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is that druids can now use polearms…With the changes to the way feral AP is determined (via DPS), there is a wider variety of weapons now available to the feral Druid. This will, however, put us in contention with hunters over weapons.

A simple rule of thumb…hunters have no business rolling on anything with armor when there is a feral in the party. Ferals have a small case for rolling on +hit, but it is generally something you will see more tilted towards a hunter, and unless it’s a MASSIVE upgrade, they should probably pass to any hunters in the party.

Baseline: I’m going to guess that this late in the game, new 70 cat druids probably didn’t grind for Cenarion Expedition rep. So I’ll baseline this thing at Dreamer’s Dragonstaff, a reasonably common, fairly easy to obtain drop from Botanica.
There are three quest reward upgrades at 70: Bramblethorn Greatstaff from Rescuing the Rescuers; Hungering Greatstaff from It was the Orcs, Honest!; and Writhing Longstaff from The Siege. The Siege is one of the earliest quests you get in Borean Tundra, so it’s likely that you’ll just want to do that and take the Writhing Longstaff.

At 72, you can pick up the Staff of the Spiked Beast from Conversing with the Depths.

At 73, there are 3 quest reward upgrades: Timeshattered Spire from Mystery of the Infinite; Staff of Righteous Vengeance from Sasha’s Hunt; and Branch of the Roaming Spirit from Free at Last.

At 74, Staff of the Sorrowful Chieftan is rewarded by Wanted: Ragemane’s Flipper.

At 75, Jailer’s Baton drops in Violet Hold.

At 78, Hewn Sparring Quarterstaff drops in Halls of Lightning.

At 80, you have 3 drops: Enraged Feral Staff from Heroic Utgarde Keep; Lightning Giant Staff in Heroic Violet Hold; and Staff of Trickery in Heroic Violet Hold

Welcome to those of you coming from Gun Lovin’ Dwarf Chick (and, hi Bre!). If you check down several posts (like, 7, I think?) you will find my wall of text guide to bear leveling gear.

Now, on with the show!

Rings:
Baseline: Ravenclaw Band and Overseer’s Signet

Both rings require a bit of effort to get but they didn’t require raiding and, in the end, were about as much as I thought I could expect a non-raider to be able to get.

At level 70 in WOTLK, the first item you will be able to get is a green crafted item: Bloodstone Band. It’s unique, so you will replace the Ravenclaw Band with it. There is also the Ring of Indignant Rage from The Assassination of Harold Lane to provide a second upgrade. The Bloodstone Band is better, but it is also more easily obtained, as The Assassination is the last quest in a chain.

At 72, you can pick up Kurzel’s Rage to replace the Ring of Indignant Rage. It the reward from Search and Rescue.

At 73, you’ll replace the Bloodstone Band. Your first choice is the Worgslayer’s Ring from Attack on Silverbrook. If you are a little bit lucky, you will be able to pick up Jedoga’s Greatring in Ahn’Kahet.

At 74, you’ll be replacing your lesser ring with the Ring of Foul Mojo from For Posterity

If you are still using Kurzel’s Rage or less as your second ring at 75, you’ll want to replace it with the r
Petrified Ghoul Finger from Feedin’ Da Goolz.

At 76, the Bent Crockolisk Tooth
is slighting better than the Petrified Ghoul Finger. It’s the reward from Crockolist Mastery: The Ambush.

At 77, you’ll have to opportunity to replace both rings:
Frog-Toe Band is the reward from Basic Chemistry.
The Signet of Bridenband is the reward from Light Within the Darkness.

At 78, there is again opportunity to upgrade:
The Bjarngrim Family Signet drops in Halls of Lightning.
The Ring of Scarlet Shadows is crafted. The Ring is a bigger upgrade than the signet, so if you only try for one, get the ring crafted for yourself.

There are 6 available upgrades at level 80, prior to raiding (from least to greatest):
the Stained-Glass Shard Ring is a world drop, but most of the drops I have seen for it are in Heroic Ahn’Kahet or Heroic Azjol-Nerub.
The Signet of Edward the Odd is another Northrend world drop, this one having been seen all over the continent.
The Mobius Band drops in Heroic COT: Strat.
The Band of Kirin Tor is for sale for 8k gold in Dalaran.
The Hemorrhaging Circle drops in Heroic Gundrak.
The Titanium Impact Band is crafted.

Trinkets:
Baseline: Trinkets are pretty hard to baseline because there’s such variety that people might have obtained. So I’m going to be a little arbitrary and set the standard pretty low:
Abacus of Violent Odds and Bloodlust Broach were both comparatively easy to get. Certaily easier than running heroic Magister’s Terrace over and over…

If you don’t have at least the baseline, you can pick up the First Mate’s Pocketwatch from The Jig Is Up.

