Mythic+ Azerite Armor Improvements
Originally Posted by Blizzard
Throughout the discussions regarding Azerite Armor, there’s been a lot of talk about how you earn Azerite pieces from Mythic+ dungeons. Players have told us – and we agree – that the process of earning Azerite Armor through Mythic+ feels overly based on luck, and that there isn’t enough control in the players’ hands. Even with our bad luck protection systems in place, the sheer number of potential Azerite pieces you can get from the weekly chest means that trying to get ahold of a specific piece feels hopeless.

That’s a problem we want to solve, and give you some control over the Azerite gear you earn through Mythic+. So here’s what we’re working on for Tides of Vengeance:

First, we’re adding a new (as yet unnamed) currency, which you’ll earn from your weekly Mythic+ chest as well as from scrapping (or disenchanting) epic-quality Azerite Armor. This currency is rewarded in addition to the item in the chest (which can no longer be an Azerite piece), and the amount you earn will scale up based on the highest level Keystone you’ve completed. For example, completing a level 10 Keystone will reward you with about three times as much as clearing a level 7. Similarly, scrapping higher-item-level Azerite pieces will give you significantly higher amounts of this currency than lower-level pieces.

To spend that currency, we’re bringing back an old friend: Thaumaturge Vashreen. He’ll have two main types of items for sale. The first are caches that reward a random dungeon Azerite Armor piece for a given slot (helm, shoulders, or chest). They’ll be separated out by item level as well (at 355, 370, and 385), with higher item level caches requiring significantly more currency to purchase.

But we recognize that with six or more options per slot, this may still not be enough control for high-end players who want to be able to work towards a specific piece that perfectly complements their build. Thus, Vashreen will also offer Item Level 385 versions of the specific dungeon Azerite Armor pieces for each class, sold at a premium.

We’re still nailing down the exact numbers, but our goal for tuning this new currency is that you’ll be able to purchase one of the Azerite caches that lines up roughly with the item level of the gear you’re getting from your Mythic+ runs every two or three weeks, with the specific 385 pieces as long-term goals for top players.

Overall, we believe that this change will improve things in a lot of different ways:
  • Mythic+ players of all skill levels will now have a clear path to upgrading their Azerite slots
  • High-end Mythic+ players will have a way to target specific Azerite pieces to optimize their setups
  • Duplicate or unwanted Azerite pieces from other sources (such as raiding) now have some additional value
  • The piece of gear in your weekly chest will have a more reliable item level

You should see all of this hitting the Tides of Vengeance PTR sometime in the next week or so. We really do appreciate your feedback, and believe that this, in addition to the new traits and other improvements coming to the Azerite system in Tides of Vengeance, will help ease a lot of the concerns about Azerite Armor in Mythic+ and as a whole.

Couple quick clarifications based on feedback so far:
  • Only Azerite Armor that drops after Tides of Vengeance is released will scrap/disenchant into the new currency. Don't worry about hoarding the Azerite pieces you're earning now.
  • When the next Mythic+ season starts, and item levels increase, the item levels of Thaumaturge Vashreen's wares will increase accordingly.
  • We recognize that PvPers want more options and choice too. We're talking about that separately.
This article was originally published in forum thread: Mythic+ Azerite Armor Improvements started by chaud View original post
Comments 204 Comments
  1. Exhuman's Avatar
    Its time to farm and collect azerite armor for scrapping!
  1. Kluian05's Avatar
    Blizzard better have the traits balanced once it hits live. I can only imagine the amount of tears there will be about people saving up for the premium azerite choice and then for it to get nerfed soon after.
  1. SinR's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Chief Bennett View Post
    What sort of genius would save up to buy a token? Either you're not a cutting edge player and this will be a quick way to get decent item level azerite gear, or you are and you can finally target your BiS. Knowing you will definitely get your BiS chest/ helm in 3 weeks is a far, far better feeling than knowing you could get it at any time, and are just as likely to get any other item
    Because Blizzard said the specifics are a "Long Term Goal"
  1. McFrotton's Avatar
    this also give a small purpose to all the low level azerite gears in WQ.
  1. Triggered Fridgekin's Avatar
    Wow. It only took nearly five expansions before Blizzard realized that removing tokens and the related vendors was probably a bad thing even when they half-assed it with the legendaries at the very end of Legion when you could build up and target specific items only to take it away again and look even more clueless when they bring it back.

