Breakfast Topic: Fickle loot table, I stab at thee
by Matthew Rossi 
Dec 16th 2009 at 8:00AM
Oddly enough, I for once don't really have much to complain about loot wise. My tauren got a swanky trinket, an upgrade to his main hand weapon, and plenty of emblems for his DPS set as well as some nice tanking gear. Since I don't get as much time to play Horde side as I used to, the new Dungeon Finder has been a positive boon for me as a DPS warrior while at the same time giving me something to do to use up some time on Alliance side as well before raids. But I've seen and heard plenty of the opposite result: people queuing up over and over and over again hoping for a drop and seeing the Orca-Hunter's Harpoon get sharded for the sixteenth run in a row. (I admit to taking one for my arms set and then sharding it after the axe dropped, but in my defense no one wanted it).
So we move the question to you: have you snagged that elusive drop yet? Has the Battered Hilt dropped for you? (Blasted thing!) Have you gotten that shield, trinket, armor piece or weapon that haunts your dreams or are said dreams still haunted by nights of fitful, tortured yearning? (Sorry, watching old Taxi reruns.) How have those fickle loot gods been treating you?
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: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Breakfast Topics, Instances, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Adam Holisky Dec 13th 2009 1:45AM
For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee.
Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!
http://www.entertonement.com/clips/vxfwdnkxyv--I-Spit-My-Last-Breath-at-TheeWrath-of-Khan-Fanclub-Wrath-of-Khan-Film-Animation-Ricardo-Montalban-is-the-Man-
jealouspirate Dec 16th 2009 8:17AM
Star Trek writers sure love Moby Dick!
"Jean-Luc, blow up the damn ship!"
"Noooooo!
I will not sacrifice the Enterprise. We've made too many compromises already; too many retreats. They invade our space and we fall back. They assimilate entire worlds and we fall back. Not again. The line must be drawn here! This far, no further! And I will make them pay for what they've done!"
"....you broke you little ships."
Starsmore Dec 16th 2009 12:52PM
"This line must be drawn here-ah!"
I'm sorry, I didn't realize that 'here' was pronounced with two syllables.
Numb Dec 16th 2009 8:10AM
I've seen the crossbow drop in Pit of Saron *literally* every single time I've run it with any of my 3 80s... Which seems pretty broken to me.
Knob Dec 16th 2009 8:16AM
The Needle-Encrusted Scorpion in Forge of Souls heroic is a myth!
CapnSkillet Dec 16th 2009 8:39AM
Run a random pug of heroic PoS with my hunter alt then please. Can't get the blasted thing to drop for him. It drops most times when I'm running on my paladin main. I think there's guys somewhere at Blizzard HQ watching us and laughing.
Mordockk Dec 16th 2009 10:57AM
A lot of peeps are are dying to get the needle encrusted scorpion. it's not a myth i've seen it with my own eye!
to talk numbers about the trink tho. if your looking to use it like a grim toll or mjolnir runestone to get hard capped armpen then great.......BUT the tooltip says it procs on melee crit strike, and chance to proc is 15%. http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50198
i tested it out on my dk since i'm blood specced and realized it actually stinks. since I swing very slow it doesn't proc as often as I'd like and the RNG is a little ridiculous, sometimes itll proc and i'll be dumping runic power and reapplying diseases, thus wasting the trink proc that happens less often than I'd like.
I'd see it being better for classes that swing more often like rogue/warrior, that dual wield.
the other armpen proc trinks are way better because they proc on hit instead of crit (see grim toll/mjolnir runestone). but ya guess u could save the discussion for EJ forums.
BTW Deathbringer's will is AWESOME! I get so gitty when it transforms me into a taunka for 30 secs, inc my strength by 600
Klausse Dec 16th 2009 8:10AM
/agree with Rossi.
Terrible...horrible...I've run the new dungeons many times on my warrior and have yet to secure an upgrade to any of my gear. Last night, my group had a constant stream of cloth/leather/mail, and I lost the roll on the one plate item that dropped.
kooda Dec 16th 2009 11:01AM
Really? im the exact opposite i never seem to see anything for my casters drop, the other day i ran BRD on my alt shaman didn't see a single drop he could use (we killed pretty much everything)
lemur Dec 16th 2009 8:10AM
My warlock alt(now main) hit 80 yesterday, so I'm running as many as possible to gear her up for raiding.
