Patch 5.4 patch notes
Virtual Realms feature revealed
The Proving Grounds are coming
The latest patch 5.4 newsForum post of the day: Welfare Epics
by Amanda Dean 
Feb 18th 2008 at 3:00PM
What does it take to get epic gear? Well you can do arenas or battlegrounds and save up points for gear. It takes a few weeks of arenas to get a piece of the most recent releases. A good weekend of battlegrounds might net you a piece or two. You can do raids for epic drops. It can take weeks to learn fights and clear raids. A hard night of raiding could earn you nothing but a repair bill.
Among raiding and PvP, which shows more dedication and skill? The term "welfare epic" has popped up to describe gear that some believe is given to a player without the appropriate level of effort. In his official forum post, Kaizersosay of Spirestone asserted that there are no welfare epics- that every piece of purple loot takes effort. He said that the phrase welfare epic is elitist. The thread sparked a lively discussion of welfare epics for both PvE and PvP players.
Players can get PvP gear without a single win or a kill by doggedly queuing up for battlegrounds and arenas. Blizzard has been making this type of gear increasingly easy to get by introducing daily quests that give honor. They have also made arena gear available for honor points rather than arena points. In this scenario, it could take several weeks to get a piece of season three equipment. You don't have to be good, just persistent.
The other side of the argument is that raiding gear in many circumstances could be considered welfare epics. A single player does not necessarily have to pull their weight to get the best gear they just have to be present. (Though guilds would likely have words with such a player) Also, once a guild has an instance on farm status, they may trade out their mains for alts and gear up those toons without putting in an extraordinary raid effort. Again, you don't have to be good, just persistent?
What is a welfare epic?
Filed under: Items, Analysis / Opinion, PvP, Raiding, Forums
Reader Comments (Page 6 of 6)
Laughable! Mar 15th 2008 1:46PM
PvE'ers sure do cry a lot more than PvP'ers... I dont really mind that anyone can go online, read someone else's guide to how to beat boss X and how to get through instance Y, what combinations of classes you need to do what exactly when. It doesn't bother me, even though there is no guide for what a real human being will do in PvP or Arena, no guide to tell what that person is going to do at 50% health or "Phase 3" of this battle. I don't cry about it. I play what I like to play and don't cry over other people's gear.
On a side note, have any of you high and mighty, first time MMO PvE'ers ever played a REAL MMORPG? The difficulty level of WoW PvE is laughably low, come off your high horse before you start mocking other people for playing the only real worthwhile aspect of the game.
Spartank Apr 19th 2008 12:55AM
Well heres the deal imo, i don't belive in welfare epics besides AH BoE or maybe [The Horseman's Helm] (Which i have, because it is pretty nice.) and everyone's comments i've read have very good points, and people that bot in BG's are extremely pathetic, i must say, or any other 'AFKer' in there. Me, now i grind honor for my epic PVP gear, i've done a few raids before, Grull's/kara, but anyway i think that's the way you should do it, i mean what's the point of getting the gear if you don't have the satisfaction of working your butt off for it.