No Item Upgrades, 5.2 LFR Item Level, PTR Class Balance, Blue Posts, Weekly Roundup

[Madruga]

I don't see the reason behind removing completely item upgrades. I agree 5.2 gear should not be able to be upgraded as sson as it is obtained, but I don't see why 5.0 and 5.1 gear will not be allowed as well.

Maybe they think the system was a failure? That is the only reason I can imagine for this decision.

[Sensa]

I find it weird, reading posts and tweets on MMO, the casuals think hardcores are catered to, and the harcores think casuals are catered to... little but funny?

Well that's because what NOW constitutes hardcore and casuals (as those terms are used in forums such as this) is much different than what it used to be. The casuals have become more casual as blizz gave more and more things to them. As such, anytime anything new requires any effort at all they consider it to be catering to the "hardcore" crowd not realizing that most of the stuff they consider hardcore really isn't by Vanilla WoW standards (the "hardcores" aren't as hardcore as they used to be either).

It doesn't help that blizzard keeps changing their minds and implementing and removing features like JP gear upgrades and more and than slightly less dailies. The new "hardcore" features really aren't hardcore but rather attempts by Blizzard to slow progression solely for the purpose of trying to stop players from blowing thru content way faster then they can develop it and un-subbing while waiting for the next patch. But constantly trying to put the genie back in the bottle (to extend game play and not to appeal to hardcores) and then caving to the whiners feeds perceptions about the state of the game that allow for the simultaneous conclusion that they are catering to either the hardcores or the casuals.

In reality what they have done is to destroy the suspension of disbelief and immersion required to make WoW the epic adventure it once was. To be very honest they would probably be better off just going the farmville route completely because the game really isn't hardcore, by any objective standard, and the casuals would complain less. While it might not be better it would be a more consistent and honest approach.

[Sam the Wiser]

Well there goes all the valor I just wasted on upgrading gear last few weeks....

[Lushious]

Well there goes all the valor I just wasted on upgrading gear last few weeks....

Why? the gear stays upgraded.

[Azrile]

Holy crap it's amazing how stark the contrast in whining you hear from this community. So many people convinced Blizz sold out for "casuals" and then casuals convinced Blizz only caters to hardcore people with no lives. It's enough to drive a man to be a hedgehog rustler.

People are idiots, they can only think in binary terms... it is either on, or off.

[merogue]

NO ITEM UPGRADES !?

Just WTH am I supposed to do when I have purchased ALL the Valor Gear and I'm Already VP Capped ?!! Hmmmm ?

[Attsey]

So you choose to be a "serious" raider, so you choose to get valor capped. No one is forcing you to do anything.

So breathing us a choice if I choose to stay alive?

[Andelormon]

It is sad how many people either didn't pay attention to, or forgot what GC had said in his last Twitter feed. Item Upgrades were designed to be Mid content patch ways to burn Valor not being used.

It may be going away for 5.2 because of the new raid tier being introduced, but will most likely be back a few patches after.

---------- Post added 2013-01-12 at 04:02 PM ----------

So breathing us a choice if I choose to stay alive?

How is raiding, and valor capping even on the same level as breathing?

[Inahu]

It's all well and good for PvE to take away the upgrade NPC, but what about us PvP players? 5.2 isn't starting a new season, so those of us with some items not yet upgraded will be put at a disadvantage that we literally cannot overcome, that our gear will be inferior to those who have already fully upgraded. Sure, we can compensate if we are fortunate enough to be better than the other player, but that is not as likely unless the upgraded opponent only has achieved that because they've been working at it longer, not because they're a more dedicated PvPer. That's a rather tenuous thing to hope for.

I don't know how their system works for item upgrades, but wouldn't it have made more sense, when they implemented it, to not just set a minimum ilvl but a maximum one too? Or, maybe, separate them into two separate vendors which they could disable when a new raid tier comes in, or a new PvP season starts up?

Despite their protestations, Blizzard either does not think or does not care about the actions they take to slow/gate PvE content impacting PvP content.

(Just to clarify: I'm not saying it's the end of the world, or that PvP is going to be massively imbalanced, only that some will have an unfair advantage over others. Those who already have upgraded gear certainly deserve it, and deserve the benefits that it has afforded them so far, but those of us who haven't reached that level yet also deserve the chance to at least try to reach it at our own pace. This is just adding to the slick, thick patina of spit in our faces, lately.)

[Azrile]

Not to be a hater, but the devs have really dropped the ball with VP,JP and gear progression this expansion.

1. JP gear requiring rep at launch
2. No VP items available until Revered
3. Really screwed up system of ´upgrading´items where weapons and chest cost the same as wrist and belts.
4. Muddling of heroics and scenarios.. where it is fairly easy to get epics from scenarios, but nearly impossible in heroics, and then having to roll against others for it.

I do like the change where LFR-1 is the catchup mechanism rather than having 2-3 heroics that you have to do crazy amounts of times. I like the new LFR loot system and lucky coins, and generally I like the way you need reps to buy valor items.

But 1-4 above makes it seem like they really did not think things through on how a player would progress. When you build your game around gear progression, you better have it pretty tight.

[Inahu]

Rather bummed by this, especially as people get to keep their upgraded stats, while alts after 4.2 wont. Here is me coming back after 9 months, thinking that Blizzard had changed. Boggles my mind, it really does.

