Posts with tag tier-gear

Warlords of Draenor: No more Tier vendors

by Sarah Pine Sep 2nd 2014 at 4:00PM

One of the more irritating and frustrating aspects of winning Tier loot from bosses is having to take the token to a vendor in order to actually get the piece of armor you won. Nowadays it's rare for me to equip a piece as soon as I get it, unless it's a truly huge upgrade, but I still find it annoying to have to take a token to a vendor in order to get the actual piece of gear. In addition, as a druid, there are four versions of everything available for each token, and scrolling through page after page of nearly-identically named armor pieces makes my eyes cross. Minor complaints, really, but nonetheless the following announcement by Lead Game Designer Ion Hazzikostas, aka Watcher, on Twitter really made my day:

@RhoWoW @MeaganTC They will work that way in Warlords. No more vendors - you can get your set piece on the spot.
- Watcher (@WatcherDev) September 1, 2014

This is a fantastic quality of life change for raiders. No more running to vendors and no more waiting to get your new piece of Tier gear. I'd say "no more accidentally buying the wrong piece" with your token too, but in Warlords, your primary stats will auto-change when you shift specs anyway, so that's no big deal. In any case, this new system will be more convenient for players, and I'm certainly thankful for that!

Filed under: Raiding, Warlords of Draenor

Siege of Orgrimmar Tier vendors

by Anne Stickney Sep 17th 2013 at 12:00PM

Patch 5.4's new raid, the Siege of Orgrimmar, has been available on normal and flexible difficulties all week this week, but today's maintenance update heralds the release of the first wing of LFR difficulty. That said ... where the heck does one go to get cash in their tier pieces from Siege? If you've been wondering that very question, the answer is much closer than you'd think -- and a lot easier to handle, this time around.

Four new tier vendors have been placed in both the Alliance and Horde shrines in patch 5.4. Each vendor handles a particular difficulty of gear -- LFR, flexible, normal, and heroic. These vendors are all in the same area as the challenge mode gear vendor, making them ridiculously easy to get to. If you have tier tokens from any difficulty, simply visit the appropriate difficulty level vendor and turn them in.

I have to say, after an entire expansion of flying back and forth to the far reaches of Pandaria just for some tier gear, it's nice to see these guys are in someplace well and truly immediately accessible. After a day's worth of raiding, the last thing I want to do is travel around hunting for the rewards I'd already obtained. That said, it would be nice if they'd add a vendor that carries all the old tier from this expansion as well -- might as well move everyone in close, now that we're nearing the end of the expansion. Good luck to those intrepid souls stepping into LFR today, and remember -- this time around, your gear is closer than you think.

Filed under: News items, Raiding, Mists of Pandaria

Official tier 16 armor previews

by Sarah Pine Sep 11th 2013 at 2:00PM

Yesterday, as part of the patch 5.4 round of updates, Blizzard released the official preview for all the tier 16 raid armor sets. There are three color variants for each set: raid finder, flex raid/normal, and heroic. I admit I have mixed feelings about the sets. Heroic paladin tier 16 is perhaps my favorite, not that I'll ever have a chance to earn it, but my personal standard of druid is leaving me with something to be desired. The leaf motif is nice, though.

What do you think of the tier 16 armor? What are your favorites? Or are you going to mog that right over with tier 6 again, as soon as you get it?

Filed under: Mists of Pandaria

Spiritual Guidance: Patch 4.3 and shadow priest transmogrification

by Fox Van Allen Aug 31st 2011 at 9:00PM

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. On Wednesdays, shadow priesting expert Fox Van Allen's takes a brief respite from writing articles about how he refuses to date Magic: The Gathering players -- long enough, at least to write this entertaining nonsense.

Despite the fact that Firelands of patch 4.2 is the latest and greatest raid, if your guild is anything like mine, you've been seeing pleas in guild chat to run places like Black Temple, Sunwell, and Serpentshrine Cavern. The reason, of course, is simple: patch 4.3 and the soon-to-be-implemented transmogrification feature.

We've been talking shadow priest raid strategy this past month, and we'll finish that series up soon. For this week, though, follow me to the fitting rooms -- we're about to talk shadow priest fashion.

Filed under: Priest, (Priest) Spiritual Guidance

Patch 4.2: Shaman and warlock tier 12 sets revealed

by Michael Sacco May 13th 2011 at 1:45PM

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.

