The lack of wands in Cataclysm
by Alex Ziebart 
Jan 5th 2011 at 3:00PM
There are no level 85, pre-heroic wands for classes that do not use spirit. There is only one ilevel 333 wand in the game, and it drops in Grim Batol. All other ranged slots have ilevel 333 (or ilevel 346) bind on equip items available. This puts casters at an obvious (though admittedly minor) disadvantage when trying to gear for heroics.
For classes that use relics, scribes are able to craft the following: Each of these items is ilevel 346 -- they're not cheap, but you can acquire them with a chunk of gold or a little time spent solo farming. Picking up one of these relics on the auction house (or having a friend craft one for you) will kick-start you on your way into heroics. They're legitimately good items on par with heroic gear, and they will help your average ilevel along.
For classes able to equip guns and crossbows, engineers can provide the following:
These items are ilevel 333. There is the ilevel 346 Kickback 5000, but that requires a Chaos Orb to craft and isn't nearly as accessible as the 333 items. Still, it is a bind on equip, heroic-quality gun that you could get off of the auction house if you wish to do so. There is no bow option -- but personal preferences aside, if you can use a bow, you can use a gun or a crossbow, so a bow option isn't necessary.
Update: There actually is an ilevel 346 bow crafted by engineers that I managed to miss, despite being a 525 engineer. The Overpowered Chicken Splitter is your friend!
The only ilevel 333 option for wands is the Wand of Untainted Power, a spirit wand that drops from Forgemaster Throngus in Grim Batol. Not only can casters not acquire a BoE wand like every other ranged item, there is only one pre-heroic wand, and it isn't particularly desirable to classes that don't utilize spirit heavily. At least you can reforge spirit -- despite being listed among the primary stats, it is considered a secondary stat. You can dump half of it if you'd like.
Why is there only one wand option prior to heroics? The lack of BoEs aside, the wand drops are just unfortunately placed. The ilevel 346 wands that become accessible in heroics are:
- Corla's Baton This wand drops from Corla, Herald of Twilight in Blackrock Caverns. The normal version of this wand is not a 333 item. Blackrock Caverns is likely the very first instance you will run stepping into Cataclysm content, so the non-heroic version of the wand is ilevel 308.
- Cookie's Stirring Rod The normal version of this wand doesn't even drop in post-80 content. The normal version of Deadmines is still for level 15+ players, so the normal version of this wand is a mere ilevel 20.
Also, there really is the possibility that the developers believe enchanting is too profitable as it is, and I might even agree with that. Many enchanters have built castles made of gold at the release of this expansion and the last just via disenchanting items and selling dusts and essences at ludicrous prices. Making one trade skill too profitable is a real concern. Would crafted wands have pushed it over the edge? Maybe.
Still, it's an imbalance in gearing/itemization, and one that's easily fixed via crafted wands. Do other instances of itemization gaps exist in Cataclysm? Yes, but this is the most obvious and probably the easiest to fix.
Sorry Jasper, I don't have an answer to your question. I don't know why enchanters don't craft wands anymore -- but they should.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
Brogore Jan 5th 2011 3:06PM
There is a craftable bow. The chickensplitter.
Skarn Jan 5th 2011 3:10PM
Yep. Link right here: http://www.wowhead.com/item=59364
Alex Ziebart Jan 5th 2011 6:44PM
That is really weird. Why doesn't my engineer have that recipe? Time to investigate!
hawkeye94 Jan 5th 2011 3:08PM
The Kickback 5000 isnt the only 346 crafted ranged, there is in fact a bow, also made by engineers, The Overpowered Chicken Splitter.
Aeg Jan 5th 2011 3:08PM
Try finding a strength gun for warriors to use
Klausse Jan 5th 2011 3:17PM
Muffled Blunderbuss (ilvl 318) seems to be the only viable option. :(
Austin Jan 5th 2011 3:23PM
There's that one from Bastion:
http://www.wowhead.com/item=60210
that's pretty much it. :P
Also, Thundercall, which was, conveniently enough, never put into the game. Why? I will never know.
http://www.wowhead.com/item=56376
Josin Jan 5th 2011 3:29PM
Yeah. We were killing extra trash in Bastion of Twilight just to try to get a Carbine to drop. No luck.