It really disappoints me that they have become so craven and transparent in their attempts not to create content that lasts longer, but to invent methods of artificially extending content, in this case, by removing a convenience that allowed you to somewhat expedite your progression even if you weren't getting the drops you wanted - increasing the ilvl of your gear with the one staple that you got regardless of what drops from a boss. I feel stupid for having renewed my account, I gave them the benefit of the doubt and hoped they'd model this expansion more on WotLK than Cata, but it's turned out to be a whole new kind of mediocrity compared to its predecessor.

[Shampro]

It's all well and good for PvE to take away the upgrade NPC, but what about us PvP players? 5.2 isn't starting a new season, so those of us with some items not yet upgraded will be put at a disadvantage that we literally cannot overcome, that our gear will be inferior to those who have already fully upgraded. Sure, we can compensate if we are fortunate enough to be better than the other player, but that is not as likely unless the upgraded opponent only has achieved that because they've been working at it longer, not because they're a more dedicated PvPer. That's a rather tenuous thing to hope for.

I don't know how their system works for item upgrades, but wouldn't it have made more sense, when they implemented it, to not just set a minimum ilvl but a maximum one too? Or, maybe, separate them into two separate vendors which they could disable when a new raid tier comes in, or a new PvP season starts up?

Despite their protestations, Blizzard either does not think or does not care about the actions they take to slow/gate PvE content impacting PvP content.

(Just to clarify: I'm not saying it's the end of the world, or that PvP is going to be massively imbalanced, only that some will have an unfair advantage over others. Those who already have upgraded gear certainly deserve it, and deserve the benefits that it has afforded them so far, but those of us who haven't reached that level yet also deserve the chance to at least try to reach it at our own pace. This is just adding to the slick, thick patina of spit in our faces, lately.)

5.2 has a new season, so everything you said doesnt really matter to pvp at all.

Also is hilarious how many of you pay 0 attention, the Item upgrade is planned to come back in none raid patches (i.e. 5.3) acourding to GC, so it will stilll serve as a good catch up for returning players. Please do research before you make walls to blindly complain.

[Malfecto]

Whoa... I thought Valor upgrades were supposed to be the way for players to get over content hurdles they are stuck on. At least, I thought I read a blue post stating that SINCE upgrades were in the game, there would be no steady nerfing of content. That was satisfying, imho. So now what?

[Andelormon]

Okay. To restate my earlier post, and this time link the news post from MMO where Ghostcrawler says it. Because people this morning can not read.

http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/...p-of-the-Month

Only opening up upgrading on patches without a PvE/PvP tier release.

[Madruga]

5.2 has a new season, so everything you said doesnt really matter to pvp at all.

Also is hilarious how many of you pay 0 attention, the Item upgrade is planned to come back in none raid patches (i.e. 5.3) acourding to GC, so it will stilll serve as a good catch up for returning players. Please do research before you make walls to blindly complain.

This is what GC said in previous posts, that gear from 5.2 could only be upgraded in non-raid pacthes.

But now it seems things are different. That "we will evaluate and see" part of his post is probably a polite way of saying "thefeature likely will not return".

I really see no reason to block even old gear from being upgraded. Something else is up. Maybe they didn't like how the feature landed.

[chrisisvacant]

It really disappoints me that they have become so craven and transparent in their attempts not to create content that lasts longer, but to invent methods of artificially extending content, in this case, by removing a convenience that allowed you to somewhat expedite your progression even if you weren't getting the drops you wanted - increasing the ilvl of your gear with the one staple that you got regardless of what drops from a boss. I feel stupid for having renewed my account, I gave them the benefit of the doubt and hoped they'd model this expansion more on WotLK than Cata, but it's turned out to be a whole new kind of mediocrity compared to its predecessor.

Why are you being so dramatic? Far and few between are the times Blizz has ever sold its playerbase down the river, so please cut this apocalyptic talk out.

---------- Post added 2013-01-12 at 06:19 PM ----------

This is what GC said in previous posts, that gear from 5.2 could only be upgraded in non-raid pacthes.

But now it seems things are different. That "we will evaluate and see" part of his post is probably a polite way of saying "thefeature likely will not return".

I really see no reason to block even old gear from being upgraded. Something else is up. Maybe they didn't like how the feature landed.

The fact -you- don't see a reason is irrelevant. The people who develop the game see a reason. And there is nothing in his statements that should lead you to believe it won't return. They already explained the shift to off-raid patches well enough for any adult to understand.

[TylerN]

Bah, the upgrade system was awesome. It was a nice way to get higher item-lvl without needing to rely on RNG as much, it wasn't exactly efficient either. So I don't see why they would remove it.
Just disable it for the new gear, can't be that hard to do.

[The Last DJ]

Cyberpunk 2077~

[Phasmy]

The upgrade system was a rushed idea. It forces players to valor cap every week if they want to progress further. I'd rather have nothing to spend valor points on then to be forced to farm 1k each week. and many players would agree.

[xenogear3]

Blizzard screwed up big time at launch.
It wants multiple tiers and all of them hard to get.

1 quest gears, 437 - cannot queue heroic
2 scenarios - drop rate super low
3 jp tier, 458 - gated by reputation !
4 5man heroic, 463 - easy, but could get screwed by random
5 PvP honor gear, 464 - easiest, choose any gear you want, no random effect

As you can see, high ilevels are easier to get !

The alchem, jewelcraft and engineering trinkets were always epic like quality.
Either none or 450 in this expansion.