Malefic Cores need to be able to be farmed.

[arr0gance]

Blizzard introduced numerous catch-up mechanics for the cloak recently but they are stubbornly refusing to address one of the biggest issues: Newly created characters are going to be months behind players who've played since Rank 15 was attainable. And each week that you aren't actively gaining Corruption resistance, you fall further behind the curve. Due to the amount of power you are able to achieve through Corruption (and the inclusion of the vendor) it seems absurd for Blizzard to only allow you to farm one extra Malefic Core per week. In an expansion that has already been noted for its alt unfriendliness, it's moves like these which make you wonder whether Blizzard is actively playing the game.

edit: We did it, Reddit!

See below:

Later today, we will apply a hotfix to the game that will allow players who have upgraded the legendary cloak Ashjra’kamas to Rank 15 to purchase Malefic Cores from MOTHER for 2,000 Echoes of Ny’alotha. This will be repeatable, up to the maximum that you could have otherwise earned via weekly Horrific Visions or from N’Zoth the Corruptor.

The intent of Malefic Cores was to provide ongoing incremental weekly power gains, to help overcome remaining challenges in this final tier of Battle for Azeroth. This has been similar to past systems in Warlords of Draenor (upgrading the legendary rings via Archimonde drops) and Legion (upgrading trinkets from Argus the Unmaker). While each extra bit of Corruption Resistance only represents a small increase in potential power, we understand the frustration of feeling weeks behind, especially without any controlled way of closing the gap faster. With this hotfix, players can further supplement their progress through the wide variety of endgame content that rewards Echoes of Ny’alotha.

It will still be possible to earn up to two Malefic Cores per week, by fully clearing a Horrific Vision and/or defeating N’Zoth the Corruptor on Normal difficulty or higher.

Thank you!

[arkanon]

No offence, but the curve is gone, its over, the tier is done, the expansion is done - this one is just in maint mode until SL prepatch. I am not saying i disagree with the premise you put forward, just the timing makes it irrelevant.

[Redlikemyrage]

No offence, but the curve is gone, its over, the tier is done, the expansion is done - this one is just in maint mode until SL prepatch. I am not saying i disagree with the premise you put forward, just the timing makes it irrelevant.

Doesn’t it... make more sense to allow easier catch up since the tier is over? You can’t possibly think it’s a large amount of work to allow you to get more than 2 cores before you catch up? If anything, what you said supports the idea of loosening restrictions.

Also, the “no one cares” attitude is unbecoming no matter how you try and wrap it up.

[arkanon]

Doesn’t it... make more sense to allow easier catch up since the tier is over? You can’t possibly think it’s a large amount of work to allow you to get more than 2 cores before you catch up? If anything, what you said supports the idea of loosening restrictions.

Also, the “no one cares” attitude is unbecoming no matter how you try and wrap it up.

Depends what you are trying to catch up to. IMO, catch up mechanics should allow you to get to a point you can START heroic/mythic, not match someone who has FINISHED said content. /opinions

[Twdft]

No offence, but the curve is gone, its over, the tier is done, the expansion is done - this one is just in maint mode until SL prepatch. I am not saying i disagree with the premise you put forward, just the timing makes it irrelevant.

Mythic+ is very much still a thing and will be until Shadowlands. And is it stands now if you run +20s with your main and want to switch to a fresh character you'll be a LOT less powerful. You'll have the experience, a couple runs of 15s sorts your gear out and gets you echoes for corruptions, you can farm your cloak to 15 and get some more items on your way. But you will still be 39 corruption behind your main which takes 6 weeks to catch up to where your main currently is, 9 weeks to have both chars at the same resistance in the end.

It's just bonkers. And exactly because the tier is done and the expansion is done it should be farmable in less than 9 weeks.

