Bornakk confirms WotLK gear reset
by Mike Schramm 
Jan 14th 2008 at 1:00PM
We've suspected this all along, but now Bornakk has confirmed that yes, when the next expansion comes out, we'll all be turning in our epics for green gear once more. (And via MMO Champion, here's a comic that explains just what you're feeling right now). As he says, the whole point of a subscription MMO is that you need to keep playing to be awesome, and so new, more powerful gear is exactly where Blizzard wants to go.On the one hand, this is actually a great thing. I just finally brought my Hunter alt through Hellfire Peninsula, and it was terrific to run a few quests and all of a sudden have what used to be raid level gear. And as Bornakk says, another reset in Wrath of the Lich King will accomplish the same thing for new players then (including Death Knights, ahem, so if you're reading between the lines as much as I am, that means that Death Knights will probably start before level 70, because they too apparently will be coming through the 70-71 gear transition). It is great to do the starter quests in a new expansion, and quickly get brought up to speed with some of the best gear in the game.
However, now that this is known, does it mean the gear you earn now is worthless? I don't think so-- while the old endgame was almost all about gear, there are so many epics now and so many ways to get them that the game is much more about how you play rather than the gear you're playing for. Sure, we'll all end up stashing our epics away for a green quest reward from the Borean Tundra, but we'll always have Karazhan and Gruul's, right?
Filed under: Items, Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Expansions, Leveling, Death Knight, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Nathan Mar 14th 2008 1:43AM
I think that the raids in WotLK should require some sort of gear pre-requisite in relation to T6.
The same way that you couldn't really raid BWL until you had some gear from MC, and you couldn't really raid Naxx until you had gear from BWL.
I think for the purpose of Raiding, Raid Gear should scale with the player's level. So, for example that you couldn't jump straight into Kara without gear from Naxx, and couldn't jump into Sunwell until you had gear from BT.
It would provide incentives to go through Molten Core, Black Wing Lair etc all the way through to BT and onto WotLK as well as gear that the hardcore raiders could be proud to own and display "Wow, they've got T6, you can't get that without going through all of the Azeroth Raids and Outland Raids".
Yeah, scale raid gear with player level, and make the gear a kind of requisite to be able to accomplish the next level raid instance. Like the old days where if you were UBRS geared you couldn't walk into BWL with a hope in hell of downing a boss.
Matthew Rossi Jan 14th 2008 1:09PM
Raiders will also have the advantage of going into the expansion with better gear. I know that some of my BWL/AQ gear lasted until level 65 - 66, and some of my friends with Naxx gear used it up into Black Morass. If you happened to be tanking with http://www.wowhead.com/?item=23577 then you won't upgrade it before Heroic Mech.
Hyjal/BT guilds, much less Sunwell guilds by the time the expansion comes out, will not be immediately turning in their purples for greens. I know I didn't.
Razhlok Jan 14th 2008 1:09PM
I love how there is this misconception that in TBC raiders were replacing their epics with green quest items once they stepped through the Dark Portal. Two of my level 60 epics were not replaced until Karazhan. Most of my friends didn't start replacing their epic gear until level 68-70.
Verit Jan 14th 2008 1:28PM
Thats not really issue though. The problem is - that all the really high end instances which everyone (but hardly anyone on most realms) wants to get into will be forgotten about while everyone races to get into the new lvl 80 raid instances.
It's kinda sad that Black Temple and Mount Hyjal will never be run again because green drops and quest rewards from the next expansion will have better stats - because its exactly what happened to AQ, MC, BWL, ZG, Naxx etc. No-one runs those instances for anything.
vildand Jan 14th 2008 2:13PM
We do BWL/MC for fun once in a while and Naxx will come around at lvl 80 as I understand it.
hpavc Jan 14th 2008 1:13PM
Sorry, but iLevel increases are not a 'gear reset' last time people spent so long a time at level 60 and the gear incrementally increased over and over that the TBC gear started at or near that top level.
Now at level 70, if they are saying that the gear at 71 will be iLevel 150 + gems + enchants ... thats a serious reset again. But I doubt it will be that dramatic, there is just no need unless they wait another year or so after Sunwell to release the xpac.
