Artifact Weapons deserve a comeback.

[Amnaught]

(But not the borrowed power talents and AP.)

Just the fact that you unlock sick over-the-top weapon appearances based on achievements and questlines, and that's your only way to earn weapons.

Unlocking a new Artifact or appearance felt way more significant than getting a cool weapon drop now.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

The one thing I didn't really like about it was the socket (forget what they were called) like things you put into it to increase its item level/stats. Just felt clunky being like random raid drops.

[Lochton]

(But not the borrowed power talents and AP.)

Just the fact that you unlock sick over-the-top weapon appearances based on achievements and questlines, and that's your only way to earn weapons.

Unlocking a new Artifact or appearance felt way more significant than getting a cool weapon drop now.

No thanks. I liked that weapons were not standardized and that you had to achieve and upgrade.

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The one thing I didn't really like about it was the socket (forget what they were called) like things you put into it to increase its item level/stats. Just felt clunky being like random raid drops.

Relics, was the name.

[Brostin]

I still think removing artifact weapons is one of the dumbest decisions Blizzard has ever made. I know a shitload of super casual players that loved the artifact storyline quests and levelled multiple characters to play them.

They are an easy and cohesive way to add content to encourage players to keep coming back.

I do agree with gems in the weapon are poorly thought out though. I think I only ever got 1 out of 3 BIS gems and as I was Guardian it was just stacking Thrash which is hardly exciting, especially when it was so good it counted for something like 15 item levels.

[Lordofbelbol]

I still think removing artifact weapons is one of the dumbest decisions Blizzard has ever made. I know a shitload of super casual players that loved the artifact storyline quests and levelled multiple characters to play them.

They are an easy and cohesive way to add content to encourage players to keep coming back.

I do agree with gems in the weapon are poorly thought out though. I think I only ever got 1 out of 3 BIS gems and as I was Guardian it was just stacking Thrash which is hardly exciting, especially when it was so good it counted for something like 15 item levels.

Artifacts were one of those rare things that were loved by majority

[Relapses]

Nah. I found Artifact Weapons to be extremely banal and totally underwhelming like the majority of Legion as an expansion. Loot tables feel much more interesting with their own unique weapons on them. Also, the way you upgraded your weapon in Legion felt like ass even after they added multiple systems to streamline it.

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They are an easy and cohesive way to add content to encourage players to keep coming back.

Maybe that works for you but I doubt a majority of players would be particularly excited to be forced into using some version of Ashbringer for the fifth expansion in a row.

[Amnaught]

Nah. I found Artifact Weapons to be extremely banal and totally underwhelming like the majority of Legion as an expansion. Loot tables feel much more interesting with their own unique weapons on them. Also, the way you upgraded your weapon in Legion felt like ass even after they added multiple systems to streamline it.

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Maybe that works for you but I doubt a majority of players would be particularly excited to be forced into using some version of Ashbringer for the fifth expansion in a row.

I should edit the post to clarify. I meant that the idea of acquiring weapons through significant quests and achievements instead of drops would be cool as fuck. All of them are named, powerful, over-the-top, with cool lore, and different ones represent sifferent achievements.

Since the original Artifact appearances were spec-locked, I feel like they could even take that a step weirder and tie them to totally different character traits. A Warglaive usable by all Night Elf classes, exclusively. An Axe weildable by all Horde classes. Stats would have to be balanced somehow, the easiest way I can think would be to give all similar weapons identical stats, then let them be customized with relics that are drops.

[McNeil]

I may be in the minority when I say that the well known artifact weapons like Ashrbinger and Doomhammer should not be in the players hands for several reasons. I didn't like to not get any weapon upgrades throughout the whole expansion, and while the artifacts may look cool I find that they got old over time. And having them show as very important items in the lore cheapens them whenever the player holds it. The whole ''everyone has an Ashbringer!'' meme was a thing back in the day where the Ashbringer used to be this extremely rare and sought after weapon, only to end up in every paladins hands. This also causes an issue where the player it seen as way too important to the story while they are supposed to be more in line as soldiers. It never made sense to me that they single out a ''champion'' to praise them to heavens, while all of their big victories were done with at least 24 more people. It doesn't feel right to receive all the credit and then get hailed as your class champion. While the AP farm was also annoying at the start it ended up being the least bad thing about it for me.

[Celement]

I really enjoyed the cosmetic part myself though none of the power systems attached to it.

I wouldn't mind a new set each expansion but I also get people who prefer drops too.

[Soikona]

Nah. I found Artifact Weapons to be extremely banal and totally underwhelming like the majority of Legion as an expansion. Loot tables feel much more interesting with their own unique weapons on them. Also, the way you upgraded your weapon in Legion felt like ass even after they added multiple systems to streamline it.

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Maybe that works for you but I doubt a majority of players would be particularly excited to be forced into using some version of Ashbringer for the fifth expansion in a row.

Speak for yourself. I still use ashbringer as my main transmog, and since legion, weapons have been boring. Basically stat sticks. The ones with extra interaction doesn’t add anything. Using gavel is a pain, and horrible since it’s RNG you get the one you want.

[loras]

(But not the borrowed power talents and AP.)

Just the fact that you unlock sick over-the-top weapon appearances based on achievements and questlines, and that's your only way to earn weapons.

Unlocking a new Artifact or appearance felt way more significant than getting a cool weapon drop now.

