Alternative Tier Sets & Midpatch Itemization Changes

[Rowrow213]

• We are also planning on buffing set bonuses on the Legacy Rogue and Hunter tier sets due to them not requiring any new sets as to not leave them out.

Melee Hunter and Rogue Tank could potentially be alternative sets for those two classes.

The devs killed rogue tanks

[Drubarrymooer]

If you plan on getting multiple sets, make sure to put the Legacy set you want to keep in your bank as to avoid losing enchantments.

Will we be given notice? What about players that have taken extended breaks?

[Isvya]

Warrior dps sets just mean none in their right mind will pick tank sets anymore. Unless the new sets have some really low or 0 stamina everyone just gonna use them for tanking.

[Jombo]

I don't understand the "put your legacy set in the bank if you want to use more than one set". Makes little sense. Please explain clearly what you mean.

[Drubarrymooer]

I don't understand the "put your legacy set in the bank if you want to use more than one set". Makes little sense. Please explain clearly what you mean.

If the gear is equipped when the change is made it will be reverted to a token

[Dragunovi]

I don't understand the "put your legacy set in the bank if you want to use more than one set". Makes little sense. Please explain clearly what you mean.

If the gear is equipped when the change is made it will be reverted to a token

Your pieces will stay as they are and will not turn into tokens but if you have more than one of them with the intention of turning one set in for an alternative set its to prevent the set you plan on keeping/using from losing its enchantments as they will be lost when turned in for the alternative tier piece, hope that explains it.

[Xudo]

Back in the day I raided more, tiers for some classes were in high demand and tiers for some other classes were in low demand.
For example I geared druid with literally no competition. In the same time pieces for warriors were in demand.

Blizz solved this issue in AQ and naxx with token system. Single token is useful for multiple classes.
I think it is good idea to expand this token system for lower raids.

[Verdict]

Good job!

[Karrados]

I am quite sure the 2.5 applied only to Holy if the other posts are anything to go by.

[Imonobor]

Shamatank set when?

[Verdict]

Few things just came to mind.

Since you'll be providing more use for Tier based content, the demand will rise dramatically, how would you match the supply with only one or two T1/2/3 drops from bosses?

What about already enchanted pieces with ZG Helm/Legs post transfer, would we lose these?

Does this mean we'll be moving towards Token based content for easier accessibility & distribution?

Would love to get the thread updated with some FAQs!

[Geojak]

I didn't think this step is needed as I find it kinda lame to have the tier Sets be the go to items for all specs. Like how t3 is the end all for pala heal gear. I preferred the current addition of lots of smaller sets. Actually holy paladins are lacking in gear options before t3 now since all geae is slowly being retageted. Not sure how good these new sets gonna be.

But I don't have Invetory space left for these new sets anyway.

[Raukodor]

Melee hunter set??

[Borefficz]

Any ETA on the new sets?

Melee hunter set??

The problem with melee hunter is the sorry state of melee hunter (available abilities and talents), not lack of gear.

[Dragunovi]

Melee hunter set??

We might consider new sets later down the road (emphasis on might) for melee hunter, tank shaman and possibly poison rogue down the line if they get enough tools to seperate them for other specializations but for now this will be the lineup.

[Dragunovi]

Any ETA on the new sets?

It has pretty good progress but we want to take our time to fully flesh them out in design.

[Saned]

I don't understand the "put your legacy set in the bank if you want to use more than one set". Makes little sense. Please explain clearly what you mean.

If the gear is equipped when the change is made it will be reverted to a token

Your pieces will stay as they are and will not turn into tokens but if you have more than one of them with the intention of turning one set in for an alternative set its to prevent the set you plan on keeping/using from losing its enchantments as they will be lost when turned in for the alternative tier piece, hope that explains it.

And if you already own t2,5/t3 you could still swap them for their new counterparts, or you'd need to get new tokens from bosses for that?

[Elisleris]

I think exchange will looks like in Sunwell Plateau by Sunmote transmute : you buy new one item via your existing tier item as currency

[Kaiben]

Warlocks are already deep down bottom dps when in dungeon/t1 gear but other classes are getting a buff ?
A mage in full t1 will have 30% more dps than a lock in full t1, but apparently mage t1 was too weak ?
Changing set bonuses for hunters when locks have a bonus to pet resists and drain life ?

