Five is the new eight
by Mike Schramm 
Sep 13th 2007 at 5:30PM
Bornakk has pretty much laid down the law. Eight piece armor sets are dead as we know them. Despite Claymore from Medivh's call to bring them back, Blizzard is happy with the way the five piece tier sets are working out, and that's the way they're planning to keep it.Kind of a shame, because as Claymore says, seeing someone with a full eight piece set was pretty epic. It took a lot to pick up every since piece, and some of the eight piece bonuses were pretty cool for their time. But just like the 40 man raids, there were lots of problems with eight piece sets as well. I never completed mine, just because my guild had moved on from where the gear was dropping before I was able to pick all the pieces up. And five piece sets give a lot more options as to customization-- with the extra, non-set pieces, players can choose to focus on a certain stat over others, which couldn't be done with the full eight piece sets.
So in general, it's a good move-- bigger is not always better. Nostalgics may long for the days of Bloodfang and Giantstalker, but five piece armor sets are here to stay.
Filed under: Items, Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Raiding
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Vaelin Sep 13th 2007 7:07PM
The only problem I have with the 5-piece sets is that visually, you always lack matching boots. I realize that for many sets there are boots/bracers that are skinned to match the sets, but usually only one stat setup. For example, the boots/bracers/belt that match Crystalforge armor have healing stats - hardly a good match for a Prot or Ret Paladin.
I'd like to see a compromise reached, and future sets composed of 6 pieces - helm, chest, gloves, pants, shoulders, and boots - with all 6 pieces available in the various "off-spec" versions as well.
draeth Sep 13th 2007 5:43PM
@1 I agree!
Urthona Sep 13th 2007 6:09PM
Uhm guys? Boots of Valiance = Tier 4 boots.
Anyone can see that Blizzard designed FULL dungeon sets for classes, and then named the Bracers, Boots, and Belt differently, and hid them at the ends of Heroics as epics.
Fer instance:
Barkchip Boots, Black Stalker Heroic, Druid D3
Tree-Mender's Belt, Vazruden and Nazan Heroic, Druid D3
Forestheart Bracers, Warchief Kargath Bladefist Heroic, Druid D3
Fenix Sep 13th 2007 6:10PM
@1&2 Yeah that's the most irritating thing about the 5piece sets. Add boots & it's all good - belt & bracers aren't so important!
Dave Sep 13th 2007 6:13PM
My wish, is for 8-piece "sets", but with the bonuses capping at 4 pieces, that way you can mix/match two sets of armor for a semi-customizeable look.
Tokens could be good for two different pieces rather than just a single piece. Then you could get the helm/cloak/boots/chest of one set, and the wrist/waist/legs/shoulders from another set or mix and match as you like or as the stats work out or whatever. It'd still take roughly the same amount of work, and if people wanted the full suit they could get it with a bit more effort. You could get some multi-toned armor going on there too, if you had perhaps 4 pieces of a tanking set combined with 4 pieces of a DPS set when they're both the same style but different shadings.
of course I can see the whiners saying that it'd mean they'd have to design all the armor to look good with the previous set, but it's not like people wait until they get their full set of the next tier of armor to start upgrading parts, they just look a little silly while they're in transition. No big deal IMO.
Oblivion Sep 13th 2007 6:24PM
The PvP gear seems to match. You get your 5 pieces (equivalent to tier X raid gear) from spending arena points, and you get the matching boots and belt from spending honor/battle ground points. I'm fine with that system. It does suck that matching boots and belts for raiders aren't as easy to come by.
I still think it would be nice for Blizzard to throw in a bunch of dyes so you could change the color of your armor. A handful of different color schemes wouldn't be too hard to program, would it?
ASP Sep 13th 2007 6:44PM
8 pieces to me was a pain in the old game because it meant you farmed a raid instance way longer than you needed to, in order to allow some people the opportunity to complete their sets.
