing many Normal raids, players can then move on to Heroic difficulty which rewards even better gear.
Warforged Seals – Extra Loot!
Warforged Seals are Patch 5.4’s equivalent to Patch 5.3’s Mogu Runes of Fate. WIth Warforged Seals, you can roll on gear for a second time, giving you yet another chance to win some gear. Warforged Seals are awesome and have provided me with multiple pieces of gear that I still use to this day.
You can get these from underneath your faction’s shrine in Pandaria, from a clearly marked NPC.
Old Content – 489, 496 & 522 Gear
A lot of people think that farming old content is pointless, but they are wrong. Just because something better is out, doesn’t mean that doing old content can’t be beneficial. I am currently raiding on Normal difficulty, using multiple 561 pieces of gear, and then I randomly have a 522 trinket.
If you want to always have the best gear, go raid Throne of Thunder (aka ToT) for a high chance of getting multiple ilvl 522 pieces of gear. If you’re REALLY struggling with gear you can even go back to Terrace of the Endless Spring, Mogu’Shan Vaults, and Heart of Fear for 489 & 496 gear.
Good luck!
Anyways, that’s a wrap folks. I believe that all of the methods in this article will help you gear your level 90 character very fast in World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, Patch 5.4. If you have any questions or comments feel free to message me or leave a public message below.