Patch 2.4, Badge Loot
Want to raid? Collect Badges of Justice.
The new ‘best’ items in the game for PvE are in Soulwell and they are a little better than Tier 6, we’ll call them Tier 6.5. Getting to them is difficult unless you are in a raiding guild that is entering Soulwell. For those of you going in Hyjal Summit, Black Temple, or even Karazhan, Blizzard has made it easier than ever. All you need is more badges to get geared up. With those badges you can buy items that are better than Tier 5 and almost as good as Tier 6. In some specific cases they are even better than Tier 6. And the badges to get it all, are now more common than ever.
Let’s look at what you need to do to get there.
The Badge Gear
Previously you could only find Badges of Justice from bosses in heroic five player instances, the heroics. Each boss dropped one badge. After you collected enough you could buy an item which was equivalent to the epic loot in the heroics.
Since then Blizzard has expanded where you can get badges and what you can get with them. All bosses in heroics and Burning Crusade raids now drop badges. There are even daily quests for solo players to get them.
The first set of Badge Gear that was available was item level 110-115, not including the dubiously useful fire resist gear. This was equivalent to what you could get in heroic instances. Blizzard then added new gear that was item level 128-136. This was roughly as good or a little better than what you could get in Karazhan. Now in the new patch, you can buy 141-146. This is what you can find in 25 player raids like Tempest Keep, SSC, Mount Hyjal, or even Black Temple. Note that Tier 6 gear is 146-154, so you can now get some of the most powerful gear for badges.
Badge epics can be supplemented with PvP gear from honor or arena and is suitable for raiding. Good items for this are generally arena weapons and Vindicator gear. You can mix badge gear and honor loot to build a full epic set easily.
How many?
The new badge gear is expensive. Weapons are 150 badges, offhand 45, chest 100, legs 100, hands 75, feet 75, waist 75, and a ring is 60. If you wanted a full set of the new badge gear that’s 680 badges. That’s a hell of a lot of badges. Fortunately older gear is sometimes not outdated and you can supplement with PvP gear. So unless you are leveling up your character for the first time or an alt, you will only need to upgrade a few items. In any case you will likely need a couple hundred badges unless you are already in full T6 gear.
Where?
If you do certain daily quests in the new expansion you can get Shattered Sun Supplies which have a chance to give you a Badge of Justice. It’s helpful but it’s also a slow way to get more badges.
If you are ready for heroics you can do the daily heroic quest. Talk to Wind Trader Zhareem in Shattrath City. By doing the heroic daily quest you will get two extra badges in addition to each boss you kill. Heroic instances give you two to four badges each. Including the daily quest, that is four to six badges a day. If you have the time and a good group you can also run the other heroics as well. Each one can be done once a day. If you don’t sleep and run every heroic in less than two hours you could do them all and get 54 badges. This includes the daily quest and hidden bosses, Anzu and Yor.
By far the easiest way to get badges if you are geared is to farm Karazhan. A full clear of the instance can take less than a couple hours for 22 badges. You can only do this once a week.
If your guild is running 25 player raids including Serpentshrine Caverns, Tempest Keep, and others. Each of those bosses will soon drop two badges each.
Regardless of how you do it, getting 20 or more badges a week is not difficult even for people with limited time. Within two to three months you can have a full set of some of the most powerful epics in the game.
Get your badges!
