Shadowfrost Shard drop rates are actually pretty good
by Michael Sacco 
Dec 10th 2009 at 7:00PM
As per the quest The Splintered Throne, you're required to collect 60 of the little buggers, and from the site, it appears that they're around a 25-50% drop rate off of all bosses except Arthas in the 25-man version of Icecrown Citadel on normal mode and a 50-100% chance off of the Heroic versions of the same bosses.
All in all, not bad. It'll still be a, well, legendary process to get your axe crafted, but at least you won't need to suffer through awful drop rates to make it happen.
Patch 3.3 is the last major patch of Wrath of the Lich King. With the new Icecrown Citadel 5-man dungeons and 10/25-man raid arriving soon, patch 3.3 will deal the final blow to Arthas. WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.3 will keep you updated with all the latest patch news.Filed under: Paladin, Warrior, News items, Death Knight, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Nazgûl Dec 10th 2009 7:07PM
Notice the lack of the crucial text "Quest Item" - looks like only one person gets them until we hear otherwise.
Hansbo Dec 10th 2009 7:07PM
I assume that they still just drop one-per-raid and not per-person. If I'm wrong, I apologise, but that still seems like crafting this legendary will take some time, especially with the gates being time delayed.
I'm not complaining though, legendaries should be legendary :)
Fartmasterking Dec 10th 2009 7:09PM
I bet its because their are a LOT more dps then healers in every raid, of course you still need 60 total shards to get one axe, its a pretty cool axe if you ask me, and others
Jack Spicer Dec 10th 2009 7:17PM
A legendary is still a legendary. It shouldn't be easier to get just because there are more people that can use it.
LuminousNerd Dec 10th 2009 7:46PM
Umm, unless I'm missing something, it ISN'T... I mean you have to complete quite the quest to obtain this. Not sure how anyone could suggest that it's easier than valanyr, even if the drop rate's a little better...
Nawaf Dec 10th 2009 9:36PM
Shadowmourne is for tanks, not DPS.
Even if it was for DPS, it's for paladins, warriors, and DKs.
Scomparsa Dec 10th 2009 10:19PM
Shadowmourne...for tanks?
223 str
114 crit strike
114 arPen
Yeah...real tank weapon right there...
EK Dec 10th 2009 7:08PM
So you're saying I can get this by exclusively running PUG raids.
Maus Dec 10th 2009 7:14PM
I'm going to assume that was a troll post, but just in case you're just stupid - no, you're not going to get this axe merely by collecting shards in PuGs. Apart from collecting a huge amount of pimordial saronite (the new crusader orb) you need to defeat multiple end-quarter bosses on 25 Man Heroic mode, a task not even the most coordinated PuG could even dream to complete.
liu Dec 10th 2009 7:36PM
And... what's wrong with that? As long as your effort is the same, I don't see why it matters if you're part of a guild or not.
Jeff Dec 10th 2009 7:22PM
I'm very happy with the way they're structuring Shadowmourne. Val'anyr felt kinda cheap to me, it was just gathering an inordinate amount of rare drops. There's certainly an element of that in Shadowmourne, but overall I like that crafting it is much more about completing a suitably epic (And difficult) quest chain.
Rafael Dec 10th 2009 7:46PM
Woot things are looking good for my dk
Tom Dec 11th 2009 6:33AM
Of course, by the time you actually get it, you'll already have cleared the place, and will have no content to look forward to before a gear reset.
Legendaries are tricky.
Namus Dec 10th 2009 8:19PM
I stopped reading at 25-man version...
Dan Dec 10th 2009 8:38PM
The slightly less legendary 10-man Slightlydimmourne just doesn't feel like it would have the same prestige to it.
Jason Dec 10th 2009 9:40PM
I agree. My guild is only a 10 man guild and I was hoping to get this for a few guildies. I am not pleased that Blizzard hasn't done something for the 10 man guilds out there. I know its a Legendary and all but still.
larrydoomhammer Dec 10th 2009 11:11PM
People are always looking for handouts...It's fine the way it is. It's called legendary for a reason!
PvtDeth Dec 10th 2009 11:26PM
If you're referring to the 10-man/25-man complaints, it's not a handout. The gear difference between 10 and 25 is not equivalent to the difficulty difference. As we learned in Naxx, some 25 are easier than their 10-man equivalents.
I don't think anyone is asking for a handout, just an opportunity to put the same amount of hard "work" for a slightly inferior reward.
PvtDeth Dec 10th 2009 11:33PM
To be clear, I'm not necessarily recommending a lower level Legendary, just maybe an Epic with stats between Shadowmourne and its predecessor.
Reps Dec 11th 2009 12:36AM
10 man Naxx may have been harder in some cases, but this is not Naxx. 10 man ICC is absurdly easy compared to 25 man. My guild spent around 4 hours of raid time to down the first two ICC bosses, and then a 10 man group ran through and took out the first 3 bosses in a little over an hour on 10 man. 10 and 25 man are not comparable. Please do not kid yourself.
(Yes I know, all the people who have been wiping on 10 man for the past few months are going to come and downrate this post until it is no longer visible.)