Breakfast Topic: With great power...
by Matthew Rossi 
Oct 12th 2009 at 8:00AM
No. It's events like this weekend, when I was trying to get my level 41 paladin through Stranglethorn Vale as fast as possible (because, you know, it's bloody awful) and came upon a level 80 DK and his level 63 rogue buddy slaughtering all the quest givers. I couldn't see what levels they were (to the pally, they were skull level) so I decided to switch over to my warrior (after I got cocky and flagged hoping to draw them to attack me, which they did... level 41 pally went boom) and come clean them out. It wasn't until I arrived in Booty Bay I realized that the DK was wearing heirlooms and greens... well, to be honest, I only realized that when I hit him twice with my Sharpened Obsidian Edged Blade and he fell down. The rogue died from the ancillary whirlwind.
The first thing I did after cackling and thinking about how to work this into a Wow.com post (which, as you can see, I managed - I realized about an hour later that I should have remember their names) was to think about how it rarely even occurs to me just how fast gear escalates. I can remember doing the daily quests for Knights of the Ebon Blade reputation out on the Scarlet Onslaught island, carefully pulling groups of one or two and stopping to eat or bandage between pulls. Now I pull groups of 8 to 10 at a time and don't even have to stop to eat, period. With patch 3.3 coming and with it a new raid of even more powerful gear, by the end of the expansion's cycle will we just pull the entire island in one go?
So once again I turn to you, readers - how much is too much? Are we even going to need to upgrade at all before we hit 85 in Cataclysm? Or are things progressing just as they should and the fact that my shaman can go resto and run through the Argent Tournament dailies letting his fire totems do they killing while he AFK's and trust Earth Shield and Healing Stream to keep him alive is just a consequence of gear evolution, nothing to be concerned about?
Filed under: Rogue, Warrior, Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Breakfast Topics, Expansions, Death Knight
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Lastgaurdian Oct 12th 2009 8:06AM
We can make him stronger, larger, more powerful... He will be more than man. He will be...
IronLock.
Though in all seriousness, before Cataclysm hits odds are we'll have plenty of time to gear up and should indeed utilize that time, though it is not a question of getting upgrades, but of their significance in cataclysm. With the level cap being raised only five levels, will we be raiding the Abyssal Maw in Tier10 still, or what? I ponder the new item levels or how they plan to go about that more so than anything.
Then again this expansion isn't over just yet.
RedMosquito Oct 12th 2009 10:51AM
Your "raiding the Abyssal Maw in Tier10 still" comment made me think.
What if Blizzard changed things this time around, and made it actually possible for you to raid the entry raids in Cataclysm wearing Icecrown Gear?
They could simply make the level 85 questing greens/blues from Cataclysm be just slightly worse than the high end Wrath stuff. And the entry raid gear (level 85 dungeon blues / early purples) be on par with the best Arthas gear.
That way, for the first time in Wow history, we would actually be able to keep using our gear for two consecutive expansions, instead of downgrading from purple to green and back to purple again.
I think it would be awesome to still show off your Arthas epics until better epics start to drop from the new raids. A true sense of continuity.
pants Oct 12th 2009 11:19AM
@RedMosquito
There wasn't really that much of a gear reset with Lich King. People were still sporting t6 when they were in Naxx and there was a fair amount of complaining about it.
I'm fairly casual and I remember tanking my first heroics still wearing season 2 pvp gear.
I hope the gear reset is somewhere in between BC and LK, where by about 82/83 our gear starts to phase out of usefulness.
Eternauta Oct 12th 2009 12:02PM
I'm not worried about gear scalation atm, but rather about Stat Inflation.
As the expansions and tiers of raiding are released, we get higher and higher ilvl's (and therefore higher stats).
Imagine having to compare a chest with 1587652397463697 Strenght and 2225632887 Hit Rating to another with 12315789456613245 Strenght and 96475319851 Hit Rating.
TOO BIG NUMBAS MI HAED BURNS LOLOLOLOL
Blizz should do something as a "stat system reset" to avoid problems like this.
bluerobin427 Oct 12th 2009 8:11AM
I know Blizzard's mentioned on occasion that gear stats were escalating higher and faster than they meant for them to, so I've been wondering if it would be possible for current gear to have its stats changed (as well as all of the old gear and quest rewards) when Cataclysm comes out. Most of it is going to have to have stats changed anyway to make up for the stats that aren't going to be on equipment any more, so they have the opportunity there I guess.
Monkofdoom Oct 12th 2009 8:16AM
It has always been the case that come a new expansion those players with greater gear have had little need to change during the leveling process.
When TBC came I found myself still with my trusty tier 3 running around at 70.
When WoTLK came the sunwell items were still usable at 80 and no doubt when Cataclysm comes the same rules will apply.
The biggest difference this time round is not so much the scaling has increase but the fact that those players in the high end gear are no longer the minority.
It is true that the 5 levels rather than 10 will make a difference, but I'm confident come the heroics and first raid of cataclysm we will be changing equipment as had been with the previous expansions.
Manbag Oct 12th 2009 8:21AM
Something like this came up in discussion in my Guild quite recently, on how the escalation of the gear players are getting, more specifically tanks.