Gallery: Patch 4.2 Preview: Tier 12

Filed under: News items, Cataclysm

WoW Fashionista: Creating that "super" summer look

by Dawn Moore May 11th 2011 at 8:00PM

Patch 4.1 might have just come out, but it's been months now that you've been sporting that same old tier. With the trade chat PUGs finally catching up to you on gear, are you worried about how you're going to get people to inspect you while you fake standing AFK outside the bank? Sure, you could mount up, but you know in your heart that Invincible mount is sooo last expansion. Fortunately for you, WoW Insider is here to get your bags ready for the summer slump with the hottest new look!

With Thor already in theaters and several more costume-heavy blockbusters like Captain America and Green Lantern on the way, you can bet your Val'anyr that the superhero look is in. Better start dusting off those classic capes in the bank and hope to Elune you didn't shard that Netherblade Facemask.

Filed under: Humor

Patch 4.2: Druid tier 12 revealed, new tier armor information and models

by Mathew McCurley May 10th 2011 at 5:30PM

Wowhead has put up some excellent shots of the previously unseen druid tier 12 armor set called Obsidium Arborweave, as well as new information about the names of other classes' tier 12 sets. Also, we were anxiously awaiting the new molten giant model -- and lo and behold, it is awesome and is definitely the source of inspiration for the warrior tier 12 set.

Filed under: Cataclysm

Patch 4.2 PTR: Warrior tier 12 and recolors

by Michael Sacco May 5th 2011 at 2:00PM

Though it hasn't had an official preview yet, the tier 12 set for warriors is available in the patch 4.2 PTR files, and Wowhead dug it up along with recolors for all of the other already-previewed tier 12 sets. You can even model them on the race and gender of your choice with the 3-D model viewer. If you can't see from the above picture, yes, those are molten giant heads on your shoulders, which is fitting, given the set's name of "Molten Giant Battlegear."

When you're done modeling your set on your character of choice, be sure to check out the preliminary tier 12 set bonuses to go along with it.

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!

Filed under: News items

Patch 4.2 PTR: Tier 12 set bonuses

by Michael Sacco May 5th 2011 at 12:40AM

While the tier 12 sets on the patch 4.2 PTR aren't even technically sets yet, their set bonuses were still buried in the game files for observant folks. Blizzard told the truth -- these bonuses are pretty unique and a lot of them seem based thematically on Firelands, designed to fix some raiding spec issues, or both. Check them out below and after the cut!

Death knight DPS

2-piece Your Horn of Winter ability also grants you 3 runic power every 5 sec for 2 min.
4-piece Your critical strikes with melee abilities deal 15% additional damage as Fire damage over 4 sec.

Death knight tanking

2-piece Your melee attacks cause Burning Blood on your target, which deals 800 Fire damage every 2 for 6 sec and causes your abilities to behave as if you had 2 diseases present on the target.
4-piece Your Dancing Rune Weapon grants 15% additional parry chance.

Filed under: News items

The Light and How to Swing It: Nobody's wearing the Reinforced Sapphirium Regalia

by Chase Christian Feb 27th 2011 at 6:00PM

Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Every Sunday, Chase Christian invites you to discuss the finer side of the paladin class: the holy specialization. Feel free to email me with any questions you want answered, like why the above bowl of hot water is better than our holy tier set.

While it may have been a while since you've last seen a paladin sporting it, our Lightsworn Garb set from Icecrown Citadel was once the top tier gear available. Tirion Fordring even bought himself a full set to wear. The two-piece bonus was simply amazing, as it gave us our healing a boost while Divine Illumination was active. The four-piece bonus was less than attractive due to the way it scaled with haste, but there were two good pieces of the set (helm and shoulders) that nearly every holy paladin focused on acquiring.

I lamented then that less than half of our tier pieces were optimal and that the four-piece bonus was nowhere near compensating for the lack of haste. Our current tier set, the Reinforced Sapphirium Regalia, is even worse. Not a single piece is itemized with our strongest secondary stat, haste. In addition, the set bonuses are so ineffective that it's almost a joke to wear the gear. There are better-itemized options available elsewhere, and so our set is left sitting in the valor point vendor's inventory.

Filed under: Paladin, (Paladin) The Light and How to Swing It

Cataclysm Beta: New videos of druid, rogue and warlock tier 11 armor

by Fox Van Allen Sep 29th 2010 at 5:00PM

Blizzard puts an immense amount of time and thought into every piece of tier gear (at least, you'd hope it does). For those of us who raid (even casually), it's the armor set we'll see our characters in the most. You get a blue drop out of a heroic, and you might replace it in a few weeks. You get a piece of tier gear, and ... well, the only thing that's prying that out of your hands is an even better piece of tier gear.