Am I missing something ?

[Novola]

One of the best news i ever read on this site, solves one of the biggest vanilla issues it ever had, poor hybrid specs itemisation.
Paladin tank set better comes with some sort of a taunt and mana restore :)

I made a topic about this a whiiiile ago, but it kinda died out fast, about this specific issue. Glad to see it is being worked on.

viewtopic.php?p=26860#p26860

[Apimius]

Thanks so much for not forgetting about Smite. I hope future content will also include Smite for new armor sets

Also i hope the Smite T2.5 will have some sort of mana-cost reduction bonus on Smite/Holy Fire and Holy Nova as it is very much needed for longer fights

my suggestion for the 2 set bonis is:

3 set: Reduces Mana Cost of Smite, Holy Fire and Holy Nova by 15%.
5 set: While Holy Fire is active on the target, increases Spell Damage taken from all sources by 5 %.

Why is Smite only getting 1 new set and Shadow gets 3?

[Elesion]

The existing tier sets that drop from bosses will now be classified as Legacy, which keep their current stats, set bonuses, appearances and serve as tokens that are turned in to acquire these alternative sets.

• Druid: Feral Combat (Cat/Bear), Balance, Restoration (Tier 2.5 Only)

I appreciate the idea, especially since it gives ferals an actual item progression into Naxx. But I can definitely see some challenges.

Cats and bears have almost opposite stat weights. Raid cats want to be glass cannons (like dps warriors often run leather gear) while raid bears need to be beefy and tanky (like tank warriors in +def plate). Putting both on the same set will not be an easy task. The Convergence of the Elements set tried that and ended up with a weird mix of half of the items being tank-geared and the other half dps-geared, just being carried by the set bonus because individually nobody would run all 4 pieces at the same time.

Hard to tell without seeing the proposed sets, but if they end up being fully optimized towards their respective specs, the Legacy sets may feel very weak in comparison. T1 is already hybridized into Balance (items with damage/healing, set bonuses for spell crit and boosting Hurricane). T2 also has some weirdly un-optimized pieces (Boots and Chest with spell crit eating up a lot of item budget while not doing a whole lot for druid healing). If the goal is to untangle specs and give each an optimized set you might consider updating the Resto-oriented Legacy sets as well.

As a smaller announcement, we're planning on doing some midpatch itemization changes with an upcoming server restart which includes the following:

• Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj Class Pieces Rework

• Dungeon Set 2/Tier 0.5 Buffs and Feralheart Set Rework

Also a very interesting announcement. Given what happened to Genesis (T2.5), the push towards 3 separate sets for every tier, and here the rework of AQ20 and T0.5 - Without seeing the final stats I have to assume there are no plans for a hybrid set? I agree they have very limited use in PvE, but something to support a more hybrid PvP build would be nice. There was already a little bit of backlash on changing Genesis and while I found that set beyond useless, I can see why some people liked it. Wildheart/Feralheart is very similar to how Genesis used to be.

[Gantulga]

This change to T3 needs the addition of new set tokens and token slot on the loot table of the bosses for those new tokens. Otherwise it's going to be a mess with so much added competition for tokens that are already swamped.

[Borefficz]

It has pretty good progress but we want to take our time to fully flesh them out in design.

Will the detailed information about the new sets be published ahead of the patch? I'm especially concerned about the Hunter/Rogue sets since while other classes can just choose not to get the new sets if they end up being bad, the changes to Hunter/Rogue tier sets will not be optional and will affect their currently used gear (for the better or for the worse).

[Verdict]

This change to T3 needs the addition of new set tokens and token slot on the loot table of the bosses for those new tokens. Otherwise it's going to be a mess with so much added competition for tokens that are already swamped.

Exactly what I was trying to get to earlier. The demand will be too high for supply, people will get irritated especially for 9/9 pieces.

[Elphadora]

Destro Warlock tier pieces?

