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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsPatch 4.3 PTR: New level 80 gear sets for every class
by Mathew McCurley 
Sep 28th 2011 at 4:00PM
We could speculate a million different explanations for these sets. A new service or gameplay mechanic to make new characters that start at level 80, perhaps? We'll know soon, hopefully. Here are all of the set names, with Wowhead links for those curious souls.
- Paladin Zealous
- Warrior Valiant
- DK Ebonsoul
- Mage Magesoul
- Warlock Dreadsoul
- Priest Seraphic
- Rogue Shadowstalking
- Druid Wildsoul
- Shaman Stormbinder
- Hunter Beastsoul
Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with patch 4.3. Review the official patch notes, and then dig into what's ahead: new item storage options, cross-realm raiding, cosmetic armor skinning and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing -- from astride his back!
Filed under: Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
Turtell Sep 28th 2011 5:36PM
Rolly sums it up perfectly. If you're willing to go slow enough and actually know how to play your class, you can kill things naked/ in white gear.
Infinite Duck Sep 28th 2011 6:43PM
I'm kinda surprised they aren't slightly higher than 232, but it will be helpful I guess, but I'd still get the lvl 78-80 greens as they still have 40+ item levels on that gear. I'd rather buy the greens rather than make them unless the character I'm levelling has the profession... 232 doesn't seem high enough to me.
icepyro Sep 28th 2011 6:52PM
I thought that was the point of Cata greens requiring lvl 79ish. Am I in a minority that 300g, a couple Wrath heroics and I'm more than geared to start Cata content?
Tovin Sep 28th 2011 7:09PM
Speaking as someone who has leveled characters using both Recruit a Friend (back when max level was 60) and heirlooms, my guess is this is a way for new 80s (that have leveled using either of the previsouly mentioned methods) to quickly get gear needed to survive Cata starting content. I know I hit a wall when I dinged the max level for RAF and heirlkoom scaling, and the wall was due to wholly inadequate gear.
Jarvish Sep 28th 2011 4:03PM
68-70 sets from boring and howling, right?
Caliea Sep 28th 2011 4:04PM
ooh! I am intrigued by the idea of starting a toon at level 80. *crosses fingers*
Calaana Sep 28th 2011 7:18PM
I highly doubt that will happen - we already have enough people who don't know how to play that start at level 1, why accelerate the process?
gewalt Sep 28th 2011 7:38PM
if 80-85 cant teach someone their class, what the hell makes you think facerolling another 79 levels is going to help?
Artificial Sep 29th 2011 12:32AM
It's worse than that. Since you don't get many of your abilities until much higher levels, if you don't know any better already, all leveling 1-79 does is teach you how to play your class wrong. You'll need to relearn it at endgame anyhow, as you'll have a quite different rotation. Respec, too, since many of the talent points that are useful at endgame are pretty much wasted while leveling, and vice versa. I know, you *can* level by just filling in points as they will appear in your endgame spec as you go, but that's highly sub-optimal in most cases, and (again if you don't already know any better by already having learned the class before) will likely lead you to conclude certain talents are worthless than aren't, they're just worthless at lower levels -- some of them quite literally; e.g. leveling destro warlocks get a bunch of early talents that literally affect no skills at all that they actually have at the time. Seriously, anyone who things the level 1-79 experience teaches you your class either hasn't leveled in a long time or doesn't know their class.
Mperiolat Sep 28th 2011 4:05PM
Confused... is this PvP gear or is this new quest reward stuff or what?
Cephas Sep 28th 2011 4:15PM
Well, it's definitely not PvP gear. It was just recently datamined, it's not available in-game yet even on the PTR.
VioletArrows Sep 28th 2011 4:16PM
Not a drop of resilience on the hunter set so it's not pvp gear. It does look like quest/transition gear because it's 232 (5MH) but has mastery on some of it. I recently went from 79-80 on a hunter who'd only done a couple of the Storm Peaks quests and none of Icecrown/AT/80 5mans. Things are kinda weird when you hit Hyjal and your gear is still lvl 16X/174/187 and then you're trying to scrape by to get the starter set that's over 100 ilvl points higher.
V Magius Sep 29th 2011 1:27PM
My guess, you'll get it from a vendor or from dungeons. Vendor is probably the best option. Takes the farming out. Just need to keep the price reasonable.
If it's from dungeons, I think regular ToC is the best option. You can farm it from 78-80 and should be able to get everything you need. Just add the items on to the table and let it drop both sets. The old stuff to improve between 78-80 and the new stuff for 80+.
teejmorrison Sep 28th 2011 4:05PM
Exactly what Hal said: This is gonna help those without heirlooms / thinking to check the AH for greens with the gradient between WotLK and Cata ilvls.
Grovinofdarkhour Sep 28th 2011 4:10PM
Beastsoul Rifle, but no bow.
Sad elf.
Nyold Sep 28th 2011 11:46PM
one word:
transmogrification
wow that's a long one word
Gendou Sep 28th 2011 4:11PM
Intriguing.
I imagine these might be a way for players to get the gear levels they need in order to transition from WOTLK zones to Cataclysm zones.
For many classes, going from Icecrown to Vashj'ir or Hyjal was painful, even in raid gear.
Doing it in quest gear from the previous zones is damned near impossible. Most players have to craft or purchase Cataclysm greens just to survive mobs one-on-one in the Cataclysm leveling zones. This might be a way to smooth out that curve from L180 gear to L280 gear between Icecrown and Hyjal.
tabardsrock Sep 28th 2011 4:15PM
agreed.
now it'll be interesting to see how we go about obtaining these new sets... high level Wrath dungeons? or maybe purchasable by 85s with extra vp/jp?
Narayana Sep 28th 2011 4:32PM
Agreed- and the transition will only get worse with the XP nerf for WotLK- you'll probably be level 80 by the time you finish Dragonblight now. Good luck leveling in Hyjal in DB greens.
mr Sep 28th 2011 4:16PM
most likely because there's a dead zone once you hit 80 that your gear will be too low of an ilevel to be able to even queue for cata instances. this set I believe is exactly what that minimum cap is