Is the Badge of justice reward system broken?

Badge of justice was introduced in the expansion last year. During the year, Blizzard staff repeatedly said that they are satisfied with the system and will expand it.

They originally drop from bosses in Outland instance with heroic difficulty.
In order to enter heroic instances, individual player requires heroic key available at revered reputation for a certain faction.
In patch 2.3, the heroic key requirement is lowered to honored reputation. In addition, all bosses in Karazhan and Zul'Amen also drop them (two badges each). Daily quests in heroic instances also give two badges as reward.
As of patch 2.4, all raid bosses drops badge of justice also.
Total number of badges dropped per instance

For a certain number of badges, one can trade in for level 70 epic items. It works like a PvE equivalent to honor points and battleground marks. Or even some kind of in-game DKP.
Before patch 2.3, one can buy weapons, shields, offhands, rings, trinkets, cloaks, relics, and Fire Resistance gear. They are item level 110/115, which are similar to heroics and tier-4 instances.
Wrist, head, foot and hand slot items, as well as additional rings, cloaks and relics are added in patch 2.3. They are item level 128/133, which are superior to tier-4 but marginally inferior to tier-5.
In patch 2.4, they can also be used to purchase new equipment similar to tier-6 levels as well as epic gems. They are item level 141/146, which are basically on a par with tier-6 items.

Is the system broken?
When Maiden drop as many badges as Vashj or Illidan, I don't know what other word is better than "broken". Insane? Crazy? Or someone in Blizzard failed to do the math?

Comparing it with the PvP system, you get a static +10 in rating for every win in arena, regardless of the opponent team's rating. Does it sound fair?

When patch 2.4 hits, it won't surprise me to see players with heroic/Karazhan gear running with their new epic weapon, which is on a par with BT/MH drops.
If the season 3 arena weapon are so good that it requires personal rating to acquire, I don't think it makes sense to let a heroic and Karazhan player get a BT-level staff.

Can that be fixed?
Talking to (ranting with) a guildmate last night, we both think that some limitations have to be there in order to stop this madness.

One suggestion is to have different types of badges. Heroic and T4 instances would be one type. T5 instance can be another type and T6 instance is the third type. Then one can buy gear of the same level as where the badges are obtained.

Another suggestion is to link them with reputation. For example, Violet Eye revered to unlock the patch 2.3 items and Ashtongue Deathsworn revered for patch 2.4 items.

Third suggestion is to simply increase the number of badges drop in tier-5 and tier-6 instances. For example, TK and SSC will be 4 badges each boss whereas MH and BT bosses will drop 6 badges each. Last bosses in raid instances will always drop 1.5 times more badges, i.e. 6 badges from Kael'thas and Vashj whereas 9 badges from Achimonde and Illidan. (Meaning that a full TK will give 18 badges, full SSC 26 badges, full MH 33 badges and full BT 57 badges.)

I love badges and I'm not against making it easier for causal players to upgrade their gear. But seriously, Illidan drops as many badges as Maiden, seriously!

New badges items

New Badge of Justice reward has been revealed on Wowhead. More badge farming is needed.

Let's compared them with the tier-6 sets:

Balance
Barbed Gloves of the Sage (75 BoJ) VS Thunderheart Handsguards
-2 spell damage, -21 spell crit, +3 spell hit, -2 stamina, same intellect, +3 spirit, -35 armor, same socket. Recommended.

Crystalwind Leggings (100 BoJ) VS Thunderheart Pants
-1 spell damage (or +1 incl. socket bonus), +7 spell crit, -20 spell hit, -3 stamina, -8 intellect, +5 spirit, +13 armor, +1 yellow socket. Highly recommended.

Embrace of Starlight (100 BoJ) VS Thunderheart Vest
-2 spell damage (or -7 incl. socket bonus), +11 spell crit, -17 spell hit, -8 stamina, -2 intellect, -1 spirit, same armor, 1 red vs 1 yellow & 2 blue sockets. Highly recommended, considering the difficulty to get a token.

Fused Nethergon Band (60 BoJ) is a nice upgrade for Ashyen's Gift. For 3 stamina, you get 7 more spell hit rating, 12 spell damage and 19 intellect. Highly recommended.

To be continued.

Druid items on Patch 2.3 (Feral)

Previously I discussed about the new items for druid from patch 2.3, here I continue with new the feral tanking gear.

There are only four new feral tanking items from the patch, and in my opinion one should go for all.

