What will be the Legendary in Warlords of Draenor?

Update: It is a Ring

I’m curious what will be the Legendary in Warlords of Draenor. Not if there will be one, but what item. I’ve already seen rumours that there might be two items up for grabs, and much discussion – perhaps one which will be like the People’s Cloak of Everybody is LeetSauce, and another as a much harder to get item, or an item which requires dedicated effort in Heroic or better raids.

Lets just push the us vs them, casuals vs hardcore, its not fair, and waste of dev hours discussions to the side for this post and enjoy some speculation. I’ve bloged some snarks about the Legendary before, but I’m holding that as an aside now. This is about what will work going forward.

The opinions of the Mists of Pandaria legendary quest chain has mostly been positive, and those who liked it tended to really like it. With that in mind I think the designers will again seek to tell a lore heavy story as the background to a Legendary item and achievement. I’m all in favour of that. It worked for me as a roleplayer and as a gamer.

Please make it link to both the history of the realm and the current story which is unfolding. Add some hooks which are quasi-role specific, like altering the challenges for the roles the characters might take (dos vs tank vs heals doing different things). And despite the fact I hated it the link into repeat raids and grinding drops is something that I think needs to stay too.

In terms of gear slot the Necklaces, Rings, and Trinkets look to me to be an obvious next step, but any slot really could be used given that there were many versions of the final legendary in MoP to suit every spec. I think a trinket could be something really special. The lore aspects of many other games in having an uber-powerful-widget that enhances the characters matches a trinket very well. Say the a Ever-burning-vial-of-demon-blood which was going to be the thing which corrupted the Orcs, but instead is re-purposed into a trinket for our hero to use against the Warlords.

I saw a suggestion for a Helm but matching a helm to look right to all the other armour styles will be a bitch, and I cannot see that happening.

Another suggestion was for a Shield and as it would be useless for all the non-shield users I think that gets shot down quickly. Likewise I don’t think we will see another range weapon as it is too class specific. I’d love to see a weapon again, but I agree with many folks who have said that we have had many weapons before.

Happy hunting, and may all your legendary grinds be quick and uneventful.

(A few previous posts on mine on the Legendary items)

Sneaky upgrade of BoA gear

Proof of the BoA upgrade, done on the Spear of Xuen, now a 471 BoA item.

We have a way to upgrade gear with Valor and Justice points now, and some BoA items start at level 85 as item level 463 gear. It occurred to me last night that we can use JPs to upgrade a BoA and then give it to an 85, or spend the old JPs you have on an alt to upgrade it.

It works!

I now have an 85 alt using a 371 main weapon. All paid for in Justice Points I was never going to use from another alt. Sneaky fun, as if a level 85 using a 463 wasn’t overpowered enough already.

Happy Killing

Next Legendary Goal – Shadowmourne

Now that Sulfuras, Hand of Ragnaros and Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker have been completed, I’m tempted to keep slavering after more gear with orange text. Next to acquire could be  Shadowmourne. Alas the item requires a lot of runs within Ice Crown in 25 man mode, which will be challenging unto itself while folks concentrate on the content in the new expansion. I’m not one to give up though.

As a Death Knight there is no other weapon that is more appealing, as it seems that it was designed in lore and in mechanics to be thematically perfect for us. Sure, other classes can use it and will get a kick from using it, but the truth is Shadowmourne is the unholy soldier’s weapon of choice.

Shadowmourne… A great two-handed axe fit for a giant, born of sacred and corrupt powers, host of a thousand dead souls and able to be wielded only by the most stalwart armsmasters of Azeroth. Its creation seems nearly impossible; and yet, the rumors do not cease.

Becoming a Legendary junkie is something that could easily become dangerous and be a source of ongoing activity for years to come for me.

Thunderfury acquired at last

With a very generous donation of x10 Enchanted Elementium Bars from an old mate (thanks Rakk), I was able to skip the farming of mats – and run straight over to Highlord Demitrian in Silithus to complete the Thunderfury quest line. Darn excited.

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Related articles

• Left Binding at last, now onto Thunderfury (typhoonandrew.wordpress.com)
• Whine about Bindings of the Windseeker (typhoonandrew.wordpress.com)

p4.3 Rogue only legendary? Balderdash

There are a heap of posts around today about a Rogue legendary in patch 4.3.

If you believe the rumors the lore is still being worked out, the plan is draft, and they’ll work out the details soon. Then the post, which was originally from the Escapist Mag got pulled.

Sorry you leather stealthy guys, I call balderdash on this.

To release any Legendary into the game this quickly will seem rushed. The caster staff was telegraphed well in advance. As were the Hammer in Ulduar, the Axe from ICC, and basically all the other Legendary items were not added on a whim. Warglaives of Az anyone? Don’t Rogues already have access to a weapon that is darn useful for them (at the time).