    Guess the next big feature in two expansions will be the reintroduction of reforging.
  1. Kyranna's Avatar
    Two to three weeks for a piece of azerite? Another slot machine, time gated on top? Wow, just wow...
  1. Th3Scourge's Avatar
    I can’t believe it. They actually listened for once
  1. ryjkur's Avatar
    How about include 1 azerite piece + 1 random item in weekly cache?
  1. SinR's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by McFrotton View Post
    this also give a small purpose to all the low level azerite gears in WQ.
    Except Blizzard says its only the Epic ones will scrap into this new currency

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Triggered Fridgekin View Post
    Wow. It only took nearly five expansions before Blizzard realized that removing tokens and the related vendors was probably a bad thing even when they half-assed it with the legendaries at the very end of Legion when you could build up and target specific items only to take it away again and look even more clueless when they bring it back.

    Guess the next big feature in two expansions will be the reintroduction of reforging.
    I'm actually for the reintroduction of Reforge.
  1. duster2's Avatar
    Too little too late for me. Grinding is never fun - but less RNG is always better. Really sounds like Blizzard haven't thought this through tho. Just another band-aid without fixing the real issue which is just bad endgame progression with the Azerite system.
  1. mmocc158aac70a's Avatar
    This is actually a very good way to handle the issue
  1. Hashtronaut's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Schattenlied View Post
    Great, now do the same thing for PvP.
    Oh shit then I’d might do pvp again
  1. GreenJesus's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Kyranna View Post
    Two to three weeks for a piece of azerite? Another slot machine, time gated on top? Wow, just wow...
    I mean.. you could get 1000 valor points per week and a chest piece was 2250 in cata. So that would be pretty consistent.
  1. Darknessvamp's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by elvor0 View Post
    Source? Because I'm pretty sure that isn't true. It's a 3 day trial, not a free copy of BFA
    Yeah, I can confirm they're not doing that. It's not even a proper trial either, just the Battle of Lordaeron and "Hello, Welcome to Kul'tiras/Zandalar Harbo-" FORCED LOCK, LOG OFF IN TEN, PLEASE BUY OUR GAME. Best bit was people are still getting DC'd and kicked out bugs that they still haven't fixed from Beta in the scenario. Otherwise you get three free days to play your other characters till Legion stuff. Oh and the trial character is able to unlock the Allied Races from Legion if you've done their respective grinds but your original characters can't.
  1. meowfurion's Avatar
    And while you're at it, fucking QUADRUPLE the drop rate of all weapons across the board. Seriously, this is just fucking stupid.
  1. mechos's Avatar
    Blizzard you did a great job with the BFA trailer during Blizzcon and really made your fans extremely happy. But then now even with one of the most experienced raider at your disposal you couldn't get these systems right. More than fixing these issues find out how did you go wrong this badly in your decision making and make sure it doesn't happen again. Its a shame that after a decade of experience you would release an expansion that was widely criticized by your fans for all its flaws which could have been easily avoided upfront. You have some really great minds in your team and your fans deserve nothing but the best. I hope you would come back strongly with a better process and greater expansions in the future.
  1. Izzyfurious's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Sfidt View Post
    Better than nothing I guess but I was highly hoping for kind of a lootbox instead of standard mythic cache where you can pick ONE out of THREE items of which any can be RNG Azerite piece or standard item.
    This feels like gated slow progression towards certain azerite pieces. You cannot loot Azerite in M+ and now it won't appear in M+ cache so most of the scraps will come from a weekly chest and few raid items you might be able to get a grip on. OR the high-end players will be forced to grind all m0 every week to get just a few scraps out of 340 azerite piece.
    Keep your Lootbox crap ideas out of this Game.

    I don't want to see that cancerous feature also in WoW!
  1. Trumpcat's Avatar
    This is exactly what I (and many others) were asking for.

    Just yesterday I disenchanted 9 azerite pieces I was hoarding....
  1. Zelion's Avatar
    RIP anyone trying to get someone to trade them azerite gear
  1. ryanmahaffe's Avatar
    A step in the right direction, maybe soon wow won't feel like a rng based eastern mmo

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