Patch 4.3 PTR: Modified item-level buff in Hour of Twilight dungeons
by Matthew Rossi 
Oct 14th 2011 at 9:00PM
Still, it's an interesting step toward testing the encounters instead of having overgeared players simply blowing everything up. As soon as I can get a few runs under my belt, I'll let you know how it works out.
Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with patch 4.3. Review the official patch notes, and then dig into what's ahead: new item storage options, cross-realm raiding, cosmetic armor skinning and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing -- from astride his back!
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, News items, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jaygath Oct 14th 2011 9:08PM
Umm... if the capability to do that exists, could we see the functionality that players have been asking for, to "level down" and run instances on level with low level friends/guildies?
tgrhwke Oct 14th 2011 9:17PM
This could be a step toward doing just that. I think the concept is a good idea and will give them better feedback on the new dungeon encounters and also give players running them a better feel for the mechanics and design of the dungeons.
gewalt Oct 14th 2011 10:00PM
if that ever gets implemented (I doubt it will) it better be mandatory.
There's nothing I want more in life than to go back to doing 7k dps in stonecore!
wait.. what? f that.
omedon666 Oct 14th 2011 10:03PM
The awesome thing about this, if it was a "mode" to make ANY instance in the game "current enough for rewards", you could run, say maraudon for JPs as a level capped character (perhaps in this mode, all the loot scales back UP when you leave too!) as a further incentive to increase the pool of instance running happening at all levels!
Heck, imagine putting every "raid of yore" on the raid finder, with this system in place, with rewards that become relevant at endgame level!
While this isn't a new concept, it's a new application, and I hope they go further with it!
DarkWalker Oct 15th 2011 12:12AM
More ideas:
- Make the achievements that are supposed to be challenging only available if the whole party/raid accepts the gear level throttling. This way you can be sure the group was really worth of the achievement, instead of simply overgearing the content.
- Make earlier tier heroics give as much VP as the current tier when the whole party accepts the gear throttling.
nymrohd Oct 15th 2011 6:18AM
Heh I've been suggesting this forever. The Heroic: Boss achievements should all be throttled this way.
Killik Oct 15th 2011 6:06PM
Maybe, although as a 'downlevelling' tool it doesn't tackle the issue of players' talent points or being able to use abilities learned at level 85. Would it really be fun to lose half your rotation?
Hollow Leviathan Oct 14th 2011 9:10PM
I have to assume the buff works as intended otherwise there'd be no point to pushing it out, unless they're actually...testing the testing tool. So meta.
Knob Oct 14th 2011 11:32PM
Yo dawg, we heard you liked testing so we're testing the testing so you can be testing while you're testing.
UncausedRyan Oct 15th 2011 2:57AM
Testception!
Molly Oct 14th 2011 9:19PM
Well, that's one way to quiet the people (with premades decked out in full 378s) complaining about how easy the dungeons are...
I'm excited to see how this works. I think it will make testing the dungeons more interesting, and perhaps it's a sign that the "leveling down" feature might be coming...
Snuzzle Oct 15th 2011 5:05AM
All I can say is thank god. I stood in org for about an hour one night trying to find people around 353 to test the new dungeons, and couldn't manage to find anyone. This will make it a lot easier to actually test the dungeons at the level they were intended to be played at.
Sidone Oct 15th 2011 5:34AM
meanwhile in europe...
The character copy queue is currently full.
The template character copy queue is currently full.
i am pretty sure eu ptr doesnt need this debuff, all we got are chars we copied/premaded during 4.1/4.2 ptr with awesome zul gear.p
MysticalOS Oct 14th 2011 9:29PM
when i moused over my own gear the stats were lower, the ilvl was not but the stats were definitely nerfed, i lost 10k health and about 10% CTC
omedon666 Oct 14th 2011 9:33PM
This opens the door to scaled content!!! Seriously!!
*Really* looking forward to Blizzcon now!
Andrew Oct 14th 2011 9:54PM
They've always had the ability to scale gear for content, they've just scaled it upwards. Look at the epic-quality shirts on wowhead, except for [Epic Purple Shirt] they all were PTR items that increased your stats to allow testing content more advanced than your gear was. Taking that buff from the clothes, inverting it, and making it zone-wide is new but not groundbreaking.
Amanda A. Oct 14th 2011 10:41PM
Maybe now my copied pre-raid alt will stop getting forced or kicked from dungeons for 'only' having a 360 item level....
Snuzzle Oct 15th 2011 5:06AM
Wow, that's lame. I actually queued around a bunch in my 340 shaman specifically to prove a point about how easy the dungeons were to heal and never got a kick or comment.
Al Oct 14th 2011 11:06PM
"Throttled"? Either they mean restricted, or they're trying to break Gearscore long after it mattered?
JohnOlson Oct 15th 2011 2:07AM
I want to join 2bitgaming because most of the servers so far are totally unpopulated and 2bitgaming is patch 2.4.3 but im on patch 3.3 so what do i do?
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110819035644AA8qMZ6