Chest: Vestments of hibernation gives strength and agility but you would lose the defense rating from Heavy Clefthoof Vest.
Feet: If you're a leatherworker, it is an imperative to make a pair of Boots of Natural Grace. Else, an upgrade from Heavy Clefthoof Boots or Zierhut's Lost Treads would be Footwraps of Wild Encroachment.
Hands: If you can't lay hand on the tier 4 gloves, Sorry, try out another department, ask the Arena goblin.
Head: Same as hands, if you didn't have luck for the tier 4 head, keep trying. Cowl of Beastly Rage is very nice but that's also 50 badges you can use for other parts.
Legs: Same as hands. :(
Shoulders: same as hands, again. :((
Waist: If you can find a leatherworker to make you a Belt of Natural Power, then you can save 60 badges for Waistguard of the Great Beast.
Wrist: Band of the Swift Paw, the best you can find from the PvE loots.

Blizzard really need to give druid tanks more itemizations. In summary, grind arena gear and heroics/Kara/ZA for BoJ, then save your DKP for the tier tokens.

Druid items on PTR 2.3

Looking through the new leather items that A'dal are selling on patch test realm, I can only confirmed that the items are between tier 4 and tier 5. There are:
4 items for chests (75 BoJ),
3 items for feet (60 BoJ, missing resto),
2 items for hand (60 BoJ, missing bear-feral and resto),
3 items for head (75 BoJ, missing bear-feral, resto's is a drop),
2 items for legs (75 BoJ, missing bear-feral and balance),
3 items for shoulders (60 BoJ, missing bear-feral),
4 items for waist (60 BoJ), and
4 items for wrist (60 BoJ).

Bear-Feral
Chest	Vestments of Hibernation	75
Feet	Footwraps of Wild Encroachment	60
Waist	Waistguard of the Great Beast	60
Wrist	Band of the Swift Paw	60
	Total	255 BoJ
Cat-Feral/Rogue
Chest	Shadowtooth Trollskin Cuirass	75
Feet	Nyn'jah's Tabi Boots	60
Hand	Trickster's Stickyfingers	60
Head	Grimgrin Faceguard	75
Legs	Shallow-grave Trousers	75
Shoulder	Shoulderpads of Dancing Blades	60
Waist	Bladeangel's Money Belt	60
Wrist	Master Assassin Wristwraps	60
	Total	525 BoJ
Moonkin-Balance
Chest	Blessed Elunite Coverings	75
Feet	Moon-walkers	60
Hand	Grasp of the Moonkin	60
Head	Mask of Primal Power	75
Shoulder	Pauldrons of Tribal Fury	60
Waist	Starfire Waistband	60
Wrist	Armwraps of the Kaldorei Protector	60
	Total	450 BoJ
Tree of Life-Restoration
Chest	Shimmer-pelt Vest	75
Head	Helm of Natural Regeneration (drop from Jan'alai in Zul'Aman)	-
Legs	Pants of Splendid Recovery	75
Shoulder	Gnarled Ironwood Pauldrons	60
Waist	Life-step Belt	60
Wrist	Gargon's Bracers Peaceful Slumber	60
	Total	330 BoJ

This is how the whole set looks like:

Here I compared the balance and resto gear and will get to the feral part soon. These new items are in-between Nordrassil (t5) and Malorne (t4) set. the biggest differences are the reduction of +spirit (no +spirit at all on BoJ moonkin gear) and the increase in Mp5 and spell haste rating for moonkin.

Balance:

Nordrassil Regalia
	Total	Chest	Legs	Head	Hand	Shoulder
Armor	1703	419	367	341	262	314
Stamina	160	36	37	35	26	26
Intellect	150	32	36	28	27	27
Spirit	114	25	26	24	23	16
Spell Damage	244	54	54	54	41	41
Spell Crit	92	17	26	25	24	-
Spell Hit	44	19	-	10	-	15
Mp5	7	-	7	-	-	-
Sockets	1m 3y 4b	1y 2b	1b	1m 1y	-	1y 1b
Malorne Regalia
	Total	Chest	Legs	Head	Hand	Shoulder
Armor	1540	379	332	308	237	284
Stamina	133	28	32	28	24	21
Intellect	142	27	35	29	27	24
Spirit	97	19	18	22	21	17
Spell Damage	195	46	44	36	33	36
Spell Crit	67	-	25	24	18	-
Spell Hit	19	19	-	-	-	-
Mp5	11	-	6	-	-	5
Sockets	1m 1r 3y 2b	2y 1b	-	1m 1r	-	1y 1b
Badge of Justice Reward - Leather spell damage (Ptr 2.3)
	Total	Chest	Legs	Head	Hand	Shoulder	cf. t5	cf. t4
Armor	1287	404		328	252	303	-49	79
Stamina	115	33		33	28	21	-8	14
Intellect	126	34		39	30	23	12	19
Spirit	0	-		-	-	-	-88	-79
Spell Damage	179	54		46	40	39	-11	28
Spell Crit	52	22		30	-	-	-14	10
Spell Hit	26	-		-	-	26	-18	7
Spell haste	25	-		-	25	-	25	20
Mp5	7	7		-	-	-	7	7
Sockets	3r 3y 1b	1y 1r 1b		1r 1y	-	1r 1y

