World-of-warcraft – “Elite” gear

Ahn'kahet / Gundrak / Drak Tharon Keep has dropped good gear for me as for my Tank/healer specs. You can try Halls of Lightning in Storm Peaks but best go with very well geared party into Ulduar. So, Storm Peaks is perhaps the best. Nax is the entry level raid instance for new 80's. You could also try and get into a Sartharion raid which you can get to via Theramore on Kalimdor. I didn't really do Naxxramas and skipped it. Went back later for the achievements. Lots of fun in a 25 man raid though.

Basically a good raid party that is well geared can help pull you through the instances.

But looking for the rare gear, you can consider trying to get the Tier 9 gear. This guide is not bad either. A lot of good gear can be acquired via badges. Ultimately you are preparing for level 80 raiding in 10 man dungeons. This guide is a good for an idea about which instances to use for raiding, (it is geared for pallies, but it's good for any class preparing for raids.).

In Cataclysm, you're going to have two chief contenders, Heartsong and Hurricane.

Heartsong increases your Spirit, and Hurricane increases your haste rating. Given the climate of PvP, I think that Hurricane will be situationally better, simply because haste will always be useful, while you're unlikely to be guaranteed a situation to make full use of the spirit proc every time.

On the otherhand, the material requirements of Hurricane are greater, so if you are strapped for cash, you might want Heartsong in the meantime (especially if you're using the same weapon to raid with, not unlikely when Cataclysm first releases)

Heartsong

Hurricane