I think that the original lvl 80 heroics do not have a gear check. You should be able to run these straight out of 80 if you have been doing normal modes while leveling. Whether or not that is a smart thing to do is another question. My new lvl 80 mage was able to go straight into original lvl 80 heroics immediately upon dinging 80 and I only had some blues and a lot of greens equipped, with no additional gear in my bag. I did have a lock against heroic 5-man ToC and the new heroic dungeons. At the time, my Gear Score rating was hovering around 2600.

A few runs through normal ToC should get you geared up enough to go into heroic ToC. A few runs in there should get you into the new heroic dungeons, I would assume.

My suggestion would be to queue up for your favorite heroics from the orignal set and normal ToC. Get some ilvl 200 gear and enough badges to get a T9 piece. All the while, keep your eyes open for chances to run groups with guildies. This seems to be a step that a lot of people are forgetting - you can still get carried through content by guildies who would be more than happy to help out. This is still much faster than gearing up through the random dungeon system.

Also don't forget to get some crafted gear right as you ding 80, if you have the bankroll for the mats. Many guilds also have a stockpile of BoE epics stashed away in the guild bank. My guild currently has this equipment reserved for mains only, but I am yet to see a main need this gear, so some bargaining can probably be had.

Everyone is so psyched up about badge gear and the random dungeon system that they seem to have forgotten that there are still better ways to gear up. Badges and random dungeons are the simplest, newest and shiniest way, but not necessarily the best. This could probably even stand to have a full write-up done on wow.com, as there is a lot of potential content for such a subject.

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