[Redlikemyrage]

Depends what you are trying to catch up to. IMO, catch up mechanics should allow you to get to a point you can START heroic/mythic, not match someone who has FINISHED said content. /opinions

That's a fair stance, but still, I feel like it is countered by your original point. The tier is over, who cares, right? The people who have finished the content pre nerf did so with less corruption and less corruption resistance. Does that mean that you think people should only be able to catch up to whatever corruption resistance was capped at, say, when HoF was closed? This kind of gatekeeping attitude is not good for the game. Creating a "play every day or fall behind" system since WoD (not heavy in WoD, but the signs were there that we were headed that direction) has created a poor environment for anyone who isn't able to do that. I could go on, but I'm going to stop there as its falling outside the scope of this topic.

[Azerate]

No offence, but the curve is gone, its over, the tier is done, the expansion is done - this one is just in maint mode until SL prepatch. I am not saying i disagree with the premise you put forward, just the timing makes it irrelevant.

For you and for other hardcore players - sure. There's plenty of guilds still progressing the raid, or even just starting after a break. Mythic+ will continue being a thing for the high end mythic plusers too. Nothing is over.

[Nefarious Tea]

I concur. It's not a catchup mechanic if it still takes five months to catch up.

[arr0gance]

What is most frustrating is how they add features which are clearly designed to make having an alt less of a burden yet simultaneously seem to have huge blind spots for pain points which would be obvious to anybody who actively plays the fucking game. I get it, SL is on the way and BfA is old and busted but that's no excuse to completely ignore the people who are still actively paying subscriptions during this drought.

[arkanon]

For you and for other hardcore players - sure. There's plenty of guilds still progressing the raid, or even just starting after a break. Mythic+ will continue being a thing for the high end mythic plusers too. Nothing is over.

If someone has played through this tier, and are 11/12M, they still have every opportunity to get 12/12M without any changes other than practice and small improvements in gear by reclearing.

If someone is 2/12M and is frustrated because they came back a week ago and cant compete with those who played right through, well, im sorry, but thats just how gaming is. Its not like there isnt already SUBSTANTIAL catchup mechanics in place allowing a returning player or alt to match or exceed Heroic ilvl and have access to essences and corruptions that players previously did not.

I say it again - catchup mechanics are exactly that - they are there to allow you to CATCH UP - not surpass others. Previously they allowed you to obtain an ilvl comparable to the high end of the PREVIOUS tier, not the current one. People are making it sound like a new character absolutely has to do 2months+ of mandatory farming before they can do Mythic - and that absolutely is not the case.

- - - Updated - - -

I concur. It's not a catchup mechanic if it still takes five months to catch up.

Hyperbole does nothing for your argument, and you fail to understand what a catchup mechanic is - it is NOT designed to allow you to match players who have dedicated time and effort for weeks / months during a current tier - it is designed to get you to a point you can start the current tier, without having to try and complete previous tiers of content when very few players are doing them.

Catch up mechanics allow alts and returning players to match the high end gear from the PREVIOUS tier, not the current one.

[arr0gance]

I say it again - catchup mechanics are exactly that - they are there to allow you to CATCH UP - not surpass others. Previously they allowed you to obtain an ilvl comparable to the high end of the PREVIOUS tier, not the current one. People are making it sound like a new character absolutely has to do 2months+ of mandatory farming before they can do Mythic - and that absolutely is not the case.

The issue isn't so much with returning players who are likely going to be behind because of the need to farm Essences anyway. This is an issue for players who likely already have mains geared to the teeth and may be considering rerolling a new toon to keep farming the same content exciting during this drought. It seems a bit contradictory of Blizzard to add things like Vessels being able to be purchased from a vendor yet keeping one of the single biggest deterrents to player power (Corruption resistance) strangely time gated to a point where by the time you do catch up... the next expansion is likely going to be right around the corner.

[Amariw]

It's not a bad idea to let them be farmable.

[Tojara]

Catch up should be limited by gear, and gear alone.

