WoW, Casually: Welfare epics
by Robin Torres 
Mar 27th 2008 at 2:00PM
Each week, Robin Torres writes WoW, Casually for the player who has 2 hours or less to play at a time.
Almost every column, I talk about Welfare Epics since they are specifically designed for casuals to get their purplez on and I just assume that you all know what I'm talking about. But Dave recently sent in a question asking what they are and I realized that if I didn't write for WoW Insider, I probably wouldn't know either.
Though some people say they heard the phrase before this, the first time I heard it was at BlizzCon. Jeff Kaplan, aka Tigole, started off the Dungeons and Raids panel by saying that the panel wasn't for people with their Welfare Epics, but for people who actually earn them. Now, I think he was partially just being funny, but I also think he was speaking up for the Raiders who are upset that all of the work they put into conquering the PvE endgame content is for naught when any casual player can pick up purples that are equal to or better than gear that drops off endgame bosses.
Almost every column, I talk about Welfare Epics since they are specifically designed for casuals to get their purplez on and I just assume that you all know what I'm talking about. But Dave recently sent in a question asking what they are and I realized that if I didn't write for WoW Insider, I probably wouldn't know either.
Though some people say they heard the phrase before this, the first time I heard it was at BlizzCon. Jeff Kaplan, aka Tigole, started off the Dungeons and Raids panel by saying that the panel wasn't for people with their Welfare Epics, but for people who actually earn them. Now, I think he was partially just being funny, but I also think he was speaking up for the Raiders who are upset that all of the work they put into conquering the PvE endgame content is for naught when any casual player can pick up purples that are equal to or better than gear that drops off endgame bosses.
The epics referred to are the PvP rewards that can be purchased by honor and marks. The phrase has been expanded to all Arena gear and even gear you can get from Badges. But really the most casual friendly gear and easiest to get at this time is the Arena Season 1 gear. You buy this gear at the Hall of Legends in Orgrimmar if you are Horde and the Champions' Hall in the Old Town section of Stormwind. There are weapons, armor, trinkets -- everything a player needs and all available in sets tailored for the different specs of each class. You purchase the gear with honor and marks from specific Battlegrounds.Blizzard's extended plan seems to be to always give those of us with limited playtime access to Welfare Epics. When Arena Season 4 begins, the Season 1 gear will become unavailable and Season 2 will become purchasable with honor and marks. Don't hold off on getting the current epics, however. Season 4 won't be starting for a while yet.
If you mostly PvE in your limited playtime and take a look at these "welfare" prices, you may wonder why they are casual friendly. It may take some time to build up the honor and marks required for the pieces you want, but the fact is that honor and marks are attainable by everybody. In order to play the Battlegrounds, you don't have to belong to a guild or have any friends. No coordination is necessary (though it does help). Battlegrounds can be played at any time day or night without any prearranged time. You don't even have to be good at PvP or know the rules. You can just show up, get killed over and over and still earn enough honor and marks for one piece in just a few sessions.
If you are going for your easy purples, definitely do the Battleground Daily Quests. Anyone can pick them up as long as they are within the appropriate level range for the BG. The extra 400+ honor you get for completing this quest adds up pretty quickly.
I highly recommend putting in the BG time to get your Welfare Epics if you have limited playtime. And now that the map has changed for AV, the queues should be shorter for those Battlegroups that had Alliance boycotters. (The Alliance win a lot in the Cyclone Battlegroup, so I never experienced the long queues.) In general, you should spend your short play sessions having as much fun as possible. But if you are feeling undergeared, this is the quickest way to acquire epics.
Speaking of BGs, the Call to Arms this weekend is for Arathi Basin. That means you get your honor (about 21 at level 70) every 200 resource points instead of 330. Most people will be hanging out around Sunwell or checking out the changes in WSG and AV, so I don't know if the queues will be any shorter for those of you with queues. I'll be in AV, but that's what I do. Have fun!
