Azerite gear vs tier sets and progression

[walle87]

So first of all, I'm one of those guys that still enjoys WoW. Maybe not as much as I used to, but still enough to pay the sub. I also like raiding. But lately I've just stopped raiding. The reason is that's it's almost impossible for me to get upgrades from heroic raiding. I got some 460 azerite pieces from the raid, but they are actually worse than my 445 BiS from the azerite vendor. Actually, they are better than the 475 I bought from the azerite vendor. That's just poor design.

Raiding is not rewarding anymore. Apart from a new trinket and a mediocre corruption trait, I got no significant upgrades so far. I'm not asking for free epics and upgrades, but when we had tier sets, at least I had something to work for. Now, I have almost no chance to get upgrades on my 3 azerite pieces, and that feels really really bad. Sure, I could save my titan res for a specific piece, but when I get one, the tier will be over anyway. I miss the feeling when you had 1 or 3 tier pieces, and got the second or fourth one. It felt rewarding and you noticed a difference in your characters power.

[Mightytasty]

I doubt that. The azerite gear from Ny'alotha is actually amazing. Blizzard went out of their way to put the best traits on the Ny'alotha gear.

And people don't realize how restrictive tier gear was from a game design standpoint. I wouldn't be surprised if they bring back cosmetic only tier gear but scrap the set bonuses.

[walle87]

I doubt that. The azerite gear from Ny'alotha is actually amazing. Blizzard went out of their way to put the best traits on the Ny'alotha gear.

And people don't realize how restrictive tier gear was from a game design standpoint. I wouldn't be surprised if they bring back cosmetic only tier gear but scrap the set bonuses.

You can doubt it all you want, I have done some serious testing in game + sims. The chests are both way worse. The only real upgrade is probably the helmet (the only azerite piece I don't have). It will improve my dps with 1 k. The shoulders are +- 0 (tested in game) and the sims says the same. The chests are really bad and I lose several thousand dps (450 vs 465). Also tested in game.

[Mightytasty]

You can doubt it all you want, I have done some serious testing in game + sims. The chests are both way worse. The only real upgrade is probably the helmet (the only azerite piece I don't have). It will improve my dps with 1 k. The shoulders are +- 0 (tested in game) and the sims says the same. The chests are really bad and I lose several thousand dps (450 vs 465). Also tested in game.

What spec?

[walle87]

What spec?

Balance druid. Have the BiS azerite gear from dungeon (at 445), which means x3 streaking stars, x1 arcanic pulsar, x1blightborne infusion, x1 swirling sands. The raid can't beat that, only be on par with the two first traits. The third ones are worse. And the chests from the raid sucks for me.

[Mightytasty]

Balance druid. Have the BiS azerite gear from dungeon (at 445), which means x3 streaking stars, x1 arcanic pulsar, x1blightborne infusion, x1 swirling sands. The raid can't beat that, only be on par with the two first traits. The third ones are worse. And the chests from the raid sucks for me.

Literally every piece of azerite gear has streaking stars. Then you can fill in with Heart of Darkness, which is a universally amazing trait only on Nyalotha gear. Darkheart Robe has streaking stars, heart of darkness, AND overwhelming power. So I have no idea what you're talking about.

[Laserchicken87]

Literally every piece of azerite gear has streaking stars. Then you can fill in with Heart of Darkness, which is a universally amazing trait only on Nyalotha gear. Darkheart Robe has streaking stars, heart of darkness, AND overwhelming power. So I have no idea what you're talking about.

It's true though. Overwhelming power got nerfed in 8.3 and the BiS from dungeons is better.

[Mightytasty]

It's true though. Overwhelming power got nerfed in 8.3 and the BiS from dungeons is better.

You’re talking about a difference of a few hundred DPS. Those inner traits don’t matter much.

[Snackpack]

OT: I do miss the tier gear and the set bonuses. I get the appeal of Azerite gear for the customization factor, but I'm not a fan, since there is almost always a cookie cutter build that is the most optimal anyway.