Wrath 101: PvP welfare gear part III

Finally, there's the cream of the crop in PvP gear, the Deadly Gladiator items. Similar to Hateful Gladiator, there are non-set items as well as itemsets. The non-set items such as cloaks, rings, bracers and such can be purchased in the Hall of Legends and Champion's Hall, as well. However, unlike the other gear available for Honor there, Deadly Gladiator items require successful personal and team Arena ratings. The cheapest items -- the amulet or neckpiece -- go for 47,400 Honor and require 1600 ratings, while the Level 80 Battlemaster trinkets cost 62,000 Honor and 1800 ratings.
Unlike the Savage or Hateful Gladiator itemsets, Deadly Gladiator set pieces require only Arena points and extremely successful ratings. The gloves are relatively the easiest to obtain, costing 1350 Arena Points and require personal and team ratings of 1850. The shoulders are the most difficult to get, even though it only costs 1800 Arena Points, as it requires a minimum rating of 2150. The good news is that the chest,
Of course, the absolute best Deadly Gladiator items cannot be obtained other than through PvP -- or more specifically, Arenas. The Deadly Gladiator weapons require a personal and team rating of 2030, a few wins above the magic mark of 2000. Costing anywhere from 1200 Arena Points (for relics and wands) to 4500 Arena Points (for 2-handers and Hunter ranged weapons). Deadly Gladiator weapons, as well as the itemsets, are available only from the goblins in Dalaran's Underbelly. Although they showed up in Beta, there are no Savage or Hateful Gladiator weapons (lower versions) in the game today. If you want the most powerful PvP weapons, you will need to play -- and succeed tremendously in -- Arenas.
Sources for non-set items:
Doris Volanthius in the Hall of Legends, sells for Honor with ratings requirement (Horde)
Lieutenant Tristia in the Champion's Hall, sells for Honor with ratings requirement (Alliance)
Sources for itemsets and weapons:
Nargle Lashcord in Dalaran's Underbelly, sells for Arena Points with ratings requirement (Neutral)
Sources for itemsets:
Archavon the Stone Watcher in heroic difficulty, drops chest, hands, and leg pieces
Final notes
The new PvP gear system only seems complex, but is actually rather intuitive once you become familiar with it. The new welfare epics (and blues) are easily obtainable, even with little to no PvP. There's absolutely nothing to whine about, with some players making the mistake of thinking that all PvP gear require (successful) Arena play. Players concerned about the Gladiator weapons' steep requirement should probably come to terms with the fact that for now, Arenas remain Blizzard's most accurate barometer for PvP performance. This guide should help you plan out your PvP gear acquisition, even if that path doesn't include any PvP whatsoever.






Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
kesherz Dec 18th 2008 7:13PM
Thanks for this list. There've been too many people mixing things up for me to follow how the new sets were priced.
da5id Dec 18th 2008 7:24PM
meh... i hate blizzards love of arena
Zubaz Dec 18th 2008 7:51PM
So if I'm not going to be able to get a successful Arena rating, where should I get my weapon?
Kemikalkadet Dec 18th 2008 7:58PM
"The good news is that the chest, head, and leg pieces drop off Heroic or 25-man Archavon. If you manage to find a group and luck out on rolls, you won't even need to play Arenas for the game's top-of-the-line PvP gear."
So do these pieces not need arena rating? while the gloves and shoulders do? Also can you get them from vendors for arena points like the other bits?
Sorry if this is an obvious question. This has to be the most complicated gear distro system ever created.
Malakai Dec 18th 2008 8:50PM
I got the mage pants from 25 man Arc and they do not have a rating for them. I have them on now, search MalakaiDM on Elune.
I haven't PvP'd in months besides one Wintergrasp
Zach Dec 18th 2008 11:19PM
@Kemi - GLOVES, not head, drop from Archavon. Sorry, that was my mistake.
Roscoe Dec 18th 2008 8:47PM
I hate that there are no Savage/Hateful weapons. Upgrading your regular weapon (staff/mace/daggers or whatever) is easy in Northrend, but I'm still using my Brutal Gladiator's War Edge in my thrown slot, and there are oh so few throwing weapons in the game currently that are an upgrade for it. Would it be so horrible for players to be able to upgrade their thrown/wand/sigil slot without having over 2000 arena rating?