Right now people are getting 40K+ tanks, ive even seen some reach about 60k+ going for full Stam gear. Where not even at Icecrown Citadel level of gear and were reaching these high numbers. Just imagine when Cataclysm hits, we might end up seeing 100k tanks which is just crazy when you compare it to Tank hp when WotLK came out. Thats a pretty big jump.
Vagrant Oct 12th 2009 8:32AM
does it matter, a 100k tank or a 60k tank?
Cause assuming blizzard scales the gear, they'll also be scaling the boss to hit you for 20k
yes the old content turns simple, but well, that's a given anyways, the only question is how fast something will turn easy, but seeing I'm not actively looking for a challenge in gundrak anymore anyways, i'm quite ok with it in general.
Gear scales with bosses, or bosses scale with gear
I do admit though, come to think about it, that I kind of feel sad that I've dropped bosses without ever really having learned their tips and tricks seeing I never did most dungeons on normal. Not so long ago I ran UP heroic, while eating fries and general not paying much attention and in the end came the 'don't hit him during Bane' warning. I realized I've never even seen Bane, he just dies before he gets to his last coffin.
Noah Oct 12th 2009 10:53AM
Obviously, Blizzard would scale the content to fit the gear. I just think that there might end up being too many digits in the numbers to keep track of. For example, it might be more difficult to compare +23897423897189 stamina gear with a +9998849230938 stamina gear. That's just my opinion.
PeeWee Oct 12th 2009 1:47PM
"they'll also be scaling the boss to hit you for 20k"
Bosses hit you for 20K+ already, mate. =)
Babasyzygy Oct 12th 2009 5:23PM
Show me an 80k health tank in PvE and I'll show you an idiot who gems and enchants only for STA and doesn't care about healer stress.
Health is for surviving the worst incoming damage spikes until the tank can be healed - all other itemization should be focused on reducing incoming damage, whether through avoidance and mitigation stats, or expertise to minimize resetting mobs' swing timers.
Servetus Oct 12th 2009 8:38AM
Blizzard is giving players what they believe will keep them subscribed. We are all crack addicts, and in this case the crack isn't made from cocaine - it's gear. Blizzard keeps giving us a little taste, and each time we need a bigger hit to get high. This can't stop, it can't ever slow down, because it has become the reason most players continue to play the game.
When WOW launched, our reward for doing things was simply to have them done. Because things were HARD, and they took TIME, and not everyone could even do them in the first place. If you had epic armor on, that was...well, EPIC.
Now, purple gear doesn't mean anything. What LEVEL of purple gear are we talking about? And people can get right close to the very best gear, running just five man content. That's absolutely fine with me, since I AM one of those casual players whose job and family demands mean I can't raid.
But I also enjoy playing the game like an animated solitaire game. I run dailies or do silly things like fishing, etc., while chatting with friends in the game. So while I will accept the gear, I would play WOW even if I didn't get it. Because I find it more fun to whack kobolds as to move cards around between stacks. And it's a social thing. But I believe I am in the minority of players with that.
Fire up the crack pipe...er, let's run some heroics!
Croe Oct 12th 2009 4:31PM
I think that's what it's all about nowadays. Gear.
Personally, I feel purples have lost their meaning. Yes, they may well be epic, but the sense of achievement of getting them is no longer what it once was. That is not to belittle the work done to get them, but it does certainly make of a less satisfying experience.
Maybe it's time for a new colour to be introduced. Something that would say, wow, this really means something.
lethian Oct 12th 2009 5:11PM
yea i know exactly what u mean, i hardly ever raid, i mean i really want to, my account has been frozen for a couple of weeks and i only recently realized i was sporting gear taht i could prolly do ulduar in. its a dk in ulduar equal badge gear, and higher end toc h 5 man epics , hopefully not too much longer, but really its the social aspect that is catching me like a fish hook in the mouth. your not alone :D
actually i talk to guildies on facebook too for when my account is down.
Echohunter Oct 12th 2009 8:49AM
I'm just going to have to assume Cataclysm quest mobs and dungeon bosses are going to have a f@%# ton of health to counter the massive damage a lot people can put out now.. where's the fun in killing stuff within a second?
Hendrata Oct 12th 2009 9:32AM
This is my question too. If they make level 81 mobs in Cataclysm have 30k health each (which, to current raiders are just 5-8 seconds kill), then what about people who level AFTER cataclysm hits? These people will ding 80 in greens and then start doing level 81 quests right away.
But if they make level 81 mobs have 15k health (as a natural evolution to level 80 mobs who have 12k health right now), some of us can actually two shot that given the right spec.
zappo Oct 12th 2009 9:55AM
In BC you basically had a huge gear reset to solve the upgrade problem. In Wrath the stat system lead to a natural decay which allowed for a smooth transition, but needed upgrades by 80 (more hit rating required for 1% hit for instance). However this time the stat decay system isn't going to be enough because we're only going up 5 levels.
So what does this mean? Next expansion we're looking at another severe gear reset.
vinniedcleaner Oct 12th 2009 8:48AM
...comes great responsibility.
Judging from the title and beginning of the article, I was expecting it to be a call for raid geared level 80's to band together and make gankers and griefers lives miserable.
Matthew Rossi Oct 12th 2009 9:33AM
What, we're not all already doing that?
Candina@WH Oct 12th 2009 9:42AM
re: Matt.
Nope. Many of the griefers ARE uber geared. Usually Arena geared.