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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: Heirloom excitement
by Zach Yonzon 
May 27th 2009 at 8:00AM
In short, heirloom items rock. They rock so much, in fact, WoW.com user James Peripheral wrote in his blog about the very coolness of heirloom items. He mentions how, even at Level 5 (or Level 1 for that matter), a character can look absolutely dapper or "looking like he owns Eastern Plagulands". That seems to be a bonus of account-bound items -- they allow players to skip the clown phase of leveling. What's your take on heirloom gear? We know you all love them (if you don't, you probably have issues...), so tell us about your experience with them. Head on over to James' blog, too, to share your thoughts. Even better, why not write your heirloom experiences in your WoW.com account blog and tell others about them? We'd love to hear your hand-me-down stories.
Filed under: Items, Breakfast Topics, Leveling
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 5)
Zim May 27th 2009 11:04AM
Leveling another toon from 1 (dk doesn´t count, cause they get they full gear at start) is boring, painful, you name it, I guess these items take some effort to buy ingame and easy your boring task.
I vote for more heirlooms, please. Most of end gamers don´t need to discoverer the old world again and again and again. Please speed up as much as possible.
I dream about make all alts start at level 55 after ding at least one 80. I know it will be impossible, but you can dream about anything...
It would demote some powerleveling services around the world, but they aren´t suppose to exist, right?
Zim
LenteP May 27th 2009 11:09AM
I love the heirloom items myself, makes lvling much more comfortable. Altho I have two things i don't like with em:
1. I can completely agree on that it gets boring seeing the same items at every single lvl.
2. I would like their ilvl to scale atleast somewhat. As it is now I'll never be able to upgrade the enchants on them, which makes me feel they will be not so awesome anymore at a bit higher lvls, like around lvl 60 somewhere.
LadySDevil May 27th 2009 11:20AM
I just need more badges for lots more of them. There are some nice cloth shoulders, a spell caster mace, and a trinket that would be nice. Might also be nice to have a set of plate shoulders too.
Ah well, someday. :)
danawhitaker May 27th 2009 11:24AM
I can see how the concept of heirloom items is appealing to a lot of players. I personally don't want to wear the same piece of gear for 80 levels, like someone previously mentioned. Part of the fun for me as I level is replacing gear and finding random items that improve my stats. For someone who doesn't run a lot of instances or do Wintergrasp a lot, the thought of trying to scrape up 200 Stone Keeper's Shards just for one item is a bit intimidating too. There are other things (like JC designs) for me to spend my shards on for my main. It was really hard for me, at 80, to get into a mindset of seeking out specific pieces of gear from heroics to try and attain. Losing the fun of that from 1-79, when it doesn't matter quite so much since you aren't trying to do end-game content, just isn't fun for me.
I would love to see the heirloom status brought into other aspects of a character's existence though. I would love if mounts/vanity pets/reputation were all shared among all characters of the same faction on a server. That's never gonna happen though.
Blizzard has certainly had worse ideas than heirloom, in my book, but they've had better ones too. I just hope a lot of the people complaining about the way content has been nerfed and raiding has been made more accessible and that leveling is easier aren't actually using these, because they basically are Blizzard-sanctioned twink.
Artie May 28th 2009 11:00PM
I have to agree with the many commenters before me that the heirloom items are great. I do believe though that since the BoA was developed it has not been used enough.
I see several items that are soulbound, and I wonder why Blizz could not make them BoA. Not armor or weapons, but items like the glow worms, the vanity pets, maybe the fishing poles. I'm sure others can think of more examples.
These are not items that need to level with the user, but would be very good if we were able to transfer them between characters.
Andrew R. May 27th 2009 12:06PM
I need to do more heroics and WG for stone keepers shards. I really want to level my mage but it's going so slow. The shoulders would definitely help.
Yyuli May 27th 2009 12:30PM
Heirlooms are nice, but I honestly don't think I'll get anything other than the shoulders. As other people have already stated, part of the fun of leveling up is gearing up. The shoulders are too useful for me to ignore, though, since I really dislike leveling between 30 and 50.
The Hammer May 27th 2009 12:34PM
Aww, cute pictures!
ttvp May 27th 2009 1:28PM
I guess Heirloom items are cool. They're definitely a neat idea and can help with the leveling process and looking half decent. I can't claim to have any firsthand experience, as I've never been able to purchase any of them. All my emblems are saved up and used immediately to purchase gear for my main character with no overflow whatsoever. And since I get emblems at the blazing fast rate of like 10 per month, it takes some time as I just don't have much motivation to do many heroic instances nowadays (Thanks, Ulduar).
