With the cost of valor points coming down in patch 5.3 for upgrading items using Voidbinders, you might ask yourself, “Should I start upgrading my items? And if so which ones?” This blog attempts to address some of those questions.
One thing I noticed with regards to Mist of Pandaria in its current state is that valor points are slowly becoming easier and easier to come by. They still are a tight commodity and should not be spent lightly. So when you do decide to spend your points on item upgrades, you want to be pretty frugal just like when you purchase gear.
My general rule of thumb is that you should upgrade items that you feel will last you for a while. For instance, if you have a ilvl 476 item like a ring or cloak, chances are that you’ll find better ones easily either through LFR, quartermasters or even your normal raids. But let’s say you just got a Thunderforged item from normal mode and have no plans on raiding. If you have spare valor points that week and most of your basic gear is decent, then that Thunderforged item will end up becoming a good candidate for an upgrade.
Another rule I use is focusing on weapons first. If you’re a DPS like myself, weapons will give you the biggest boost overall to your damage output. Should you encounter complaints in say an LFR setting where your DPS is a bit low, then a weapon would be a reasonable candidate to upgrade. Since patch 5.2 increased drop rates in pre-Throne of Thunder raids, I would focus on the Sha-Touched weapons (should you find one). Don’t bother with Mogu’shan Vaults weapons since there are better ones available. Lastly, I mentioned the Sha-Touched ones because it’ll still be pretty difficult finding weapons even with the unlucky streak buff, so you might have to count on those for a while.
One item I would definitely upgrade no matter what are the BoA Inscription staffs, especially the spell caster ones. As someone with four spell caster alts, having a fully upgraded spell staff is just immensely useful as a hand-me-down. The fact that you can upgrade the staff with valor points is insane and it’s just awesome as a huge boost to your ilvl.
The times I would not upgrade my items is when I would focus on getting some key purchases from the quartermasters. Generally, I would prefer spending valor points on things like ilvl 522 pieces before any other item given the opportunity. In short, you really don’t want to waste your valor.
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