Artifact Grind

[theburned]

Only played on the PvP beta realm, anyone know how long on average it would take to max out artifacts? Hours wise.

hmm like 100 world quests should take lets say 3-5 minutes pr quest, lets say roughly 5-7 hours to max an artifact, ofc this is with 25 artifact knowledge at roughly 1.25^n
as for how long it will take on live, roughly 3 months real time.

I was at 27 traits, yesterday (29 now due to an exploit) and was expecting to be done in roughly a month, which would be 3 months after beta release, with a few set backs, and a few boosts to compensate. Ofc someone playing less or starting a bit later should expect 2-4 traits less, which means it would take roughly 10-20 days extra.



TL;DR 3 months to max artifact

[Deleted]

There's over 1000 different world quests. That was covered today in the Q&A. Some of the quests that summon world bosses we may see twice a year tops.

For Mythic players it won't be much different than today. You have many different tiers of Mythic guilds right now. I don't think Blizzard cares about the top 1% who burn themselves out by playing too much. Instead of limiting their play they unlocked it with no boundaries and said go knock yourself out. Eventually they learn to moderate themselves.

Maybe there is 1000 i sunk in beta 2 months of everyday grind and i think there is 100 tops, i already know most of them by heart.

[ComputerNerd]

Good news is Blizzard confirmed that you won't be able to inspect how far progressed other players are with their artifact weapons. You will definitely get some people saying stuff like "17 AP req" but that will be exceptionally hard for them to enforce.

We can't directly in-game.
However there are means of determining the number of traits progressed, and more direct determination via the armory if it shows that.
I personally hope it doesn't due to that issue, but given the previous open display of practically everything then I suspect it will.

[Musta]

a lot. /10chars

[nazrakin]

With this WQ buffer, your better off letting them build for 2 days if your AR comes back on day 3. IE: Its Tuesday and your AR will be ready on Wed's, its better to to not do the WQ's on Tuesday and do them on Wed's instead so you get the boosted ArP from your new rank of AK that you earned that day.



Wouldn't be surprised if there will be an addon, telling you which WQ to do when to maximize your ArP gain because of this buffer.

For bigger ones like Dungeons, world bosses, and rares that last days, then yeah that will def come into play. However, the vast majority of them only last for 3, 6, 9 or 12hrs though, so unless your AR is up that same day you may as well do them.

[Sylvaeres]

Only played on the PvP beta realm, anyone know how long on average it would take to max out artifacts? Hours wise.

If you spend a decent amount of time doing so, you're looking at a month-1.5 months total. Especially if you run all available content

[Deleted]

For bigger ones like Dungeons, world bosses, and rares that last days, then yeah that will def come into play. However, the vast majority of them only last for 3, 6, 9 or 12hrs though, so unless your AR is up that same day you may as well do them.

Haven't done them yet, but I assume the WQ work the same way as the normal quests during leveling that give you one of those items that then reward points when clicked. So you can actually do all the quests and simply collect the items and then click them after your AR is finished (maybe before the next raid day when you need it).

Knowing myself, I will probably accidentally click many of them prematurely because I forget to keep them for after AR

Edit: Someone asked what happens when Blizzard decides to "balance" which makes another spec more powerful... There is already an NPC that allows you to reset your traits (and get the artifact power back) - for a price, maybe you can then spend this "regained power" on your other spec's weapon then? Haven't tried it in Beta yet.

[Cempa]

Nope, its character specific, but it does at least apply to all of that character's artifacts.

Wait so If I want to play say Unholy as well as Frost (DK) I am better off having x2 separate toon?

[nazrakin]

Haven't done them yet, but I assume the WQ work the same way as the normal quests during leveling that give you one of those items that then reward points when clicked. So you can actually do all the quests and simply collect the items and then click them after your AR is finished (maybe before the next raid day when you need it).

Knowing myself, I will probably accidentally click many of them prematurely because I forget to keep them for after AR

Edit: Someone asked what happens when Blizzard decides to "balance" which makes another spec more powerful... There is already an NPC that allows you to reset your traits (and get the artifact power back) - for a price, maybe you can then spend this "regained power" on your other spec's weapon then? Haven't tried it in Beta yet.

You can't "bank" AP items because AK isnt applied retroactively. So if you complete a world quest and get an item worth 3000, save it until your AK goes up, it'll still be worth 3000.

Also, resetting your traits at that NPC only resets if for that spec, you cant use the reset AP on another weapon.

[Maudib]

Wait so If I want to play say Unholy as well as Frost (DK) I am better off having x2 separate toon?

No.. you can have all your spec on a toon... but it will take a lot of time to level the artifact weapons of each spec... leveling your alt spec will always feel like you are gimping your main.

I seriously expect Blizzard to backtrack on this whole idea in about 3 months.

[Gaidax]

My /played in Beta at level 110 is 6 days 1 hour 59 mins, I am about to unlock final gold trait next artifact level up.

And I was not even that single-minded focused on artifact grinding and got half the offspec artifact unlocked too, so based on that I'd say one month if you do AP stuff daily, especially if you are experienced with beta and know what to do.

[Maudib]

My /played in Beta at level 110 is 6 days 1 hour 59 mins, I am about to unlock final gold trait next artifact level up.

And I was not even that single-minded focused on artifact grinding and got half the offspec artifact unlocked too, so based on that I'd say one month if you do AP stuff daily, especially if you are experienced with beta and know what to do.

