Newbie Raider needs advice on where to start.

[Rahkwas]

My Character: Rahkwas of Quel'dorei.

So, after spending a few weeks doing endgame PVP... I've discovered it's really not for me. I'm not a fan of Arenas, and RBG's aren't as fun for me, in comparison to Regular Battlegrounds.

Recently, with the release of The Raid documentary, Firelands coming out, and the staleness of endgame PVP... I want to start raiding.

However, I have no idea where to start. At all. I've been running heroics, and all of the Justice gear, and most valor gear has less Stam+Strength than my PVP gear. I know part of the distinguishing factor between PVE gear and PVP gear is the 'off' stats (such as Hit, Mastery, Etc..).

But is it THAT much of a difference?

I've done a bit of research on my class, and the reforging options... and everywhere has a lot of different, conflicting information. I'm pretty confused. I know you need to be Hit Capped (8% 2H, 29% DW), but that's about all of the concrete information I could find.

So... where do I start? Do I grind heroics until I get the full valor set? Should I replace Vicious/Ruthless with Justice Gear? I'm so confused.

I do plan on playing as a Frost DPS in raiding.

Final Question: should I reforge my PVP gear over to Hit cap until I replace it?

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my post and offer advice. Feel free to inspect my character, spec, whatever. I'm open to all advice!

TLDR: Noob raider wants to know where to start.

[Vrashnar]

So! First off let me start with a disclaimer, my Death Knight is lvl 66 & im a terrible melee player, with that said..

Stamina, as a dps in raids is "worthless". Ignore it. It should never ever factor into your decision about gear.

Strength, as a plate wearing dps IS important, quite important in fact, but keep in mind for PvP you were likely gemming resilience or some combo of that, now you have those extra numbers to put somewhere else, pure strength gems being a very good option.

"Off stats", YES, do make a fairly large difference on a piece by piece basis and a HUGE difference in comparing an entire set of gear. In raids, wearing PvP gear is bad, because raids are all about optimizing your dps, resilience doesn't help your dps, so you have wasted stats. Wasted does not = optimized. However, in saying that, for 5man heroics, I wouldn't get too worried about wearing PvP gear until you get a proper PvE piece to replace it.

At the end of my rambling: Wear your PvP gear in 5man heroics, get valor points, buy & use valor gear (idk about DK's but for the classes i play, get your tier set first!). Also I do suggest you get justice gear, make sure its the 359 stuff, but yea, its worth it dude, 1) because it will increase your dps and 2) Raid Leaders/guild leaders would prefer to see you in PvE gear for raiding.

Best place for information on classes imo: The official wow forums; http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/1012662/
Check out the Frost PvE Guide 4.2

[Meshuggah]

I also recommend www.noxxic.com. Just hover your mouse over the "Deathknight" icon, choose the spec, and read. There is a menu on the right that shows rotation, gems, reforging, main stats, and more. It really is a great guide to put you in the right direction.

[Tengenstein]

I wouldn't trust that site, it seems rather shallow, and for certain classes its just plain wrong. I'd stick to http://elitistjerks.com/forums.php

[Vrashnar]

I usually wouldn't recommend Elitist jerks for some basic information.
In my mind at least, Elitist jerks is the very best resource if you are already doing 18k dps and want to do 20k. Personally I found it pretty mathy and complicated unless you already have a solid idea of the basics, official wow forums are much more user friendly.

[mielikinna]

Start with the first post, this tends to cover all the basics. Here's the link to frost dps's guide. While the subsequent posts can get more detailed, the first post gives you all the basic information you need.

http://elitistjerks.com/f72/t125291-...inst_all_odds/

[Tengenstein]

I usually wouldn't recommend Elitist jerks for some basic information.
In my mind at least, Elitist jerks is the very best resource if you are already doing 18k dps and want to do 20k. Personally I found it pretty mathy and complicated unless you already have a solid idea of the basics, official wow forums are much more user friendly.

Heh, while for some specs (protection warriors springs to mind) EJ tands to be somewhat crap, for DPS DKs, Rogues, and Warlocks I've pretty much read them as leveled and found them fine, the only one i've found excessively mathy was the Arcane mage guide.

Guess it boils down to how simplified you need it.