Gear Guide

Finally 60! What now?

• Do BRD, then progress to 5mans like Strat, Scholo, DM, LBRS, eventually do UBRS
• Get attuned for Ony (Alliance: dragonkin-menace, Horde: warlords-command), MC (attunement-to-the-core) and do the dousing chain to unlock Ragnaros (starting with stormers-and-rumblers and poisoned-water)
• Get skull-of-impending-doom
• Get nifty-stopwatch
• Horde only: Get horned-viking-helmet, rune-of-the-guard-captain
• Maximize profession skills

Blizzard's Content Release Plan

Blizzard wants to recreate the content release similar to the original Vanilla WoW. They announced that the patch level will be at version 1.12 (all talents, items, class mechanics etc.) and content will be released in six phases. In a separate post they outlined when PvP content will be released. Combined this results in the following release plan:

1. Launch: MC, Ony, Maraudon, Thorium Point quest hub, original mount system (cheap training, expensive mounts), NO unarmored epic mounts
2. DM, Kazzak, Azuregos, Honor System and PvP Rank Rewards. Layering is said to be disabled by Phase 2
3. BWL, DMF and Darkmoon Decks, cross-realm BGs starting with 1.12 AV and WSG
4. ZG, Green Dragons, AB
5. AQ + war effort, Silithus content, T0.5, Relics, drop rate and item drop location changes
6. Scourge Invasion, Naxx, world PvP objectives in Silithus and EPL

This has an impact on what items are available/BiS at any given time. There is a list by pingaan#5396 that is exhaustive for the majority of cases:

BiS List by Phase

Phase 1

• Complete MC and Onyxia attunements!
• If you intend to tank Ragnaros in MC, prepare Fire Resistance gear: dark-iron-helm, dark-iron-leggings, dark-iron-gauntlets, dark-iron-bracers (dark-iron-boots are NOT recommended due to RNG stats and exalted reputation requirement), enchant lesser-arcanum-of-resilience on head/legs, scout the AH for blazing-emblem
• Start preparing 360 [Thorium Widget] (1080 [Thorium Bar] + 360 [Runecloth]) or 480 [Dense Grinding Stone] (1920 [Dense Stone] ) for [Amulet of the Darkmoon] (Phase 3)
• Key tank items from dungeons: naglering, force-of-will, draconian-deflector
• Focus on getting your epic mount before Phase 2 hits!
• Maximize profession skills
• Setup farm, profession and bank alts

More TBD

Phase 2

• Get at least Rank 2 in the Honor System for insignia-of-the-alliance and insignia-of-the-horde respectively
• New entry level item options from DM (East, West, North): satyrs-bow (if you lack +hit), force-imbued-gauntlets, fel-hardened-bracers, eldritch-reinforced-legplates, timeworn-mace (esp. if Human tank), bulky-iron-spaulders, hedgecutter (esp. if Orc tank), kromcrushs-chestplate, redoubt-cloak, tarnished-elven-ring (if you absolutely need +hit)
• If your guild is competing for world bosses (Kazzak, Azuregos), some item options: empyrean-demolisher, puissant-cape, unmelting-ice-girdle (handy for Naxx in P6), eskhandars-left-claw

Phase 3 (TBD)

• Get [Amulet of the Darkmoon], this requires 1200 [Darkmoon Faire Prize Ticket], which is equivalent to 360 [Thorium Widget] or 480 [Dense Grinding Stone], or sell mats for profit if you have a better neck
• Get AV to exalted for TUF, Don Julio's, Lobotomizer, Immovable Object

Phase 4 (TBD)

Phase 5 (TBD)

Phase 6 (TBD)

PvE Mechanics (TBD)

• Glancing blows, crushing blows, crit immunity, parry haste, rage generation