What can be done to fix the secondary stat problem in Legion?

[JonBeMerkin]

You know when you get that 880 titanforged proc that doesn't replace an 860 item because your main stat is valued so much more? What can actually be done to fix this now that we are comfortably integrated into the expansion. At this point i'm starting to miss stat breakpoints.. The fact you can have 880 ilvl in your bags but only have 875 equipped feels so very wrong.

Just wondering if theres a quick fix to this that can be done on regular update or is this a whole revamp of the stat system that needs to be dealt with later like right before new raid content comes out?

[Tural]

Presumably it would be a matter of giving specs more of their secondary stats baseline, reducing the amount that gear gives (Say you have 25% haste from 2500 haste on gear, they could make 2500 haste give only 12.5%, but bake 12.5% into your spec [wildly made up and inflated numbers I'm using for an example]), and then increasing the benefit of primary stats.

That would keep your stats the same, so you don't feel like you get weaker from the change, but it would still reduce the effectiveness of new pieces with secondary stats going forward, and make ilvl matter more (because of more primary stats). This doesn't fix rings/necks without primary stats on them, but that's how I imagine it would work for most items.

Disclaimer: I don't know shit about this, I'm just guessing that would be an approach they could take.

[Deja Thoris]

It's not a "problem". It's only a problem to people that think "hurr durr ilevel!"

[Tural]

It's not a "problem". It's only a problem to people that think "hurr durr ilevel!"

Well Ion himself has said it is a problem, in the 7.1 Q&A. They make it so you can't trade gear that's above your currently equipped ilvl, but often times an 880 can be worse than an 860, and it has to be sharded/vendored because the entire trading system is based on ilvl, when ilvl isn't the main factor of gearing because secondary stats are so powerful right now. They said they want to change this, to make ilvl a bigger factor and reduce secondary stats' effectiveness.

[Orangetai420]

Couldn't they just change the stat budget and have more of it go to your primary stat? (int, str, agi). That way an ilvl upgrade would be better just on raw intellect, etc.

And as stated above, just add in baseline secondary stats to compensate for specs that need it (like crit for fire)

[Caeth]

make main stat mean more is what they did before

[Tehterokkar]

Bringing back Reforging would solve all issues. Instead of that 880 piece being sharded/vendored, it could be an 3-4% upgrade over your 860 piece if you reforged it.

[fangless]

As the expansion goes on, items will give the same level of main state, but secondary stats will be budgeted less on items. It doesn't really affect the current situation, but over time, main stats will be that much higher and secondary stats won't be so front loaded for the later tiers compared to now.

[Frolk]

Reforging or main stat back to ring/necks
2nd option seems better and easier

[pmkaboo]

It's not a "problem". It's only a problem to people that think "hurr durr ilevel!"

the game very clearly tells you that ilvl > all, both in the ui(giant bold colored number in your stat sheet) and in gameplay(cannot trade ilvl upgrades). so this is actually a problem for everyone.

[hablix]

Since they already Diablo-fied so much of WoW with Legion, why not go one more and bring back reforging as a Diablo-style profession. In Diablo III, enchanting allows you to reroll a stat (that's if I recall correctly, been a while since I played). That would be a good RPG way of bringing back reforging, rather than just having a vendor you go to. They could even limit the total number of pieces you could reroll stats on to add at least some amount of choice to the system.

[ComputerNerd]

It's not a "problem". It's only a problem to people that think "hurr durr ilevel!"

The stats would in an ideal situation be closer, but there are always going to be stats which are better, and sometimes even varying from single to multi-target.
I agree though that the stupid community obsession with quick measures such as item level is not helping matters.

[Sevarin]

adding a single stat 100% reforge would easily fix the problem. the reason they removed reforge was because they said it was too "mathy" with hit and expertise. well, now that those are gone.... theres really no reason to not have them back, and it would easily solve an 840 ring being better than an 890.

[ComputerNerd]

adding a single stat 100% reforge would easily fix the problem. the reason they removed reforge was because they said it was too "mathy" with hit and expertise. well, now that those are gone.... theres really no reason to not have them back, and it would easily solve an 840 ring being better than an 890.

Reforging removes the point of there being different stats.
It is not a problem an item of lower item level being better.
The players who think item level is king are the problem.

[Sevarin]

Reforging removes the point of there being different stats.
It is not a problem an item of lower item level being better.
The players who think item level is king are the problem.

i mean... im kinda sick of my 840 and 865 ring being better than the 880 in my bags, or my legendary neck being worse than my 870. there are different stats for different playstyles. some stats are so close that it doesnt really matter which you pick, but rather a matter of preference. most every class has that must have stat.

even with reforge, you have different stats, you just get your one must have stat with it.

[Nerokin]

Reforging removes the point of there being different stats.
It is not a problem an item of lower item level being better.
The players who think item level is king are the problem.

No, the game explicitly telling you that item level is king is the problem. Most knowledgeable players will know when to not take an item level upgrade due to it being poorly statted, but that doesn't apply to the entire player base. In addition, the ability to trade gear being tied to what the game determines is an "upgrade" is also a major problem. You can't blame the entire problem on players when they are being given a broken system to work with from the get-go.

[Cheze]

imo it's only a real problem with as it pertains to sockets, which add a lot of value without affecting item level at all. 850 socketed jewelry can easily be better than 880 bits, which is a problem from a nomenclature standpoint if nothing else.

I'm not really sure why a lower-ilvl piece being better for a particular spec than a higher-ilvl piece is a problem though; why have individual stats at all if the only thing you ever have to pay attention to is item level?

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Reforging removes the point of there being different stats.
It is not a problem an item of lower item level being better.
The players who think item level is king are the problem.

Considering how a scale such as Item level shows what's better, one would think the higher the item level the better the stats. If they fixed that, it'd be fine. Reforging would also help because well for one not everyone values the same stats.

[Ashdal]

If I could choose to "discard" a secondary stat per loot spec (Hi, I'm assa and I choose to "reroll" any haste in my items for Crit/Versa/Mastery permanently) I'd be happy

And that would also add some depth while looking for BIS. "Hey, this items is supposed to give 1200 haste 600 mastery, if I get it and the Haste rerolls to Critical nothing can beat it"

[Bonkura]

Add main stats back to necks/rings pls. Pretty annoying to have a 880 neck in bags which is worse than my 850 w/ socket.