Not really seeing the point in this. First of all, destro warlocks would have the same problems as fire mages in MC and BWL, in that all the mobs are highly resistant/immune to fire, so it wouldn't even be "viable" until higher tiers, and even then, no matter what gear they get, it's just...not viable from a spell/talents standpoint in end game raiding. Unless the set is supposed to be for PVP, which would just be strange compared to simply buffing the terrible set bonuses on Warlock T1 and T2.5 like is proposed for hunter and rogue.

I also have to echo the above comments as others. How are you proposing this is going to work with already highly competitive tier 3 tokens? The reason why it's feasible for some classes to get Tier 3 in the first place is because they are not competing with every single other person in the raid who shares that token with them. Adding more classes who benefit from the token without adding more tokens is just not a great idea.

[Kaiben]

Destro Warlock tier pieces?

Not really seeing the point in this. First of all, destro warlocks would have the same problems as fire mages in MC and BWL, in that all the mobs are highly resistant/immune to fire, so it wouldn't even be "viable" until higher tiers, and even then, no matter what gear they get, it's just...not viable from a spell/talents standpoint in end game raiding. Unless the set is supposed to be for PVP, which would just be strange compared to simply buffing the terrible set bonuses on Warlock T1 and T2.5 like is proposed for hunter and rogue.

We don't know the reason why but every balance change they either nerf warlocks or buff other classes. A few weeks ago it was the nerf of every good prebis pieces (where locks are already bottom dps) and now it's a huge buff to paladins, warriors and priests, the trifecta of OP classes.
And they are acknowledging that hunter set bonuses like hp to pets have to be changed, but locks with the exact same are ignored.

See you even deeper down at the bottom of dps meter bro.

[Jimyape]

Can you please not ignore Shaman Tank as you are currently without replying to our messages in this thread? Paladin getting so much love, while Shaman only needs a taunt and one good gear set would be awesome. If you already gave us the chance with the new talents, please provide at least one set to be competitive!

[Calli]

• We are also planning on buffing set bonuses on the Legacy Rogue and Hunter tier sets due to them not requiring any new sets as to not leave them out.

Melee Hunter and Rogue Tank could potentially be alternative sets for those two classes.

Please, stop this melee hunter nonsense, please. Don't ruin other people playstyle by asking for it, instead of making the ranged hunter better, because that's why people play hunter to be ranged. Thank you.

[Pyrahead]

Is this gonna be another copy of Epoch like the Belt Buckle enchants or the Feral Attack Power on gear for druids?

lol, at least someone else noticed this.

[Partyboyza]

Nice, can't wait to see the Tier sets.
Any chance for a prot paladin sneak peak?

[Verdict]

Nice, can't wait to see the Tier sets.
Any chance for a prot paladin sneak peak?

One was sneak peaked already

Ring has:
27 stam
1% melee hit
2% block
18 block value

Things will probably change

[Dragunovi]

Updated the main post with a few more details.

[Jimyape]

• We are also planning on buffing set bonuses on the Legacy Rogue and Hunter tier sets due to them not requiring any new sets as to not leave them out.

Melee Hunter and Rogue Tank could potentially be alternative sets for those two classes.

Please, stop this melee hunter nonsense, please. Don't ruin other people playstyle by asking for it, instead of making the ranged hunter better, because that's why people play hunter to be ranged. Thank you.

Please stop your nonsense egoing, if you have 2 specs to play ranged hunter and one of the strongest ranged already, stop crying. And let other people also have fun with the class when wanting to play melee...

[Jimyape]

Updated the main post with a few more details.

Thank you so much! Please make Shaman viable, as we need more tanks and more variance makes it easier for players to pickup a tank spec! Also it makes Turtle standout even more and better! Shamans already got the talents and work great, so a set for endgame content is just fair!

If Shaman tanks dont get taunt by talents, it might be a great idea to add this to a 2-piece set which is good and then mandatory although it might be a problem for gearing variance, but I would definetly take that as a Tank. Doesnt even need to be a Tier set, maybe a non-tier 2-set only which has tank stats on it and makes frostshock a taunt. I think we could work with that. And ideally add the 2% mana regen on blocks to the new shield talent and I think shaman would be in a great spot.

Or maybe work on Stoneclaw totem and make it a shorter cooldown and transfer the threat to the shaman instead of having an own threat table which disappears after the totem dies.