In short, there's always something I'm saving up for in each tier of emblems and my alts just don't have enough priority to override that. I've only leveled one guy to 80 and have never been able to get any other character to at least 30.
ttvp May 27th 2009 1:34PM
And before some smartass replies with "but what about that stockpile of Stone Keeper Shards you inevitably have?" those have worthless PVP stats on them and are of no interest to me. Not to mention I just spent most of them on a mammoth (the only worthwhile purchase with them, imo)
Franlkin May 31st 2009 5:44PM
The inclusion of resilience makes the shard counterparts SLIGHTLY less attractive than their badge equivalents, but they are hardly useless and will usually have more useful stats than almost any quest gear you can get at the equivalent level. For example, I have the strengthened stockade pauldrons, and the stamina and strength are both great for melee plate classes. Plus the real draw of the heirlooms is not the stats, its the 10% xp to everything -- both quests and kills! It's basically a free level every 10 levels. Combine with rested xp and leveling becomes a pretty quick process.
Microtonal May 27th 2009 1:40PM
The only heirloom item you *really* need is the shoulders. I, too, enjoy replacing gear as I level, but I can definitely live with the tradeoff between "10% extra XP" and "can't upgrade your shoulders," especially since I've found that leveling through late old-world (lvls 45-58) and Outland is extremely tedious once you've already done it four or five times. I want that to go by as quickly as possible. I did spend the emblems for the haste trinket for my shaman, though. I haven't noticed a huge difference, but it's better than having an empty trinket slot.
I do wish, however, that along with the 10% XP bump, the shoulders would also do something about your rested XP, since you wind up chewing through it so fast. I frequently have to leave my shaman stabled for extended periods of time just to keep some blue bubbles in front of me. I don't know if the current coding would allow it, but having the shoulders also A) increase the rate at which you generate rested XP, and/or B) increase the cap on how much rested XP you can have (it's currently capped at a level and a half) would be a *huge* help.
Kole May 27th 2009 2:38PM
I have the cloth Heirloom shoulders on my Mage as well as the mana trinket and the staff (though the pvp one because I had a lack of emblems at time of purchase.) I got the staff enchanted with +30 SP. When I want to play my Priest or Lock (I may even send the stuff to my Shammy as well), they are mailed off. I also have the mail/leather shoulders on my Hunter...
Regardless I may send the cloth shoulders to what ever toon needs leveling...even my warrior. The XP bonus is hard to ignore, especially since it affects kills AND quests.
My only issue, and quite a few people have said it, I can't send it to my alts on other servers...at some point I would love to get a horde toon past level 12...
Bronwyn May 27th 2009 2:43PM
I actually LOVE the heirloom items and I wish there were more. I don't mind so much having the same piece of gear for all 80 levels because a lot of it just looks cool, y'know? I like to find a pretty piece of gear and stick with it.. but that's just me. I know some people get bored.
Marysia May 27th 2009 3:01PM
I LOVE THEM, especially now that the shoulders give extra quest XP too. I was reluctant to spend the RL cash on a second account for RAF for faster leveling, but now I don't even need to - my priest is blazing through Northrend and my lower level alts level even faster. Since I enjoy doing heroics with friends on my hunter even though she's geared for Uld 25, it gives me something to work towards with the badges other than just frozen orbs/gems.
Zim May 27th 2009 3:10PM
Shoulders are great.... but Bloodied Arcanite Reaper anyone?
This 2h axe looks really sexy bada..
Aurix May 27th 2009 4:01PM
Yeah. I scrounged my booty off to get that axe for a baby paladin. I had the Cloth PVP shoulders already, and the 1h caster mace, but there's something about a draenei chick lugging around a HUGE axe causing mayhem and judging peoples faces off that just makes me giggle. Oh, and Crusader helps. Oh yes....
Wolftech May 27th 2009 5:46PM
First level shoulders, trinket, and weapon? Yes, please! If only they had relics and some other key items (like helms).
I have the shoulders on all of my alts. Not only does it make leveling easier, it makes my alts look ubar.
Jackson May 27th 2009 6:12PM
Having 10 lvl 70+ characters on one server on the same side I'd have to say Heirloom items are wonderful. It also helps entice people to create alts, which we can all only pray will make LFG much easier, in guild or out.
Also, awesome header image. Very cute.
Bossy May 27th 2009 7:10PM
Am I the only one in the game who doesn't look at my experience bars while leveling ???
I am having so much fun in doing adventures in Wow (even after 3 years), I never would like to level for the sake of levels../..
That doesn't mean you don't need to plan your quests... but I mostly ignore the experience bar. I try to watch and plan ahead of what reputations to go after and have a good sword or something but I think you guys are completely wrong about getting to the end game.
My rogue is now parked with blue gear and enchantments at lvl 78... just to do PvP the next months.
I think people try too much to get to "the" end game. There is so much more to Wow than "end game". You can do that with your main, but for the alts it is better to stop at lvl 58, 68 or 78 and do those fun BG's with good gear.
They are not twinks, because I still progress with them, but the game is SOOOOO much better when played as an adventure instead of a "leveling" game.