Khass Dec 19th 2008 3:06AM
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=37410
Can be bought with anywhere between 30 and 100g on the AH. Even the 25 Emblems of Heroism version isn't that much of an upgrade to it, so this should be the cheapest and best bang for your buck thrown weapon you can get.
Marc Dec 18th 2008 9:04PM
Absolute crap! PVP gear should be attainable from doing PVP only, not also PVE. And their love for the Arenas is absolute crap as well. When I play BG's its different every time, Arena's are stale, boring and require nothing more than using the forums to find the best team/class/talent combos. PFFFT!
SuckItTrebek Dec 18th 2008 9:17PM
So if arenas are as easy as having "nothing more than" a composition, why aren't there more 2000+ rated teams?
BGs are stale....if you're winning them. It's only "different" every time if you're PuGing it.
Also, lol at the irony of whining about PVP gear coming from PVP when an AV win is.....a PvE fight!
actodd Dec 18th 2008 9:48PM
So are BG marks worthless now? I guess it doesn't matter much since they take no space. Still, it'd be nice if we could buy something with them.
Jorad Dec 18th 2008 10:09PM
You can buy honor with them!
LXj Dec 18th 2008 10:12PM
Oh, but you can buy mounts! :D This will save you some gold while trying to get that new 100 mount achievement
(actually I did buy a wolf for my tauren, because if I use kodos I get stuck and have to unmount in several places like Undercity lift, and I was too lazy to go for any rare or faction-specific mount)
Hangk Dec 18th 2008 10:28PM
Zach, nice and informative column. Any thoughts about the S5 arena scene thus far? A lot of people are saying that there is no effective counter to the extremely high burst damage of Rogues and Ret Pallies, making teams based on those classes nigh-unstoppable. And those classes aside, burst damage in general seems very high compared to average stamina and resilience, making the only winning strategy to spec for as much burst as possible and leaving classes and specs that aren't good at burst out in the cold. (Note: Not QQing about this, just making observations...)
Comments?
Khass Dec 19th 2008 3:13AM
Yes, burst rules supreme in the beginning weeks/months of S5, but once people get over the 600-resilience mark, matches will last longer and strong tactics will come into play.
For example, as a mutilate rogue, I sometimes kill clothies in a Cheap Shot if I'm very lucky, but yesterday I met a disc priest with 900 resilience (not kidding, checked on Armory, he has full Hateful set), and he was absolutely impossible to get below 40% health, his passive healing with Renew alone kept him from dropping 30% in 6-second Kidney Shots, even with using Cold Blood.
This makes me imagine that even with healer/DPS or double/triple healer compositions, everybody will have to work to down an opponent, with long CC chains or great timing on burst. Not that it wasn't the case up until now, but it seems it'll be more required this season.
papermoonshine Dec 18th 2008 11:43PM
This website article lost any journalistic integrity as soon as it called any of the gear, 'welfare'. Good job.
Bob Dec 19th 2008 1:46AM
Has Bliz ever made an official comment about why they don't just take gear out of the arena equation? It seems like an obvious idea, but I've never seen anything from a Bliz employee about it.
What I mean is, have a single, standard set of Arena gear (per class and spec) that you can get for free. That's set is all you are allowed to wear in the arena (enforced by the game code) and you can't wear the arena set outside the arena (enforced by the game code).
That would make arena a pure contest of player skill, class knowledge, team play, and team building. Gear wouldn't be an issue any more.
Aelei Dec 19th 2008 2:37AM
Because this would make too much sense.
And that's not what Blizzard is about. They just LOVE giving people PVP gear, so that the stupid can show up for PVE raids decked out in it, intensely proud of the fact that they has purplez. Without realizing that they suck.
Rich Dec 19th 2008 3:11AM
It would make too much sense...
And honestly, if it wasn't for the gear, people wouldn't do the arena... Why? Its the edge the gear gives you.
If there were no carrots, there would be no arena.
zweitblom Dec 19th 2008 3:40AM
How about we change that a little...: --What I mean is, have a single, standard set of RAID gear (per class and spec) that you can get for free. That's set is all you are allowed to wear in the RAID (enforced by the game code) and you can't wear the RAID set outside the RAID (enforced by the game code).
That would make RAIDING a pure contest of player skill, class knowledge, team play, and team building. Gear wouldn't be an issue any more.--
RPGs have always been about gearing up your char, it's the main incentive of keeping playing. Success is measured in appearance.