At last! 5x Paladins hit the "big" time!

[kate]

H CoS should be easy badges as well for you.

I think as a Multiboxer, especially and all-melee team, you can't expect to ding 80 run to Dalaran and start rampaging through Heroics in i150-174 greens and below, any more than 5 independently played characters could I reckon.

I don't know whether it's already been mentioned but to try and ease the curve a little there's obvious choices in crafted gear. For example, my Paladin team (level 50 and climbing fast), has (of course) a Blacksmither in their ranks, and sitting in the bank are both the Prot and Ret i245 epic chest piece patterns, along with the necessary mats to make them.

Add to that is the i200 epic shield for the Prot (and if Battered Hilts continue to fall in price I might pick four of them up to for my Rets). I'd also suggest using pots/elixirs as crutches while you gear them up, along with drum-buffs (my team also includes both an Alchemist and Leatherworker), and if your gold permits, you could look into the i200 trinkets commonly available.

Still H UK, H Nexus and H CoS should be doable right out of the gate so long as your equipment isn't absolutely shoddy (that is, you've built yourself the crafted epics at least).

Yeah, I think the problem I had was one of expectation - I keep forgetting that pretty much every "so you just hit 80 and want to run heroics..." guide out there is intended for people who are single-boxing, and, even more, expects that people can be carried somewhat by their team. When I hit 80 as a single-boxer, I pretty much just jumped into heroics - and when I did that this time I forgot how insanely overgeared every team I was on was.

So, last night after getting pummeled to death yet again, I took a step back and did a whole lot of looking at the stuff I need. Instead of saving up for big pieces (50+ badge cost), I started looking at what is least expensive but gives the most impact.

For my tank, that'll be the titansteel feet and helm (I already have the shield). With badges, there is an amulet - shard of the crystal forest - that would be a huge upgrade, and then after that just grabbing the 30 badge gloves and shoulders and going from there. I figure even if I "waste" badges on things that might get replaced quickly, I'll still be in a better position to get more badges.

And yeah - I just need to figure out how to handle vehicle combat so I can do part 1 of ToC. Guess my time today is going to be spent at the tournament grounds trying to figure it out!

Thanks, all, for the ideas and suggestions!

[OzPhoenix]

Yeah, I think the problem I had was one of expectation - I keep forgetting that pretty much every "so you just hit 80 and want to run heroics..." guide out there is intended for people who are single-boxing, and, even more, expects that people can be carried somewhat by their team. When I hit 80 as a single-boxer, I pretty much just jumped into heroics - and when I did that this time I forgot how insanely overgeared every team I was on was.

So, last night after getting pummeled to death yet again, I took a step back and did a whole lot of looking at the stuff I need. Instead of saving up for big pieces (50+ badge cost), I started looking at what is least expensive but gives the most impact.

For my tank, that'll be the titansteel feet and helm (I already have the shield). With badges, there is an amulet - shard of the crystal forest - that would be a huge upgrade, and then after that just grabbing the 30 badge gloves and shoulders and going from there. I figure even if I "waste" badges on things that might get replaced quickly, I'll still be in a better position to get more badges.

And yeah - I just need to figure out how to handle vehicle combat so I can do part 1 of ToC. Guess my time today is going to be spent at the tournament grounds trying to figure it out!

Thanks, all, for the ideas and suggestions!

Kate - yep, I know how those expectations can be - whenever I've got a new team to 80, first thing I've wanted to do is go straight into Heroics, but it works no better for us than it does for single-boxers (and indeed, rather worse for us).

There's some other options I neglected to mention to:

1. Icecrown group quests - you should have no trouble doing them (assuming you've actually quested Icecrown to open them up), and there's some half-decent i200 blue rewards in case you have any outrageously craptastic pieces needing replacements.

2. Gear the prot first - I notice in your post you're talking about that, and I think it's a winning strategy. So long as the prot is half-decently geared he/she can carry the four sub-par Rets, but if the Prot is taking such high damage that the Rets are spending half their time healing him/her it'll be a real hard slog.

There's so many crafted options available now that, gold permitting, you really should be able to gear out the Prot without leaving Dalaran so that at least the tanks kit is passable for Heroics (even if it's wildly uneven between great pieces and crappy ones).

As an absolute last resort, you could even run the Prot through a few dungeons without the Rets in pugs I guess.

And your badge-spending strategy is a winner too I think. For each team I've gotten to 80 I had an Excel spreadsheet fully laden out with every badge purchase (triumph anyway) that I was intending for them, and the order in which I intended to get them. As you mentioned go for the smaller rewards first, that give you the most bang for the buck (particularly those that retire the worst current items).

Once you've gotten all kit to at least i200 Blue or better, you should find you start facerolling the easier Heroics (UK, UP, Nexus, Gun) and find the harder ones at least doable. It's a virtuous circle, the more gear you get, the easier it is to get more gear, you just need to push yourself over that initial hump is all.

I'd be keen to hear more of your progress. My guys are only 50 (after about 8 days of leveling with no RAF, no Heirlooms) and now I'm back from my recent business trip to Melbourne I'm hoping to push them up to 80 just as quickly as possible, so any updates on your own progress would be very interesting.