So 146 hours, with Artifact Knowledge research being switched back and forth all over the place. Not the same experience as live will be. Even then that is over 10 weeks playing 2 hours every single day. Then there are several more points still needed to gather all the traits.. and these are the really expensive ones... so another month or two.

And "half" the artifact isn't really that much seeing how the first 13 points are dirt cheap.

[Deleted]

It mostly relies on doing the artifact research every week.

Alot of beta testers has a skewed view on how long it Will take, as they Got Into the beta (like me) later, so the research was faster for some time i Believe 2 major traits before raids Will be tough but Doable.

[kamuimac]

No.. you can have all your spec on a toon... but it will take a lot of time to level the artifact weapons of each spec... leveling your alt spec will always feel like you are gimping your main.

I seriously expect Blizzard to backtrack on this whole idea in about 3 months.

they dont have to backtrack on anything - they already stated that with time artifact knowledge quests will appear faster and faster - so like half of year into expansion you will get it every 1-2 days instead 5 days like on launch

remeber thatthe expansion will last probably again 2 years so loads of time to max out every spec on every alt.

the only ones who will be doin hardcore grinds will be mythic raiders - for rest it wont matter much

[Maudib]

they dont have to backtrack on anything - they already stated that with time artifact knowledge quests will appear faster and faster - so like half of year into expansion you will get it every 1-2 days instead 5 days like on launch

remeber thatthe expansion will last probably again 2 years so loads of time to max out every spec on every alt.

the only ones who will be doin hardcore grinds will be mythic raiders - for rest it wont matter much

2 years of doing the exact same thing.. grinding AP? No thank you... sounds a lot like Apexis grinding.

If doing something "won't matter much" then it's probably not worth doing.

The "backtracking" is either they will allow total AP applicable to all 3 specs... i.e. you grind 5 mill... you can spend 5 mill in all 3 specs.

Or they will greatly increase the AK even more.

[blackblade]

Wait so If I want to play say Unholy as well as Frost (DK) I am better off having x2 separate toon?

Okay so.

3 things:

A) The first 13 ranks of artifact power are cheap, and from there, things ramp up quickly. this means that getting "competent" with a new spec is not super demanding.

B) Artifact Knowledge is tied to the character. It's a non-retroactive multiplier to Artifact Power. This means that later in the expansion, you'll be earning more Artifact Power than earlier in the expansion. This is the "Catch up mechanic". Having a seperate toon means you will have to maintain your Artifact Knowledge levels on both toons (nevermind other gear).

C) You gain consumable items that will grant artifact power on use. you can stockpile these to use on offspec weapons (despite earning them with a main spec). this is super useful for classes running dungeons on a tank/heal spec for maintaining a dps offspec.

The gist is, Artifact Knowledge quickly becomes an equalizer. someone who grinds 100hours in week 1 will be ahead of the curve, but in week 2, it only takes 75 hours to catch up, in week 3, it only takes 50, and so on. at max artifact power, you're earning 24.9x the basic amount of artifact power, which would make capping an offspec artifact easy-peasy.

By the time raids open up (which, i'm assuming will be 4 weeks again), you'll be roughly AK4 or 5

[Cempa]

Okay so.

3 things:

A) The first 13 ranks of artifact power are cheap, and from there, things ramp up quickly. this means that getting "competent" with a new spec is not super demanding.

B) Artifact Knowledge is tied to the character. It's a non-retroactive multiplier to Artifact Power. This means that later in the expansion, you'll be earning more Artifact Power than earlier in the expansion. This is the "Catch up mechanic". Having a seperate toon means you will have to maintain your Artifact Knowledge levels on both toons (nevermind other gear).

C) You gain consumable items that will grant artifact power on use. you can stockpile these to use on offspec weapons (despite earning them with a main spec). this is super useful for classes running dungeons on a tank/heal spec for maintaining a dps offspec.

The gist is, Artifact Knowledge quickly becomes an equalizer. someone who grinds 100hours in week 1 will be ahead of the curve, but in week 2, it only takes 75 hours to catch up, in week 3, it only takes 50, and so on. at max artifact power, you're earning 24.9x the basic amount of artifact power, which would make capping an offspec artifact easy-peasy.

By the time raids open up (which, i'm assuming will be 4 weeks again), you'll be roughly AK4 or 5

Thanks!

[Tharkkun]

No.. you can have all your spec on a toon... but it will take a lot of time to level the artifact weapons of each spec... leveling your alt spec will always feel like you are gimping your main.

I seriously expect Blizzard to backtrack on this whole idea in about 3 months.

I don't. Because everyone will be doing it. It's not like you're going to have people who only level one artifact spec. That would be dumb. I fully expect most people to balance out 2 specs.

[Maudib]

I don't. Because everyone will be doing it. It's not like you're going to have people who only level one artifact spec. That would be dumb. I fully expect most people to balance out 2 specs.

And I fully expect subs to drop drastically by people bored out of their skulls with content that has no real feeling of reward... long after the 127th time has lost it's entertainment value.

[Tharkkun]

Maybe there is 1000 i sunk in beta 2 months of everyday grind and i think there is 100 tops, i already know most of them by heart.

Well it was just covered on Thursday's Q&A. Whether those quests are active or not is one thing. They only needed enough to test the system on beta.

- - - Updated - - -

And I fully expect subs to drop drastically by people bored out of their skulls with content that has no real feeling of reward... long after the 127th time has lost it's entertainment value.

You should just quit now then. You'd save yourself all the trauma and mental anguish a video game causes you.