How to get into raid finder

So you've probably ventured into the Raid finder, if not just log into world of warcraft, press Ctrl-I and come read this post after. A full month after the release of Mogushan Vault, the sixth november, two new raids will be released for LFR, Heart of fear and the Terrace of Endless Springs. Except the item level requirement is a little tighter this time: 470. So you might be thinking something like how I am gonna pull that off if I dont raid on normal mode and that the gear that drops from heroics is only ilvl 463?

First, let's just summarize how ilvl is calculated. It's simply the mean of all the item you have equiped, so if you have a 2-hander it's the sum of all your slots divided by 15. Except it's the highest ilvl item you have or had equiped in each particular slot. That allows you to cheese the ilvl requirement, like if I got the Coren's Cold Chromium Coaster (ilvl 470) in my first trinket slot and a heroic piece in my second trinket slot (ilvl 463). If I just switch the two trinkets (rings or 1-hander), then the ilvl of both slots will be 470.

The raid finder ilvl requirement for Mogushan Palace is 460 and is kinda easy to get. If you haven't yet, now would be a good time to replace your Dragon soul gear from last expansion with leveling gear, particularly the one from the last zone, Dread Waste. Next, you will have to do a gearing list. I have one but it's boring so instead I will refer you to WoW insider warrior column who did an excellent article of where to obtain heroic pieces into each slot for dps and tank. Even if I don't have a level capped warrior, it helped me make my list for my death knight (for non plate class, you'll probably find a gear list in another colums of WoW insider). Before you hope in heroics, do yourself a favor and grab a decent weapon from the Arena of annhilation scenario. So if you just chain runs heroics until your eyes bleed you'll replace every single piece of your equipment with heroic pieces and you'll have the required ilvl requirement. But I'm way too lazy to do this and instead I just tried to fill the slots with some easy to get epic pieces. So I'll tell you where to look for them and it can help you get the required ilvl for the two upcoming raids. While I've linked pieces that has strength, you will always be offered or have the choice to pick a piece appropriate for your class.

One easy piece to get is the ring from the Headless Horseman, just queue for him until you get it. And if you do him once a day, you have the chance to get the Headless Horseman helm or his agility sword. That weapon could also be of use for dual wielding death knight because it has higher damage per second then a heroic 1-handed weapon.

Since you want to raid, you should sharpen your teeth with some entry level bosses that doesn't require gear. In the previous expansion, your faction had to control Tol Barad before you could join a group to go in Baradin hold. In Pandaria, you can beat world bosses just by joinning a pug (or with your guild if you can muster fourty or so people). The first world boss is the Sha of anger, this loot pinata drops tier 14 and pvp pieces. But don't forget to loot him because he will also give a quest wich rewards a nice pair of epic boots. The other world boss is called Salyis's Warband, I haven't tried yet but drops higher level piece so he might be a little bit tougher.

After this, make a stop at the quartermaster in the Niuzao temple. You can spend all your justice points as a stop gap measure for a slot you didn't had any luck filling. Then you can spend your valor points, the only problem is that you'll need to acquire some reputation with the different faction. The easiest to get is the neck piece since if you do all the quest in dread waste you will already be honored with the Klaxxi.

You will also need to grind the Golden Lotus faction, not only because of faction reward, but also because they unlock two other faction that have epic rewards, August Celestial and Shadopan.

Keep working for the Klaxxi faction, because at revered they have some nice reward and a quest chain that rewards an epic ring. Plus if you have a blacksmith, you will be able to get some epic crafting recipe for the chest and gloves. If not you could buy those on the AH or ask a guildies to craft it, but those are expensive so it would probably require some money. Try to make use of your profession, like engineering, if you can.

But more importantly, you need to run raid finder every week, eventually you'll get some drops. Get some Elder charms of good fortune and spend them, that's how I got lucky. And  you got to start collecting those sigils, a chance to get legendaries!