Artifacts should make a comeback.

[Amnaught]

Specifically, powerful weapons earned through story driven quests, upgradeable instead of replaceable.

Throw in some themed "use:" spells to make them unique.

They dont even have to be tied to spec. Theme them on Race, Faction, Renown, literally anything. Then let all the "weapon" drops just be relics you can use to increase their ilvl and customize the secondary stats.

It was just more fun to have weapons and appearances earned from cool shit instead of random drops. Leave that for armor.

[ONCHEhap]

So pretty much Lord of the Rings Online's legendary weapons. While I can appreciate that idea, the parallels with LotRO instantly make me wary of it as while that system was pretty good for one whole expansion, it aged horribly poorly and is now one of the worst features of a long rotting game.

Might be an unfair judgement, but it's hard to look past it for me

[Tiwack]

They were a big part of Legions success and I'll be surprised if we don't end up with a 2.0 of the artifact weapons for another adventure with them sometime down the line, like the next time we go up against cosmic villains threatening the universe and the like, a situation calling on the extra firepower of the artifacts.. If not 11 then 12.0

[Lochton]

No thanks. Wasn't really keen on it, that, and us, the players, being leaders of Class Halls (For most classes - Class Halls were great, just not us leading them) were some of my dislikes of Legion.

Only moment I could accept this idea is if it becomes some long, and I'm talking months long, quest-line of getting a Legendary Artifact that you may then after unlocking, earn skins and upgrades for - for it should not be a common chance to get.

[Catscratch]

Gear system could be like swtor. Adaptive gear which have sockets and item level is determined by gem levels socketed. Boss gear drops would become purely cosmetic and maybe for sets however I firmly support set gear should come from tokens/vendors.

[Karreck]

I would like to see something like an evolving Artifact, similar to the Legendary Ring quest-line in WoD.

1. It's Player Crafted, but uses no Trade Skills. Opening quest-line of the expansion has the player collecting materials to craft one of any weapon type that they can use. Players will be able to choose stats and effect of the weapon. Other weapon types can be unlocked later on, to allow for multiple specs and/or PvP gear.

2. Weapon appearance can not be transmoged. Instead, the weapon's own natural appearance can be changed by the player by switching between individual parts of the weapon, similar to the customizing Drake Mounts in Dragonflight. Extra options can be unlocked through activities and trade skills. I.E., Leatherworkers can make a different looking handgrip, blackmiths can make a different blade, jewelcrafters can add a pommel gem, something like that.

3. The weapon "levels up" through the expansion. The DPS, Stats, and Effects will have upgrades in every major content patch, which will relate to "tiers" of activity. Kind of like the Primal Infusion / Shadowflame Crest upgrade system in Dragonflight. The power level of the item relates to the highest content level being done.

4. The weapon stats and effects can be changed for the price of an implemented currency type. This will allow for players to make changes to the weapon, while also setting a way to limit abuse.

5. We name the weapon. The weapon starts as an Epic with a generic name. As we progress, it will turn into a Legendary and get a new, cooler sounding, name, and the player character name will appear in the flavor text. The final evolution will turn it into an artifact and the player can pick the name of the weapon. It would be smart to just make it a drop down menu with a bunch of options and combination potential. Letting players type in their own weapon name would be a pain in the ass to moderate.

6. We will eventually need to give up these weapons for the following expansion. So, during the opening quest-line of the next expansion, where we will have to sacrifice our artifact or lose it somehow, the player will unlock an ability to create a transmog version of their customizable artifact. Something like a limited number of "imprints", say 3 per weapon or something, that will appear on the transmog screen under that weapon type.

[FossilFree]

Artifacts were just great. I loved everything about them! They made Legion fun. They had exactly one downside though, and that is running old instances from Legion being very boring now when no weapons drop, just relics.

They should do artifacts but have skins for them drop from raids and stuff, kind of like drake customizations do now.

[VinceVega]

Never liked the concept. I like getting new weapons. It is a sudden powerspike i enjoy.

The storypart is what i am missing. Class specific stuff.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

So pretty much Lord of the Rings Online's legendary weapons.

Or like FFXI's REMA weapons, which didn't stop being relevant after the expansion was over. You could keep upgrading them to the current maximum ilevel.

- - - Updated - - -

Never liked the concept. I like getting new weapons. It is a sudden powerspike i enjoy.

To me, carrying around one weapon makes more sense than constantly throwing away your old weapon for a new drop, only to run to the transmog NPC and transmog it to make it look like the old one you just threw away.

[Thirtyrock]

Nope, nope, nope.

There were all sorts of reasons to not like artifacts, in my book. There were definitely some cool factors to them, mainly the lore, but the rest of it can suck an egg.

I like chances at loot drops to change the slot.
I hate infinite grinds.
I hate borrowed power and prefer talent points that I can add or remove as needed.
I hate getting one item/upgrade that dramatically shifts/changes the way my class plays, which some of the artifact traits would do (I might be conflating this with the legendaries from Legion, so maybe this wasn't as much of an issue related to artifacts).

But no, I'm good. I would love epic storylines related to weapons, like "Complete this questline to get a Heroic/Mythic ilvl weapon" but I wouldn't want it to be something that I wasn't replacing tier over tier.