Going Back in time - Epic Tiered Items

In the past 4 years Blizzard have made some changes on the way they give out the coveted Tier Epic items for each class. In my experience nothing is more than satisfying than wearing your class specific Tier pieces, using it on progression fights and rocking it out outside AH at Org =).

Let's go back in time and observe how the giving out of Tier Epic items evolved.

Tier 1 and Tier 2 (Molten Core/Blackwing Lair)

Two items that are class specific drops from a Boss. This was an ok system.

The Good

You know who the items go to(duh!) so the argument that this item is better for class x than class y is non-existent.

The Bad

i. There were 7 classes to each faction back then. So you had a 1/7 for your item to drop and if it did you had to win it by dkp or by roll w/e.

ii. Completing your set can take a long amount of time. For some people it took months almost to a year to complete that set waiting for just that one drop. I'm sure any old school raider can relate to this.

iii. By the time the "seasoned" players finish their set they don't want to run that dungeon anymore because they got so sick of it. This puts the new people at a disadvantage and now have to find a replacement. Sad thing is the cycle will continue.


Tier 2.5 and Tier 3 (AQ/Naxxramas)

This is where Blizzard moved to Token drops. Now you can get your Tiered Epic Items thru Tokens which is shared by 3-4 classes.

The Good

i. Instead of having 1/7 chance for you item to drop now it's a minimum of 33% chance add to the fact that there are 2 token drops.

ii. The token be used by alot more players which means getting upgrades rather than leaving the an item to rot because there was no Warlock in the raid.

The Bad

i. You still have to compete for the item but it's only against 3 classes not 7.

Tier 4,5 and 6

They pretty much stick to the token system.

The introduction of Badge Justice.

Badge of Justice can be acquired when killing a boss in heroic mode or a boss in Karazhan. You can purchase t5-t6ish quality gear with your hard earned badges.

This is one of great ideas that Blizzard has put into the game. This is what drove people to do the
daily heroics, the kara runs and more heroics.

The Good

i. You can get decent upgrades for your character w/o even stepping into a 25man raid dungeon.

ii. You don't have to wait for that one special tier item from raids for a nice upgrade.

iii. People still ran Kara/heroics even though they outgear the place. This helps alts or the characters who are needing some gear from there.

iv. Epic gems! For you own use or for profit don't matter.

The Bad

i. I just wish there were set bonus from badge gear. But hey we can't have them all right?

Now lets see what we currently have.....

Tier 7 and 7.5

The Return of the Badge System(but better)

What's new?

A.) Emblems now drops off bosses in 10mans(Emblems of heroism) and 25mans(Emblems of Valor) instead of just dropping in 5man Heroics.

B.) With Emblems of Heroism. You can now buy t7 tokens! Whoa?! You can purchase the t7 Chest(80 emblems) and t7 gloves token(t7 gloves).

For Emblems of Valor you can buy t7.5 tokens. You can purchase the t7.5 shoulder or legs.

The Good

i. More sources of emblems. For those that only has time to do 10mans/25mans this is a pretty good deal.

I currently have spent 205 emblems of heroism and 25 emblems of valor. I'm gonna pimp my alts pretty soon with the bind on account items.

ii. No more need to wait on that token to drop!

iii. You can get 4 pieced of tiered epic items w/o setting foot in naxx. Progression for your character will be alot faster than the previous expansion and back in Vanilla wow.

The Bad

i. In terms of item availability none. If terms of item rarity well you'll see tons of people wearing the same gear as you so it's not as epic anymore =P. I won't feel bad because I also look at my gear as a key to conquering the next raid instance.

ii. My only fear is people will tear thru this content like nothing. But then again not everyone plays like I do so I think were good. It will only a matter of time before blizz adds another set of badge rewards.

What do you think of the new system? Of course it's good for character progression, but do you think theyre giving away powerful items that fast?

25man loot is still superior but I'm happy that my alt doesn't need to raid like my main to enjoy some purple goodness.