Savage, Hateful, and Deadly
Really, who comes up with these names? They're not so bad, though. They just sound funny when you bunch them all together -- like what we're about to do now. You see, more Gladiator gear has popped up on the Beta realms, with a slew of Deadly Gladiator items showing up on Wowhead and previewed on MMO Champion. We've seen Savage Gladiator items, which are blue quality gear for PvP, and I made a quick post about Hateful Gladiator items a week ago. Now comes the Deadly Gladiator pieces, which have been dropping off the Wintergrasp raid boss.
Right now it's too early to tell if this is really how PvP loot will be distributed, although a faction-locked raid boss really does provide a good incentive to participate in Lake Wintergrasp. It might simply be a way to quickly distribute Arena PvP gear in Beta for more testing. For one thing, it's highly likely that Archavon will be dropping tokens rather than the pieces themselves. Furthermore, this leaves the Arena system without any rewards left to give -- though Deadly Gladiator weapons have yet to show up. It's pretty safe to assume that the way these items are distributed will change greatly between now and November 13.
What is pretty clear and confirms earlier reports is that PvP gear will be tiered. This will ideally allow PvP gear to match PvE progression without falling too far behind. It's likely that the higher tier gear such as Deadly Gladiator will require steeper requirements in terms of Arena ratings and / or Honor. I'm interested to see how the tiers will be distributed, the timing of their release, and exactly what will be available through the different modes of PvP play -- Arenas, Battlegrounds, and Lake Wintergrasp.
I wonder how Blizzard plans to solve the PvP / PvE conundrum of the zone considering that Alterac Valley needed to be tweaked over the course of four years. Personally, I'm just happy to see Lieutenant Murp back in action. I imagine tiered gear distribution can be a really tricky thing. Lake Wintergrasp is so unfinished right now that it's just hard to say anything conclusive. A lot of the items seem unfinished, too.
More than anything, though, I'm looking forward to seeing the official skins of all this PvP gear. Wrath will see a return to the distinctive look of PvP gear that sets it apart from PvE. Right now, all the items are recolored versions of Season 4 or Sunwell items, mere placeholders for what I hope will be mind-blowing designs. When those are finally released, you can bet we'll take a drooling look at all of them. Until then, however, you can head on over to Wowhead or MMO-Champion for all the savage, hateful, and deadly details.
