Why would they remove class based tier sets

[gobio]

Daily reminder that this is a paid expansion at full price.

[sam86]

Why would they waste time and resources on flashy new armour sets when a majority of the player base is running around in transmogged gear from pre wod?

simply because wow is mmo game, not generic diablo game
we always enjoyed and discussed a lot about tier sets in every raid in wow since i started playing, i don't know a single player in wow who didn't talk about what class tier he enjoys in next/current raid, that always was a topic ppl talk about
Ppl liked tier sets, they didn't hate it
Blizz removed it for 'balance', ok remove the bonus, keep the idea of set designs itself, not the worst generic to ever exist, heck even some crafted made items looked more interesting, like the trio cloth crafting in wrath for each specialization

[Deleted]

it's less laziness, more cost cutting for business reasons.

in short, to make their selves more money. less effort overall.

Except Blizzard increased their WoW development team by aprox 40% between MoP/WoD to Legion/BFA.

So no, not to lower costs to increase revenue.

[Dhrizzle]

I'm not too impressed by the system either, at least last time they gave cloth/leather/mail/plate wearers the same gear they had some variety in colour, kilts where approriate and designed different sets for Alliance and Horde (something that would have been very appropriate in this expansion.) I also don't like the way that none of the sets particularly look like their armour class, the cloth in particular seems to be made up of cloth, leather, mail and plate.

[oplawlz]

Because they're lazy, why else? Or they're wasting said resources on allied race armor (That they only really have to model for once race) and pretending that's equal effort.

I mean it's really the only answer. The fact that they're only doing 4 armor sets now and they still look . . . like they do is pretty much all the confirmation you need that blizzard has decided to cut the art resources assigned to armor by at least half.

[Doomchicken]

Tbf this isn't the first time the first raid of an expansion has had not much variety when it comes to armor sets. Emerald nightmare, Highmaul and Mogu'shan vaults come to mind. If the second raid has shit variety, then feel free to complain about it.

[Jtbrig7390]

How the hell did you solo the first boss of ToV?

Dont tell me......you did it with 90% less damage cant be

For whatever reason when I did it as prot and killed the add's with the symbol's the main add's dropped their shield.

[Agrossive]

It was both good and bad and over the years. It was fun to see "what's this raids set bonus" but it had problems too.

Mainly that some bonuses were so insane that you didn't want to replace it. With Titanforging in Legion, people used TF set pieces from Tomb of Sargeras combined with Antorus gear, either 4piece + 2p or 2p + 2p and maybe legendary in other slots etc.

That is quite bad design. The current raid should always undoubtably provide the best gear for each slot. However, some sets, wheter TF or not and even with lower ilvl, did not provide good set bonuses but also really smooth, convinient and rotation changing ones.

Take my class for instance, Assassination Rogue. Tomb of Sargeras 2set reduced energy cost and more importantly cooldown of garrote by ALOT, making it basically have no cooldown at all. This way, it made multi dotting incredibly smooth and awesome. Damage wise it got replaced by Antorus gear BUT it was so smooth and convinient to not have a garrote cooldown that I never ever wanted to replace it.

So, that's why I don't like it that much. To give players great and fun set bonuses to take it away later is kinda cruel. We all remember that set from whatever expansion we never wanted to part with and I would rather they focus on making abilities more fun than having set bonuses.

Also, of course, the bonuses were so mandatory. If you were unlucky and didn't have 2set or 4set, you would lose so much DPS and maybe even get benched from guildraids. And to have to use Normal mode set bonuses over heroic non set gear is also awful design. I have these cool Shoulders with 500ilvl but nope, gotta use these 400ilvl shoulders instead to get bonus. That's pretty bad design. Not having set bonuses will make it less important what gear you have in each slot.

How is azerite armour any different? Ive already had to hold off on a higher item lv chest because i dont have the azerite level for the traits, its basically the same problem.

[Powerogue]

I don't feel like that's been at the expense of gear design in general. I am loving this leveling gear. They're doing continent/raid tier themed sets, which is not a new idea. Remember how in AQ nearly everything was bugs?

[Spacewalrus2010]

They're making four armor appearances instead of twelve. You literally can't argue it's NOT less effort.

When I specified effort, I meant in terms of look of the armor, not pure numbers.

But hey I'll humor you. While the tier sets consistent of much less there are also more generic sets from leveling and dungeons. I.E. Kul Tiran styles and Zandalar styles.

Ya Uldir armor really looks like Titan or Corruption themed armor....not. The "themed" armor from Uldir looks terrible and nothing like either of the themes they could have went with this.

To clarify weapons look great and fit the theme, the armor does not.

It looks like titan gear to me? yay opinions?

[Spiral Mage]

The answer to this should be obvious but ..

