As I return to World of Warcraft and delve into the new world of Northrend I can't help but explore the gear options for level 80 end game.  It was always something to be excited about, something to look forward to in TBC.  Knowing that someday you will have those wicked glowing shoulder pieces, the ridiculously awesome helmets.

I look through the line-up in the Lich King end-game raids and I can't say I'm impressed.  About 90 percent of the plate shoulders are the same model as the Tundra Pauldrons otherwise known as the Chiseled Stalagmite Pauldrons or "Those cool shoulders from The Nexus!"  Don't worry you won't miss them, in fact you will find about 10 different variations of them that only change casually in tint and accents.

In fact the only gear that seems to meet expectations are shields and weapons and even then they are a bit stale when compared to the often flambouyant Burning Crusade gear.

Obviously the primary focus when it comes to equipment are whether or not the statistics upon said piece of gear is superior to whatever you have on at the time.  But, at the same time you have to wonder why so little time went into developing the equipment in Lich King when compared to the fairly robust options we received with TBC.

At a whopping level 72 I look pretty great, and admitedly don't have enough experience to say this with 100 percent confidence being put behind my words.  But I have atlasloot like the rest of you, and I can't say I'm happy with what I have to look forward to.  At least not when it comes to plate gear as I can't say I went too in depth with caster or lower armor sets (leather, mail, etc).  I can say most of the guns I've seen look pretty similar to one another and some of them even mimic low level Outlands designs (same model, different color).

Anyway...