PvP Gear > High End Instance Gear

[jpark]

Gear is a little like the technology cycle - in 6 months something better is on the market.  MC gear is surpassed by ZG it seems - and ZG gear will certainly be surpassed by the next high end instance.  Teir 2 armor sets are better than Teir 1, and perahaps we will see Teir 3 sets in the game sometime soon.

Enter pvp gear which is based on your rank.

Speculation:  Blizzard will always update pvp gear so it is comparable to the current high end instance in the game.

If you want to avoid raiding the latest high end instance to keep your gear near the cutting edge - focus on getting your pvp rank of choice.  Once you have it - you can always purchase gear from the officer barracks etc., that will be likely updated to be kept competitive with the latest instance.

What do you think?

[El Gallo]

I agree with your speculation that Blizzard will continually update the PvP rewards to keep up with PvE rewards.  However, it takes an absurd amount of time to reach the highest PvP ranks.  Truly obscene.  Also, while you can always wear items even when your rank degenerates, I don't believe you can buy rank-requirement items unless you have that rank.  So you will need to keep grinding battlegrounds like a madman to maintain your rank so you can buy the newly updated items when they come out.  I think it will take you a LOT longer to pull off your plan than it would to just farm the new PvE instances.

[jpark]

Also, while you can always wear items even when your rank degenerates, I don't believe you can buy rank-requirement items unless you have that rank. 

I checked that a few weeks ago and I believe you can.  When I lost my rank of Grunt I was still able to buy the trinket (horde insigna) - I did not repurchase it - but the vendor had it highlighted for purchase.

[Morfiend]

MC gear is surpassed by ZG it seems - and ZG gear will certainly be surpassed by the next high end instance.  Teir 2 armor sets are better than Teir 1, and perahaps we will see Teir 3 sets in the game sometime soon.

MC gear in general is much better than ZG gear. Also, there have been rumors that tier 3 gear is going to be in Ahn'Quiran.

To summerize gear: Strat, Scholo, Ubrs < ZG < MC < BWL

[Threash]

Also, while you can always wear items even when your rank degenerates, I don't believe you can buy rank-requirement items unless you have that rank. 

I checked that a few weeks ago and I believe you can.  When I lost my rank of Grunt I was still able to buy the trinket (horde insigna) - I did not repurchase it - but the vendor had it highlighted for purchase.

They changed this last patch, you can only buy gear up to your current rank.  There would be no reason to add this change unless they planned to change the pvp gear or add more stuff in the future.

[DevilsAdvocate]

I think it will take you a LOT longer to pull off your plan than it would to just farm the new PvE instances.

True, but he can farm BG's solo, to some extent. You can't even start farming any high level instance solo.

IMO, Blizzard made PvP the soloer's method of getting the same quality of gear that the raiders can get in the instances.

[Sogrinaugh]

So basically, you avoid something fun, something that takes teamwork and highly coordinated effort, that brings its own sense of accomplishment above and beyond the items that drop, to instead grind no less (NO LESS) then 15 hours a day, with what has to be the best combination of players you can put together at any given time, to reach high warlord.

Guild drama?  You ain't seen SHIT till you seen pvp rank drama.  Those other 14 people you grindin with want high warlord too, but its not time-efficient for anyone for everyone to shoot for it all at once.

This notion that "you can farm bg solo" is laughable.  Sure you can farm, uh, rep i guess... slowly.  But thier is no way in bloody hell you will hit the highest ranks without a tight set, because the really good groups farm honor extremely fast due to all the /afk's they get from the other side.  So while you are in thier grinding away solo, the other teams are making x4-5 your cp per unit of time.  Since honor is relative, they are effectively supressing your rank the greater the difference in your grinding speed.  Add to the fact that most people have jobs and/or school, if you don't have the 15-17 hours/day to do this, 7 days a week, for months on end, you will never in your life hit rank 14.

I know both of the HW horde-side on my server personally, and both agree that it is the most painful thing they have ever done in thier lives, one believes he must have partail brain damage from the sleep deprivation (he went several weekends in a row twords the end with only a couple hours sleep before he hit HW).

Never before in any game has thier ever been a grind as inhumane and excruciating as the PvP ladder in WoW.  Whoever thought it up at blizzard was one sick fuck who clearly had a deep-seated hatred for the people for whom he was developing.

All of the battlegrounds can be fun, especially when you're raid timers are down or you don't have enough online.  But i have yet to meet even a single person who aggressively pursued PvP rank who qualified the experience as anything less then agonizing.

[Ironwood]

Never before in any game has thier ever been a grind as inhumane and excruciating as the PvP ladder in WoW.  Whoever thought it up at blizzard was one sick fuck who clearly had a deep-seated hatred for the people for whom he was developing.

Good for him.  Considering his target market, I'd like to buy him a pint.  The PvP leaders on the horde side on our server are really nice nice guys.  Those on the Alliance side are ridiculous anti-social smacktards that not even the other alliance guys can stand.

Fuck em.

[Threash]

So basically, you avoid something fun, something that takes teamwork and highly coordinated effort, that brings its own sense of accomplishment above and beyond the items that drop, to instead grind no less (NO LESS) then 15 hours a day, with what has to be the best combination of players you can put together at any given time, to reach high warlord.

Guild drama?  You ain't seen SHIT till you seen pvp rank drama.  Those other 14 people you grindin with want high warlord too, but its not time-efficient for anyone for everyone to shoot for it all at once.