Robin Torres loves answering reader mails. Please send her questions at Robin.Torres AT weblogsinc DOT com.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Events, PvP, BlizzCon, WoW, Casually, Battlegrounds
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Askia Mar 27th 2008 5:15PM
I hate the term welfare epics, but it appears we are stuck with it. Casual epics would have been better nomenclature IMHO. Welfare implies that you didn't work for it, and essentially got something for nothing. I did put in the time to get the honor and get the marks, I just did it on my own schedule and at my own pace.
ubergrendle Mar 27th 2008 2:13PM
Given how much of a focus that daily quests, faction reputation rewards, crafting, and PvP (especially PvP) have become, its a wonder Tigole is still working for Blizz. Almost all of the things he's disdained or rejected publically in the past, have become a key part of the game. The wake up call for me, was when Jeffy said the height of playing an MMORPG was when you downed a raid boss @ 3am after months of trying -- sorry dude, but 99.9% of the playing population has a life outside of WoW. I consider bashing your head against a wall for months at a time a DESIGN FLAW. Fortunately the production team is much more than just Tigole, and the game gets better with each patch: more stuff to do; more accessible material; less emphasis on ball-breaking raid content.
npm Mar 27th 2008 2:32PM
Tigole was the same sort of snotty raider guy in EQ, which is where he come from before getting a job with Blizzard. Good to know nothing has changed.
Amazing how much more worthwhile your time spent in the game is when you spend it with 25 other people, eh?
Aurigo Mar 27th 2008 11:23PM
"the height of playing an MMORPG was when you downed a raid boss @ 3am after months of trying"
He is not wrong about this...downing something for the first time after putting in lots of hard work and time is the best feeling that you will ever get in an MMORPG...sure, most people in WoW (those who don't raid) will never experience it, but it is definitely one of the best experiences to go through.
"I consider bashing your head against a wall for months at a time a DESIGN FLAW."
If you want games EZmode, go and head over to Hello Kitty Island Adventures. There are levels of dungeons for a reason, and the size of rewards scale with the amount of difficulty. Personally I'm okay with the "welfare" epics going out, but I would prefer if they were a little toned down (some/most can be considered equivalent/better compared to T6). Yes, letting people experience the 25-man raids is the objective, but it is quite detrimental to those who have worked their butts off to hit the zenith of the game, just to have the climb sliced in half.
d_bandoni Mar 27th 2008 2:15PM
The problem with the welfare epics is people get them and they have no hit rating on them and they think they are ready to raid. PVE epics are different then PVP. But most people just see purple and think its good for raiding. I am glad they give puples away for following skills. We have a really problem with people gettting "epiced out" with this PVP welfare epics then think they are ready to raid. There DPS typically sucks because of no hit rating which in turn slows the whole raid down. I don't understand why people who are going to raid don't run instances to get some nice rares with some hit rating on them.
Manatank Mar 27th 2008 2:55PM
My hunter is hit capped against level 73 raid bosses in mostly PvP gear. My DPS is also excellent in PvE. Part of this is because season 3 hunter gear DOES have hit rating on it. The trade off between PvE and PvP gear is attack power. Going to pure PvE epics will give me more attack power at the expense of resilience and a bit of stamina. A trade off I will gladly make when I acquire those items, but PvP epics are not worthless in PvE.
Don't get me wrong though. In many cases blues beat out PvP epics (season 2 and below), and shouldn't be ignored when new 70s are gearing up for PvE. In my experience though, aside from gearing up a warrior or paladin tank, season 3 gear will out perform most PvE epics pre-tier 5/ZA.
Naix Mar 27th 2008 3:28PM
I don't know about you but I have raided 5/10/25 mans plenty with these hard earned BG epics (Why they call them well fair is beyond sense) and topped out the damage meters.
Gordon W Mar 27th 2008 3:38PM
Because of the idiot raid leaders who think that if it isn't purple or orange you can't raid with it.