Chest: The tier-chest carries spell hit which is over the BoJ chest.
Legs: There isn't any other choice than tier set, is there? Oh yeah, Arena Reward.
Head: Since the BoJ helm does not have meta socket for my favorite Insightful Earthstorm Diamond, I'd say the tier-helm is better.
Hand: BoJ hand of course. Imba spell haste rating and then spam Starfire. I would sacrifice spell hit on shoulder for the tier set bonus.
Shoulder: The hit rating is great, but it can be traded for the sake of set-bonus. Take both maybe?
Feet:Moon-walkers is a better choice over Naturewarden's Treads for its 23 spell hit. Socketed with Potent Noble Topaz for the spell crit or Glowing Nightseye for the stamina.
Waist: Starfire Waistband and Belt of the Crescent Moon are very hard to choose from. The former is good for mp5 while the latter is good for the spell haste rating.
Wrist:Elunite Empowered Bracers from Black Temple owns Armwraps of the Kaldorei Protector for the spell hit rating. However, the latter is still a nice upgrade from Windhawk Bracers or Bracers of the White Stag. If spell hit rating isn't the issue, then throw in a Runed Ornate Ruby on the Vindicator's Wyrmhide Bracers, then you have the best moonkin bracer in the game, for now.

Restoration:

Nordrassil Raiment
	Total	Chest	Legs	Head	Hand	Shoulder
Armor	1703	419	367	341	262	314
Stamina	165	36	37	40	26	26
Intellect	151	33	36	28	27	27
Spirit	129	31	27	31	24	16
Healing	461	103	101	103	77	77
Mp5	34	-	11	8	9	6
Sockets	1m 1y 6b	3 b	1 b	1m 1y	-	2b
Malorne Raiment
	Total	Chest	Legs	Head	Hand	Shoulder
Armor	1540	379	332	237	308	284
Stamina	127	28	30	22	28	19
Intellect	142	29	38	25	27	23
Spirit	119	25	26	24	25	19
Healing	370	88	84	62	68	68
Mp5	32	-	10	7	10	5
Sockets	1m 1r 1y 4b	1y 2b	-	1m 1r	-	2b
Badge of Justice Reward - Leather healing (Ptr 2.3)
	Total	Chest	Legs	Head	Hand	Shoulder	cf. t5	cf. t4
Armor	1388	404	353	328		303	-53	156
Stamina	118	34	30	33		21	-21	19
Intellect	137	35	40	39		23	113	22
Spirit	60	30	-	30		-	-45	-34
Healing	346	101	86	86		73	-38	49
Mp5	34	12	12	-		10	9	12
Sockets	3r 3y 2b	-	1r 1y 1b	1r 1y 1b		1r 1y

Chest: Mp5 on the BoJ chest over the sockets on t5.
Legs: Mp5 and sockets over the spirit on t5.
Head: Since the BoJ helm does not have meta socket for my favorite Insightful Earthstorm Diamond, I'd say the tier helm is better.
Hand: Tier set is your choice as it's better than Bark-Gloves of Ancient Wisdom.
Shoulder: Mp5 on BoJ shoulder over the spirit on t5.
Feet: No new items from ptr2.3. Enchanted Leather Sandals from Mount Hyjal is not much better than Orca-Hide Boots, except for the stamina.
Waist: Life-step Belt wins over Belt of Primal Majesty, which is a Dreamstate restokin belt with spell haste rating.
Wrist: Grove-Bands of Remulos for the mp5. The latter is useful to support the ToL aura if spirit is lacking in other armor pieces.

Next time I'll take a look at the feral gear.