This notion that "you can farm bg solo" is laughable.  Sure you can farm, uh, rep i guess... slowly.  But thier is no way in bloody hell you will hit the highest ranks without a tight set, because the really good groups farm honor extremely fast due to all the /afk's they get from the other side.  So while you are in thier grinding away solo, the other teams are making x4-5 your cp per unit of time.  Since honor is relative, they are effectively supressing your rank the greater the difference in your grinding speed.  Add to the fact that most people have jobs and/or school, if you don't have the 15-17 hours/day to do this, 7 days a week, for months on end, you will never in your life hit rank 14.

I know both of the HW horde-side on my server personally, and both agree that it is the most painful thing they have ever done in thier lives, one believes he must have partail brain damage from the sleep deprivation (he went several weekends in a row twords the end with only a couple hours sleep before he hit HW).

Never before in any game has thier ever been a grind as inhumane and excruciating as the PvP ladder in WoW.  Whoever thought it up at blizzard was one sick fuck who clearly had a deep-seated hatred for the people for whom he was developing.

All of the battlegrounds can be fun, especially when you're raid timers are down or you don't have enough online.  But i have yet to meet even a single person who aggressively pursued PvP rank who qualified the experience as anything less then agonizing.

All very true but you really can't blame Blizzard for the pvp grind, yes they did design the system but they made it so the players set the bar.  If there weren't people willing to put in that inhuman effort in order to reach higher ranks then the grind wouldn't be as bad, but sadly there are so the grind is astronomical on some servers.  I haven't really asked around but i would assume there has to be some servers, probably the smallest pop ones, where the grind isnt nearly as bad.

[Merusk]

Never before in any game has thier ever been a grind as inhumane and excruciating as the PvP ladder in WoW.  Whoever thought it up at blizzard was one sick fuck who clearly had a deep-seated hatred for the people for whom he was developing.

Good for him.  Considering his target market, I'd like to buy him a pint.  The PvP leaders on the horde side on our server are really nice nice guys.  Those on the Alliance side are ridiculous anti-social smacktards that not even the other alliance guys can stand.

Fuck em.

Ditto on the Alleria server.  

See the thing is, I have no compassion or sympathy for the guy you described AT ALL Sog.  He, and other obsessives like himself, are the ones who made it that way for themselves.  The ladder is the best way of letting them get their e-peen on while at the same time keeping things fun for everyone else.  There's nothing inherently wrong with it other than the players themselves.  Even a K:D ratio or some other ladder that "actually" measured PvP effectiveness would be gamed by the same obsessives who are gaming it now.

   The rest of us will just continue to work on Rep. and enjoy the PvP and maybe get some blues/ purples when we've got the rep for it.  We're not PvPing to be OMG r33t rank! we're doing it for the fun of the PvP.  The rank rewards are the biggest joke ever played on catassing retards, and I laugh every time I see someone whine about "having to" or "needing to" do xyz just to get something that's supposed to be for enjoyment.

[Ironwood]

http://www.actiontrip.com/comics/strip.phtml?pic=36


Appropos of nothing.

[angry.bob]

I'm just going to hire the Chinese to grind the BG for me. At $30 for 24x7 BG grinding, it's much more cost effective than doing it myself. Plus they're probably way better at it than I'd be, what with all the practice at stealing other people's targets and chest stealing they get. Plus, imagine all the fun I'll have when I post on the different community boards that I paid a Chinese farmer $300 to make me Grand Marshal... BRILLIANT!

[Righ]

Plus, imagine all the fun I'll have when I post on the different community boards that I paid a Chinese farmer $300 to make me Grand Marshal... BRILLIANT!

[jpark]

Also, while you can always wear items even when your rank degenerates, I don't believe you can buy rank-requirement items unless you have that rank. 

I checked that a few weeks ago and I believe you can.  When I lost my rank of Grunt I was still able to buy the trinket (horde insigna) - I did not repurchase it - but the vendor had it highlighted for purchase.

They changed this last patch, you can only buy gear up to your current rank.  There would be no reason to add this change unless they planned to change the pvp gear or add more stuff in the future.

Good point.  Thanks.  I consider pvp "ghetto grouping" for the most part anyways - I like my raids ;)

[dusematic]

MC gear is surpassed by ZG it seems

You're crazy ho.

[SurfD]

at the moment, only a few things in ZG (mostly drops off Hakkar and a few situational items) are better then stuff in MC, and BWL gear has much of that soundly trounced.

For mages, once 1.9 hits, the be all and END all suit is full Netherwind.  Holy shit that stuff rocks.

In ZG, most of the good stuff drops off Hakkar, the rest of it is situational (Best +damage cloth hat in the game drops off of the Hexxar, lots of +% to hit gear, which is good in PVE, but not so much in PVP) and most of the staves, swords, and other stuff that drop in there are only slightly inferior to MC gear.

The real appeal to ZG is that A) it is a 20 man instance, not 40, and B) it resets on a 3 day timer, rather then 6.  Which basic math will tell you that if your run ZG regularly it gives you a roughly 4 times greater chance at getting some really decent loot as compared to MC.

[Righ]

There's some ridiculously good (melee) weapons in ZG. There is very little armor of any consequence.

[Threash]

ZG is good for the insanely overpowered trinkets you can get there.  Come on, instant 60 energy for a rogue on two minute cooldown? 40 extra base damage on ambush and backstab?  Give me those two and i'll drop any class decked out in bwl gear with nothing but greens.

[SurfD]

Yeah, the thistle tea trinket is nice (too bad it is such a bitch to get) but most mages would kill a rogue who even thought on rolling on Heart of Hakkar (think thats the one you are thinking about for the 40 damage) before every mage you raid with had one.  The Zandalarian Hero charm is the kind of thing that mages sell their families to get.