itemization
Latest
TR 1.3 patch heralds in big changes on PTR
It seems like it's been a long time coming, but many hotly-anticipated changes to Tabula Rasa are finally making their way onto the build currently running on the PTRs. Exactly which changes, you ask? Well, honestly, just about all of them. According to the patch notes they released today, Rage is getting its big nerf, Military Surpluses will be implemented to give the game's economy a serious kick in the butt, itemization has been changed to make item rarity factor into damage, players all get a free respec, and of course, there are tons of bug fixes, skill tweaks, and even a few new missions.There's no ETA on this patch going live, but the preface to the patch fixes seems to indicate that it might be another few weeks. According to the notes, "We are giving players patches earlier in the development process now - so this patch will NOT be going to the live servers. We will have another patch going on the test server in the near future that will be closer to a 'live' version." Giving it a bigger lead time seems like a good idea, but the sooner they can get these fixes live, the sooner general chat will stop being a non-stop Rageathon.
EQ2: RoK's screwy itemization to result in upcoming nerfs
I guess the leveling and itemization EQ2 devs cranked up the ez-mode a little too far, and completely spaced off during RoK's beta phase. Fyreflyte, dev extraordinaire, popped by the official EQ2 boards yesterday to deliver the news that a rather large tune (nerf) is in-store for the effects found on Rise of Kunark's Treasured items, such as Overflow and Divine Restoration. The reason given for the upcoming nerfs is that while effects will automatically scale down on lower quality gear, given how easy it is to acquire these items they did not scale down enough resulting in a huge imbalance as these effects were intended for Legendary quality gear and not Treasured. O'rly? The stats on the items will remain the same, but the effects power will subside by at least 1/3 in some cases. Swinging the ole' nerf bat on items doesn't end there as the four rewards from the Anaphylaxis quest will be nerfed from Fabled to Legendary quality. Don't you love the pleasantries like "hotfix" and "tune" that MMOG developers like to use today? I call it like I see it. Nerfs stink even when they are an evil necessary, but the devs blundered this one to the Ruins of Kunark and back. This should have never happened, but it did, and even the non-loot whores get to pay for it. What about all those players that replaced all their old gear with? This nerf is going to affect a lot of players.
The itemization bug bites Tabula Rasa
As you should already well know, Destination Games is hard at work on patching up some common complaints in their new sci-fi epic Tabula Rasa. Though the most significant part of the patch for most players was Rage getting whacked with the nerf bat and the promise of a free respec, that wasn't all that Paul Sage and crew had in mind. An easily overlooked part of the patch notes says, and here I quote, "We have also fixed another problem where item rarity was not affecting damage bonuses on the items. Now green weapons will do more damage than their white counterparts of the same level. Blues will do more than greens." Itemization is getting tweaked, and it's going to have huge ramifications.As things of this nature usually do, the change has spawned a heated discussion within the TR community, with some feeling that the difference in itemization (which, if you'll note, is called a "fix" not a "change") is going to have profound implications for the way players approach equipment and the game in general. As the game exists now, damage is entirely independent of item quality, and the only advantages conferred by rare items (which follows the popular rarity scheme of white < green < blue < purple) are that they have their mod slots filled. In most cases an item bought at a vendor is basically equal to a purple of the same level that you can get either as a rare drop or as a quest reward. Why is that a problem?
Odd choices for gear changes in 2.3
I was browsing the MMO-Champion list of gear changes in 2.3 when I noticed something odd.A lot of the changes to gear in 2.3 are welcome upgrades, especially in the lower level instances like Shadowfang Keep or Razorfen Kraul. But why, when changing loot in Blackrock Spire, did they change the Warmaster Leggings from tank to DPS pants? Why are three of the better paladin drops in Blackrock Depths being changed to generic DPS plate? It could be a sign of future thinking on the way Retribution Paladins are itemized, it could be intended towards leveling Death Knights (as is suggested in the comments), or there could be some other reason I'm not even remotely close to guessing. (Smarter folks than I suggest that this is just a case of gear that wasn't really good for paladins or warriors at that level getting brought more into line with other item budgets.)Some changes have clear goals - the Bloodmoon Cloak is clearly now aimed at casters. I've had two warriors that wore it for the stam it used to have, but that's clearly no longer going to be the case. Similarly, a great many items like the Embrace of the Wind Serpent from the Temple of Atal'Hakkar, several items from Maraudon and even more items from BRD are having their stats adjusted by removing their various resistances and adding direct stat boosts like agility and crit. These are changes that make sense to me, but why change the Warmaster's or remove plate geared for paladins?Have any of the other gear changes made you scratch your head? Do you think this is just a case of items getting improved item budgeting or are changes ahead for how certain classes/specs use certain items?
A few BC items available now
I found out about this when I spotted a player trying to sell the Ring of Bitter Shadows in chat. I asked them where they got it, since I remembered that it was jewelcrafted, and they sent me to a vendor named Jase Farlan up at Light's Hope Chapel, who sells it for a pretty decent price, in my opinion. It looks like a few other jewelcrafting items are currently available from vendors. This includes some of the figurines -- at least Figurine - Black Pearl Panther and Figurine - Truesilver Crab. The question in my mind is whether these items will remain available post-expansion. My bet would be that they'll vanish, and this will just have been a fun little jewelcrafting preview. As far as I know, no significant crafted items are currently available from vendors, but maybe that's set to change.Additionally, new and more powerful water, food, arrows, and bullets can be bought from an orc vendor named Galgrom deep in the Caverns of Time in Tanaris. The arrows and bullets are also available from general goods vendors throughout Azeroth, and seem to be a much better deal than the water, which as far as I can tell is exclusive to Galgrom. At over 10s for one drink, I probably won't be buying the water for general use, at least not until after I get my epic mount; the ammo costs 10s for a whole stack.Have you all spotted any other BC items that have snuck in with the patch? And those of you who have tried the Filtered Draenic Water, how would you rate it? Does it make financial sense for someone with a mana pool around 6k?
Improving Nature Resist Itemization
I've talked before about how important nature resist is in parts of Ahn'Qiraj and how difficult it is to find in Azeroth. Well, today the Cenarion Circle reputation page was updated with a selection of craftable cloth and plate nature resist gear. CM Eyonix has informed us that these will go live in patch 1.11, along with leather patterns (I can only presume no reputation is required, since they are not on the Cenarion Circle page) for sale in Southwind Village. Having options for nature resist that don't require me to farm Maraudon is big plus.
