With Patch 3.2 on the horizon, one of the more notable changes is in the Emblem system. You won’t be able to get Emblems of Heroism and Valor. All bosses in heroic instances and both levels of Naxxramas will drop Emblems of Conquest instead.
(note that your existing Emblems of Heroism and Valor do not go away, and you can convert Emblems of Conquest into Valor or Heroism if you want. Epic gems can be purchased with older Emblems)
This reminds me more of the BC Badge of Justice days, when even endgame raiding guilds would still do heroics and Karazhan because the badge gear was worthwhile.
If your guild is not currently raiding Ulduar, it’s possible that you haven’t even given a thought to the Emblem of Conquest items. Now that they will be readily available, lets look at what is available for rogues.
First off there are two T8.5 pieces available. The Conqueror’s Terrorblade Breastplate and the Conqueror’s Terrorblade Helmet will run you 58 Emblems each. In addition to being nice pieces on their own merit, together they will get you the 2-piece T8.5 bonus which gives you 1 energy for each damage tick of Deadly Poison. Its not a great bonus, but every little bit of energy is helpful.
Among the non-tier Conquest gear the pieces I am looking forward to is the Belt of the Twilight Assassin. At iLvL 226 its better than Ulduar 10 gear, with the nice feature that it gives both hit AND expertise. At a mere 28 Emblems its a bargain that you can get from just a few heroic instance runs.
For 19 Emblems you can get the Broach of the Wailing Night. Unless you have the neck from killing heroic Malygos, this is probably an upgrade over whatever you are wearing. It gives Armor Penetration, which a lot of players are still not sure about. Its nicely itemized though with crit and AP and hefty agility.
Also high on my list are the Gloves of the Blind Stalker. Lots of agility and AP, for only 28 Emblems.
Want something with gem slots? The Leggings of Wavering Shadow have ‘em (although one is blue). They are perhaps not an enormous upgrade from legs available in Naxx 25, but still full of agility and hit and AP. You’ll need 39 Emblems for that item.
So if you are not currently raiding 25-man Ulduar but you want a nice set of Ulduar level gear, there’s your shopping list. That’s a head, neck, chest, waist, gloves, and legs. All for a total of 230 Emblems of Conquest.
Oh – and for the PvP fans you can buy all five of the Deadly Gladiator’s armor pieces for 46 or 58 Emblems each.
