Since hitting 70, I’ve been working furiously at getting some good gear. The quest greens and blues that I had just weren’t going to stand up to the test of PVP.

I scraped together enough rep for three pieces of the Stalker’s Chain Battlegear set - Stalker’s Chain Gauntlets, Stalker’s Chain Helm, and Stalker’s Chain Leggings. Hopefully, I’ll get enough rep next weekend for the chest and shoulder pieces, completing the set.

With my honor, I plan to upgrade the other slots - belt, boots, wrists, rings, necklace, and trinket. In the meantime, there’s one slot that is severely lacking - my ranged weapon.

Quest/Rep Blues

When I hit level 70, I was still using the Nesingwary gun - Hemet’s Elekk Gun. It was great at the time, but the 59.2 DPS could be vastly improved, and it would be nice to have some stats on it as well as raw damage output.

So what are our potential upgrades that are easily available?

Bloodwarder’s Rifle is a slight upgrade. A couple extra DPS and some stamina on it as well. This is a reward from a Shadowmoon Valley quest chain culminating in Akama’s Promise.

Consortium Blaster is a larger upgrade. A decent DPS boost and some decent stamina. However, the speed is a bit too quick for my taste. This would be close to ideal in a raiding situation, but lends to lower damage in PVP. It’s a rep reward from the Consortium - at Revered - so it’s a possibility but a decent amount of grinding.

Then there’s Ornate Khorium Rifle. Crafted, not too cheaply. Great DPS increase, slow speed and high top end damage. No stamina, though. Great choice, if there’s nothing better.

Skip the Cheap Stuff - A Shiny New Khorium Gun

Despite all of those options, I opted for something a bit heftier - a shiny new Khorium gun. Gyro-Balanced Khorium Destroyer is a big investment, but it’s better than most easily available items and it’s aptly suited for PVP.

First, let’s take a look at the stats.

75.5 DPS is top notch. That’s higher than anything outside of a raid instance (you’ll find slightly better ones in Kara/Zul Aman). The relatively slow speed also gives you higher burst damage, while being quick enough to not gimp PVE damage too much.

+30 Stamina… drool. Sure, it doesn’t come with typical hunter stats (Agi/AP/Crit), but PVP is a whole new game. The superior DPS makes it better than the blue choices above (a 1 DPS improvement in the gun is equivalent to 14 AP), and the Stamina provides some staying power.

Finally, a yellow socket. Prefect for my taste. I like multi-colored gems, so I’ll probably go with the Crit/Stammy gem.

Is It Worth the Money?

This is a big investment, and it’s worth every penny. On my server, the mats are currently going for about 1000g. I did have an option to buy the gun outright for 900g, but I had already gathered most of the mats.

My motto has always been, “Time is money.” So how much time is that 1000g worth?

About 5-10 hours. If I run through the Shattered Sun dailies on the island, I can make almost 100g in a half hour. Likewise, I can farm herbs and/or trees in Skettis to make 1-200g an hour. I’d say that 10 hours is a conservative estimate for earning the money or gathering the mats for this gun.

Compare that to some alternatives. It would be quicker to do the Akama quest chain, probably, but for a vastly inferior gun. Grinding to Exalted with Thrallmar for Marksman’s Bow would take far longer. Raiding Kara for Wolfslayer Sniper Rifle or Sunfury Bow of the Phoenix would probably take longer as well - unless I was really lucky.

Yup, 10 hours for a first rate purple is a great investment in my eyes. Heck, it’ll take me longer to earn 18k honor for my boots.