Word.

Pre-Shadowlands i had the hope that the legendary forging would turn into a continustion of the artefact-weapon style of acquiring stuff, just this time with a fully customisable weapon with no pre-made story (since that is rather labour intensive and, well, you can only give out the Ashbringer so many times). But that'd be fine since acquiring the materials for the new parts would be part of its story in itself, as would your own adventures with it be.

I had imagined it like a less conceptually weird version of the customisable dragon mounts Dragonflight features.


Edit: As to the effects befitting a legendary i'd have offered 2 options for secondary stats, two options for flavorful cosmetic customisation (like i dunno make it shiny when it huts something), 1 option for a major proc and 1 option for an active or otherwise major effect. Or something like that anyhoo. Perhaps 1 major non-combat benefit as well, netting 4 minor and 3 major effects

[exochaft]

I really enjoyed the cosmetic part myself though none of the power systems attached to it.

I wouldn't mind a new set each expansion but I also get people who prefer drops too.

I think it depends on what people are looking at.

The OP was indicating that they're talking about the appearances of, not the power system attached to, artifact weapons... assuming this means basically cool/customizable xmog that you can progress towards. Don't think anyone would really be against having more xmog available. Artifact weapons were one of the few instances where you could do activities throughout the different aspects of the game (PvP, raiding, questing, drops, etc.) to have an xmog progression system for your character. Such a system would probably be popular with a lot of players, as it gives you non-power progression reasons (i.e. parallel progression) to explore other aspects of the game or feel like your time is worth more while pursuing other goals. Mage Tower was basically a system like this, although the artifact appearance unlocking was much broader in terms of activities that gave you appearances, the Mage Tower was just one of these activities.

When it comes to the power attached to the weapons? Well... I think the underlying issue was that it was a borrowed power system, emphasis on the borrowed aspect. If it's borrowed, that means it goes away. After Legion, some classes got to keep certain abilities/passives from their artifact weapon, others didn't. Furthermore, an issue with the power of the artifact weapons was that you had to progress them separately across other characters, which took a lot of time and had Blizz eventually implement a catch-up system.

I think players might be open to a power-based progression system other than collecting gear... in fact, the talent trees are basically such a system. The inherent problem is that Blizz has a history of making such systems temporary or feel like they're wasting your time or that you feel terrible without the systems. If anything, Blizz developers probably get stuck in that loop where they restrict themselves to where they try to solve problems that don't exist, or perceive issues that are really a non-issue with a little change in mentality. This dovetails into the discussion of how Blizz probably focuses way too much on balancing and tuning difficulty as the end result is that you tend to balance/tune out potentially fun and interesting systems, leaving them either extremely weak or pointless. This is ultimately why Blizz goes with the borrowed power system because they simultaneously don't want to put the work in to make such systems permanent while trying to tune their game as tightly as possible.

Regardless, xmog is less of a controversial topic, so giving more options and more creative ways to obtain xmog beyond the standard methods is likely a win.

[Firebeast]

What's gone should stay that way. No one can go back and earn Benediction or Atiesh. Things should remain as they are. Stop whining and living in the past.

[Cæli]

they never went away mostly...it's right there, so no need for a comeback

[Cosmic Janitor]

I would agree that more proper class themed and evolving art should probably make a comeback. More class lore to is also a given. I certainly enjoyed that way more at the end of the expansion than taking a few extra laps in the skinner box for slightly bigger numbers that didn't matter because everything else also scaled in some way. On many classes Artefact Weapon skins are also still my go to transmog.

[hulkgor]

Rather not be locked to the same weapon an entire expansion.

Also, those weapons of legend should never be in the hands of players.

[LazarusLong]

(But not the borrowed power talents and AP.)

Just the fact that you unlock sick over-the-top weapon appearances based on achievements and questlines, and that's your only way to earn weapons.

Unlocking a new Artifact or appearance felt way more significant than getting a cool weapon drop now.

So basically relic weapons from FF?

[pahbi]

(But not the borrowed power talents and AP.)

Just the fact that you unlock sick over-the-top weapon appearances based on achievements and questlines, and that's your only way to earn weapons.

Unlocking a new Artifact or appearance felt way more significant than getting a cool weapon drop now.

The two things that were good about artifact weapons is that with them you didn't have to hope for weapon drops for the rest of the expansion and the weapon could get more powerful just by doing things you normally do and earning points to spend on it.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

The funny thing about these threads is you get to see people that died on the hill of artifact weapons being great turn away from them. The same people are still dying on hills. Willing to bet in a few expansions from now we will have a thread about shadowlands and dragonflight things they are currently defending to the last up on that hill and seeing them saying "nah, it wasn't good".

[arkanon]

(But not the borrowed power talents and AP.)

Just the fact that you unlock sick over-the-top weapon appearances based on achievements and questlines, and that's your only way to earn weapons.

Unlocking a new Artifact or appearance felt way more significant than getting a cool weapon drop now.

I loved the artifact weapons, especially combined with MT, however my concern would be they really went all out on the designs for them, using up most of the iconic weapon designs. I wouldnt be against a new system with less iconic but still visually impressive weapons, with skin unlocks like artifacts, i really enjoyed that and would welcome its return.

My honest concern is, the team we have now would not produce the same quality at all, and it would just be super generic designs with recolours.