Raid level gear for Da Bears

As you can assume, I don't mean this for the football team... This is going to be the gear you want to look for in normal mode raids. Obviously the heroic versions are comparable if you're doing heroics, but if you're in that point of raiding, you probably don't need me to tell you what gear to look for, who it drops off of, and I'll even mark your "best in slot" with an asterisk, then give a brief explanation afterwords. It should be noted that i'm leaving out crafter-only slot items (engineering head-slots and etc)

Chest

Assassin's Chestplate - Leatherworking

Morrie's Waywalker Wrap - Random drop*

Sark of the Unwatched - Atramedes*

Stormrider's Raiment - Tier 11

Haste is a bad stat for bears, plain and simple. And the 2-piece T11 bonus is really pretty crummy, which is a shame cause the 4-piece bonus is nice... and expertise isn't a bad stat. Have to wonder what Blizz was doing with this tier. The LW crafted piece is nice, but it's lack of gem socket (Compared to the *two* sockets the other pieces have) REALLY hold it back.

Feet

Storm Rider's Boots - Halfus Wyrmbreaker

Treads of Fleeting Joy - Valor Point Vendor

There's really no "best in slot" between these two. They both have haste, which is blah, but can be reforged off. The Storm Rider's Boots have a better secondary stat in mastery, but the socket bonus is meh (only 10 mastery. Better socketing for agi/stam or stam really). The VP boots have a better socket bonus (10 agi), but crit being it's other green stat is kind of eh. Personally, I think the boots Halfus drops are better, but JUST barely, and too close to call.

Gloves

Double Attack Handguards - Chimaeron*

Liar's Handwraps/Stormbolt Gloves - Dragonmaw Clan/Wildhammer Clan (H/A)

Stormrider's Grips - Tier 11

Again, the tier 11 is kind of blah, green-stat wise. Expertise and Mastery, offered by the Double Attack Handguards make a tasty combination, but the rep gloves are by far the easiest to come across in this list.

Head

Membrane of C'thun - Cho'gall

Tsanga's Helm - BoE zone drop in Bastion of Twilight*

Stormrider's Headpiece - Tier 11

Tsanga's just barely edges out the T11 piece, because crit and mastery are valued higher than hit or expertise. Haste brings down the Membrane, and giving haste to the socket bonus really drags this way under the other two pieces. 30 agi is a damn sexy socket bonus, and both the t11, and Tsanga's have, so you could really go either way.

Legs

Aberration's Leggings - Maloriak

Stormrider's Legguards - Tier 11*

I'm quite disappointed to only see TWO pieces of 359 legs even viable for bears. Tier 11 is a CLEAR winner between these two pieces as well. Farm Baradin's Hold for them, because they're really just worth it. Good sockets, good bonus, good stats, easily obtainable.

Shoulders

Poison Protocol Pauldrons - Omnotron Defense System*

Stormrider's Spaulders - Tier 11

The tier 11 has a decent (at best) socket bonus... but it just doesn't outweigh all that nasty haste it has on it.

Belt

Belt of Nefarious Whispers - Leatherworking

Dispersing Belt - Twilight Ascendant Council

This is a tough call. The Dispersing Belt has a socket, whereas the crafted belt doesn't, but the crafted belt has better secondary stats. Take whichever one you like, really.

Bracers

Parasitic Bands - Magmaw

Well.... these are the only 359 leather agility wrists.... Guess what your BiS is? (Ugh.. i'm pretty disgusted about that, honestly). At least they're good statistically.

Neck

Don Rodrigo's Fabulous Necklace - BoE world drop

Necklace of Strife - Valiona & Theralion

There's almost no statistical difference between the two. DRFN edges out the other by way of having more mastery, but it's REALLY a tossup, because you can reforge more off of the Necklace of Strife into dodge.

Ring

Hornet-Sting Band - Valor Point vendor (new in patch 4.0.6)

Gilnean Ring of Ruination - BoE world drop

Lightning Conductor Band - Omnotron Defense System*

Signet of the Elder Council - Earthen Ring Revered*

You can kind of go any way with these three. I starred the two that I did because they kind of have the best combination of stats, overall. Mastery, Crit, and Hit. Haste on the rep ring, of course, will be reforged into oblivion.

Weapons

Malevolence - Halfus Wyrmbreaker*

Vicious Gladiator's Pike - PvP

Vicious Gladiator's Staff - PvP

I'm not one to advocate pvp gear in pve content, but there's really SO few choices for 359 gear. Again, i'm completely disgusted at the lack of options. Obviously, if you can get the drop from Halfus, have at it. Shame that resilience can't be reforged off of gear.

Trinkets (i'm going to rank these in order from best to worst IMO)

Symbiotic Worm - Magmaw

Vial of Stolen Memories - Valiona & Theralion

Bedrock Talisman - Valor Point vendor

DMC Earthquake - Stones deck

Mirror of Broken Images - Baradin's Wardens/Hellscream's Reach exalted

Hoo boy.. Trinkets are a bit more titchy than other slots, so let me give a brief rundown of why I ranked these like I did. I'm like trinkets with stamina on them for tanks. I'm also a big fan of passive or proc trinkets, over on-use trinkets. (Thus, Symbiotic Worm > Vial of Stolen Memories). Bedrock Talisman seems a bit underbudget with the bonus armor it grants, but the dodge proc is pretty nice. The Darkmoon card has a really nice dodge bonus, but an on-use battlemaster's trinket? And ONLY 11.5k health, at that? Really? Not worth the cash. Mirror of Broken Images will take a long time to grind, it gives mastery, which isn't bad, but not as good as dodge, and offers a spell-resist usage that's situational at best. It really isn't worth the time, or BH/HR marks, you'd spend on it.

Also, don't forget that my guild, Stands in Bad, is recruiting! See my previous post for details.