The Champion Armor soft-locks spec?

[Dastreus]

So I was curious to try out the new champion armor today, from the magni quest. I put a point into increased arcane blast damage, since I am an arcane mage. Then, I noticed on swapping spec... I don't get to pick the frost or fire ones. It's locked. Is BFA going to be essentially specialization locked???

[Galbrei]

Sounds like a bug.

[thilicen]

You mean the azerite armor? It's not even remotely finished yet, just chill.

[nazrakin]

Not anymore than any other expansion.

You'll want a unique piece of azerite armor -- per slot, per spec -- to maximize your potential. Which is how itemization has always worked. Trying to use a single set of gear for multiple specs has almost never been a good thing. You can do it, but you forfeit a great deal of effectiveness. For example, prior to Wod you could wear your ele tier set on your resto shaman... but it was typically a waste since you gained nothing for the set bonuses. In Legion I used my Enhancement legendary ring on my Resto Shaman until I got better options.

[Louz]

Well, you no longer have to farm three different relics with good bonuses for each of your specs.

You now have to farm three different armor pieces for each of your specs. Even if the two specs use the same secondaries. Lol.

...and different weapons too.

[Gaidax]

I actually haven't thought about it running around in Alpha and now I see this is an actual design issue.

Basically from example items we have - first row is 4 options with one being general "your abilities have a chance to do stat buff/DoT" and the rest three are specific things for a spec and if you take something you can't change it, just like it works with Netherlight Crucible live.

I don't think Alpha has anything to do with that, it's clearly intended to be split by specs and irreversible choice.

[Cosmic Janitor]

I actually haven't thought about it running around in Alpha and now I see this is an actual design issue.

Basically from example items we have - first row is 4 options with one being general "your abilities have a chance to do stat buff/DoT" and the rest three are specific things for a spec and if you take something you can't change it, just like it works with Netherlight Crucible live.

I don't think Alpha has anything to do with that, it's clearly intended to be split by specs and irreversible choice.

Raid items will fix that.

[Siglius]

Devs confirmed that you will be able to respec the azerite pieces, its just not in the alpha yet.

[Almiria]

They already said in the Q&A that it's intended.
They can't titanforge, so you can easily get a second one without it being overpowered or underpowered.
As of now, when you get a duplicate item, sometimes it's lower ilvl because the first one was a proc.
On BFA whenever you get an azerite duplicate item you can use it for another situation with different traits (world pvp, aoe, another spec...)
We will be able to respec azerite in some way, but we can't do it anytime we want and anywhere, so using duplicate azerite armor with different traits or completely different azerite pieces for each situation is part of the gameplay design.

[Lahis]

Yeah, Azerite armor is spec locked. You need multiple pieces per spec, and each spec needs it's own pieces.


Having tier sets adjust to your specialization was too good to last anyways.

[s_bushido]

Well, you no longer have to farm three different relics with good bonuses for each of your specs.

You now have to farm three different armor pieces for each of your specs. Even if the two specs use the same secondaries. Lol.

...and different weapons too.

So...like it's been for most of WoW's history?

[Lahis]

So...like it's been for most of WoW's history?

Never enjoyed filling my bags up with Agi set to speed up dungeons, but guess some ass-backwards design is to be expected from Blizz.

[s_bushido]

Never enjoyed filling my bags up with Agi set to speed up dungeons

I have no idea what that means.

As for ass-backwards design...do people really have just one set of gear they use for all three specs? Must be nice not caring about your stats.

[Amnaught]

Why would they give you three options -- each of which only work for one spec -- and then let you change your choice?

That's not a choice, that's armor that does something different for each spec. Respeccing it should have a cost behind it, and it shouldnt be gold. Maybe a currency you get for destroying other azerite gear? Maybe Azerite Power itself?

[Lahis]

I have no idea what that means.

As for ass-backwards design...do people really have just one set of gear they use for all three specs? Must be nice not caring about your stats.

I play Balance druid. Balance uses Int. Balance is DPS.

Tanks have shorter queues. Feral/Guardian is druid tank spec. They use Agi. Can't tank with Int gear.

[s_bushido]

I play Balance druid. Balance uses Int. Balance is DPS.

Tanks have shorter queues. Feral/Guardian is druid tank spec. They use Agi. Can't tank with Int gear.

...

Back in TBC, on my warrior I had my normal stamina set, and a block set that was composed of almost completely different pieces. I liked having that sort of flexibility based on the content and playstyle. In an environment were people are constantly bitching about how much Blizzard has pruned/is pruning from the game, it's baffling to me to see someone defending our characters having generic one-size-fits-all options for gear.

Personally, I'd rather have the option to farm a specific piece of Azurite gear that has the best traits available for my spec, than being told "here's your tier set, equip it and never take it off" and having to rely on RNG to give me the legendaries I need.

[Aggrophobic]

So I was curious to try out the new champion armor today, from the magni quest. I put a point into increased arcane blast damage, since I am an arcane mage. Then, I noticed on swapping spec... I don't get to pick the frost or fire ones. It's locked. Is BFA going to be essentially specialization locked???

Blizzard does not seem to know what they want to do here. They have said that they want you to look for different armors for different spec but also that you might be able to respec the armors in some way but at a cost. Might be a CD on the respec or resetting the resources invested in it or something along thoes lines.

In reality, it's likely that you'll be locked into one spec if you only have one set of the armor, yes.

- - - Updated - - -

Devs confirmed that you will be able to respec the azerite pieces, its just not in the alpha yet.

Indeed but it won't be for free and it's unlikely to be something you can do mid raid or on a regular basis.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Blizzard does not seem to know what they want to do here. They have said that they want you to look for different armors for different spec but also that you might be able to respec the armors in some way but at a cost. Might be a CD on the respec or resetting the resources invested in it or something along thoes lines.

In reality, it's likely that you'll be locked into one spec if you only have one set of the armor, yes.

The point is fairly simple:
1.) create the illusion of choice, instead of just making the traits colored text on the item
2.) getting the players to farm the same gear over and over, because just beeing done with one piece of content is a big nono.

I agree, it will prevent on the fly changing of specs, which is especially annoying for people that often help out and probably won't be getting their 2nd piece of the same item before others get it for their main spec. Essentially it's a huge leap backwards from finally having all tiersets of a class in one set rather than 2-4.

[Isheria]

Well, you no longer have to farm three different relics with good bonuses for each of your specs.

You now have to farm three different armor pieces for each of your specs. Even if the two specs use the same secondaries. Lol.

...and different weapons too.

There's pretty significant difference though and that is that azerite pieces (chest,shoulders,head) don't have secondary stats whatsoever, only primary stat and traits. Secondary amount of stats you gonna have on this expansion is massively reduced when compared to legion.

[valky94]

Yeah, Azerite armor is spec locked. You need multiple pieces per spec, and each spec needs it's own pieces.


Having tier sets adjust to your specialization was too good to last anyways.

well when you compare 3 items per spec in BfA and 3 relics per weapon in legion, under the line its the same thing