Patch 5.2 interview with Dave Kosak
Inside an old alt's vault
The latest patch 5.2 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsPTR Notes: Nethers no longer BoP
by Eliah Hecht 
Feb 14th 2008 at 11:20PM
Nethaera promised that patch 2.4 would be progressively tested, and we are now seeing that she was indeed correct. Some major changes have been applied to the PTR tonight:- Nether Vortices can now be purchased for 15 Badges of Justice (and 7g20)
- Both Nether Vortices and Primal Nethers are no longer bind on pickup
- Retribution Paladin season one and two armor now has resilience
- Resilience now affects mana drain (by about 20% at 400 resilience, for example)
News on more changes is forthcoming; I thought this was big enough to be worth posting ASAP.
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
Zarzuur Feb 15th 2008 6:28AM
Primal Nether not BoP ... aaiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeee !!!
Though IMO, it is more difficult to get the BoP pattern drop which uses the nether, than the nether itself. But a definite buff for new 70s.
hurfdurf Feb 15th 2008 7:39AM
This change somewhat sucks for crafters since they will now have to compete against people who want to roll on a nether just for the purpose of selling it. Not to say that people wont differ nethers to them but I can see Heroics ending on a sour note more often.
Foxfyr Feb 15th 2008 9:03AM
I've passed on at least 30 Nethers in Heroics and Normal dungeons.
I've paid 100g or so for half a dozen more.
If I get to roll on a few now to offset that I don't think its so bad.
PeeWee Feb 15th 2008 12:40PM
Well, would be a lot better if Nethers got their droprates nerfed to around 25% and when they do drop, everyone gets one.
Frank Feb 15th 2008 9:42AM
If only they had done this before I dropped my production professions. Why does blizz make these changes when they hardly matter?
Nitroz Feb 15th 2008 9:11AM
I don't even see anyone bothering to run heroics anymore. I haven't for a while, and now that this is coming, why bother? Just buy a couple nethers from someone.
That being said, I worked my ass off getting the twelve nethers that it used to take to craft the 2nd level blacksmithing weapon. A week later I found out they were reducing the requirement by 4. Sure I was angry, but I had the solemn pride of knowing that I crafted mine before the nerf!
Now, getting the vortexes was somewhat more difficult. I had to convince 24 other people that if they all stood behind me, I wouldn't let them die as long as they didn't let me die.
After losing the first couple rolls on them, and watching other people get their stuff first, I finally got my Lionheart Executioner. I have ran around Shatt, Ironforge, Stormind, Darnassus, and even the Exodar with that thing equipped, even while I was prot spec'd, because I was able to take SOME pride in getting these items made.
So I hear when the expansion comes, everyone is going to get T6 in the mail....
Nossy Feb 15th 2008 10:07AM
Yay. Make sense. S4/S3, T5/T6 raid item already surpass crafting items. Crafting item SHOULDVE been more accessible as starting gears for PVP and Raiding. This will make things easier to progress. It was nearly impossible to get nether vortexes without being part of a well managed guild.
turkeyspit Feb 15th 2008 10:17AM
I dont think anyone touched on another aspect of this: now EVERYONE can roll on a Primal Nether that drops in a Heroic, not just crafters. So, if you took Mining and Skinning as profs, you still get to roll on all the lewtz dropped by the final boss.
For myself, getting a Stormherald BEFORE having to run SSC a bajillion times makes me a happy person!
Milktub Feb 15th 2008 10:47AM
"Overall, it looks like a good change, in the direction of making it easier for casual players to work towards high-end items."
This is the argument I hate the most.
Why does a casual player need high-end items? (Note: I'm pretty darn casual with about 10 hours play a week and only 5 appearances in Kara over the past 8 months.) If your plan is to hang out and do a couple dailies, maybe run a 5-man, greens and blues do you fine. If you want to arena/bg, you've got your PvP gear that will do you fine.
But a casual player does not need a Helm of the Stalwart Defender, an engineering helm or any of the other top-notch craftables.
seankreynolds Feb 15th 2008 5:33PM
So because they don't need it, it should be cut off from them entirely? Maybe they want the item because they like the look, or want to complete a set, or some other reason?
People don't "need" most of the items in the game, why restrict them to just the people with unlimited time to play?
Nossy Feb 15th 2008 11:14AM
Keep in mind that many of these items will become obsolete soon so their value is going to drop crazy. I'm pretty sure Blizz have some kind of BoP nethers (probably a different name) in WotLK for level 80 craftable epics.
mark Feb 15th 2008 11:31AM
It was a boggle that Blizzard would require a level 70 only BoP Primal Nether on the Engineering 350 Goggles (I had 350 Engineering at level 61)
At least a player has a chance to make them when they get to 350 skill now.
h8rain Feb 15th 2008 1:18PM
I have not been able to get a Primal, so this is good news for me, as I will be able to make my Windslayer Wraps for my druid.
Sloegin Feb 15th 2008 1:47PM
It will be interesting to see if people who have stacks of unused badges from raiding will turn them into nethers, and turn those into cash on the AH.
Would be nice to pick up some for my crafting alt that I never run heroics with.
Was Feb 15th 2008 2:15PM
I have the belt of blasting pattern on a server without much progression. Right now I would never make money from the pattern since vortices belong to my guild. The moral question is how much should I charge after 2.4 for crafting the belt. My guess is there will be 3 people in my faction who will be able to make it. Cartel time?
turkeyspit Feb 15th 2008 2:24PM
I wouldn't lose sleep over it, because about 3 months after 2.4 comes, out, people will be getting BETTER gear then that for doing stupid FedEX quests at the start of WoTLK.
Amanda Feb 16th 2008 2:11PM
Do the people making this game have no idea how it works? Seriously.
As a crafter, I can already make next to NO money with my crafts. The only way to make money was to put a price on my nethers.
Sure I can make (no nether needed) Spell Threads and leg armors, but either I get paid nothing for those or I spend the money making them and only get a marginal profit. But that in no way pays me back for all the money I spent on it.
Now I know when you take a non-gathering proffession, you've subjected yourself to basically make no money, the only benefit is for yourself. But to take away the ONLY thing that makes any sort of profit from them? Now people can buy and sell Nethers on their own, they are now a new green item that will be equally rolled on, which basically means I get screwed out of them and -have- to spend badges for them.
I think it's pathetic that I have to go and spend 2 hours farming where I once could have made that money back just from my actual proffession.
Or, now I get to roll a gathering alt and force myself to level up solely to gather to fuel any further real proffession.
Abhinav Kumar Feb 16th 2008 6:19PM
Man this is fantastic news, can finally make my belt of deep shadow.