For most people out there, this particular rant doesn't apply to them. They leveled, they ran normals, then got enough gear for heroics. (Hell, who am I kidding? They're way past that now, deep into raid progression.)
The average WoW player probably grumped at bit about iLevels and the restrictions for the heroics, or they had heroic pugs where at least one puggee griped about an undergeared party member.
I, obviously, didn't follow the normal progression.
Due to time restrictions, I leveled, skipped instances entirely, and concentrated on battlegrounds. After running BGs for about a month or two (and crafting gear), I've gotten enough PvP gear on Tom and Neve to be able to jump straight into heroics, almost completely bypassing the Cata normals. If I work on my PvP gear for another couple of weeks, it's entirely possible I could queue for Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub without having set foot in a single Cata heroic.
And I'm here to say that isn't right.
The point of the iLevel restrictions for heroics and the 4.1 instances are to make sure that the players have a fighting chance in those instances. Whether you get the gear by crafting, running normals, or the auction house, once you get into one of these instances the gear shouldn't be what holds you back. But PvP gear, by it's very nature, will do just that.
I've said before that to run a BG you don't need PvP gear, and I stick to that assessment. Regular BGs have a hodgepodge of people with all sorts of quality gear --from Cata greens to full Gladiator sets-- and anybody can join in. However, if you want to run Heroics --and, more importantly, tank or heal in them-- the reverse won't be true.
The emphasis on Resilience (and gemming for spell penetration) hurts PvP gear when you run PvE content. Sure, you can compensate with skill, and iL PvP gear that is far higher than your PvE gear will be better overall, but if your gear has similar iL, PvP gear will be inferior to PvE gear in PvE content.
And that doesn't address the overall problem of bypassing most of the content to get to the latest PvE stuff.
I'd like to see Blizz fix this issue by dividing the iL into PvP and PvE tracks, much like how the gearscore app has evolved over time. PvP gear won't count toward your PvE iLevel, and vice versa. Or at least have a requirement like Magister's Terrace, where to unlock the Heroic mode you have to have run the normal instance to completion at least once. For the Zandalari Heroics, I'd suggest that having run at least half of the Cata Heroics would suffice, although by the time you get enough PvE gear to get into the Z-H's, you'll probably already have the Cataclysm Dungeon Hero achievement.
As for me, I'm not planning on using my PvP gear to sneak into Heroics. I know better; just because you've got the gear doesn't mean you can slide by. I also don't want to misrepresent my guilds this way, either.* I've discovered that normal Tol'vir has both a small queue wait and a short run time, so I've been spending some PvE time there, but when I get around to it, I'll expand my PvE immersion. But not until I feel that my PvE gear has gotten good enough will I walk into a Heroic.
*I believe that when you affiliate yourself with a guild, you represent that guild when you're out in Azeroth. It's just like in the real world, where you wear a shirt with a university or sports team or company on it, people will judge the name behind that moniker by your actions. It's not fair, but it happens. In Azeroth, if you behave like an ass, people will judge your guild and your server accordingly.
EtA: My last comment about Zandalari Heroics disappeared into the interwebs, so I had to go fix it.
I think you're right on about the gear, and splitting iLevel is indeed a smart fix. While it would make some people very unhappy, I think it would also make a whole sect of people very happy, knowing that all of their group members at least have the base stats to be an asset in their dungeon. I don't know that they completely planned for the effects PvP-specific stats would have on PvE play. And like you pointed out, it is tricky because it does not necessarily affect the other way (ie you can PvP with PvE gear, especially healers).
ReplyDeleteI'm kind of split. I have a Priest and a Rogue. On my rogue, I did the whole instances and rep grind to get the gear required for heroics. It took a long time. On my priest, I did purely battlegrounds and got the full Bloodthirsty set including a Vicious wand. That also took a long time.
ReplyDeleteI felt guilty about taking my priest into heroics because of her full PvP gear. So, I looked up the heroic drops / rep gear that I could get to "legitimize" my spot in a party. Surprisingly, the only pieces that were clear upgrades were the 2200-JP helm and legs. That's 4400 JP, on TOP of the thousands of honor I had to stockpile to get the Bloodthirsty gear. For a not-very-large upgrade.
Now that you can trade honor for JP, though, I don't see why someone shouldn't have at least those JP pieces equipped. Also, the crafted PvP set is not enough to be ready for heroics. Bloodthirsty gear, however, is a tough decision. In the hands of a decent player there will not be a disadvantage.
Apparently Blogger's problems late last week ate the comments by NaturalGamerGirl and Anonymous, so I'm reposting them here:
ReplyDeleteNaturalGamerGirl has left a new comment on your post "iLevels and Deception":
I think you're right on about the gear, and splitting iLevel is indeed a smart fix. While it would make some people very unhappy, I think it would also make a whole sect of people very happy, knowing that all of their group members at least have the base stats to be an asset in their dungeon. I don't know that they completely planned for the effects PvP-specific stats would have on PvE play. And like you pointed out, it is tricky because it does not necessarily affect the other way (ie you can PvP with PvE gear, especially healers).
Posted by NaturalGamerGirl to Parallel Context at May 11, 2011 2:09 PM
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "iLevels and Deception":
I'm kind of split. I have a Priest and a Rogue. On my rogue, I did the whole instances and rep grind to get the gear required for heroics. It took a long time. On my priest, I did purely battlegrounds and got the full Bloodthirsty set including a Vicious wand. That also took a long time.
I felt guilty about taking my priest into heroics because of her full PvP gear. So, I looked up the heroic drops / rep gear that I could get to "legitimize" my spot in a party. Surprisingly, the only pieces that were clear upgrades were the 2200-JP helm and legs. That's 4400 JP, on TOP of the thousands of honor I had to stockpile to get the Bloodthirsty gear. For a not-very-large upgrade.
Now that you can trade honor for JP, though, I don't see why someone shouldn't have at least those JP pieces equipped. Also, the crafted PvP set is not enough to be ready for heroics. Bloodthirsty gear, however, is a tough decision. In the hands of a decent player there will not be a disadvantage.
Posted by Anonymous to Parallel Context at May 11, 2011 2:25 PM
@NaturalGamerGirl-- I can't imagine that they planned how PvP gear would be manipulated, but unless you ran Arenas it would take ages to actually accumulate gear for a full Bloodthirsty Gladiator set, not counting the PvE gear set. That is a clear upgrade in terms of base stats over the Heroic-ready 333-ish PvE gear, but it potentially lacks the burst-type damage that some classes are dependent on nowadays.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous-- I believe the difference shows up the most in the burst-type damage that Mages and (to a lesser extent) Paladins do. If you don't have enough in Crit, your DPS will take a hit. There will be an overall improvement in stats from iL333 to iL359-ish, but depending on how you get your damage, you might not see as much of a DPS increase. And losing numbers in those secondary stats will take it's toll all the way.