Some have said that it is due to the lack of Rogues participating in raids, but hey – news flash – this won’t change that now in a way that will “fix” it for patch 4.3.

Also to release a Legendary for a single class is totally odd to the previous design behaviour too. Its so out of character that I’d bet a warm dinner that this is not true.

Conversely if this is true, what does this say about the planning and development methods? Words like rushed, decided, patch, are not what players wish to read, and I think there would be a better response to the Rogue population, and an overall better acceptance of this if a Rogue weapon was planned for the 5.0 game. In the next expansion I can see a weapon usable by Agi melee being viable.

How to (not) raise your Weapon Skill

Quick note, as one of the most popular posts I’ve made is about how to raise your weapon skill, Google searchers should not that in Cataclysm the concept of a weapon skill will be removed from the game. Having spent a long time swinging at low mobs, I really like that I don’t have to micromanage a set of skills. It is a good change.

So I’d say if you’ve not got that feat of Strength achievement, then get it now.

And if you have no interest in the achievement, then don’t burn the time raising the skill – as you won’t have to. Go read a book, grind for that rare drop, or farm gold and send it to me.

Happy killing.

Words to Weapons

The pen is now capable of creating swords. The Buki Generator takes words and makes them into strange weapons. Zupa at Automagica got a bazooka, all I got was a polearm.

Its totally random, and fun to play with. Odd – “gun” became a knife, “cannon” became a sword. The results look like silouettes of wow weapons.

How to raise your weapon skill

Update: As Weapon Skills have been removed from the game, this post is moot.

Feel free to continue reading for the hell of it though, and please comment, and/or just send cake. I like cake.

When leveling an Alt, I often ignore the weapon skills that are not in use for the leveling build. However sometimes you change weapon skills, and need to raise them. And that is a pain – so here is some advice on leveling weapon skills.

General.

• Read the comments on this post – some of the best information is in them, and you’ll get regular updates as folks comment.
• The level of the mob has nothing to do with how fast your skill will go up. If you swing 100 times at a level 1 mob you’ll gain the same amount as swinging at a much higher level mob.
• Find mobs that will gain you XP – if you don’t want your time to seem like a complete waste. This means you’ll get some XP, but will also be at a much higher risk. Maybe 2 levels lower is good.
• Or pick mobs that have no chance of killing you, say 25-30 levels lower. This way they have enough HP to survive more than 1 hit, but not be any danger at all.
• Use junk or normal (gray or white) weapons, as they will do less damage per swing, and you’ll get more time with the mob before moving on.
• Choose a weapon with a fast attack speed, as this means more swings per minute.
• New: The Argent Tournament weapon does 1-2 pts per swing, so it has to be considered for this, although I’m not sure what weapon skill it would apply for. Pole arms?
• An excellent and easy source of junk weapons is starting toons. Make a character, send its junk gear to your character and delete it.
• Don’t wear your best gear, as repairs can be expensive (epic repair bills are no fun). Either wear junkier gear, or none at all.
• Get an +Int buff to help your character learn quickly. This was quasi-confirmed by a community manager in late 2007, but may have still changed. As long as the buff is free, its no waste to grab one just in case. (edit: I had this backward/wrong, thanks Benny)
• Have healing planned, or have somewhere to run to – as you might end up low on health.
• Apparently this also affects Trade skills, if so that is legendary for power-training (see the comment below)

Class Tips:

• Warlocks should banish the mobs, or get a warlock to banish the thing you want to fight.
• Paladins have an Attack Speed buff, so use that too. More swings is what you’re after.
• Dual wield if you can – it will increase the swing rate.
• Some class special attacks count as swings or attacks too, so use these. These are sometimes best on mobs that are immune to the attack, like using Rend on Undead.

Where to go?

• Pick an instance, as the mobs are tougher and won’t die as quickly.
• Stockades is great as it is close to a vendor to sell the junk drops, and can get some Twink gear that sells well. Re-spawn is also very fast in the Stockades.
• Dire Maul is apparently the “new black” of weapon skill raising. Big Bear Butt even created a video showing how to get there. He is a god in fury clothing.

Who to kill?

• Servant of Allistarj, in the Blasted Lands. This mob about 54 or 55, and is immune to attack unless you’re on the quest, or attack the Orb near him. Grind away. [update: apparently they nurfed this]
• Corrupter of ??, in Shadowmoon Valley, are immune to attack, and should not aggro till you attack the totems.
• Dr Boom in Netherstorm is good for ranged attacks, as his bombs will not reach you.
• Boss 1 in Shadow Labs, if you can get behind him without activating the mobs near him.

Happy skill raising.