Patch 5.4 patch notes
Virtual Realms feature revealed
The Proving Grounds are coming
The latest patch 5.4 newsBreakfast Topic: Has the early Cataclysm gearing model failed?
by Josh Myers 
Feb 1st 2012 at 8:00AM
Near the end of Wrath of the Lich King, there was a real feeling that gearing had gotten out of control, between unintentionally heightened ilevels (due to the introduction of heroic modes early in the expansion), a raid-wide buff that made the penultimate raid of the expansion easily puggable (until Arthas), and ridiculously simple heroic 5-mans and Emblems of Triumph that allowed you to gear out your freshly leveled alt in high-ilevel epics.
When Cataclysm launched, part of the intent between the fairly difficult heroic 5-mans and the fact that they dropped ilevel 346 blue items was that Blizzard wanted to slow down gearing. This worked; the roadblock created by early Cataclysm heroics for casual players did serve to slow down gearing. For the first time in years, full epic-geared characters were seen as more of a rare occurrence than a staple of your average AFKer in Orgrimmar.
Fast forward to last Saturday, where I decided to transfer my blue-geared death knight (who hit 85 and was subsequently forgotten in March) to my main's server to make use of her professions. On a whim, I decided to see how long it could take to gear her. By Sunday night, she had tanked Madness of Deathwing in Raid Finder, was in three-piece tier 13, and was one item away from being in full 378 or higher epics.
It seems clear to me now that the original Cataclysm model for gearing has failed, and the roadblocks originally put in place to prevent quickly gearing alts are no longer in place. That said, I don't mind it, and I don't think Blizzard minds it. Getting gear is fun, even on an alt that's only supposed to be used for running around Tol Barad picking flowers and mining ore. I like having four characters at 380+ ilevel, and it served me well when my guild recently needed me to main-change from my mage back to my shaman to heal. So yes, the original gearing model for Cataclysm does seem to have failed -- but is that really such a bad thing?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 7 of 7)
Ctmcstomperq Feb 1st 2012 2:16PM
Speaking as someone who has some difficulty in gearing(as much from RNG as anything really though). I'm more frustrated by the lack of craftable options passed the first tier of the expansion. My pally recently got the shield from Hour of Twilight and my guild thought I'd had a heart attack or something because I had be using the original crafted shield since about the 3rd month of the expansion. Nevermind the fact that I'm using a pvp sword for tanking since blizzard decided that tank weapons are Main Hand Maces and all the really interesting maces are One Hand Maces. Hell, I've been trying for that squiggly spine out of HoT for months and it hasn't dropped...and I'm babbling again.
All I'm saying is that easy gearing for those that care to raid is great, more power to them. But we need "progression" options available from crafters that don't require 80,000 gold to manufacture.
Did I mention the RNG hates me with as much passion as Lex Luthor hates Superman?
DaSandman Feb 1st 2012 3:19PM
As a casual player I heartily approve of the gearing progression - hard/slow at the start so hardcore/raiders are happy, but then getting much faster/easier towards the end of the expansion to allow casuals to gear alts up quickly - win win :D
SamLowry Feb 1st 2012 5:47PM
Yeah, let's do that again and watch active WoW subs drop below 7 million.
Doesn't sound so win/win to me.
DaSandman Feb 1st 2012 6:31PM
If you dont play alts, dont PvP, dont do achievements and simply have 1 character that you gear up and raid, then assuming you progress through raids till you have Hard Mode on farm, then maybe you'll get bored and unsub.
The other 9.5 million will carry on playing :)
Missk Feb 1st 2012 3:34PM
I still avoid the earlier heroics in cata because even with high level epics equipped they still turn into a wipefest. They aren't worth the crappy blues they give anymore.
TheTreasoner Feb 1st 2012 7:34PM
Just because YOU got lucky on rolls and got three pieces of T13 in your first outing in the Raid Finder, doesn't mean that everyone else has.
Doesn't mean that people that have been running it since the beginning have more than two pieces of T13. Doing every boss that can drop T13 in Raid Finder since the thing was opened, aside from this week since I am so fed up with the 20+ minute queue time (probably from people like the guy who wrote the article getting all his shit in one go and never going back, even for Valor) and morons, I have TWO pieces of T13. That's it. I've only received those two pieces of gear.
So, congrats on having lucky rolls, but no, in certain people's opinions, its not fast enough.
cheesesteak Feb 2nd 2012 12:05AM
"By Sunday night, she had tanked Madness of Deathwing in Raid Finder, was in three-piece tier 13, and was one item away from being in full 378 or higher epics."
So you got 3 pieces of tier in a single LFR? Count yourself obscenely lucky. That fast rate of gearing isn't the norm, especially if you're on the Vanquisher tier--> druids, DKs, mages, rogues.. only rogues aren't overpopulated. There tend to be 12-14 Vanq users in my LFRs. I count them so I don't get my hopes up.
Vinna Feb 2nd 2012 12:41AM
I quit wow when ghostcrawler made his infamous dungeons should be hard blog statement.
While that might be great in theory, when you pair difficult dungeons with LFG pugs it's just not fun.
Puggers can get downright nasty when it's not an easy speedy run. I am not interested in doing something in a "game" thats not fun.
Jack Mynock Feb 2nd 2012 1:30AM
That's pretty much what I was saying. The whole transition from T11 to T12 was ghastly. The Zuls made for pretty great 5 mans in my opinion but having them be the only content in 4.1 has thrown everything off. Firelands should have launched with a couple 5mans instead of the Molten Front grinfest. The Zuls made for a pool of new 85s that were slightly undergeared going from dungeons to FL without having gone back and done T11 raids. The dailies might ahve worked to bridge that gap has they not taken a month to get 5 pieces of gear. The end result was a 4.3 with 5mans that had to be tuned to the only real source of nonraid gear to come before them, the Zuls. It had been so long since the Zuls came out that you could have been pretty lackadaisical about running them every and still made more than enough VP to be 370 or so.
Greg Feb 2nd 2012 2:33AM
Two things come to mind here. First, what a bummer it would be if you had to wait weeks or months to get into a Dragon Soul raid after hitting 85. If you wanted to play with friends, it's already excruciating enough to get up to 85-- then to have to wait longer on top of that to raid with them because their guild isn't running BWL or FL-- it's too much.
Second thought. If I get an 'F' on a math test, but still pass, then what does 'failing' really mean? I think Blizzard's approach was perfect. I hit 85 and the next day ran a DS in raid finder. I had to spend a lot of gold, hit heroics like no other, and get a few lucky drops, but in the end I got in there. Isn't that the goal? Get people into the content?
I think it's pretty harsh to call it failing. I'm actually starting to wonder if those diabolical geniuses over at Blizzard have created yet another system that is 'working as intended.'
Thao Feb 3rd 2012 7:51PM
I don't necessarily think they failed - just served their purpose and were outgrown by the expansion. I hope to see them do something similar in MoP. What it did was prolong the amount of time players needed to play to gear their alts, etc. It made it hard again. However, as we all know, eventually expansions wind down a bit, things become less competitive as all raid bosses have been cleared and most people have multiple level 85s, and people just want gear then - everyone else has it! So I think it is good that they shift things to make it easier, it means being able to have competitive alts who can see content as well as mains.
Again - I hope we see the difficulty in getting gear somewhat similar to Cata when MoP is released, even though I doubt it will be as they have said multiple times they intend to make it easier....