Badges of Justice topple the Black Temple
by Alex Ziebart 
Feb 9th 2008 at 8:30AM
According to Drysc, the Sunwell Plateau will bring new badge loot to a vendor near you. Its too early to say what these items will be, but Drysc says the items are going to be Black Temple quality.This definitely has ups and downs. In my opinion, it really seems like the devs are eager to make their past dungeons obsolete. Dumping the old world raids with the launch of the Burning Crusade made a lot of sense, but rendering most of the pre-Sunwell content obsolete with badge gear within the same chapter of the game seems a little strange to me. Even if the vendor was in the raid zone itself, giving a wider selection of gear to those who have cleared Black Temple and Mount Hyjal, that would only lead to those with a plethora of badges paying for a raid ID for vendor access.
Of course, this could be a very good thing for people sitting on many, many badges from Karazhan and are trying to gear up for Wrath of the Lich King levelling. Black Temple loot in exchange for a few Kara runs? Sure, I'll take that!
Filed under: Items, News items, The Burning Crusade, Forums
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Zarzuur Feb 9th 2008 8:43AM
It could be "badges of the Sunwell" for all we know, it doesn't say what kind of badges they are.
But IMO, it would seem odd to add in a way to skip out a huge chunk of the TBC stuff.
Chris son Mar 13th 2008 12:24PM
I for one think is a step in the right direction...somewhat. I sold my account because I didn't have time to raid every single night and from 70 there wasn't anywhere else to go. It kinda screws over the people who have farmed raids over and over though. I really think blizz needs to do away with months of farming. I mean how many people get to experience true endgame raids? Running raids over and over and over again to get everyone geared for the next raid is a bit ridiculous imo. Cut down on the amount of required runs in WoLC and you're golden.
Six Feb 9th 2008 8:44AM
WTF. Forget raiding, I'm just not going to bother any more. No attunement? BT quality gear with badges? =/
Yes, sorry, I'm elitist and don't want those who barely work for it to get gear equal to mine, when I spend time and effort downing bosses to get gear.
Bloodchills Feb 9th 2008 9:07AM
I trust Bliz.
Isn't raiding about working as a team and achieving goals?
Badge loot that is on par with BT loot will not increase the quality of players, yet it will increase the population of bad players wherever easy badges exist.
I don't think this is why we raid, to get hawt loot. It has definitely something to do with it, but it's not the only reason.
Taking down an impossible boss is thrilling!
theRaptor Feb 9th 2008 12:22PM
@3
That would be true if you only needed to down a boss a few times to progress past. I have been doing full clears of kara for the last two and a half months. The thrill of downing bosses has long since passed. People haven't been farming Illidan for six months just for the thrill. The thrill of downing a boss is great the first few times, after that it is the thrill of loot.
Iliveanddie Feb 10th 2008 7:20PM
#4
Though I don't want to believe it, what you said was true. First, people PvE'd to have fun. I mean, that's why we play WoW. But now that all it is is trying to get loot, its fun a little, but not as fun as it used to be. Things like ninjas, generally mean people in PuGs (or even guild raids), afkers and hackers take out alot of the fun of killing them, and even without them alot of thrill was taken out.
Blizzard should start making bosses funner.
However, to the point of the article, #1 is right. They didn't say it as badges of Justice these guys at the Sunwell were dropping. If they did that would be gay, it takes all the fun out of getting gear.
Iliveanddie - Anvilmar
superfrank Feb 9th 2008 8:55AM
I imagine that just as with the existing badges, it will be bits and pieces rather than complete gear sets. It won't obsolete existing dungeons, rather it will allow you to get to BT quicker.
Bloodchills Feb 9th 2008 9:12AM
Many of these items will have huge stats in only one direction, much like the body builder who only focuses on his biceps. The guy just looks funny with giant arms and scrawny legs!!!!
Saiforune Feb 9th 2008 9:04AM
It seems now the Raider's now will have their Welfare Epics. HAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!! Kharma you jerks. I think y'all seriously deserve this so y'all can take all the crap that us PvPers have been through since Blizzcon you jerks.
