Patch 5.4 patch notes
Virtual Realms feature revealed
The Proving Grounds are coming
The latest patch 5.4 newsUpgrading to greens? Not so much
by Mike Schramm 
Nov 18th 2008 at 6:00PM
I have to agree with Lowangel: where's the upgrades? We all knew that the gear dropping in Northrend wasn't quite going to be as huge a jump as it was when we headed off to Outland, but I was only dressed in late Karazhan gear, and at this point, close to 73, I've upgraded one thing. I thought I'd get a little upgrade -- time and time again, I've picked up soulbound quest items, only to have to vendor them off because they don't have the hit I worked to get or the extra Agility on top of the Stamina I've already got.As much as I appreciate keeping the epics on, it is a little disappointing that I may not actually get new gear for ten levels (indeed, many of the folks who cleared the PvE content already were dressed in their old gear as well). Dressing yourself in clown greens is embarassing, but having no upgrades at all is a problem in the opposite direction. Bornakk says to be patient and that we'll find upgrades soon enough (and I have, to his credit, already seen a few nice rep items that I'd want, even if I don't have the rep to buy them yet). There are upgrades out there.
But so far, I've only hit a few sidegrades and hardly any clearly better gear than what I had before. How about you?
Filed under: Items, Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Quests, Expansions, Leveling, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 7 of 7)
baf Nov 19th 2008 11:58AM
I started Wrath as a priest in full T6/Sunwell/BT gear and so far at level 78 I have not replaced anything yet. I've found a couple of trinkets that are interesting, and I'm playing around with them as a possible replacement for my Earring of Soulful Meditation, but overall everything has had some issues that have made me not want to take it. Most of the quest gear that is cloth seems to either have no spirit, or only spirit, on it, neither of which are optimal for me.
Zamboni Nov 19th 2008 12:40PM
My 75 Warlock has switched out one item, a quest green hat to replace my (under-gemmed) Spellstrike Hood (which went in the bank in case I need the hit rating back). Everything else has been vendored.
My 70 Feral Druid in his collection of Blue PvP gear has replaced4-5 items and he's only halfway through Howling Fjord.
kenney Nov 19th 2008 1:42PM
I think the TBC jump was a better move. It was disappointing to level to 80 with only one sidegrade, and immediately be able to move into doing heroics in tier 5 (well, ok- I crafted a dauntless piece to meet the new defense requirement).
However, I will say that it will be nice to have the slower moving people in our guild essentially naxx-ready when they hit 80. For guilds that have a few hardcore raiders and a lot more casual raiders, this gearing philosophy is much kinder to the hardcore raiders that might otherwise get frustrated waiting for the rest of the guild to catch up.
-D Nov 19th 2008 1:54PM
I have three characters that I play regularly. My priest and hunter have fairly nice gear and probably won't be seeing upgrades until they hit 76 or higher. My warrior has terrible gear which is the main reason I brought him out to NR. I felt I was missing out on the fun of upgrading. Pretty much every quest he does is a huge upgrade. When I'm feeling like my priest or hunter are getting me down, I hop on my warrior, do a couple of quests and collect some very cool looking upgrades.
If you've been avoiding taking an alt out into NR I highly recommend it just for this.
-D
Philo Nov 19th 2008 2:06PM
You were the guys bitching that all your MC epics got DE'ed the second you got into Outland... Now people are bitching that Northrend is "too easy" and that you're not upgrading your gear.
Sheesh.
Northrend is "too easy" because your T5 gear is equivalent to level 75 gear at worst. That's why the gap was there between Classic and TBC; the result is you're now OP until you hit 75 or so. Deal with it.
Likewise, not upgrading your gear is precisely what happens from bitching and whining that you tossed away your epics the second you hit Outland.
My take? Relax, vendor the greens, or use them to level your Enchanting. There'll be plenty of upgrades once you get close to 80, and especially once you start hitting Heroics.
Likewise, don't bitch about the game difficulty until you start doing Heroics at 80. Don't you remember how easy Ramparts was?! Imagine if you got to do it with level 65 gear as well.
And anyway, two months from now the people levelling mains will have created them in the post-TBC World of Warcraft, and will run Utgarde Keep with Outland greens at level 68. Ask them how they like the easy instances then.
Amaxe Nov 19th 2008 2:35PM
In BC, if you had the Vanilla WoW PvP weapons, you were good for a long part of the trip to 70 (IIRC they were close to level 70 greens). I've had purples last me until 64. So really I am not disappointed that the gear is as it is. Gear that lasts means no expensive re-enchants.
I was an all-epic T4/S2. Clearly not the best, but also not the Green/Blue 70 that Blizzard needed to make Northrend survivable for.
Basically, those of us who are in all epics will have the beginning zones relatively easy with few changes, vendoring most of the quest items with a few upgrades, but eventually we too will need to upgrade too.
I dinged 74 this morning, still in my T4, with my badge off hand and ring and S2 Main hand. The boots, trinkets, necklace and one ring were replaced. I'm starting to see rewards and drops coming closer to where I am. But with T4, I am really only upgrading enchants and gems.
So far the balance is very good I think, and i do not think my main is "underpowered" because of the drops.
Lalkin Nov 19th 2008 3:41PM
I was in mostly blues with 2 Purples and I found greens replace blues and blues replace purples.
But if you are in highend lvl 70 purples you probably won't get upgrades til the mid 70s instances.
Natashya Nov 19th 2008 10:31PM
Main point: Just do the quests and enjoy it. The whole idea of not letting your epics be replaced so easily is so that you'll at least get to use something you worked hard for a little longer. Besides, i find our lvl 70 epics good for doing quests.
QQ less cause in the end all that matters is gear at end-game content.
Besides, I find things that last forever are vanity pets/mounts. They'll never be replaced. But that's just me :)
Maana Nov 20th 2008 12:45PM
I was really depressed last week. I replaced a T6 content shoulder with a Blue BoE (lvl 73). The upgrades are there, maybe not from the quests but in instances yet.
Maana Nov 20th 2008 12:46PM
You need an edit post button XP
I lost .03 crit but gained 30 AP all other stats stayed the same.
FireStar Nov 21st 2008 9:45AM
When I hit 80, I only was wearing 3 different items from wotlk.
Two days later though, and I've replaced all my gear now from instance runs and AH runs.