(WoW) Mo' gear!
With 3.3 all but assured to be released tomorrow, I'm taking a look at what loot to expect down the line. There's a lot of stuff to be sure. The new 5-man dungeons drop gear that's on par with 10-man Ulduar on normal and higher on heroic, so making a push to get through them looks like the new way to gear up. And, of course, the emblems are shifting, so EoTs will be much easier to gain. Whee!
From 5-man dungeons (232 heroic, 219 normal):
Rimefang's Claw: 232. This will likely become my new tank weapon for a good long while. It actually isn't a huge upgrade over the Peacekeeper Blade I have now, but it's enough of one to want. And it looks less... gnomishly mechanical. ;)
Fossilized Ammonite Choker: 232. This neckpiece looks pretty good, and should likely replace my 226 one, even if I think it means losing some hit.
Ick's Rotting Thumb: 232. Viable avoidance trinket I suppose. It may make my Valor Medal of the First War obsolete, but it doesn't necessarily beat dual brewmaster trinkets.
Black Spire Sabatons: 232. Kinda sad to be thinking of upgrading the boots that saw me through a majority of the raiding we've done, but that time always comes eventually.
Second Helm of the Executioner: 232. It's got block rating, which is actually one of my least favorite tanking stats, though it has its place. This doesn't feel like a "long term" upgrade to me, with some parallel options from emblems, even a 245 option, I think.
Shoulderplates of Frozen Blood: 232. Another drop that's parallel to tier 9 available for emblems, and exceeded by other earnable options, so a temporary upgrade at best.
Splintered Door of the Citadel: 219. Hmm. This is very close to my recently-acquired Shieldwall of the Breaker. It's less freaky-looking, but I'm not sure if that's enough to switch.
Eerie Runeblade Polisher: 219. I want to grab this up as a replacement for my Emblem-bought cloak and say "finally!" Yet, it's not astoundingly better or anything. Slightly more avoidance, but less hit. Possible upgrade, at least.
From a big quest line:
Quel'Delar, Might of the Faithful: 251, melee DPS blade. Basically, this will be my excuse for doing the questline, and I'll probably have to wait until the hilt drops and no one else needs it anymore, as it would only be useful in my off-spec. No tank version, which is sad.
Emblems of Frost:
So you get 2 for doing your first random LFG dungeon in a day. It looks like you get 2 for the first time you complete each of the new 5-man dungeons (or rather the quest associated with it). You get 5 for completing a weekly raid kill-a-specific-boss quest. The Naxx/Ulduar ones look doable. We know we can do Sarth. Malygos is probably doable, though we haven't yet. And the TotC and Icecrown raid ones are... maybes.
Bust a move and you could end up with something like 21 in the first week, without setting foot in the Icecrown raid. That's not very likely, though.
And it looks like 50 for a cloak, 60 or 95 for various armor pieces and trinkets. So it appears that'll be a while in coming.
Emblems of Triumph:
With these easier to get, I can deck out in tier 9 and related gear, so there's plenty of upgrades to be found there.
Other:
Of course, there's plenty of nice raid drops, and the Ashen Verdict patterns, but I don't think I'm going to set my eye on those just yet. We'll see how the raiding continues, and go from there.
From 5-man dungeons (232 heroic, 219 normal):
Rimefang's Claw: 232. This will likely become my new tank weapon for a good long while. It actually isn't a huge upgrade over the Peacekeeper Blade I have now, but it's enough of one to want. And it looks less... gnomishly mechanical. ;)
Fossilized Ammonite Choker: 232. This neckpiece looks pretty good, and should likely replace my 226 one, even if I think it means losing some hit.
Ick's Rotting Thumb: 232. Viable avoidance trinket I suppose. It may make my Valor Medal of the First War obsolete, but it doesn't necessarily beat dual brewmaster trinkets.
Black Spire Sabatons: 232. Kinda sad to be thinking of upgrading the boots that saw me through a majority of the raiding we've done, but that time always comes eventually.
Second Helm of the Executioner: 232. It's got block rating, which is actually one of my least favorite tanking stats, though it has its place. This doesn't feel like a "long term" upgrade to me, with some parallel options from emblems, even a 245 option, I think.
Shoulderplates of Frozen Blood: 232. Another drop that's parallel to tier 9 available for emblems, and exceeded by other earnable options, so a temporary upgrade at best.
Splintered Door of the Citadel: 219. Hmm. This is very close to my recently-acquired Shieldwall of the Breaker. It's less freaky-looking, but I'm not sure if that's enough to switch.
Eerie Runeblade Polisher: 219. I want to grab this up as a replacement for my Emblem-bought cloak and say "finally!" Yet, it's not astoundingly better or anything. Slightly more avoidance, but less hit. Possible upgrade, at least.
From a big quest line:
Quel'Delar, Might of the Faithful: 251, melee DPS blade. Basically, this will be my excuse for doing the questline, and I'll probably have to wait until the hilt drops and no one else needs it anymore, as it would only be useful in my off-spec. No tank version, which is sad.
Emblems of Frost:
So you get 2 for doing your first random LFG dungeon in a day. It looks like you get 2 for the first time you complete each of the new 5-man dungeons (or rather the quest associated with it). You get 5 for completing a weekly raid kill-a-specific-boss quest. The Naxx/Ulduar ones look doable. We know we can do Sarth. Malygos is probably doable, though we haven't yet. And the TotC and Icecrown raid ones are... maybes.
Bust a move and you could end up with something like 21 in the first week, without setting foot in the Icecrown raid. That's not very likely, though.
And it looks like 50 for a cloak, 60 or 95 for various armor pieces and trinkets. So it appears that'll be a while in coming.
Emblems of Triumph:
With these easier to get, I can deck out in tier 9 and related gear, so there's plenty of upgrades to be found there.
Other:
Of course, there's plenty of nice raid drops, and the Ashen Verdict patterns, but I don't think I'm going to set my eye on those just yet. We'll see how the raiding continues, and go from there.
Shoulda made the gear as html hotlinks for ease of perusal (MMO-Champion's page for them at least, since I know they're not officially in the databases of WoWhead or Thottbot and the like) Hmm. Which to get first? the ilvl219 gear or the t9 from EoT? I'm leaning more towards fully decked out in t9 and breaking the drops in normal mode ICC 5-mans. (The way I do for Trial) Heroic ICC offers potential upgrade/changing out-ness. We'll have to see how we even do in those three dungeons, supposedly even being in ilvl200 gear is too low.
ReplyDeleteAdmittedly, I was lazy with the linking. They are in the WoWhead PTR database. There's not a lot of 219 gear I'm really seriously looking at. They couple that I've listed are meh-ish. Most of what I'm expecting to keep is dropping from at least the heroics, and even those are parallel to tier 9 and inferior to the few 245 pieces you can get from just EoTs. Basically, it's becoming easier to gear up to the level some of us are at, but we're not looking at a huge immediate boost ourselves... just a chance to finish out what we have and start reaching a little for the higher stuff (I think the Ashen Verdict craftables are BOE, making them available but expensive after a little while).
ReplyDeleteJust reminds me of FFXI, when you talk about this stuff. See, Bliz has the right idea. When you release NEW stuff, make the OLD stuff easier to get so people can play. See: play. Game. Square Enix hasn't made the stuff from the original install, day one, any easier to get. They just keep adding more stuff at endgame that's nigh impossible. Why I'll never go back anymore, Squeenix has lost my faith. Bliz, you've got smart folk. I salute ye.
ReplyDelete