Auction House – another gearing path

I really hate to buy gear. There’s no real logical reason for this, other than it fits into my own personal version of the way the game should be played.

I know that I’m in the minority – the large majority of players just want their iLvL to get higher, no matter what path they take.  Its like their own personal scoreboard for WoW. For me, though, I play the game in a certain way.  I won’t run raids on LFR until I have first cleared them on normal mode with my guild.  I don’t repetitively grind heroics to cap my valor points every week.  I try to earn the gear I get.

This has put me in a bit of a bind, lately, as far as weapons go.  Specifically, daggers.  We’re four months into the expansion and I am still using two blue level 463 daggers.  Until very recently, I was raiding with a 450 dagger. There are no daggers to be purchased with Valor Points.  The Stone Guard, the first boss of Mogu’shan Vaults, has stubbornly refused to drop a dagger for me.  I had no luck even getting the dagger that dropped from the Greench daily during Winter’s Veil.

I’ve got all the gold I need to buy anything I want, but I have always felt that I shouldn’t resort to buying gear.  This week, I finally gave in to frustration.  I bought myself a Miniature Winter Veil Tree from the auction house. That got me to thinking – how well geared can a rogue get using strictly the auction house to buy items?  That means BoE drops and crafted items which can be sold.

• Head: nothing good for this slot other than the crafted PvP piece, Contender’s Leather Helm (iLvL 450, pvp)
• Neck: If you’re lucky you might find the rare drop Don Guerrero’s Glorious Choker (476) on the AH.  Otherwise you’re certain to see a Golembreaker Amulet (450).
• Shoulder: only the Contender’s Leather Shoulders here (450, pvp).
• Back: the rare drop Dory’s Pageantry (476) is when you want.
• Chest: several options here – two crafted items – the Chestguard of Nemesis (496) and the Greyshadow Chestguard (476).  Also, there is a rare BoE drop, Vulajin’s Vicious Brestplate (476).
• Bracers: the best option here is a BoE drop from the Heart of Fear raid – Smooth Beetle Wristbands.  There are heroic (509), normal (496) and LFR (483) versions.
• Gloves: more crafted items: Murderer’s Gloves (496) or Greyshadow Gloves (476)
• Legs: only the crafted pvp item here, Contender’s Leather Leggings (450, pvp)
• Feet: only the crafted pvp item here as well, Contender’s Leather Boots (450, pvp)
• Finger: if you are lucky you might find the rare drop Perculia’s Peculiar Signet (476).  You can always find the JC-crafted Roguestone Shadowband (450).
• Trinket: the top option here is the Relic of Xuen (476) (from Darkmoon Faire).  Also useful is the Ghost Iron Dragonling (450) which has nice stats when you put the better cogwheels into it.
• Weapons: All pretty pricey options here.  The Krol Scimitar (476 sword) and the Gloaming Blade (476 dagger) are both super-rare pickpocketing results.  The Miniature Winter Veil Tree (480 dagger) can still be found on the AH, too.  After that, its the crafted blacksmith dagger or sword, both level 463.

Overall, if you’re willing to spend a couple hundred thousand gold and be patient until all these rare items show up on the AH, it looks like you can get yourself to about iLvL 470, although that includes some pvp pieces which are not optimally itemized for raiding.  That’s a lot of gold for little reward, because you can easily do better than that through some dabbling in dailies and heroics and maybe a trip or two into LFR.