Thrift Store Gear (Or How to Steal from the DPS)

So I want to talk about healadin gear. The other night an OH dropped that was originally a dps caster item. I checked its stats out of habit and saw that it had more +spell power than my shield. o.O So I figured I'd take a look and see if there are "new" upgrades for me in Sunwell that I didn't know about.

Tip: When looking up spell power-only items in WoWHead, you need to use the "Spell Damage Item (damage=healing)" filter. The old "Healing Item ("healing>damage)" no longer works because damage = healing = spell power. Here is an example of the filters I use, spell powered items. Also, when I'm linking comparisons below, I'll be comparing what I already have to other items.

I suspect that actual plate pieces won't change much since spell power doesn't have much to do with ret pallies or dps warriors. Doing a quick sample of chests and boots shows I'm most likely right. I imagine resto druids have the same situation. If you're reading this as resto shammy or holy priest, though, I'd recommend checking out your counterpart specs' main gear just to be sure.

This leaves me with the following potential gems in the rough: neck, cloak, rings, trinkets, weapons, and off-hands. I'm only considering PvE versions since there's zero chance of me picking up a PvP item, but they may be available to you.

For necks, an interesting situation has cropped up. I call it The Battle of the JC Necks! The healer JC neck is still quite good, providing haste, healing, and mp5. The formerly dps neck has become very viable with crit, haste, and healing. The question becomes "Do I want 25 crit or 10 mp5?" Also, with the extremely low drop rate of these patterns (we've had 1 Ammy of Flowing Life evah), this new pattern may open up other chances to get a neck upgrade.

Next up are cloaks. The Tattered Cape of Antonidas, a formerly dps item off Kil'jaeden is looking mighty pretty. It has the potential of +18 spell power over my current back warmer.

It doesn't look like rings have changed much since the last thing healers want to do is sacrifice +healing for hit. I currently have Band of Lucent Beams and Blessed Band of Karabor.

Here's kind of a weird mix of off-hands and shields. In theory I don't have to lug around a car door, you know. So... First off, if I switch to my dps shield, I'll gain +8 spell power and loose -7 crit. That's like +14 healing pre patch. Sold! If I wanted to go for mp5 over crit, then I should get the shield off M'uru. If I want to swap haste for crit, then I need to get the Heart of the Pit off Brutallus. It has +10 haste, +2 spell power, and -9 mp5 compared to the dagger book off Twins now. I guess I'm glad I passed that sucker to Z. >:)

Comparing weapons is kind of tricky because Crystal Spire of Karabor has this whole "if your target has less than 50% health, you'll heal an extra 200" component. Also, I included the uber spell power dagger even though pallies are the only healers that can't use them, yet we're the only ones that could use the crit. /headdesk I think ultimately, though, the Hammer of Sanctification is still more viable because of its blue gem slot. Honestly, between you and me, I'd only upgrade to the one off Kil'jaeden if I was just bored with the look of my current one. There, now you know how I really pick out lewts. lol

So I hope I've inspired you to check out your friendly-until-they-find-out-you're-gonna-take-their-stuff neighbors and see if anything new has popped up on the gear scene!