[1] They've been making tier sets for years and years and you can only make so many tier bonuses before it's "been there, done that", so if they do away with the system, then they aren't constrained by having to come up with set bonuses that still somehow have to feel fresh and unique.
[2] Set pieces are your BIS. So it means once you have your tier helm, that's it. Every other helm in the game is useless to you. Without set pieces/bonuses, they can offer more pieces, with more stat options and offer players more freedom to mix and match the pieces they want for the best effect.
Yes, there's still going to be a BIS but if your tier helm has a less than desireable stat on it, or something like that, you still have to use it. If you get a helm with a stat combo you don't like now, and one with a stat combo you do like drops, you can use that one instead because there's no set bonus to maintain.

Set bonuses offer some fun and unique effects and give BLIZ the ability to alter-game play from tier to tier and that's all well and good but the constraints they place on gearing options are the counter-issue. So they've opt'd for a more open and free field of gearing options for players.

It'd be nice to see some 2-piece combos like neck and ring, or helm and chest only, or something so you still have lots of open and flexible slots to pick upgrades for.

D3 faces that same issue, there is one item per-slot and if you have that item, that's it. Nothing else you find is of any use to you. WoW faces that issue too, just on a less severe basis but no less restraining in a number of ways, so they did away with it in favor of something they hope will be more flexible, giving players more chances to find upgrades and reasons to care about what drops.

[Very Tired]

They honestly look like something one would except green quest reward armor to look like.

[Clozer]

To provide raid themed sets like they've said multiple times already?

Whether you believe they put up much effort in the raid sets, well...I like them personally. Raid themed sets are bound to look similar.

you get now 4 sets instead of 12. Firelands had already raid themed sets.. but for every class. They are getting extremly lazy and it looks like they are trying to save every penny possible.

[corebit]

The answer to this should be obvious but ..

[1] They've been making tier sets for years and years and you can only make so many tier bonuses before it's "been there, done that", so if they do away with the system, then they aren't constrained by having to come up with set bonuses that still somehow have to feel fresh and unique.
[2] Set pieces are your BIS. So it means once you have your tier helm, that's it. Every other helm in the game is useless to you. Without set pieces/bonuses, they can offer more pieces, with more stat options and offer players more freedom to mix and match the pieces they want for the best effect.
Yes, there's still going to be a BIS but if your tier helm has a less than desireable stat on it, or something like that, you still have to use it. If you get a helm with a stat combo you don't like now, and one with a stat combo you do like drops, you can use that one instead because there's no set bonus to maintain.

Set bonuses offer some fun and unique effects and give BLIZ the ability to alter-game play from tier to tier and that's all well and good but the constraints they place on gearing options are the counter-issue. So they've opt'd for a more open and free field of gearing options for players.

It'd be nice to see some 2-piece combos like neck and ring, or helm and chest only, or something so you still have lots of open and flexible slots to pick upgrades for.

D3 faces that same issue, there is one item per-slot and if you have that item, that's it. Nothing else you find is of any use to you. WoW faces that issue tomo, just on a less severe basis but no less restraining in a number of ways, so they did away with it in favor of something they hope will be more flexible, giving players more chances to find upgrades and reasons to care about what drops.

Very good post. The only thing to miss from tier sets is their transmog potential, and even then many sets aren't good looking at all.

[ohgasauraus]

It is business decision. Ultimately for a product that is on going for so long, there bound to have drop in revenue which resulted in drop in profit. Once that happen, the only way is to innovate to bring in more revenues (expansion/content patches/gated content) or expenses reduction (in this case remove class based tier sets to reduce artist required). Every changes they made to this point has always been about maintaining (or slow down the decline of) their profit margin.

[Melsiren]

It's to stick it to the DH's we are now stuck with 3 tiers to choose from.

[derpkitteh]

When I specified effort, I meant in terms of look of the armor, not pure numbers.

But hey I'll humor you. While the tier sets consistent of much less there are also more generic sets from leveling and dungeons. I.E. Kul Tiran styles and Zandalar styles.

but the uldir sets look objectively worse than all the tier sets of legion.

quality over quantity was what they said they would achieve with this, they didn't achieve it.

[grexly75]

Why would they waste time and resources on flashy new armour sets when a majority of the player base is running around in transmogged gear from pre wod?

Exactly this^, with the introduction of Transmogging most folks go for the older armor sets so there is less need for over the top flashy looking armor.. My lock for instance is sporting the armor set from Sunwell because none of the other sets appeals to me..

[xcitng]

Thread was answered on the first reply.

[grexly75]

They probably saw the overwhelming amount of people transmog current raid sets into ones of the past and decided it was best to not spend so much time on them. This is just conjecture on my part, but perhaps it's mainly because of how this expansion has two separate questing experiences for both factions. Most content isn't shared, meaning they'll have to cut back on other areas in terms of art.

Exactly, why go for broke making awesome armor sets when folks who don't like the look of the armor set will transmog it to something they do like..