as a solo-player, how am i supposed to get to the ilevel i need for this fated-raid nonsense? i want my shot at that slime-cat!
…btw, just to clarify, i’m not asking to start an arguement or whatever, i’m genuinely asking. i have NO idea how i’m supposed to get the gear needed for this on my own.
What my friends have done is run a bunch of +2 keys for gear and valor (to upgrade that gear). You can advertise your +2, have it fill fast with people looking for valor, and force deplete it back down to rinse repeat. We did this for a friend who has motor control problems and M+ just isn’t the vibe past +5.
Otherwise you can try to get really lucky in LFR, but it’s a lot harder to gear in there.
i’m about to sound like an idiot, but uh…
your gonna have to walk that back a bit there, i have no idea what you just said, i don’t do mythic+ stuff. so all that stuff you just said? went right over my head.
So, as a solo player (without any group content) I think your next step is purple choral gear in ZM, which I think starts around 233 and scales upwards towards 256/264. You get that from ZM dailies and some drops from rares and the weekly chest. While doing this, gather sandworn relics to by gear from the relic guy, then go to the forge and use cosmic whatever to turn that into 246 (raid finder I think?) tier gear.
You can use this method to supplement any gear you get from group activities.
oh mate, if u need help with mythics or something i’ll bring you along to a couple of 0s i think that drops like 260s
btag = Aud#11923
just hit me up when im online
+2 is the lowest a key can go, and you can get one from the NPC key trader by the vault. Valor is needed to upgrade M+ gear and it is currently uncapped. Lots of people want easy valor, so low keys fill fast (they’re easy, and aren’t front loaded with a bunch of affixes to slow you down).
If your key goes above a level you are comfortable with you can go in solo, put it in, leave, and it “depletes” to a lower level.
Mythic Plus is the most efficient way to get gear for your time, but be advised the ilvl you can upgrade to is dependent upon your M+ score (which you acquire by completing higher and different keys).
The standard process for most MMOs is gearing up in dungeons before doing raids.
If you’ve never set foot in a dungeon and want to get some experience in general, you can auto-queue into heroics, which drop 249 (I think?) gear. Then there are mythic dungeons which require forming/joining a group manually and 262 gear.
Once your item level is high enough to queue for it, then there is also the LFR raids you can join automatically.
man… so my options are a) do mythic+ which based on horror-stories i’ve read…shudder…
or do lfr, and pray to rng-esus that something useful drops.
thank you, i am quite aware. i’ve been playing since MoP, i just don’t do mythic+ stuff since i’ve heard so many bad things about it. also i heard they were lowering the amount of loot in raids this expansion so… i might be screwed…
frick my life…
I mean yeah there’s really no easy answer here where you are gonna go straight from solo play only to doing the normal raid.
If you put a lot of time into ZM and max out the cypher gear levels, and maybe put the time into making yourself a couple legendaries you could get close. But you’d have to get super lucky to get an invite when there’s 30 other people with better gear also applying.
Don’t be scared. It’s a +2. Horror stories rarely happen.
Especially right now. You’re making the group, you can spam your own +2 key over and over, and reset each successful key back to level 2. It’ll be basically trivially easy.
More importantly, tons of high item level players are running +2s right now.
If you need a (bad) tank or a (decent) healer I’m happy to help you out.
GD makes M+ sound a lot worse than it actually is, honestly. We are on the same server, and would be down to smash keys with you 
I think I’m pretty much done with getting valor now, but someone mentioned above listing your +2 through +10 (or higher really) keys as “bonus valor” (as long as they actually are giving bonus valor)…and higher ilvl folks just join, smash the dungeon with you, normally trade any extra gear to any undergeared folks in the party, etc. Then you go lower your key to the appropriate level, and relist.
I think my season valor total is around 21,000 so far…so needless to say I’ve done quite a few of these runs helping people (while helping myself)…and it’s always a pleasant experience…and no one expects the undergeared person to be doing much of anything really.
Not the most trustworthy source, lol.
Give it a shot, see how you like it, and if you honestly don’t know an encounter just ask. What’s the worst that could happen? Some random is mean and leaves? Or you leave? Big whoop – at least you’d have tried it 
(not that I encourage leaving just because someone is a jerk if the run is doable within a reasonable amount of time).
Zereth Mortis gear
You need to stop letting these “horror stories” scare you. Just try it.
Switch to healer spec and form the raid group yourself and hide in crowd just spam healing lol
You’re playing solo… and want to do content that isn’t solo.
Buy BoEs.
Hello, I see you posted a thread about gear. I don’t understand what the issue is, gearing in this game is incredibly straightforward and since it’s near the end of the expansion, incredibly fast! One of my characters went up nearly 60 item levels in like 3 days! Generally speaking, if you want gear, you actually have to play the game!
Thanks for your post and have a great day!
Did you just buy 226 gear and thats it? like you done any world bosses or done any quest in ZM?
PvP Conquest gear starts at 275, and you can use that one thing in ZM to change relevant slots (boots, legs, chest, shoulders, head) into tier gear.
Honor gear scales up to 268 with upgrades.
You can buy BOE epics.
You need to get your legendary gear. Just completing the ZM quest chain will get you your legendary belt, you have one other slot for legendary gear.
Although there’s a not insignificant population of players in M+ who are the absolute scum of the Earth, it’s the exception, not the rule. Just advertise a newbie-friendly group or join one.
When in doubt, try being social.