Zebreck Dec 16th 2009 8:13AM
After running Forge for the umpteenth time on my warlock main, I finally get into a group that is pretty decent and we clear the place. I'm lowest dps at 2.9k, and a paladin in full 245 is *gasp* out dpsing me. Seeth drops (that's the caster sword with hit on it), I roll need. He rolls need, wins, says "you are a scrub" and drops group. So far, no new loot for me other than badge loot, which is thankfully tool proof.
BigBadGooz Dec 16th 2009 8:27AM
Well that's not nice of him if it were me I would try and help your dps I have a nubish lock at 4.5k dps in ilevel 219-232 gear as destro. Butthere are times when I don't dps hard so calling you a scrub is way out of line for a pally he prolly crys in his sleep holding his murlock plushie.
Hoggersbud Dec 16th 2009 10:56AM
that is the way of an asshole. We've had Paladins take Seethe, but that's because of no locks or mages in the group.
Besides? 2.9k DPS? That's not great, but it's respectable enough I wouldn't fret over it. Now ~1k dps with a DK with their starter sigil, 3 pieces of t9 and not one single gem. And the attitude to declare they'll play how they want to play and damn anybody else.
That is something I called this DK on the other night, and I am glad they dropped the group when I wouldn't rez them. Yeah, that is me being a jerk, but I'm jerks to people who obviously and I do mean obviously don't give a crap about the other people in their group.
Sure, it's your game. But it's my game too. I don't have to spend my time with people who won't give me the consideration of even performing at a minimal level of competence.
Zebreck Dec 16th 2009 11:31AM
I've always found it interesting how people judge dps. the 2.9k is from overall dps over the entire instance. Since Destro isn't that great at AoE, that lowers the numbers a fair bit. I can pull 4k self buffed on a target dummy. I hit around 6k with 25 man buffs under perfect circumstances. Which number is accurate?
I've refused to rez people on my low 60s disc priest before. Particularly death knights that absolutely refuse to stop deathgripping things after being told specifically to stop more than 3 times. I even had one deathgrip a boss while I was almost oom and the tank was at half life. I let him die, then I healed the rest of the group and we downed the boss. The dk want apeshit in group chat (which served to confirm he did know english), and got kicked.
Hoggersbud Dec 16th 2009 12:15PM
There's the thing, I'm not concerned that you did 2.9k DPS, whether overall or single target. It's good enough I wouldn't bother worrying over it. It'd certainly fall into the murky area of limitations of circumstance as you talk about. So destro lock, Aff lock, Shadow Priest, Enh Shaman, Rogue, whatever, I wouldn't worry. 2.9k is fine and dandy.
Now if, like this warlock I was in with yesterday, you were casting rank 1 Chaos Bolt and Incinerate...then I'd be concerned. Of course, they only did like 1.2k dps so...yeah.
Of course, I also just had a group with a Paladin who had queued up to tank. Who had 2 pieces of gear with defense on it and was in a ret spec. He was bitchy that I wouldn't put my DK in frost Prescence and tank. Um, yeah, I didn't queue up as tank, now did I? Of course, then he started swearing at me and calling me a pussy. Hmm. I wonder why I, and everybody else was glad he left and somebody actually willing to tank joined us.
Kelashtir Dec 16th 2009 8:12AM
I cannot, despite running Trial of the Crusader over and over again, get the Heart of Darkness. It's freaking ABSURD.
Royal Dec 16th 2009 10:35AM
Maybe b/c Heart of Darkness doesn't dropp in ToC?
Butts Dec 16th 2009 11:58AM
He obviously means The Black Heart, which does drop in normal ToC from The Black Knight.
jealouspirate Dec 16th 2009 8:13AM
There are a few upgrades for me hidden in those three new heroics.
I got a minor upgrade, but haven't once seen the two major upgrades (not including the Battered Hilt).
Oh well. I'll keep running them. At least I'm a healer, so queue times are very low.
Creelie Dec 16th 2009 8:18AM
I had the BEST loot day yesterday! Three pieces for my discipline set and two for my shadow set all told.
That said, I don't study loot tables of instances - I study the inventories of the emblem quartermasters, since that gear I can count on getting. Drops are a nice surprise, not something I'm waiting for.