Fresh 80 (new to WotLK)

Hi all. Started on Warmane a couple months back (Icecrown) and am enjoying it so far. Have 2 80s, but am going to focus on my resto druid (easier to get into groups than my warlock). I've done some research but still have a few questions. Any help is appreciated!

1) Gearscore: Is there an addon someone can suggest for this? I tried looking on curse gaming, but didn't find one that was campatible.
2) Gearing up: I bought some "upgrades" from the AH when i hit 80, but mostly greens with some blues mixed in. I did the quest chain to get exhaulted with Sons of Hodir and picked up some gear from them. I PVP when I can and do the RDF as well.
2a) When I get enough points, what PVP gear (if any) should I look for?
2b) The RDF is great, but i'm locked out of Heroics due to poor gear. Can I still join Heroics through normal grouping, or will I be locked out as well?
2c) The normal WotLK dungeons through the RDF are ok, but at 80 I'm not getting much in the way of upgrades. Any specific dungeons (for a healer) I should focus on?
2d) Are there any questing or zones I should head for that can provide decent gear?

Firstly: Welcome to Warmane!

If you're on the forums and looking for information, you're already doing better than many players before you. So on that job, nice job! These forums are a great place to ask any questions you need, and also to browse guides to sharpen your skills and optimize your gameplay. As WotLK has been out for almost 10 years, much of the content has been theory craftedand all figured out, and you'll find most of the knowledge from those 10 years of hard work somewhere on the forums!

1) The Addon is called Gearscore Lite (the non-lite version causes the game to crash) If you ever need to find specific addons that are verified to work with the 3.3.5 client, check out the Community 3.3.5 / 4.3.0 Addon List
In specific, the Gearscore Lite link is >>Click here<<

2) If you're looking at gearing up, you should decide on whether you wish to PvP, or PvE. In most circumstances as a Healer, the items you get from PvP will not be any good to you in PvE, and only very few PvE items will be useful to you in PvP.
Gearing up for PvE I would suggest you unlock Forge of Souls and Pit of Saron, and run those 2 repeatedly for item level 219 drops. Then you can also Join ICC Reputation farms, as this eventually gives you a item level 277 ring. Once you have enough to join Heroics, you can start doing daily RDF heroics, and Heroic FoS/PoS for 232 loot. All this while, you'll be gaining Emblems of Triumph and Frost, which you can spend in Dalaran for item level 245 and 264 gear respectively.

2a) Gearing up for PvP, you can spend your Honour on Furious Gladiator's Gear at the Hall of Heroes in Orgrimmar for Horde, or the Champion's Hall in Stormwind for Alliance. If your wish is to PvP mainly, I would recommend Purchasing a Medallion of the Horde/Alliance trinket as your first item, for the resillience boost and the movement impairing effects clearance every 2 minutes.

2b) Doing RDF Heroic the first time each day gives you 2 Frost Emblems upon completion. This is the biggest allure due to the fact frost emblems are used to purchase 264 items. If you can't queue for the RDF heroic function, you will not receive this reward. However, if you wish to manually run in through the front door of a dungeon, then you will be able to enter heroic dungeons that way. You will no receive RDF HC bonusses in any way from doing this, no matter if you join a 4/5 RDF group and try to enter via sneaking through the front door.

2c) Focus on FoS and PoS. I recommend trying out the AtlasLoot addon, CLICK!, which lets you browse what gear drops from which raids/dungeons and use that to plan out your dungeon runs. Also, Rep-Farms are constantly in Global Chat, and anyone, regardless of GS can join. Do those until you get your 277 Ring. These rep farms basically enter Icecrown Citadel and repeatedly just kill trash mobs for reputation over and over.

2d) No, much of the questing zones were introduced in 3.0.1 patch, where the strongest Item levels were Tier 7 gear, or Item level 200 or 213. As more patches came out, questing for these item level 200s became less desirable, especially since FoS and PoS drop 219 gear.

Wow, thank you very much! I will definitely be focusing on PVE, and only really PVP'ing when i'm bored or waiting for something. TY also for the addon links. I constantly see global chat regarding FoS and PoS, but thought I needed better gear for those.

I really appreciate the explanation on everything. +1

Rather than spend honor on furious, I would save it for Wrathful off pieces. They will often be better even for PvE due to higher ilvl.

I would also add there are some sexy 264 leather healy gear that can be crafted. They are a bit expensive but when I am serious about gearing one of my 80s this is the first thing I do along with what the first guy suggested. That 277 rep ring is the easiest 277 piece you will get so do that asap.

You will want the following crafted:
1. Moonshadow Armguards (245 ilevel)
2. Blessed Cenarion Boots (264 ilevel)
3. Legwraps of Unleashed Nature (264 ilevel)
4. Lunar Eclipse Robes (245 ilevel)

The first two are going to make you happiest since the boots are easier to craft than the legs and the bracers are the hardest thing for a resto druid to replace. The last 2 are up to you, you will be going for the sets I assume so the legs on top of being expensive will also be replaced relatively quickly, the robes are only 245 and also easily replaced with raids. The first two you will thank me for. Add me in game if you want them crafted I won't charge if you get your hands on the mats,

Good luck mate!

IGN Zerrubabel