Since we’re only raising the level cap to 85 in Cataclysm, one of the goals is to pack as much content and gameplay as possible into the new 78-85 zones and dungeons. We don’t want the leveling experience from 80-85 to feel as if it’s only half of the content we’ve provided in the last two expansions. So, with that comes more substantial scaling of items and character power with each level gained. A level-82 character should feel significantly more powerful than a level-80 character, for example. There are some epic and legendary items from Wrath of the Lich King raid content which may take a while to replace, but chances are most of your gear will be replaced by the time you start running level-85 normal 5-player dungeons.
The first rule of thumb, as usual, is that you’ll probably be focused on the stats most important to your class. If you’re, say, an Unholy death knight, you probably won’t be replacing items until the strength on the new gear outweighs the strength on what is currently equipped, even with gems and enchants considered. By the time this occurs you’ll also likely be incorporating the benefits of Mastery rating.
[...] The concept is very much the same as the previous two expansions. We expect players leveling new characters in BoA gear, questing greens and maybe even some dungeon blues to be able to head into either of the first two Cataclysm zones at level 78 and do just fine. If you’re wearing mostly quest-reward items, you can expect to replace them very quickly in Vashj’ir or Mount Hyjal. (Source)
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