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Officer Joined: 16 Mar 2008 Posts: 12 Location: Darnassus

Unlike many lesser instances, Karazhan was designed as the first step in the expansion's endgame progression. Players not only need skill, but they also need to be well geared from 5-man and PvP content in order to succeed in Karazhan. The minimum guidelines posted in the other thread are just that - what you need while first starting Kara. To actually clear it, the group as a whole needs better. A few overgeared players - particularly in the areas of tanks, healers, and ranged DPS can quickly begin to iron out a group's weaknesses, and make the fights in Karazhan start to look easy. Even if you meet the minimums, look for ways to get your gear better.

Much of the battle in earning your way into, and beyond Kara is getting geared up. For the most part, BoE items from the auctionhouse no longer suffice. Fortunately though, getting the gear to get through Karazhan isn't rocket science. Here are some good ways to improve your gear:

- Try to work on completing the dungeon 3 set for your class & role, if you don't already have better. This set drops almost entirely from 5-man instances, with a couple pieces for some classes found in heroics.
- Item level can be good guidance sometimes. Dungeon 3 gear is around item level 115 rare (blue) quality. If an item has stats appropriate for your class and role, and it's around this level, it's probably worth keeping.
-Try an addon like EquipCompare that lets you compare items side by side.
-Browse the "find an upgrade" feature on the Armory site.
-Make sure all your gear is enchanted appropriately. Shoulder and Head enchants are purchasable from BC reputation vendors. Legs can be "enchanted" with appropriate spellthread or armor kits.
-Healers and caster DPS, don't be afraid of cloth. If the stats are better than the leather, mail, or plate you have, take it until you can do better.
-Run heroics, every chance you get. Not only do they drop a few epic-quality items, they also drop Badges of Justice, which can be turned in for gear that ranges from Karazhan to Black Temple quality - more than good enough for Karazhan. Badges add up quickly, making running heroic instances frequently the quickest way to improve your gear!

Officer Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 94

I'm going to post my personal approach which may be considered, if appropriate for your style, in addition to the excellent post above.

I should note that this is an approach that starts before you even hit level 70 and continues through level 70 dungeons, PvP, arena, heroics, and the raid progression.

- If you are a hybrid class, start gearing up for a tank or healing role, as you will get into more dungeon groups that way. (For example, at level 68, I started collecting the Heavy Clefthoof set.)
- As you make your way through dungeons, develop your set(s). The goal of this should be to allow you to proceed to heroics and Karazhan, as well as to give you a base for PvP/arena.
- Collect any "welfare epics" from PvP that are upgrades. For many (but not all) classes, these provide significant upgrades to dungeon blues and do not require lucky drops.
- When you progress to the heroics level, there are several things to consider. Firstly, I understand that everyone wants the heroic badge rewards, and rightly so, but I would urge everyone to consider their strategy in this process. There are many heroic-specific drops that are substantial upgrades over their corresponding dungeon drops. I suggest finding which item drops you want and running those instances to get your badges. Also, review the Heroic instances thread for more information about heroics, including a listing of difficulty.
- When spending resources (gold, badges, PvP marks, honor points, arena points, etc.), figure out which upgrades provide the greatest improvement over your current gear and invest in those first.

- When dealing with multiple gear sets (whether tank/DPS for feral druids, warriors, and prot/ret pallies; or DPS/healing for healers, elemental shamans, shadow priests, resto druids, and moonkins), choose a primary set and a secondary set. This is for purposes of spending resources.
. As a feral druid, I originally spent my resources on tanking gear first. This allowed me to be a good tank for heroics and Karazhan while collecting gear for my DPS set. Currently, I'm working on upping my DPS set because my tanking set is satisfactory and I anticipate taking more of a DPS role.
. Do NOT neglect either set if you have multiple sets. You will likely end up regretting it if you do.

Posted: Fri May 23, 2008 3:10 pm

Just one extra note to add: I suggest getting AtlasLoot Enhanced. You can immediately look up all potential boss drops and their stats fromany potential dungeon. That means that if you see a LFG call, you can pull up that dungeon and see if it has anything you can use.

Officer Joined: 16 Mar 2008 Posts: 12 Location: Darnassus

One last tip. Take the time to make a "gear plan" of what items you need.
Make a list by slot, and as you find multiple items for that slot, write them down if you'd seriously consider them for upgrading, along with where they are from. This is so that you can make the best use of both time and limited-supply resources of badges and honor/marks.

As you make your gear plan - start out with badge rewards. They form the 'backbone" of your plan. Add the highest cost items to your plan first so that you don't accidentally buy something with badges you'll have to pay badges to replace. Only list one badge reward per slot - don't list something you'll have to upgrade.

Once you've looked at what badge reward gear you can get, also add heroic epic drops and MgT drops to your plan. These heroics will be the ones to focus on if you have limited time - badges plus chances for drops you can use.

Add PvP "welfare epics" to your plan, but only if they are really upgrades - for most classes, there will be a few pieces that really are upgrades even over PvE gear.

Add Karazhan gear to your plan.

Fill out any missing slots with reputation reward epics, high level blues (particularly D3), and any level 70 BOE upgrades you can obtain.

In terms of value, for buying gear, badges > honor/marks > time > money. As a good benchmark of effort, an hour of time is worth perhaps 200 gold, 2000 honor, or 5 badges. In my experience, the most efficient way to get badges is a good Karazhan clear, followed by these heroics: Botanica, Mechinar, Ramparts, Slave Pens, and Underbog. The daily is ofter better badge-time effciency because of the extra two badges but be aware of time. Instance drops are hir/miss, badge and honor rewards are sure but steady grinding.

Your gear plan will change. It's important to understand where the upgrades are for your class so you aren't going around blindly, and aren't forking over badges for something you will replace right away. As you cross items off your list, find out where you have to go for better.
Remember that badge loot and sometimes instance drop tables can change dramatically with patches / - particularly large content patches like 2.4, so you should revisit your plan once in a while just to see if anything has changed. A gear plan is also important for your off sets - particularly if you don't carry your offset gear with you, as this will give you a frame of reference to decide whether to roll on an item.

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