What’s your favorite way to gear up?

I admit it, I still prefer getting gear to drop in a dungeon or raid.

This isn’t me saying that should be the only way to do it. Far from it — I believe a selection of options that makes it possible to gear despite bad RNG and the boss just not dropping that item you need is an essential component to gearing in an MMO, and especially in World of Warcraft. But while I believe we need more ways to gear up than just loot dropping, I prefer the sensation of killing a boss and finally having them drop that piece of gear I’ve been hunting for. There’s a psychological component to this that can’t really be explained, just experienced — everyone who has had it happen, who has killed a boss and had that gear drop knows the feeling.

However, we all know the feeling of it not dropping, sometimes for literal years, so I’m not going to pretend it’s not something that can feel pretty bad — hence why I think catch up gear, gear you can purchase, and gear from things like World Quests are a good idea. Gear can be fickle, it can be very hard to get your ilevel up enough to participate in certain content, there’s nothing but net positives in having gear that’s at least good enough be available through a variety of means. In fact, I’m for making it more available in Shadowlands than it has been so far, really.

So what about you? Are you most excited by gear dropping from bosses? Do you prefer the clash of PVP, and a fairly predictable way to get better gear? Are you more of a solo player, doing WQ and other activities to kit your characters out? What is your favorite way to gear up?