Heirlooms for your main
by Eliah Hecht 
Jul 6th 2009 at 7:00PM
When the news broke that patch 3.2 would bring new chest heirlooms, with a stacking +10% XP bonus, one commenter made an interesting suggestion: get heirlooms for your level 80 characters, and bank them until the next expansion. So far between chest and shoulders you've got a +20% bonus to all XP right there, and having some quality equipment always helps the leveling process.
Of course, there's every chance that Blizzard will simply disable current heirlooms for characters past level 80, to prevent precisely this behavior. They've done level-based nerfing before, with items like the Riding Crop and enchants like Crusader.
The whole fate of heirlooms in the next expansion seems pretty nebulous to me, actually; will we need to go back and farm Emblems of Conquest at level 90 to gear up our alts? It's too early to tell. For now I would hold on to any extra badges you might have, but when the next expansion nears, you may be able to make good use of them.
Filed under: Items, Expansions, Leveling
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Yosemite Climber Jul 6th 2009 7:05PM
Sounds like an interesting premise. I hope that they can let us use it for the next set of leveling. Anything that helps you get to the next cap and running new raids/heriocs will be a great benefit
Taedran Jul 6th 2009 7:05PM
I can't wait for the new chest's.
Akussa Jul 6th 2009 7:06PM
I think the more logical route wouldn't be to go ahead and bank these items now but rather to hold onto the currencies needed to purchase them when the time comes. Blizzard announced the level based nerfs before Wrath was launched so it's very likely they'll do the same for any such announcement for the Heirlooms pre-expansion launch.
Heilig Jul 7th 2009 12:36PM
Or we can just check the beta when it opens and see if it works. It's not like it takes a long time to get 80 emblems, you can do it in a week. Something tells me the beta will last at least that long.
Valt Jul 6th 2009 7:11PM
My opinion is still that they wont be working on next expansion. Slower leveling the better for them. Why would they allow em? We saw riding crops and all that not work on xpack basically to just slow down leveling. They dont want you to "rush thro the content".. slower the leveling the better for them.
Creese5704 Jul 6th 2009 7:45PM
ahh but people are always going to "Rush into the content" especially those hardcore raiding guilds who want to be the first in pillaging the bosses in the new raids. I would actually think some hardcore raiding guilds might put heroics on farm to get the heirlooms for their core raiding groups so they level faster and get to 90 and get into the new content.
Valt Jul 6th 2009 9:16PM
Why yes Creese. But those rushers will be small fraction of the people leveling. Rusher or not you will still spend time on the content. Same amount in the end. Sure, rusher might have server first and epics by the time regular players are lets say 84.. But both will most likely play till next xpack paying the fees.
Slow leveling is good for them now because it keeps people spending more and more time on this game therefore making money, wich blizzard is meant to do because blizzard is business company not charity worker.
If someone says that "why are they making us level faster with mounts then and 30% faster outland?" reason is simple. Faster you level faster you buy expansions. Thus, making more money (and keeping some altholics very happy..).
Valt Jul 6th 2009 9:18PM
Why yes, Creese. But those rushers will be small fraction of the people leveling. Rusher or not you will still spend time on the content. Same amount in the end. Sure, rusher might have server first and epics by the time regular players are lets say 84.. But both will most likely play till next xpack paying the fees.
Slow leveling is good for them now because it keeps people spending more and more time on this game therefore making money, wich blizzard is meant to do because blizzard is business company not charity worker.
If someone says that "why are they making us level faster with mounts then and 30% faster outland?" reason is simple. Faster you level faster you buy expansions. Thus, making more money (and keeping some altholics very happy).
(if this comment is coming as double I curse thee comment system)
Quark1020 Jul 6th 2009 9:54PM
If that is the case, why introduce the invite-a-friend system in the first place? If blizzard was truly worried about an extra 20% exp in the next expansion, they wouldn't keep the 300% bonus with the friend thing.
Todd Jul 6th 2009 10:57PM
^
RAF exp bonus only works until lvl 60 so it doesn't effect wrath or even bc...
My hope is that they would just disable the leveling gain from the shoulders and chest for say a period of 3 months after the expansion hits. By then everyone's mains will be 80 anyway.
Todd Jul 6th 2009 10:58PM
Dang it I meant 90.
Dazaras Jul 6th 2009 11:13PM
What I would do, if I had any say in the matter, is make the exp bonus not work from 80 to 90 until a 90th level character had activated them, possibly with tokens or gold or whatever. That way, you couldn't speed up your main's leveling, but you could speed up your alts leveling, as per the intended spirit of the item. All the item's other abilities would scale normally.
Danafi Jul 6th 2009 7:13PM
Why do all the new Heirloom chest pieces on the PTR have zero armor? Wouldn't that be very bad for leveling?
Valt Jul 6th 2009 7:18PM
Think they are still tweaking them. Besides some clothies already have 11% armor.. and we leveled fine. Mobs really dont hurt at all anyway. Leveling is fast and easy.
Andrew Jul 6th 2009 8:36PM
My sense is that in future expansions the heirlooms available at max level would give greater bonuses, with bonus XP increasing relative to how much time a new character would have to level. 20 or 30% bonus to shoulders in the next expansion, with the old ones still providing 10% upgrades.
Future heirlooms would likely be based on Burning Crusade-era items, more cosmetically appealing, perhaps even smarter, with different stats based on what class and spec equips them. Hybrids pop to mind, especially with dual-spec, gear that could change spec with you would be very handy.
Karilyn Jul 6th 2009 7:16PM
I can guarantee you that heirlooms will be turned off after level 80. I would bet real life money on it.
It will be the same as how they wiped rested EXP on patch day for both expansions.
I predict that old heirlooms will have their EXP completely turned off, and only be useful as scaling equipment. At level 90 you will have to purchase new heirlooms if you want an exp bonus for leveling.
This would be in-tune with the way Blizzard has managed things so far (after all, they wouldn't want you to need to farm level 80 content in order to get heirlooms once the level cap is 90)
ToyChristopher Jul 6th 2009 7:18PM
Either that or the balance experience gains around you having heirloom equipment. Which they probably wouldn't do. Or maybe we will see +exp gains on more green gear.
Eternauta Jul 6th 2009 7:22PM
THIS ^
Banndit Jul 6th 2009 7:23PM
Blizz wants u to experince their hard work that they put into the game. Highly doubt they will be allowed. Same as with flying being forbidden 'til lvl 77. They want u to appreciate the game. They might even stop selling them in wrath and make it so that if u want them u will have to get them at lvl 90 with lvl 90 badges.
Colerejuste Jul 6th 2009 9:24PM
Even if XP is turned off, and they become scaling items, they'll probably become handy for lvls 85 to 90, which is probably when your end of game gear will run out, depending on your progression for WotLK.. perhaps 85 if you have heroic gear, and 88 if you have tier 8, etc.