Need some help

[Tomiyou]

About 2 months ago I made a post about gearing up for PvP and such, since I am new to the game and this is a huge game. I haven't had much time since, but tomorrow the holidays begin. I've done some research on the game itself and I am stuck with a couple of unanswered questions. First of all, I want to PvP, as everyone pretty much expects you to be in very good gear by now in PvE. Problem is, I don't know where to PvP, MoP or WoTLK??
I've heard that MoP has been watered down (that true?) and streamlined, but for a new player, streamlined = easier to start. I read some changes in the talents from and stats. Stats in WoTLK are much more complicated (spell crit, hit and such) and PvP power and resilience aren't in the game yet. I've tried to play on another MoP private server with an instant lvl 90, but the server is very bugged. I don't want to spend a lot of time leveling my Druid, just to realize that many things are bugged. It was the Panda WoW private server, I made a toon on an instant lvl 90 realm and tried to buy adventuring gear to start Battlegrounds for honor, problem is that Adventuring gear merchants in pandaria were bugged. Is there any other way to get starting gear?
I've also tried the instant 90 lvl realms on Warmane, but I don't understand the gearing thing in those realms. When you create your character, you are placed in a location with many merchants for gear. They all sell different gear sets with different item levels. Why are there so many variations? Why not just buy the highest level item? Also, the gear that the PvP merchant was selling was Wrathful, isn't that the highest tier of PvP gear, or am I missing something? I still wanna feel progression, not just get everything in the first 10 minutes. Sorry for being a noob :3

[dazzb]

I do not play MoP sadly But I can say that "everyone expects you to be in very good gear" statement regarding WotLK is a bit inaccurate, it is true that they have a rather higher gear restriction for raids than I normally bother with when I recruit for a raid but its not like its impossible it just takes time.
Anyway if you decide to try WotLK hit me up on Deathwing under the name "Dazzb" (Horde) I will answer any questions you have and see if I can give a bit of help PvP or PvE wise :)

[Tomiyou]

Wow, thanks for the reply. I actually did quite some investigating and narrowed my questions to 3 things.
1. On the instant 80 server you can talk to an npc to immediately gear you up and pick your talents. Is the gear you get the best PvP gear you can get? Or can you buy even better gear with honor?
2. I know many stats have been merged and streamlined from WoTLK to MoP. Are MoP stats better this way?
3. What are the battleground queue times, on MoP and WoTLK? I wanna play with many people, not just with 1 or 2.

[dazzb]

1. If you mean the WotLK instant 80 server called "Blackrock" It is not the best gear you can get, the rest is available through arena. Also I personally prefer to use the "Mall" that you can get teleported to and choose the gear myself rather than the NPC way but thats as I am more experienced and know what gear I want/need.
2. I personally don't like the merging of stats and the like that Blizzard has implemented in expansions later than WotLK but from the perspective of someone like you who is not as experienced it is easier to figure out generally. It really honestly is a personal choice just like preference of the expansion you want to play, as with any game feature. I will say mastery is a very fun stat and I do enjoy its effects when I play retail for example so there are good and bad points for me.
3. I generally wait between 5-10 minutes for a random battleground on deathwing, but there are quieter times where you would have to wait a longer time. Also the wait time can differ depending on your faction and realm you choose, someone else would have to tell you about Ragnaros or Lordaeron.

[Evangelion]

Blackrock has the best possible gear from start (Wrathful+hc trinkets), all of that you can buy the same moment you make your character.
MoP has slower gameplay than WotLK because of huge health pools and smaller numbers once geared. And is more of a CC spam expansion since each class has bunch of CC spells, and imo it doesn't make it rly fun nor makes it much about timing (I'm talking from a perspective of a healer) - and also healers don't have as much impact as imo the should have, and as much as they had it before.

On other side, WotLK has a bit more stats, small health pools and big numbers (in both damage and healing), and it makes it a lot of a bursty/cc skill game (since most classes have 1 or 2 cc's with decent cooldowns which can make a difference between losing and winning if timed right). Interrupts matter a hell of a lot more in WotLK than MoP, since even if you get interrupted in MoP, unless you're being attacked by half battleground it won't make any difference.

And for the end - there is a reason why WotLK had highest population WoW ever had on retail, so, even tho you're someone who is just about to start - I suggest WotLK all the way.

[Tomiyou]

Thanks Evangelion, this made me decide to finally level up my 66 druid to max on Deathwing, especially with the incoming merge of Deathwing and Ragnaros.