The Spirit Realm

Looking to upgrade my gear either in the bazaar (30k atm), or by drops (great & helpful guild). Also looking to start getting ready for the future, so some suggestions on future upgrades are welcome as well.

Thanks!

Get a proper decent shield , not just something that can be held in the secondary. Shield AC is very important, it raises the SoftCap by it's AC.

A very rough approximation of your effective AC is

Effective AC = (Full AC up to Softcap) + (AC above Softcap) / 5

The SoftCap AC = (Class/Level SoftCap AC + Shield AC).
(Class/Level Softcap AC is something like 900 for a lvl 60 shaman with no AA)

In modern gear (which you have) your AC is normally above the softcap, and so every point of AC on your shield slot is worth about 5 points of AC worn elsewhere. i.e. a 50AC shield is like adding 250AC to the rest of your armour slots

The shield from Dain1 rots all the time and has great AC for the small amount of time required to get it.

My SK in my sig below is using it with a +10ac aug in it quest from GoruKar Mesa (Scout Madu line). You could also throw the Acrylia Caverns zonewide hotzone aug in it.

I can't run dains

Hmm here are a couple alternatives then:

http://lucy.allakhazam.com/item.html?id=46359 off a named Centaur in Goru Mesa

http://lucy.allakhazam.com/item.html?id=46186 off a named in Karnors

Both should be decently cheap in the baz, or easily farmable if you have the expansions

Ended up picking up

Anything else I should look for?

Get the Dain shield when you buy the new expansion.

Noggle takes ages to level, or at least did when I used it. I had one from 55 - 63 (ish? It's been awhile...) and it gained something like 108% during that time. Take the AC and all the other stats from the dain and be happy.

noggle sheild, or

easy to get and very nice focus for a shamy, I got it for my baby .

Doh

I think you should get a full suit of Linked Energeiac Chain armor, all 80/80 gear with descent AC and a bunch of usefull focus effects.

Linked Energeiac Chain Coif
Slot: HEAD
Purity: 40
AC: 36
Focus Effect: Spell Haste IV
STR: +5 DEX: +5 STA: +5 CHA: +5 WIS: +5 INT: +5
AGI: +5 HP: +80 MANA: +80 Endurance: +80
SV FIRE: +4 SV DISEASE: +4 SV COLD: +4 SV MAGIC: +4
SV POISON: +4
Recommended level of 60
Required level of 55

Linked Energeiac Chain Coat
MAGIC ITEM ATTUNEABLE INFUSIBLE
Slot: CHEST
Purity: 40
AC: 50
Focus Effect: Mana Preservation IV
STR: +5 DEX: +5 STA: +5 CHA: +5 WIS: +5 INT: +5
AGI: +5 HP: +80 MANA: +80 Endurance: +80
SV FIRE: +4 SV DISEASE: +4 SV COLD: +4 SV MAGIC: +4
SV POISON: +4

Linked Energeiac Chain Gauntlets
MAGIC ITEM ATTUNEABLE INFUSIBLE
Slot: HANDS
Purity: 40
AC: 27
Focus Effect: Extended Range IV
STR: +5 DEX: +5 STA: +5 CHA: +5 WIS: +5 INT: +5
AGI: +5 HP: +80 MANA: +80 Endurance: +80
SV FIRE: +4 SV DISEASE: +4 SV COLD: +4 SV MAGIC: +4
SV POISON: +4

Linked Energeiac Chain Leggings
MAGIC ITEM ATTUNEABLE INFUSIBLE
Slot: LEGS
Purity: 40
AC: 42
Focus Effect: Improved Damage IV
STR: +5 DEX: +5 STA: +5 CHA: +5 WIS: +5 INT: +5
AGI: +5 HP: +80 MANA: +80 Endurance: +80
SV FIRE: +4 SV DISEASE: +4 SV COLD: +4 SV MAGIC: +4
SV POISON: +4

What is the direct effect of a high AC?

No, Bruknek. Incremental ac is worth less as you get higher, but ac is never worthless. Illustration: Banded Bracer (6ac) is more better than Cloth Wristband (1ac) to a level 1 than Spirit Blessed Wristguard(35ac) is better than Fabled Dragon Hero Bracer (27ac). At low AC, each point of AC matters more. At high ac, each point matters less, but still matters.