You don’t really see an upgrade from baseline until the Goblin Repetition Reducer at 74. It’s available for Venture Coins in Grizzly Hills.
Tehcnically, the Frenzyheart Insignia of Fury and the Oracle Talisman of Ablution are usable at 70, but since they both require exatled with a faction in Sholzar Basin, they aren’t really practical until 77 or 78.

If you are an alchemist, at 75 you can make a Mighty Alchemist’s Stone.

At 77, you can pick up the Crusader’s Locket from Defending the Vanguard.

Finally, at 80, you can pick up several better trinkets:
The Metorite Whetstone drops in Heroic Utgarde Pinnacle.
The Incisor Fragment drops in Heroic Drak’Tharon Keep.
The Mirror of Truth is a Heroic Emblem item.
And the Darkmoon Card: Greatness
comes from the Darkmoon Faire, of course.

Again, I just listed the upgrades from my baselines…there are a lot more trinkets out there that you can discover at lootrank.com by picking the feral druid - cat template and selecting the appropriate level…Just have it list 20 or 30 options and tell it to only list trinkets.

Legs:

Baseline: Fel Leather Leggings, an easily obtainable crafted item.

At 71, Wrynn’s Legguards of Brutality are available from The Battle for the Undercity.

At 73, the Patchhide Pants are awarded by Local Support

At 75, you get the Tatooed Deerhide Leggings are awarded from Containment.

At 77 there are three upgrades:
The Legguard of Guided Travel are awarded from The Activation Rune.
The Cured Proto-Drake Hide Leggings is awarded by Discipline.
And the Constellation Leggings drop from the Tribunal Chest in Halls of Stone.

At 78, cats have three more upgrades:
The crafted Eviscerator’s Leggings;
The crafted Leggings of Visceral Strikes;
or the Azure Strappy Pants, available at revered from the Frenzyheart Tribe.

And at 80, cats have the following options, prior to raiding:
Ravenous Leggings of the Furbolg from Heroic Utgarde Pinnacle.;
The Mind Expanding Leggings at revered with the Kirin Tor.
and the Gored Hide Leggings from Heroic Gundrak.

Feet:

Baseline: Fel Leather Boots are, once again, an easily obtainable, decent pair of cat boots.

There is a quick upgrade at 70: the Treads of Torn Future awarded by Quickening.

At 72, you can pick up Don Soto’s Boots from Death to the Traitor King or the Treads of Aspiring Heights from Azjol-Nerub.

At 74, you can get the Rhino Hide Kneeboots from One of a Kind.

There is a very minor upgrade at 78 in the crafted Jormscale Footpads.

80 brings a slew of choices:
The Darkspeaker’s Treads from Mind Tricks;
Gorloc Muddy Footwraps from heroic Gundrak;
Slag Footguards from heroic Halls of Lightning;
Boots of the Whirling Mist from heroic Halls of Stone;
and Boots of the Neverending Path at revered with Argent Crusade.

Hands:

Baseline: the Fel Leather Gloves are fairly common and pretty cheap, so I’ll baseline from them.

At 70, the Time-Stop Gloves are a quick and easy upgrade from Postponing the Inevitable.

The next upgrade doesn’t come until 75 with the Handguards of Rapid Pursuit from Ichoron in Violet Hold.

At 77, the Rough Climber’s Grips are rewarded from The Reckoning.

At 78, the Handwraps of Preserved History are awarded from A Royal Escort

At 80, there are 2 non-raid upgrades:
Gilt-Edged Leather Guantlets drop in from King Ymiron in Heroic Utgarde Pinnacle.
The Gloves of Fast Reactions are a BOE world drop.

Waists:

Baseline: Guardian’s Dragonhide Belt. Yeah, it was a grind, but you weren’t going to find anything better outside of raiding. Unless you usually had 10k gold laying around. And, ultimately, it was pretty easy to get. Took me about a week of 3 times/day BGs.

The first waist upgrade doesn’t happen until 73. You can get the Waistguard of Expedient Procurement from Drak’aguul’s Mallet or the Pyramid Embossed Belt, which drops from Herald Volazj in Ahn’Kahet.

At 74, the Strange Vodoo Belt is awarded by Gul’Darah Must Pay.

At 78, you can get the crafted Eviscerator’s Waistguard or the Glitterscale Wrap is availabe at revered with the Oracles.

80 gives a wide variety of waists:
The Treasure Seeker’s Belt drops in heroic Azjol-Nerub.
The Bat-Rider’s Cord drops in heroic Drak’Theron Keep.
The Sharp-Barbed Leather Belt drops in Heroic Utgard keep.
And the Trollwoven Girdle is crafted.