Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
Mystery of the Unborn Val'kyr
The latest patch 5.3 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsHeirlooms for every slot
by Mike Schramm 
Aug 7th 2009 at 3:00PM
I've been pushing forward on my Paladin lately, and so I've entered the wacky world of Heirlooms. I have already picked up the leather Heirloom shoulders (thinking that even though the Pally wears plate, if I ever want to level a Druid or Rogue, I'll have them), and I'm well on my way to grabbing the new Heirloom chestpiece as well -- 20% bonus XP, combined with a healthy amount of rested XP, should make the leveling curve as easy as it gets (RaF is nice too, I guess, but I'd rather not pay for a second account). So I'm in Heirlooms up to my neck (at least until they give us helms), and I was intrigued by this question over on the Rawrcast forums: do you think Blizzard will eventually provide Heirloom items for every slot?20% is already a significant bonus to killing and questing XP, and rested technically provides a 50% bonus. But with ten Heirlooms in 10 slots (we'll leave out weapons, since those don't have the 10% XP bonus, as well as shirts and tabards, and rings and trinkets for now), you're looking at a 100% XP bonus even without Rest. The current average 80 probably spent about 14 days leveling up, so with an extra 100% bonus, you're looking at seven days /played, or very close to the current record. At that point, Blizzard might as well let us grant levels to each other.
Then there's the other point brought up: dressed up in Heirlooms, who cares about your gear? I'd argue that's not as big a deal -- when I'm leveling, all I need from my gear is enough DPS to get the job done, so I don't worry about min/maxing or going for the pretty stuff. But yes, it seems unlikely that Blizzard would ever outfit us in full Heirloom gear, especially with the XP bonus. Even if another couple of expansions take us up to level 100, just making the leveling faster doesn't seem like the best way to do it.
Filed under: Items, Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Instances, Leveling
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 4)
telltalehart Aug 7th 2009 3:54PM
If they were to give use heirlooms for every spot, I could see it working out in set bonuses, similar to the tier system. If you only have one piece, you'd get the 10%, but instead of 10% bonus for every piece, you could get health bonuses, faster regens, or something else along the lines. I wouldn't think they'd be anything class specific, as that require a lot of new gear that people wouldn't be able to use between their toons. Everyone could find use with faster health regens or maybe something not related to stats, like a 2% increase in running speed on land (would make getting around dungeons quicker and for those pre-mount lvls).
I highly, highly doubt blizzard would make it where gear alone would give you 100% or more bonus XP...stack that with RaF and Rested.
dgcollins274 Aug 7th 2009 4:51PM
I think that's a great idea. And since the items are basically set up as Caster or mele instead of dps/tank/heals, It would be pretty easy to set up the sets.
Mele -
2 - 2% HP every time you kill a mob/player work XP/honor
4 - Passive Regen 1% HP every 5 seconds
6 - Run speed increased by 8%
caster -
2 - 2% MP every time you kill a mob/player work XP/honor
4 - Passive Regen 1% MP every 5 seconds
6 - Run speed increased by 8%
Schadenfreude Aug 7th 2009 3:55PM
I wouldn't be surprised if you could get a >50% bonus with heirloom items in the future, especially in the next expansion. Imagine leveling 1-90 or 100. That said I've leveled every class to 60 or higher except mage and priest so I'll probably be waiting for the next expansion to level a new character. I'm running out of classes!
Charlie Aug 7th 2009 4:00PM
I think its possible, but I doubt every peice will give straight XP Bonuses. Health/Energy bonuses, things like that, might come into play, but i think they will limit XP.
AishaLove Aug 7th 2009 4:01PM
I think that as the level cap is increased they will add more to adjust the curve for new alts, I don't think a 100% increase for getting a toon up to level 100 or higher is bad at all and seeing as you already leveled at least one toon to get the items, I'd say it's fair.
pietrex Aug 7th 2009 4:07PM
I wish the XP bonus was on the items you don't see all the time (neck, rings, trinkets, shirt). It is extremely boring to watch your character wear them for 80 levels.
jealouspirate Aug 7th 2009 4:08PM
I think a great idea is to make, for example, the entire Tier 1 set into an heirloom piece.
It could cost a lot, and wouldn't have to give any more experience than the +20% you can already get. I personally love having gear that matches, and would really enjoy leveling in one of those great classic sets.
Chuddy Aug 7th 2009 5:02PM
Man you guys have it BIG time for rawrcast. Lordy. It's going overboard.