Nogun Feb 9th 2008 9:14AM
Congratulations for declaring yourself an idiot, this changes NOTHING to the current situation. BT/MH is current end game raiding playing field and badge vednors offer items with equal quality to previous Tier (SSC/TK).
Next patch Sunwell 25 will be the end game and badge vandors offer items with equal quality to previous gear.
People that are surprised by 2.4 must have been sleeping when 2.3 got released.
Arabelli Feb 9th 2008 9:19AM
You mean PvPers complaining about every single change as if it's withholding a cure for cancer from needy children in Africa or something? Yeah, listening to that is a pain in the butt. Sheesh. I'll be on the veranda since you're on the cross.
I can't say after 2.3 and the stuff they added in from ZA that I'm too surprised. Am I slightly disappointed that some of the people on my server who can't down Mags yet are beating their heads against Al'ar will have comperable gear? Yeah, a little. But admittedly the gear won't go the long, long way that a lot of guilds will need to go to actually down Archimonde and Illidan. People want to see the content, and I can't blame someone for that at all. Still, it should take work to -get- to said content, and it bugs me when things are made easier or skippable just so people can get there with less effort. No one goes to Mags now. After 2.4, people will be running headlong into Hyjal and the Temple, expecting it to be easy just like they did with Tempest Keep and Serpentshrine.
So yes, frustrating. But not nearly as frustrating as it will be to them as they most likely wipe on trash for three, four weeks. The gear may help them a little with that, but I somehow doubt it.
thor Feb 9th 2008 9:06AM
If it were up to me i would make badges specific to where you get them, in example, karazhan has there own kara badges and can be turned in for kara equivalent gear. Same for heroic/T4/T5/T6 badges and equivalent rewards. Its not that I don't want people to get phat lootz easily but I don't think its fair for someone like me who worked hard to get T5 gloves and then see someone who's wearing all blue and has run a few heroics and gets studious wraps for a small amount of effort.
monk3yguy Feb 9th 2008 9:14AM
So Raiding is dead now I take it?
dafire Feb 9th 2008 9:29AM
@11: if you always stop raiding when you know you will get better gear easier later you will never raid again ;)
Arabelli Feb 9th 2008 9:37AM
@12
Amen, dafire!
doyesac Feb 9th 2008 9:13AM
Blizzard has been undercutting their own recent past in more ways than just this. I've been farming the Ragesteel plans ( http://www.wowhead.com/?itemset=566 ) to up my blacksmithing skill, and have ended up with some nice item-level 115 blues that would be really really nice for the up-and-coming Fury warrior...
...except that the BGs I've been running have given me a nice set of item-level 123 welfare epics. What was once really desirable gear is now just skill-up points.
Blizzard has decided that every patch should be like Christmas. But if they give and give and give, where goes the joys of anticipation? Christmas, after all, is so much fun because of the 364 days of waiting.
Argent Feb 9th 2008 10:10AM
eh, i'm not too worried. a lot of the 2.3 badge gear was pretty specialized in nature and (imo) designed to bridge some gaps more readily in order to allow people to more easily bypass the T5 content if they so desired.
i suspect we'll see more of the same here -- some solid upgrades for some specs, ho-hum for ohers, but all of it mostly designed to facilitate people's movement through MH/BT and into sunwell.
Eternalpayn Feb 9th 2008 10:42AM
Sorry, but they have said Sunwell is past BT in difficulty. Good luck clearing sunwell to get BT gear early.
Brasson Feb 9th 2008 10:58AM
Raiding current content would die when the new expansion is released. It looks like what Blizzard is doing is to make the transition a little less jarring, not killing it all off at once.
theRaptor Feb 9th 2008 12:19PM
What kind of retardation are people suffering from here? People haven't stopped raiding SSC/TK because a *few* pieces of T5 equivalent badge gear came out, and they won't when a *few* pieces of T6 equivalent gear come out. With the attunements getting removed it will probably be easier to do the early BT/MH bosses then farm the badges needed for the new gear (Im guessing over 100 badges per item, that is a month or so of kara runs).