Patch 2.4 Notes

[Skandranon]

Could you clarify whether you know this to be a fact (that the badge vendor is not being referred to here, but is instead a different entity somehwere else?), or just speculation?

Technically speculation but I consider it fact. Let me lay out my reasons.

1) Drysc refers to the use of badges as currency.

2) Drysc refers to the loot as being T6 quality. The loot on these vendors is above T6 quality, not T6-quality. In case of any confusion, his exact term is BT quality. All the loot so far revealed is superior to Illidan loot, so this is clearly not BT-quality, any more than BT gear is "ZA-quality" loot.

3) Drysc specifically refers to the presence of fist weapons on the vendor he's talking about. The vendors currently available do not have any weapons on their lists.

4) Currently, all the drops from these vendors are purchased either via a loot token like T4/5/6 (in which case, I doubt Drysc would have used the word "badge"), or an actual epic item drop from the Sunwell itself. For example, the caster helm, Helm of Arcane Purity, is obtained by purchasing it with one Cowl of Light's Purity (the cloth healer helm, a drop from a boss inside Sunwell Plateau) plus one Sunmote (which is a random trash drop, akin to Hearts of Darkness in Black Temple). Neither of these cases are anything like "badges".

For these reasons, the vendors so far revealed cannot be the vendor Drysc was talking about, unless he was mistaken about the loot quality, the currency used, and the presence of weapons (especially his specific comment about fist weapons). Nothing he says matches up with what we've seen except that he is talking about a vendor and we are also seeing vendors; the currency is wrong, the quality is wrong, the items he specifically talked about as being there do not match.

Now, the part about it being available at a later stage of the Shattered Sun Offensive is pure speculation, but I think it's sound. Currently Sunwell Isle lacks an inn, a meeting stone, a repair NPC, and various other components of a quest hub, and residents of the Isle talk about, in dialogue, implementing some of these things and a portal to Shattrath City at later stages of the Offensive. Given that, and given that the vendors we are seeing now are definitely not the vendors Drysc was talking about, I think it's solid speculation that the vendor will come as the Isle develops. The only other possibility is that they've decided to discontinue the vendor, which I think would obviously be the right design decision, but which I don't think is likely.