Lenny Sep 13th 2007 6:44PM
The only thing I find amiss with the new sets is that for the Mages each set only caters to one style of play. Since we have different specs we should have different choices like most other classes who get tier tokens. I think the only set that's good for anyone is the Tier 6, but I have no hopes of seeing that unless the next expansion will not be out till 2010.
-Lenny
Fletch Sep 13th 2007 7:35PM
I kind of wish they'd at least make them six piece sets and add the boots on. They look kind of bad without the boots. And just like now, you wouldn't need to have the entire set to get the final set bonus, so you could still make choices about your gear.
Slayblaze Sep 13th 2007 7:53PM
Even though it was a pain to collect all 8 pieces in a set, I do wish they would bring that back. It was a true accomplishment and truly a great feeling to finally get that 8th piece. I only was able to get 1 full 8-piece set (Tier 1 Warlock) but I'll never shard it...I have the feeling that it *means something* even though yeah its just a game and all.
Melenor Sep 13th 2007 8:02PM
A pally friend of mine got all 8 Judgment pieces in a single BWL run. Meanwhile, 50 runs later, I was still in 7/8 Netherwind, never even having seen the shoulders drop. NOT ONCE.
Arturis Sep 13th 2007 8:34PM
@Melenor
Sorry to say, your friend deceived you. There is no way he could have gotten all 8 pieces of Judgment in one BWL run, especially because certain pieces do not drop in BWL. The Helm drops from Onyxia, and the Pants drop in MC.
ASP Sep 13th 2007 10:50PM
@11 Pwned lol...
Argent Sep 14th 2007 12:59AM
@8 -- pretty sure some of the crafted pattern items match the T5 gear in appearance. so prot paladins can craft their boots and belt to match T5 if need be (but ret paladins are of course SoL.)
i personally rather like the current 5 piece sets, but wouldn't mind if they supplemented some of the 5 piece sets with 3 piece sets for the other slots. another different wrinkle might be having sets that cover different gear slots and not just the same 5 every time (would make set mixing easier.)
Lucas Sep 14th 2007 3:46AM
If they should do this, they should make Epic set that work with Epic sets like the spellstrike set which works well with the Frozen/spell - tailorsets.
That way it would be possible to make a set bonus like.
Basic 5 Set - Tier. aka "Tier set of doom"
2: something nice.
4: Something REally good.
6: only if you have the "Illidari Caster set" or "Ashtongues blaster kit" : something really awesome.
And then have the 2 sets.
"Illidary Caster regalia" and "Asthongue Blaster kit"
- combines with the Tier set of doom,
2: Bonus : something not that bad.
6: Bonus : something really awesome. combines with the "Tier set of doom" and the "Cenerion Wrathcannon" - set
If you get my idea, that way one would put together different sets of gear, and collect more, and get a more epic feeling - and still aim for the 7 set, or 8 or what ever...
//Tallens'out
Troy Gates Sep 14th 2007 2:34PM
I am glad they moved away from the 8 piece sets. It made you pass on upgrades. When you had 8/8 you never wanted to break it for a better, single piece of gear.
For example, 8/8 Dragonstalker was very hard to let go to start replacing with Striker's Garb. Losing the DS proc for a slight increase in stats was hard to do. I ended up collecting 3 pieces of Striker's before I used them.
Now you can have some tier gear mixed with other gear and upgrades are easy decisions.
Jasperwind Sep 17th 2007 12:15PM
Will the current 8 piece sets remain in the game? I just started working on my rogue dungeon set 1 (Shadowcraft). Is it pointless to try to get the rest of the set now?
Metaphyzxx Sep 19th 2007 7:56AM
Personally, I'd like to see set combinations. They've had 3 piece sets before, work with the 5 piece set, and have a combination bonus available with certain 3 piece sets... or at least make more of them, with stackable set bonuses. Maybe have the 3 piece sets not class locked like the 5 piece sets, and have THOSE possess the additional off-spec bonuses