Mists iLevel reference
I had trouble finding a ready reference to the ilvl ranges for Mists, so after hunting around all the usual sites came up with the following. I’ll revise this post if the numbers change.
Update 2012.10.03: Revised Heroic iLvl (was i440), JP iLvl (was i450), JP/VP rep requirements (no rep for JP gear, less for some VP gear), and added crafted weapons iLvl.
| Source | Requires | Drops | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quests | n/a | i372 | |
| Dungeons | i358 | i425-i45 | |
| Scenarios | i425 | i463 | |
| Heroics | i435 | i463/i476 | i476 final boss only |
| LFR | i463 | i476/i483 | T14 tokens i483 |
| Raid (N) | i476 | i489/i496 | T14 tokens i496 |
| Raid (H) | i489 | i502/i509 | T14 tokens i509 |
So progression is pretty clear: Dungeons -> Heroics -> (LFR) -> Raid Normal -> etc.
You can skip LFR by grinding out enough rep and VP to get into norlmal raiding. Rep vendors sell i458 gear for JP (no rep required), and i489 for VP at Honored (neck/ring/cloak/bracers) and Revered.
So planning your reputation priorities will be important. Crafted epics are i476-i496. Crafted weapons are i463.
Curious crate
It’s been a year since posting here, but with Mists lurking only days away it seems a good time to start posting a few things. A brief catch up first.
I’m undecided about who or what to focus on for Pandaria, but it’s likely to be my Warrior (now christened Angler) or Knive, my Hunter. I played Knive deep into Cataclysm and thanks to LFR saw the end game raid bosses for the first time. LFR was great for me because it allowed me to see the benefit in gearing properly and committing to a toon for a prolonged period. Watching my Recount rank slowly climb into the top 5 was immensely satisfying, as was the slow gear acquisition plan formulated via Ask Mr. Robot. So Knive is an obvious choice.
But I have an unscratched itch to end game tank again. Angler (nee Banehammer) has been in retirement for all of Cataclysm (after a tank cataclysm of my own at the end of WotLK) but it might be time to oil his rusty armour and see what he’s capable of.
I’ve rolled about 8000 alt Paladin, Druid and Warrior tanks in the meantime and loved tanking through the older content. If I had an 85 Paladin I think that would be my first choice, but alt-itis means a lot of low level toons but nothing at max. So, that’s the update. Let’s see what happens. /cracks open the curious crate…
Salty Banehammer
- 1 thoroughly read copy of “Nat Pagle’s Extreme’ Anglin.”
- 1 Magical Crawdad.
- 1 Dark Herring.
- 1 Lucky Fishing Hat.
- 1 Arcanite Fishing Pole.
- 2 server transfers.
- 40 Speckled Tastyfish.
- 5826 fish caught.
- 3492 other stuff caught.
- 9318 total casts.
Master Angler of Azeroth.
Accomplished Angler.
Salty Banehammer.
The Watcher
I’d love to be able to follow a Warrior tank who was running my chosen bête noire, to learn how they handle the adds and time their cooldowns. Or to hover over a new wing of Naxx once our guild ventures in for the second time. This would allow you to watch and learn fights that are new, or that you’re struggling with. It removes the element of surprise when encountering a new instance or boss, but then very few approach a new fight without first watching a strategy video or reading a debrief. In fact Observer mode would be much more involving than those kind of meta approaches.
You’d probably need some kind of way to allow or disallow observers, so as not to be encumbered with additional stresses or having strangers judge your skills. But given people Livestream their attempts already, I’m sure it would be a pretty popular feature. eSports depend on the ability for an audience to join a game as observers and hence participate in the event like they were at a real sports game. The venerable Quake engine allowed god mode overview for tournament play, Starcraft II will feature some kind of observer mode, as well as replays, so why not offer it in WoW too?
QQataclysm
It’s a little disconcerting reading bloggers whose opinions are usually well thought out and rational going a little crazy in response. I guess most active bloggers are pretty serious players, so any changes tend to be leaped upon with vigour, and horror if there’s even the slightest hint of dramatic change.
- Responding to the new Priest ability Leap of Faith, the normally very sane Tobold offers his services to Blizzard as a Chief Social Engineer because “I really don’t understand why nobody at Blizzard considered the consequences”. Really Tobold? No-one at Blizzard has considered the consequences?? Please.
- Similarly the always angry Rilgon gets even angrier after reading the Hunter preview: “Focus: F*ck it. This sh*t is f*cking worthless”. And that’s mild compared to his twitter stream. Overreaction, much? All this without having even tried it, or giving Blizz any credit for perhaps being able to make it work. It works for Rogues, why can’t it work for Hunters?
- The Escape Hatch disses the Warrior: “Based on this preview, I will be shocked if there is not a mass exodus from the warrior class come Cataclysm”. Why? Because there aren’t enough “cool” changes. Are people really going to abandon a class they love because Heroic Leap isn’t exciting enough?
- Even Tamarind goes nuts: “Is this April Fools Day leftovers? It’s now not enough that I’m expected to heal the moronface standing in fire I’m expected to yank him out of as well?!!". At least Tam has the good grace to realise it’s all a bit ott: “I’m sure, in practice, it’ll all be fine and I’ll be a Stupidity Grip convert, eating my words and looking small and silly”.
From all the class announcements, about the only change that I can see would cause real angst is the change to Druid Tree form. This one is a fundamental change to how you enjoy a class, not to a background mechanic. Hunters will still be able to shoot and have pets despite the change from Mana to Focus. A Tree Druid who’s not a Tree? That’s more problematic - support Tree Bark Jacket’s campaign!
For the rest, surely we can have just a smidgen of faith that Blizzard, um, know a little bit about what they are doing? That they aren’t trying to break their game and drive everyone away to SW:ToR. That we’re grown up enough to adapt to the New Thing and enjoy it just as much as the Old. Garwulf, in a thankfully balanced review of the Hunter changes, summed it up best for me: “FFS, quit yer bitchin’!”