Milktub Jan 14th 2008 1:25PM
This time at least people know what to expect. I think the big bummer for people was that they'd just started some progression, or had worked really hard to get level 60 blues, or had just spent 500g at the AH on some world drop ... only to replace it with a quest reward for killing a few orcs.
gd1107 Jan 14th 2008 2:57PM
i fully knew what to expect. they told us, and it was in beta. i lol'ed at all the nubs that worked so hard on those blues.
it was hard to sustain the laughter standing in line for my copy when the xpac came out listening to all the comments on gold being spent on gear and patterns. i went back to my toon w/ 2k gold and was sitting happy knowing my gear would be replaced with easily obtainable greens.
Angael Jan 14th 2008 1:26PM
It's not a big deal...
If it does reset it will only be T4 like they did with T1. That will most likely be replaced asap. However T5 should last till 73-75 and T6 even further.
Remember now, Nihilum wore T3 into Karazhan. And some guilds even wore T3 into Black Temple. (Set bonuses I assume)
My point is either way its not the end of the world. It works out both ways.
Matthew Jan 14th 2008 1:29PM
I'm looking forward to this. I know I really enjoyed getting all the new gear when I finally hit Outland (although it kind of sucks that everyone is wearing the same stuff for a few levels). I guess the only problem is that the enemies will be pretty rough again. Anyone who's tried to go into Outland as a lvl 58 warrior knows what I'm talking about - things are pretty difficult until you get the new gear (although being able to AH stuff from Outland at 57 helps), and you have to do some difficult stuff until you get the new gear.
Still and all, I eagerly await the opportunity to replace everything I own. Too bad that it's probably still six months or more away.
windex Jan 14th 2008 1:30PM
Just like at 60, I will be pretty happy to have very good gear as we start to level... mostly for the pvp/gank fests in overpopulated zones!
I don't think I replaced a single piece of gear until level 65ish. (fully aq40 geared hunter).
nirikun Jan 14th 2008 1:40PM
No, I don't feel that my gear will be worthless when it's replaced. I play the game to have fun and kill bosses. Gear is just a side item. And all the pre-BC raiders I know still look back fondly and proudly at their T2 and T3 sets, remembering all the hard work it took to get them. If you have the wisdom not to mistake the means for the end, and realize that gear, while nice, is just the ticket to more difficulty and more fun, having it replaced doesn't mean much.
I look forward to Wrath. Bring on Arthas, Malygos, and a whole lot of mountainous, snow-filled zones, as well as not-so-snowy zones.
Niurou Jan 14th 2008 1:42PM
At least being a Druid, I won't look completely ass-tastic in my new mismatched gear ;)
Warcloud Jan 14th 2008 1:46PM
Love that comic!
hristo Jan 14th 2008 1:46PM
Look on the bright side...
If you're an enchanter, you can shard your gear to get the mats for upgrading your new greens!
Nogun Jan 14th 2008 2:29PM
Sure, becauce Void Crystals are so useful.
Verit Jan 14th 2008 5:53PM
Nexus crystals anyone? Those are useful now - if your working on naxx attunement.
Aaron Jan 14th 2008 1:47PM
How a warlock will look in WOTLK: http://wow.mmolecule.com/news/ektimages/gg/gg_03_new.jpg ;)
turkeyspit Jan 14th 2008 1:47PM
"It's kinda sad that Black Temple and Mount Hyjal will never be run again because green drops and quest rewards from the next expansion will have better stats - because its exactly what happened to AQ, MC, BWL, ZG, Naxx etc. No-one runs those instances for anything."
While that is true, I think the main reason why people don't run any of those instances is because, in addition to the "now inferior" loot, they are either 40 man Raids, require ridiculous amounts of attunement, or both.
Most raiding guilds have Kara on Farm status, but I don't think anyone will stop running Kara after WoTLK comes out. As for SSL/BT, people might decide to just run it for the content, and not just for the gear.
Grendalsh Jan 14th 2008 6:30PM
As the GM of a guild that's still primarily pre-BC, I can tell you we're pretty sad that we'll probably never see the insides of most of the old Azeroth Raids. Given the progression, this means we'll probably never see the insides of the BC raids once WotLK drops.
We could give a kobold's arse less about the gear drops.. we just want to get the experience ya'll did of running those dungeons, at level, at least once. Getting a complete Tier x, meh. Being able to say I downed Onyxia AT LEVEL, got MC atunement, AQ40, etc etc.. that's what it's all about.