I've been in Kara raids where people complain that I'm wearing all blue despite the fact that vs other dps spellcasters (shadow priests and mages) I actually have a lot better damage and crit rating than they do, so that's one big problem with getting people to eschew the pvp purple problem.
jrb Mar 28th 2008 11:16AM
there's always been this 'better than thou' mentality to the game. people will give a cursorary glance at basic stats and assume you're as bad as they are, or as bad as some other noob they've encountered.
but then, i've always said the best and worst thing about wow, and any other MMO is the other people you have to put up with.
guesswho? Mar 27th 2008 2:15PM
They aren't exactly welfare anymore...now they are simply illicit....lolwintrading
Bad Mojo Mar 27th 2008 2:23PM
I'm not shy. I will gladly sport "welfare epics" until I can get in some better gear, IF I ever decide to raid.
As a causal I have a level 65 and a level 60 and have no idea when I'll get to 70. So any gear help is great.
My question is... What level do I have to be to start getting them?
mcclary Mar 27th 2008 2:37PM
To answer your question you can earn your honor/marks at any level. AV is probably your best bet for honor gain at 65. You can save up honor bit by bit and then spend it all at 70.
You might be able to buy the gear before 70, but it requires 70 to be equipped. You should wait to buy your gear til 70 though. That way if Season 4 comes out, you can buy Season2 stuff for the same honor that the Season 1 stuff costs now.
Angelus Mar 27th 2008 3:06PM
you can start earning for them now, but 70 is the level to wear them.
Quoztle Mar 27th 2008 2:27PM
Even if they have the gear, the game still requires skill. Though there have been a LARGE increase in Battleground participants (to the point where latency is horrendous for high populated battlegroups), a casual PvPer can easily beat someone in full Season 1 gladiator gear.
And though the item in itself is epic in quality, the stats might not be for PvE. You can do high amounts of damage, but you would not have the Hit-rating to maintain constant DPS.
Sure it may be easier to get, but any BG/arena player will tell you that gear does not completely make a character good.
Since 2.4, the extra 419 honor is almost negligible, where some games can net you 1200-1600 honor in less than half an hour.
Legsarebroken Mar 27th 2008 2:33PM
The term "welfare epics" is nothing but snobbery at its best. I currently have 3 70s on mannoroth, and while one is mostly season 3, the others have a smattering of S1 and S2 arena gear.
Did I not "earn" those epics by fighting my ass off in battlegrounds? They sure were not handed to me for free.
This term was constructed by people that feel guilty for spending three (or more) entire nights of their week raiding for items they may, or may not even get.
Yes, I agree they are easier to get than BT or ZA gear, but to say that they're free or nearly free is insulting to those that work to get them.
Nick S Mar 27th 2008 3:06PM
if you "fought your ass off," you earned them.
the problem is that so many people don't fight their asses off. that's the point that raiders are making - if earning pvp epics *required* skill and/or coordination rather than sheer time investment, i doubt there'd by any complaining.
Naix Mar 27th 2008 3:38PM
Well if you did not "earn" these epics you should easily defeat them in the BG.
Skill > Gear
Ikarus Mar 27th 2008 3:54PM
I think the majority of people who go into the BG's really try to do well an therefore earn their epics. The afker's are the minority. I think the mistake most hardcore raiders that have a problem with PvP epics make is to sterotype all PvPer's. Why it even matters to them is beyond me. Talent/Gear snobbery drives me crazy. Please get over yourself.
Dan Mar 27th 2008 2:34PM
I farmed up honor and arena points to get some purples to fill in the gaps I had in my gear. The big problem of course, is that the PvP epics just don't have the right stuff for PvE, so while they do give you some better stats, it's of course geared for PvP. As a holy paladin, the total lack of mp/5 on the "welfare" epics makes them much less desirable for raiding. And of course, resliancy is a complete and utter waste in PvE.
With socketed gems and enchants, the gear can become barely passable for raiding, but ultimately it'll get dumped when I win a roll on some real PvE gear. But since my guild recently imploded, I have no idea when that'll be. My only glimmer of hope now is the 2.4 badge loot, and through a long tough grind for heroic badges (hardly welfare) I've collected enough for a couple of pieces when my server finally completes the world event and unlocks the vendor.
Jasperwind Mar 27th 2008 2:41PM
Same here. I'm a rogue and I'm not trading in my hit rating and attack power for stamina and resilience.