Help, first time Lvl 60, what Gear set

Hi there,.
i have not much experience with gear sets in wow, i mainly played vanilla wow but always focused on the leveling process and crafting without paying too much attention to the "end game". Naturally i have no idea how the whole gearing works in wow and specific in wotlk.

I would be really thankful to get some tips on how to get good gear with lvl 60.
I prefer crafting (i am mining/blacksmith 300 (armorsmith)) but smaller dungeons are ok as well, no raids please.
Please keep in mind that i am not focused on reaching lvl 80 as fast as possible. I enjoy leveling and working on gear sets even before end game. So "just take what you get and wait for lvl 80" does not work for me.

Right now i have the Imperial Plate set. http://wowwiki.wikia.com/wiki/Imperial_Plate

Some general tips on how the gearing works in wow would be appreciated as well. It's hard to find information about it. Everything i look up does not make it clear if it still applies to wotlk. For example this link: http://wowwiki.wikia.com/wiki/Paladin_sets It is not clear to me why some sets are called "Dungeon sets" and some "Tier sets". Does "tier" mean you get it from raids? And in general, is the information on that site valid for wotlk?

Thanks a lot guys

Regards

The best real "set" you can get without raiding would be the Dungeon Set 2. To get it you need to get the full D1 Pally set and then complete a long quest chain.
You could also mix the Pally D2 with some Warrior D1 or other DPS item from lvl 60 dungeons to get more Strenght and Stamina out of it, as the Pally D2 has a lot of Int on it.
However it will be almost impossible to find groups for the high lvl vanilla dungeons.
Even if you get a full gear set it still will be worse than a full set of Outland quest rewards overall, as Outland lvl 60 greens are item lvl 90 while most of the pieces you can get in Vanilla dungeons are around item lvl 60 or even lower.
You might also consider some of the lvl 60 PvP rewards for a set, but they cost a lot of honor. However those are truly powerful items with versatile stats.

If you just plan on going on with you leveling the next set for you is the crafted Fel Iron Plate set which has lvl requirements from 61-64 and is just a straight upgrade of the Imperial Plate Set.

First of all, what do you intend to do with that character? Do you want to reach 80lvl or not? Do you want to raid 60lvl content or not? If you want to reach 80lvl eventually, as it sounds, and you don't want to raid 60lvl content with a vanilla guild, as it sounds, then just don't bother with that crap and move on to Outland. No, I'm not a vanilla hater - I'm telling you this for your own good. Here's why:

- You said you don't want to actually raid 60lvl content - if that's the case, then how far do you think you'll reach? Most of the vanilla craftables, especially those worth crafting, require materials acquired from dungeons or raids.
- You said you don't want to actually raid 60lvl content - then what will you do after you finish Scholomance, LBRS, and Stratholme?
- You said you like taking your time and hand-crafting your gear - but have you actually taken a look at some of the blacksmithing patterns' required materials? Do you even know where to get the patterns, and then where to farm the materials? A single epic item, like the Lionheart Helm or Titanic Leggings, will take weeks (if you're lucky) to just get the pattern, and then another week to farm the mats. It's only one week to farm the mats because Arcanite Bar transmutation doesn't have a cooldown on WotLK, so at least you're lucky for that.
- Even if you do take your time and craft all that stuff by yourself, without joining 60lvl guilds and raiding 60lvl content, you'll see that as soon as you step into Outland you'll easily replace everything. If not with immediate quest rewards, then it will be with Fel Iron plate. Even the full Imperial Plate set is too much - you will immediately replace the legs, chest, gloves, and helm, just after one hour of questing in Hellfire Peninsula. You will get plate belt and boots and leather bracers from the Hellfire dungeons. Heck, you'll even get a cloak and neck. Questing will also give you a trinket, which you won't replace until Northrend, and you'll get 1-2 rings too - ALL of this in Hellfire Peninsula. That's right - the first TBC zone, before you've even changed to other zones.
- You're saying you'll reach 80lvl eventually. Then what will you do with all that old gear and achievements? They won't matter anymore - not to you, not to anyone else. Cool, you try-harded and got some nice vanilla gear... but why? For what? Again, if you're planning to reach 80 and you don't want to raid 60lvl content, then better not bother at all.

So yeah, if you've reached reading this part and you still haven't quit, then the first thing you should do is start doing BRD, LBRS, Scholo, and Strat for the D1 set. After around one month you'll have all pieces (if you're lucky) and then you can complete the full quest chain (which takes you through the same dungeons, UBRS, and elite quests for which you'll need help) and take your D2 set. Yes, you understood right that dungeon sets are through dungeons and tier sets are through raiding. The paladin dungeon sets on vanilla are horrible and nobody ever bothered with them, honestly - you'll see when you check the stats on them (use AtlasLoot addon). You will then complement your D2 set with some epic crafted gear, the patterns for which you will either loot from world bosses or dungeon, or will get through exalted reputation with vanilla factions like the dark iron dwarves in Searing Gorge (the quartermaster is inside BRD, by the way - you have to clear half the dungeon to reach him). And also if you want to craft anything from dark iron, you'll have to learn to swim in lava because the only place you can smelt dark iron is right before the entrance to Molten Core.

Are you still here? Are you still reading? If so, then just lock your character experience and join a 60lvl guild already - it seems you have the motivation for it. And if I've lost you, then I guess you're already halfway through Hellfire Ramparts, getting blue items which are arguably better than Tier2, and better than Tier3 if they have gem sockets.

Small note about trinket: Two of the best trinkets you could get at lvl 60 are the Darkmoon Card: Maelstrom and Heart of Wyrmthalak.
Both have nice procc rates (about 10%) and a decent Spellpower scaling ( about 30% for DCM and about 45% for HoW).

So they get stronger than the Hellfire trinket once you reached a decent amount of Spellpower, which, if you pick up some Vanilla pally gear ( which has both, Strenght and Spellpower), will happen fast).