Mayhew Jan 5th 2011 4:03PM
Excellent point. I was just going to post this myself when I saw your post. The strength-based ranged weapon itemization gap is actually more egregious than the wand issue, since there is nothing between ilvl 318 and 359 that fits the bill (and the only 359 item that works is a random trash drop in BoT, so I'm not sure that its 372 equivalent even drops). On the other hand, there is a great relic to fill that gap. I know that strength ranged weapons only serve one class, but it does seem to me to be a glaring omission.
Slyght Jan 5th 2011 4:46PM
For Warrior tanking, I've found that the 346 iLvl Sky Piercer that can be bought with Tol Barad marks is a slight upgrade to the quest greens if you reforge the crit to either hit or expertise. I'd probably save those 85 marks and apply them towards getting an epic trinket, unless you're really trying to min/max or boost your iLvl
http://www.wowhead.com/item=62460
For DPS, though, Strength is king, and quest greens are still the best.
LittleHamster Jan 6th 2011 4:52AM
It's an oversight from the article writer. There are no warrior (ie strength) ranged weapon available in the normal and heroic instance range. Your only choice is PvP (which also sell wands) or the single ilvl 359 drop from Bastion of Twilight. The ilvl 359 Crossfire Carbine is a hybrid experitse/hit gun for all specs of warriors.
Do not tell me that an agility weapon is viable. It's not.
Timo Willemsen Jan 5th 2011 3:08PM
I know it's such a pain. I've upgraded all my equipment to ilvl 346, only my wand is left to get. With only 1 queue each day for grim batol it's probably going to take ages.
Ikarus Jan 5th 2011 3:43PM
In my experience it seems to have a pretty decent drop rate.
Stirb Jan 5th 2011 9:51PM
RNG is RNG. You could see it every run and I (true story!) could never see it drop after several kills.
ghola Jan 5th 2011 3:08PM
I thought I read awhile ago that developers aren't really happy with wands as an item to begin with. Something about not needing mana but still dishing out acceptable dps? Can't remember...
Rhabella Jan 5th 2011 3:48PM
You are right. I read that as well, but they also weren’t real happy with the relic slot either if you pass judgment based on how they simplified them and made them less class specific.
The real problem with hit wands vs spirit wands imo is that hit even exists at all.
The devs should have thrown in the towel with this “hit” stat and just made spirit the hit stat. Imagine all cloth with spirit doubling at dps and healer cloth just as the leather and mail does now?
Of course, it really should extend into melee classes as well. Why create a stat like hit when spirit could have been the hit stat? If you need some stupid connection let’s say that the more spirited you are the more likely you are to accurately do your job.
Mastery is doing so many things when you look at pieces that double at dps and tank pieces like Raz’s Paudrons (http://www.wowhead.com/item=55779) so why not take advantage of all the things spirit can do if you allow it to function as hit?
Drakkenfyre Jan 5th 2011 8:22PM
"The devs should have thrown in the towel with this “hit” stat and just made spirit the hit stat."
That brings back the days when Spirit was on everything.
The idea at the time was that every piece of gear had to have every stat, so you had Warrior plate dropping with Stamina, Agility, and Spirit.
From a definition point alone, Spirit as Hit wouldn't make any sense. Having more Spirit makes you aim better?
We have too much stat simplification now as it is, I would prefer Hit to remain it's own stat.
Possum Jan 5th 2011 8:49PM
"Something about not needing mana but still dishing out acceptable dps?"
An average fire mage with talented scorch can keep up acceptable dps (around 90% of their normal rotation) at almost 0 mana by casting free scorches, using hot streak procs and using their piddling mana regen to keep living bomb up. I'd say that would be much more of a worry than the dps of wands.
Pinochet Jan 5th 2011 11:18PM
@rhabella
My pet idea is for most/all spirit items to just have an equal amount of hit on it without counting against the stat allocation. Since healers and dps receive negligible benefit from hit and spirit, respectively, there isn't really much of a problem with letting them have the incorrect stats.
It's sort of like how back in BC some weirdly itemized feral and ret pieces would have a tiny bit of intellect on them, and would still manage to be reasonably good for warrior or rogues.
Al Jan 5th 2011 11:44PM
@Drakken,
maybe it'll refer to one's "fighting spirit"?