Expansion features or patch features should always allow you to catch back up, if you're willing to put in the time. I have no problems with inherent grind fests. Being gated each week is pretty dumb unless you're at the same playing field as everybody else. Since MoP, it's been really shitty to be behind on alternate characters with expansion legendary items or expansion features.

[Usernameforforums]

No offence, but the curve is gone, its over, the tier is done, the expansion is done - this one is just in maint mode until SL prepatch. I am not saying i disagree with the premise you put forward, just the timing makes it irrelevant.

Its because of the time that make it relevant. Getting 1 a week sucks. Not everyone raids for the second one. It should be farmable through visions now.

[Tradu]

Yes. You should get Malefic Cores from visions until you're caught up to the current max. Would also be nice with a way to spend 2x the Coalescing Visions to get 2x the rewards from the vision(or higher multipliers, even) so you don't have to run like 5-6 per week per character you care about.

- - - Updated - - -

If someone has played through this tier, and are 11/12M, they still have every opportunity to get 12/12M without any changes other than practice and small improvements in gear by reclearing.

If someone is 2/12M and is frustrated because they came back a week ago and cant compete with those who played right through, well, im sorry, but thats just how gaming is. Its not like there isnt already SUBSTANTIAL catchup mechanics in place allowing a returning player or alt to match or exceed Heroic ilvl and have access to essences and corruptions that players previously did not.

I say it again - catchup mechanics are exactly that - they are there to allow you to CATCH UP - not surpass others. Previously they allowed you to obtain an ilvl comparable to the high end of the PREVIOUS tier, not the current one. People are making it sound like a new character absolutely has to do 2months+ of mandatory farming before they can do Mythic - and that absolutely is not the case.

- - - Updated - - -



Hyperbole does nothing for your argument, and you fail to understand what a catchup mechanic is - it is NOT designed to allow you to match players who have dedicated time and effort for weeks / months during a current tier - it is designed to get you to a point you can start the current tier, without having to try and complete previous tiers of content when very few players are doing them.

Catch up mechanics allow alts and returning players to match the high end gear from the PREVIOUS tier, not the current one.

Being 10k+ DPS behind with nothing you can do about it is garbage design. That's roughly the difference between a fresh R15 cloak and one that's at the current max on a good spec.

[Blackmist]

Yeah, make them farmable. And have Masks drop an extra orb per mask.

[Tradu]

Its because of the time that make it relevant. Getting 1 a week sucks. Not everyone raids for the second one. It should be farmable through visions now.

And even if you do raid and get 2 cores per week, 1 of those cores is going towards not falling further behind, so in reality you're only catching up 1 week at a time. That means if you hit R15 cloak today, you're going to catch up in 13 weeks of getting both cores each week. That's over 2 months of being behind with nothing you can do to fix it.

[arkanon]

Being 10k+ DPS behind with nothing you can do about it is garbage design. That's roughly the difference between a fresh R15 cloak and one that's at the current max on a good spec.

However, countless players went 12/12 at dramatically lower levels, so possibly, some people are just punching above their weight division.

[Tradu]

However, countless players went 12/12 at dramatically lower levels, so possibly, some people are just punching above their weight division.

Yes, we did. That doesn't justify keeping alts or returning players behind for months. It's not fun to play a character that's weak with nothing you can do about it. It's certainly less fun to play my warrior right now when I'm 1 Expedient3 behind everybody else with no way to fix it(I literally have 3 Expedient3 in bags waiting to be used, but I can't use any more because of my cloak level). Do you need the current cloak levels etc to clear content? Obviously not, the world first guilds did it with level 10 cloaks, but that's not the point. We're not in the 2nd week of the tier where that's the norm anymore. You're competing with people who do have maxed out cloaks, and it's bullshit that there's no way for you to get that.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

I could go for being able to get those malefic cores more then once a week up to a certain point that is(Like 5 times a week). Not sure about constant farming. I said it before, if the cloak had some kind of catch up mechanism(In terms of rank) when 8.3 first came out, we might not need these catch ups.