[WoW] Good Christ, the Tier 3 stuff is disgustingly powerful

[kierthos]

Click here and go to the Tier 3 stuff

Okay, it's Tier 3. It's going to very powerful. But damn...

All this work for items that maybe 5-10% of the people who play will ever be able to equip. (Well, at least until the expansion comes out, we all level our toons to 70, and it becomes that much easier to run those dungeons...)

Comments

[danicia.livejournal.com]

I went and looked at all the armor sets for my 3 toons. Damn, I need to learn how to powergrind.

[kierthos.livejournal.com]

Here's the problem... unless you're in a raiding guild, odds are that you're never going to have a full set of Tier 3. Dungeon set 1 is attainable if you spend enough time running LBRS, UBRS, Scholomance, and Stratholme. Dungeon set 2 can be gotten through quests, some of which are a pain in the ass, but not impossible.

The Tiers (1, 2, 3), are really only available in raid groups of 40 people. You have to run the raid dungeons (MC, Onyxia, BWL and so forth) to get them. I imagine most, if not all of Tier 3 will be in Naxxramas, which is supposed to make AQ look easy by comparison.

And it's a steep grade. It's possible for someone who is not in epics to run MC. Sure, you have to have decent fire resist gear, and you're probably going to have to run it a few times before you get enough DKP to get anything, but it's doable. But with just blue gear, you have a whelk's chance in a supernova of surviving BWL. Or AQ. Or Naxxramas.

With Naxxramas, it's pretty much going to be "load up on cold and shadow resist", and if you're don't have most of a Tier 1 or Tier 2 set, you won't have the bonus stat points to survive. Look at the Tier 3 Rogue set. It's something like +196 Stamina, and well over +250 Agility.

Odds are that once Burning Crusade comes out, these things will be easier to get, but it's just as likely that Blizzard will up the levels of certain mobs/bosses to make them stay competitive.

[danicia.livejournal.com]

Yer so cute when you geek out on WoW. /leer

I'm still such a n00b so I only understood half of what you said.

[kierthos.livejournal.com]

Okay, using the rogue sets as examples....

The Shadowcraft set (aka Dungeon set 1, aka Tier 0) can be acquired from various mobs in the following dungeons: Lower Blackrock Spire (LBRS), Upper Blackrock Spire (UBRS), Stratholme, and Scholomance. Certain pieces only drop off specific mobs, a few pieces can potentially drop anywhere in those dungeons. While it make take some time to get a full set of Tier 0, it's possible (not necessarily easy, but possible) to do it outside of a guild, working solely with pick-up groups.

The Darkmantle set (aka Dungeon set 2, aka Tier 0.5) can be acquired through questing. Basically, as you complete the quests, you turn in parts of your Shadowcraft armor (and some gold) to get equivalent Darkmantle armor. I.e., to get the Darkmantle gloves, you need to have Shadowcraft gloves. The quests have to be done in order, and you can't skip ahead. Some of the quests can be done solo, some require 5-man groups, and at least one is on a timer. (You have to get to the Baron in Scholomance within 45 minutes. Not kill him, just get to him.)

The remaining sets - Nightslayer (Tier 1), Bloodfang (Tier 2), and Bonescythe (Tier 3), can only be acquired by going on raids. Now, with the previous two sets, you are restricted, at most points to either a 5-man group, or a 10-man group to try and get those pieces of equipment. For these three sets, you need a raid - 40 characters, to acquire these. Okay, yes, it's possible if you only have 38 or 39. With a good enough team of people, properly equipped and so forth, 35, possibly even 30.

But, the dungeons that these armor pieces come from... they are extremely tough dungeons, and the majority of the bosses in them are no pushover. Most, if not all of the Tier One pieces can be acquired from either Molton Core, where the final boss is, basically the general of all the fire elementals, or Onyxia's Lair, where the final boss is Onyxia, a powerful dragon. Tier two mostly comes out of Blackwing Lair, where you fight a succession of powerful dragons, leading up to Nefarian, Onyxia's big brother. (The headpiece of the tier two set drop off of Onyxia, the chestpiece drops off of Nefarian.)

Tier three, which is a good bit more powerful then Tier two, will likely drop entirely in the upcoming dungeon - Naxxramas. The problem with this is that given the increasing difficulty of Blackwing Lair (compared to Upper Blackrock Spire), Naxxramas is likely to be just as difficult, if not more difficult. Actually, it's almost certainly going to be more difficult then Blackwing Lair. Which means that if you don't have at least Tier one equipment, you shouldn't even try it. Which means that Naxxramas is going to be "unavailable" for the vast majority of characters. At least until the level cap goes up. Then it might be more accessible.

[danicia.livejournal.com]

You are awesome. That made perfect sense. I have my first item for my Dungeon 1 set but I cannot wear it yet. I'm still level 49. This gives me a good idea of what to expect.