That said, our datamining friends over at MMO-Champion have released some terrific finds today -- the tier 11 sets for druids, rogues and warlocks that so many of you will be wearing just a few months after the Cataclysm release. The druid set, which seems to turn you into some manner of electrified bird-man, is absolutely gorgeous. Warlocks get a nice, evil-looking set that comes complete with skewed horns. As for rogues ... well, somewhere out there, there's a rogue who roleplays as an Arabian ghost -- and man, is he happy today!

Though the full warrior set is not yet in the Cataclysm beta files, MMO Champion did dig up the warrior tier 11 helm, so the Matt Rossi posse gets a sneak peek at its gear as an added bonus. The video for the druid tier 11 is above; rogues, warlocks and warriors will have to follow me after the break.

Filed under: Druid, Rogue, Warlock, Cataclysm

WoW Rookie: Emblem gear for the fresh level 80

by Lisa Poisso Jun 10th 2010 at 4:00PM

New around here? We've got your back! See all our collected tips, tricks and how-to's for new players in the WoW Rookie Guide.

Emblems of this, emblems of that ... What are all these emblems that everyone swears you simply must have once you hit level 80? WoW Rookie's got your back with the basics. An advanced, comprehensive path to the best gear for your class and spec to raid in? No, not really. A down-and-dirty orientation to which of these currencies matters most to you as a new level 80? Absolutely.

First, understand this: There's more to gearing at level 80 than emblem gear. Questing, instance drops, reputation gear, BoEs from the auction house and crafted pieces all play a role in your evolving gear set. Get your feet wet with our fresh 80's guide to getting started in 5-mans. If you especially enjoy digging your way through and savoring all the content, if you're a completist or if you're making your way toward raiding at something less than today's typically breakneck pace, you'll want to explore all of these options as you build your character.

If you're headed straight for end-game raiding, you'll want to focus on emblem gear. Emblems are probably the single most important tool for vaulting yourself to raid readiness. That's not to say that the other options are without merit; you'll definitely want to shore up your kit with non-emblem items. But emblem gear offers a clear, reliable, seamless path from level 80 right into raiding. Let's see how it all comes together.

Filed under: WoW Rookie

Patch 3.3 PTR: The new tier 10 purchasing model

by Matt Low Nov 18th 2009 at 2:30PM

The latest patch 3.3 build on the PTR has yielded tier 10 purchasing information. When players were purchasing tier 9, they had to to use badges to pick up the item level 232 iterations. But to get the next rank up, they needed badges and a token. When purchasing tier 8, all you needed was a class specific token which dropped from different bosses.

That will not be the case here. Tier 10 purchasing has been streamlined further, and I think this is the best solution as it contains elements of both tier 8 and tier 9 models.

Now when you want to buy tier 10, you have to use Emblems of Frost to purchase the item level 251 variants. This is the lowest version of tier 10 you can get. In order to get the next level which is item level 264, you'll need to get a class specific token which presumably drops from Icecrown Citadel on 25. It could drop from Icecrown Citadel 10 after taking down Arthas or doing some heroic versions of bosses. We have no idea yet.

Filed under: Patches, Items, News items

Tier 10 armor set gallery

by Michael Sacco Nov 9th 2009 at 5:00PM

Blizzard finally released the last of its Tier 10 sneak peeks, the long-awaited shaman set, and it did not disappoint. Now that all of the waiting is over -- at least, the waiting for sneak peeks -- we've assembled a gallery of the Tier 10 sets for all classes.

It looks like Blizzard really took their time on these sets. Some I may not like as much as others, design-wise, but they all have top-notch texture work and attention to detail. Check out the wool pattern on the shaman set, or the fiery brands on the warrior set, or the two-toed hunter boots. A lot of the sets are adorned with moving parts, too, like the druid shoulders, which snap and bite periodically. And most of them follow a very cohesive theme -- "stuff we've seen in Wrath up to this point." The warrior set should immediately remind you of King Ymiron, the rogue set is, well, a geist, and the death knight set might as well be called "Arthas Jr."

So, check out what you've got coming in Patch 3.3. With the new Dungeon System, a week or so of heroics will get you a full set of Tier 9 gear and get you all set to face Arthas, if you're up for it.

Gallery: Tier 10 Armor Set Gallery

Death Knight T10 - Scourgelord Dreadplate

Hunter T10 - Ahn'Kahar Blood Hunter Battlegear

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 the Arthas. WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.3 will keep you updated with all the latest patch news.

Filed under: Druid, Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior, Patches, Death Knight, Wrath of the Lich King

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