1.10 Armor Set Quests

[Raelynn]

In the 1up story about the patch they said:

The second adjustment is the ability to upgrade your "blue" dungeon armor sets. (...) Each of these blue armor sets can be upgraded by completing a series of soloable and raid-sized party (5 people) quests.

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It's a somewhat ambiguous read coming from a person that isn't from Blizzard. Basically, take it with a grain of salt. I read it similarly to that, but at the same time some of the things said in the WoW forums read more like you just get them. For example:

We’ll be offering a series of quests for maximum level players so they can obtain a really good, class-specific armor set.

That sounds more like you just get them. Personally I'm hoping that you don't need the original dungeon set, because, for one, they said you'd be able to solo some of the quests to get the pieces (though technically if you had it the upgrade quest could be soloable), and two, it's a HUGE pain to get the pieces due to the random drops, and I really don't want to push myself through the 200 instance runs that would probably be necessary to get the full dreadmist set :(

[Tal]

In the 1up story about the patch they said:

The second adjustment is the ability to upgrade your "blue" dungeon armor sets. (...) Each of these blue armor sets can be upgraded by completing a series of soloable and raid-sized party (5 people) quests.

Am I misreading it or does this mean I need my tier 0 set to do these quests?

Also, what's your money on for the hunter's set name? My money is on Solostalker, Instancestalker, Dirtstalker, Sandstalker, Shadowstalker, or possibly Stalkerstalker. :P
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My impression from the Blizzard information is that this is a new class set - a step up from Valor for example but not on Might level. In other words you wouldn't need your class items to do the quests and get the itemz. ;)

[oldmandennis]

They did say they were moving some of the pieces from less trafficed encounters. The example used was removing priest(I think) boots from the postmaster. I hope that means they are moving the shaman boots from Urok, though to be honest I don't really care.

/pointless side story
Urok I have never done, but I have actually done the postmaster one time. The only reason I did him was I was in a goofy group where I found 4 people who wanted to do quests leading to the improved AD trinket. It took like 3 hours, but it was fun because it was so unique, as our unbalanced group(can't rember the exact composition) roamed the area between the two gates, mowing down trash for the quest drops. For some reason Hearthsinger Forrestglen was bugged and kept respawning, it just wasn't his lucky day and he was killed 4 times. He dropped 3 of the item that makes everybody dance. Along the way we did the postmaster, and once everybody had thier flesh samples we left and returned to the first zig where we finished the quest.

[MongoJerry]

For some reason Hearthsinger Forrestglen was bugged and kept respawning, it just wasn't his lucky day and he was killed 4 times.  He dropped 3 of the item that makes everybody dance.

The hearthsinger always does this. If your group is patient, you can wait for him to respawn at one of around four possible spawn points along that road between the Scalet Bastion and the UD side of Stratholme.

[Kevin]

The hearthsinger always does this.  If your group is patient, you can wait for him to respawn at one of around four possible spawn points along that road between the Scalet Bastion and the UD side of Stratholme.
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Does he always respawn in the same spot or will it change after you kill him?

My druid has been solo farming him if he spawns in the one spot I can pull him in an attempt to get a songbird blouse, but with the 5 instance/hour limit and the rarity of him spawning there it is pretty hard to do. If he will respawn in the initial spot every time then it will likely be quicker, even if he is on a 30 minute timer, for me to just wait for him to respawn and pull him again rather than resetting the instance and hoping. If he can move to a new spawn point then the instance reset is the way to go

[nobbie]

It's interesting that only new ARMOR will be provided for the "casual" gamer, but not weapons ...

Also see this blog: Casual Friday.

[Quark]

It's interesting that only new ARMOR will be provided for the "casual" gamer, but not weapons ...

Also see this blog: Casual Friday.
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To be fair, new weapons have been added already to the non-raiding scene. They might not be the easiest to get (PvP faction rewards, etc), but they are there.

[nobbie]

As the blog author says, I don't want to PvP all night and day to get a nifty weapon reward :)

[MongoJerry]

Does he always respawn in the same spot or will it change after you kill him?

He respawns at any one of his spawn points. All the spawn points are along that same street, however.

[Kevin]

He respawns at any one of his spawn points.  All the spawn points are along that same street, however.
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Yeah that doesn't help as there is only one spot he can be where you can solo him without dealing with at least one of the larget elite+non elite packs and without natures swiftness I can't solo those packs. I'm not sure I could with it.

[MongoJerry]

Yeah that doesn't help as there is only one spot he can be where you can solo him without dealing with at least one of the larget elite+non elite packs and without natures swiftness I can't solo those packs.  I'm not sure I could with it.
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You can solo those packs as a druid? *Mutters something about the need to write something about nerfing druids...*

[Kevin]

You can solo those packs as a druid?  *Mutters something about the need to write something about nerfing druids...*
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I've never been able to do it. I think I could if my build had Nature's swiftness as I think that might get me enough healing to make it. But if you went in with barkskin and hurricaned you should be able to get the non elites low enough that going bear after and frenzied regening while finishing them off would keep you at enough health to get them killed. A pop out with a NS heal and back to bear and swiping down the 3 elites, pop out, potion and heal if you can, back to bear. But when I've tried I get too much stuttering with regrowths, the potion timer is too long long. I need another instant heal in there. I've gotten it down to just one elite left but couldn't win as I was too low on health and mana.

