Building on their
previews from last week, Blizzard has released sneak peeks at two more
tier 12 sets:
shaman and warlock. The warlock set is pretty clearly based on Firelands boss Beth'tilac, the gargantuan fire spider queen; the shaman set is a little more general but you can definitely see influences from old Ragnaros gear like the Crown of Destruction. Besides, we all know that the best shaman sets are ones where chains and exploding rocks are involved, so chalk this one up as a win for
patch 4.2.
Check out the warlock set after the cut, and be sure to check out our full tier 12 gallery below.
The news is already rolling out for the upcoming WoW Patch 4.2! Preview the new Firelands raid, marvel at the new legendary staff, and get the inside scoop on new quest hubs -- plus new Tier 12 armor!
Tags: breaking, firelands, patch-4.2, patch-42, ptr-4.2, ptr-wow, shaman, t12, tier, tier-12, tier-armor, tier-gear, tier-sets, warlock, wow-patch-4.2, wow-ptr, wow-ptr-4.2
Filed under: News items, Cataclysm
May 13th 2011 at 1:45PM 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
incoming00 May 13th 2011 1:50PM
looks like we found where the paladin tier helm went......
Ryski007 May 13th 2011 4:25PM
Thinking this the entire time.
Bronwyn May 13th 2011 1:54PM
Damn, another shaman skirt
johnthediver May 13th 2011 6:26PM
I'm so tired of putting my molten lava throwing, or dual axe wielding shaman in a skirt.
Jordan May 14th 2011 3:22AM
If they don't change the Teir 12 Bonuses for Enhancement Shaman they could make it a pink fluffy dress for all I care as long as we keep that 25% buff to fire damage.
But seriously Paladins get stuck in skirts too - ours are at least mail, can you imagine how badly a plate shirt chafes?!
Starsmore May 13th 2011 2:01PM
Meh. Doesn't seem too warlocky to me.
Looks more "I need to trim my eyebrows." Or maybe nosehair, I can't rreally tell where those things on the helm are sprouting from.
Boz May 13th 2011 2:11PM
Warlockman, Warlockman,
Does whatever a Warlock can
Spins a web
any size
Catches mages just like flies
Look out
Here comes the Warlockman
Finnicks May 13th 2011 7:23PM
I just think it's completely and utterly underwhelming.
They hinted at the set being based on the firelands lava spiders... so I was expecting something akin to how paladin Tier 11 is based on rock giants... instead we get this.
Boring.
Starsmore May 13th 2011 9:29PM
Well, I guess 'based on the firelands lava spiders' means 'looks like a spider crapped on someone's dress'
Hollow Leviathan May 13th 2011 2:07PM
I looked at the warlock armor, then read that it's supposed to be based on a fire spider, said, "What?" and looked at it again. I don't see it, just looks like some robes with a spider drawn below the knees. I guess the head and shoulders are supposed to look like spiders, but they went too abstract for me to see it.
Michael Sacco May 13th 2011 2:32PM
There's nothing really abstract about the warlock one at all. The head and shoulders are literally spiders. The thing is covered in webs. And on fire.
Hollow Leviathan May 13th 2011 4:37PM
I guess I was expecting the armor to make you look like a fire spider, not like you're covered in them. Imagine if Warlock T6 had been covered in demons instead of turning you into one.
Daedalus May 13th 2011 2:08PM
I can see my warlock, running through the streets of stormwind wearing this, all the while humming to myself: "Spider-gnome, spider-gnome; does whatever a spider-gnome can..."
Definitely an improvement over our tier 11 set, which looked a lot like someone skinned a boomkin and hastily stiched together a batman costume out of their hide. And then got their head impaled on a boomerang.
Xayíde May 13th 2011 2:10PM
I don't know if it's just me but I'm finding these T12 looks pretty meh. The hunter one is cool and maybe the mage one, but they are all so... plain.
And yet another plate skirt for pallies? That's just wrong...
Many T11 ones were hideous but at least they were more interesting.
Snuzzle May 13th 2011 2:31PM
I agree, shaman one especially. I mean, I know they don't want to make the first few tiers in an expansion visually stunning because then they have nowhere to go from there, but the shaman one just looks like some mildly interesting armor you'd see on a boss... before killing said boss. Or actually, it's mostly the skirt piece that's drabbing it up, which actually is kind of fitting seeing as it drops in the "new Molten Core". Vanilla armor pieces were very much like this, with mildly interesting shoulders/helms and bland robes.
The Cenarion Raiment comes to mind, actually.
http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20060819211835/wowwiki/images/a/a8/Cenarion_Raiment_night_elf_male.jpg
I guess if they were trying to go for a "new Vanilla" look with the shaman tier well... they succeeded.
Arrohon May 13th 2011 4:01PM
http://www.wowhead.com/item=50325
That is wrong. Those are NOT Legplates.
Wallert May 13th 2011 2:13PM
Very disappointed by the warlock set. the thing that has always characterized lock sets for me is that they have a very distinctive feature that just screams "warlock" whether it be the demonic wings of T6, the skull helm of T8 or T5's spikes with skulls shoulders.
Looking at this set all that comes to mind is "meh". Nothing particularly hateful, just very generic for a class that has previously had some of the most distinctive sets in the game.
Snuzzle May 13th 2011 2:32PM
Definitely. Could easily, actually more easily, be a mage set. Fire mage, fire spider?
Revynn May 13th 2011 3:34PM
There's certainly nothing about it that says "Hi, I'm a warlock. I'm hear to eat your soul and laugh as you die a gurgling, slow and agonizing death at my feet" (and what set has ever really said that as well as T5. But I still think it's pretty nifty. I said it before at the first official preview and I'll say it again. I'd take a "Meh, nothing really special but I don't hate it" set over an "OMG EWWWW!! I have to wear that?!!?!" set any day of the week.
That said, I was kinda hoping for something inspired by Doctor Octopus from Spiderman or Ares at the end of God of War, something with big creepy spider legs reaching around the shoulders or along those lines.
Moorit May 13th 2011 2:20PM
This tier reminds me a little of those bridesmaid dress companies where the bride picks a color or pair of colors and the bridesmaids get to pick any style (or, you know, any tea-length strapless style with an empire waist). The bride feels like she's letting the bridesmaids be individuals, but in the pictures you can tell the bridesmaids "go" together. I don't necessarily dislike any of the models, but they do have that feeling, different-but-really-the-same.