Sleutel Aug 7th 2009 6:59PM
Why does "Heirloom items in every slot" necessarily equal "XP bonuses for every Heirloom item"? As of right now, only two slots (shoulders and chest) give XP bonuses, while the other Heirloom items (weapons, ranged weapons, and trinkets) don't.
Josh Aug 7th 2009 7:01PM
Currently, the Preened Ironfeather Breastplate [Leather Item] is bugged and not providing the 10% xp bonus.
Malkavos Aug 7th 2009 7:53PM
I predict we'll eventually see heirlooms in the major tier slots, 5 total, for 50% XP bonus. We'll probably also have some heirloom offset items as well. Weapons and trinkets are already available, and do not have bonus XP on them, so the precedent is already set for some heirlooms with and some without bonus XP.
To me it seems logical that Blizz might eventually be planning to round out the gear sets, i.e an entire recognizable Shadowcraft set, Valor set, Ironfeather set, et *set* era.... =P
I agree that 100% bonus XP would be quite a lot, but 50% is basically like permanent rest.
The thing I really wonder about is whether or not these XP bonuses will work in the next expansion pack or not. I'm inclined to think that they may be disabled initially, at least for the new content.
Rai Aug 7th 2009 10:41PM
The Enchanting market would crash.
Kalerender Aug 8th 2009 6:23AM
I'd like to see heirloom boots next with passive run speed.
dgcollins274 Aug 10th 2009 12:58PM
I just keep grabbing the AB ones every 10 levels.
Realmreaver Aug 8th 2009 7:55AM
I think heirlooms should cover the basic so the outfit will give you the look ala dreadmist set of head shoulders chest gloves boots legs (legs for those without skirts =) I think the other parts that come out should be a 'set' bonus of an additional 10% so with those 4 and the previous 2 you get a set bonus of 50% ala constant rest exp.
You have a matching set while leveling if you so choose and you get armor that doesn't really needs replacing and a 50% exp bonus to 80.
Synergistic Aug 8th 2009 10:06AM
The problem with this is I'm going to be leveling my paladin in all cloth because I want to be able to pass the set along to my warlock when the rested experience runs out.
soule Aug 8th 2009 2:36PM
Do we really need it w/ the nerfs to XP/leavel already?
I leveled a paladin(with the same leather shoulders) in just over 6 days /played from 0-80.
I know other classes are harder. I just finished a druid and it took closer to 8-9 days played, but still that is really fast when you think about it.
Thanks
Hagen Aug 8th 2009 4:24PM
I have the pvp shoulders and staff for my 45 lock and 36 mage to share. My 72 rogue has nothing yet, my shaman and paladin are both 72 and they both have the chest and shoulders, the shammy also has the caster mace, which I'll probably ship to my pally everytime he swaps specs from ret to holy :) A full tier set of 5 that goes up to 50% XP gain would be nice, but I can't imagine how fast the leveling will be then. I was 6% away from 72 today on my Pally so I did 4 quests in HF. By the end of the 4 quests, I was 100k into the new level.
Vidi Aug 9th 2009 11:40AM
Mike,
a few months back I decided to level a paladin, death knight and warrior. So I picked up the Strengthened Stockade Pauldrons and have been trading them back and forth to each character as I play them. The pally won my heart and is now 80 and tanking heroics and naxx. Love him. The DK is 71 and taking my time in outland seeing how many quests I can complete there before I no longer get exp. And the warrior is sitting at 40 pretty much forgotten at this point...though Im sure Ill get back to him eventually.
I have a 61 warlock as well. And one day i felt like playing him so I sent the Strengthened Stockade Pauldrons over and guess what? He cant wear them. Theyre plate. While the warrior and pally could wear them when they were restricted to mail armor, they will not convert to cloth.
So if youre going to use them to level youre not going to be able to use them for a druid or rogue. If you want to level those classes youre going to need the Exceptional Stormshroud Shoulders or the Stained Shadowcraft Spaulders
Youre not going to be able to use the same heirlooms on a paladin as a rogue.
Now to those saying that quest rewards leveling up are useless. I wholeheartedly disagree. While using the shoulders there were a TON of quest rewards that sold to vendors for a decent amount of coin ( level appropriate ) which allowed me to amass enough cash for mounts and riding training. hehe I waited until 3.2 for the discount to epic flying and now Ive got everything trained and still a tidy little sum of cash for more enchants and gems now that Im tanking heroics and naxx