Of course if I had NS I wouldn't have the bear form damage I do or omen of clarity which is just huge for doing stuff like that (building rage while hitting 3 mobs at once is fun, a triple crit on swipe makes it free with my talents, a triple crit after an omen of clarity proc gives me 15 rage so I always try to use it when clarity procs during a frenzied regen). But then I would also have the talents to help prevent heal stuttering that might help. If I had better gear I might be able to as well.

I solo'd all the mini bosses in Sunken Temple to get my shoulders none of them were a real challenge if I was paying attention. :)

Feral druids with MC level healing gear are very powerful because I can keep an 18% crit rate with 800 AP and still have 5K mana with +150 or more healing.

[Luminon]

Doesn't anyone beside me resent this whole "collect a new armor tier every couple of months" thing? ;) I mean yay for characrer progression and all but this just makes it feel like a pointless grind, your new shiney armor is degraded to second best once you're done collecting it.

[LochnarITB]

Doesn't anyone beside me resent this whole "collect a new armor tier every couple of months" thing?  ;) I mean yay for characrer progression and all but this just makes it feel like a pointless grind, your new shiney armor is degraded to second best once you're done collecting it.
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It isn't just the new tier problem that I am seeing, or maybe it is but in a slightly skewed way. I am concerned about all the grinding that is being done for fire resistance. As we move into new instances, it seems we will have a new grind for nature resistance and, eventually, frost resistance. They have us running on our little wheels and we keep hitting the feed me button. :wacko:

[Zarathustra]

It isn't just the new tier problem that I am seeing, or maybe it is but in a slightly skewed way.  I am concerned about all the grinding that is being done for fire resistance.  As we move into new instances, it seems we will have a new grind for nature resistance and, eventually, frost resistance.  They have us running on our little wheels and we keep hitting the feed me button. :wacko:
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True enough, but Blizzard has already said they won't be making another instance so devoted to a single magical resistance. They made fire resistance the end-all in gear, and don't want to make that mistake again.

Of course, once guilds have the Molten Core and Blackwing Lair handled, there are only a couple encounters that really require an ungodly amount of a specific resistance. Maybe the FR hoarding is more on the players than Blizzard. A clear indicator that someone is brand new to the Molten Core is that he's wearing all his fire resistance gear when he zones in.

[Quark]

Maybe the FR hoarding is more on the players than Blizzard.
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I'm constantly switching the gear back and forth, but mainly it comes down to this:

I've seen the difference FR can make, so I want as much FR as possible to reach a "good" level for an encounter while maintaining my attack abilities as much as possible. I squeeze every point of FR to get to 200 in as many good epics as possible.

[MongoJerry]

I've seen the difference FR can make, so I want as much FR as possible to reach a "good" level for an encounter while maintaining my attack abilities as much as possible.  I squeeze every point of FR to get to 200 in as many good epics as possible.
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200? The levels switch every 75 points. For level 60 mobs you want to go above the caps at 75, 150, 225, and 300. If you have 200, you might as well take some fire resistance gear off and add some other stats, because the gain from 160ish to 200ish isn't much.

Actually, there does seem to be an indication that for an increased level of the mob, you do want slightly more fire resistance than the equal level resistance indicators show on your character screen. For a level 63 mob like Onyxia and Ragnaros, you'd want to have resistances higher than 81, 159, 237, and 315. That's why you want to outfit your tanks with more than 315 fire resistance. Other raid members can safely use 160ish fire resistance, and often it's OK to use as little as 82ish fire resistance.

[Luminon]

From http://www.worldofwar.net/patches/preview/1-10.php

We've been making a number of improvements to item drop rates in Stratholme, Scholomance, Upper Black Rock Spire, Lower Black Rock Spire, and Black Rock Depths. In the next patch, the drop rate for many items will improve. In some situations, we will even be improving the quality of select items found in these dungeons.

Beyond this, we're also adding several new items to existing bosses, and even to new bosses which will be available at various locations throughout these instances. Many of the new items will offer statistical improvement with certain classes in mind, such as rings which offer both spell and melee crit, ideal for the Paladin, Shaman and Druid.

A brand new eight piece dungeon set will also be scattered through the locations outlined above. This set, available only to the Warlock, Mage and Priest will offer a substantial amount of armor, hit points and intelligence, making it great for PvP. Below is an example of the set:

Ironweave Robe

219 Armor
+24 STA
+15 INT
Durability 80/80
Classes: Priest, Mage, Warlock
Requires level 58
Set bonuses:
(4) Increases your chance to resist Silence and Interrupt effects by 10%.
(8) +200 Armor.

(emphasis mine)

I'm really impressed with what they're doing with itemization this patch :), especially for hybrids and cloth wearers; who are sorely in need of it.

[Raelynn]

From http://www.worldofwar.net/patches/preview/1-10.php
(emphasis mine)

I'm really impressed with what they're doing with itemization this patch :), especially for hybrids and cloth wearers; who are sorely in need of it.
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The biggest thing I notice about that is while I still dislike +200 armor as an 8 piece bonus, that piece alone has 119 armor more than my flowing ritual robes. That's a good thing to see at the very least.