Over the last few nights I’ve been able to upgrade my PvP gear thanks to a pile of honor I didn’t know I had. Upon purchasing the gear, I realized that it’s also an upgrade over what I was wearing for PvE.
I replaced Lattice Choker of Light with Relentless Gladiator’s Pendant of Deliverance
and
I replaced Resurgent Phantom Bindings (Naxx 10) with Wrathful Gladiator’s Cuffs of Salvation
PvP gear, in general, isn’t optimal for raiding. But my heroic UK runs aren’t exactly ‘progression content’, as the forum nerds call it. An upgrade is an upgrade, plus I’ve always been a fan of high stamina.
At this point I have no clue as to my goals or hopes for the game in general. I keep upgrading gear but to do the same 5-mans. I haven’t been able to nail down time (or a team) to raid with, so I’m in limbo.
Know what I did yesterday? I needed to get to Stormwind from Ironforge. Did I:
- Hearth to Dalaran and port to SW? No.
- Did I take the bird from IF to SW? Nope.
- Did I take the Deeprun Tram? I thought about it, but no sir.
I huffed it. I rode my trusty ram from Dun Morogh, to Loch Modan, to The Badlands, to Searing Gorge, to Burning Steppes, to Redridge Mountains, to Elwyn Forest, to Stormwind. Why? Well, to invoke nostaglia, basically. I remember and miss my first months of playing. It was my first MMO and there was such a feeling of mystery and adventure. I remember wandering into Burning Steppes from Redridge at level 19 on accident and getting crushed by a fire elemental. “Wow, will I ever get to quest here one day? What else is out there?” Seeing people wearing epic gear was epic. I knew I’d never seen AQ40, and I was ok with that. Only the best and most dedicated should see it. Gearing, meeting new people, conquering new dungeons, it was all fresh and new to me.
Don’t get me wrong, Blizzard has polished the game since, and has made more of it accessible to more players. I don’t know if the latter is always a good thing, but I know that they know what they’re doing. The feeling of wonder and adventure isn’t there for me anymore. Four years of looting boars, ‘dancing’ with bosses, and gearing players has led me to the disappointing realization that the game can only change so much. The boars might be raptors, the boss strategies might be different, and a new character might favor intellect over agility, but the point is the same.
I still enjoy playing, otherwise I wouldn’t be doing it, but the game feels more like Tetris than it does an immersive experience. Last night it felt great to ride past the places where I first leveled. In the times of heirloom item XP bonuses, battleground leveling, and teleporting everywhere (from major cities to dungeons to battlegrounds), the roads were deserted. Why travel when the majority of the game can be played from Ironforge?
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Does your pvp gear have any affect on your groups? Back when Naxx was the end-game raid I went in with PVP shoulders on and was sternly told that wasn’t acceptable. I had put them on my hunter because they had more agility, staminia, and AP than my PVE shoulders. IMO, it made sense. Sure I didn’t need the resilience in PVE, but more agility is more agility. Just this past week I was in a group for heroic FoS and a warrior was voted out of the group because he was wearing a PVP chest piece. I ended up leaving the group on principal. We hadn’t even seen his performance yet. Behavior like that seems a bit absurd in the current trend of the game in which getting at least T9 gear is as simple as running a few random dungeons. I don’t think we can any longer judge a player based on gear. My hunter is geared for ICC 25, but I do not have the skill level for that. Quite simply, I’m just not very good on my hunter, but you couldn’t tell from my gear.
Great comment.
Luckily I haven’t had to deal with jackasses who have a problem with my gear. I’m with you, stats are stats. If you got unlucky with certain drops and have enough honor to buy shoulders that have more of the stats that you’re looking for, then it’s an upgrade. By going with the PvP bracers, I gained intellect, spirit, stamina, and almost 60 spell power at the cost of 33 haste. That’s a good trade-off to me.
If you’re in a ‘hardcore’ raiding guild, and the success or failure of a certain boss depends on every player maxing out their gear with purple gems, the most expensive enchants, etc, then obviously PvP gear wouldn’t be ideal, since you’d be using up some of the iLevel item budget on resilience. But lets be honest, if you’re pushing end-game you would have picked up something more appropriate from PvE by now. For heroic FoS, that PvP gear chest was probably an upgrade from his blue quest reward. Take whatever item has the greatest amount of the stats you need most.
I remember in Burning Crusade, one of the best healer weapons was the Merciless Gladiator’s Gavel, a PvP reward. Players were grinding arena, then eventually honor because it was one of the best SP weapons and didn’t require getting lucky with a drop.
I love every now and again riding through those old zones. My hubby says he’s love a condo overlooking the harbor in SW. I’d love a little cottage in Elwynn Forest:)
Grats on the gear.
Hey Cathy, I’m with you…cottage in Elwynn for me. Eastern Elwynn, to be specific. Maybe I’m an Eastvale Logging guy at heart.