Crusaders Coliseum aka Purple Rain

[Jayce]

I, too think that the proliferation of epics is fine and good. But at the same time I see the point that in terms of ilvl, purples probably have the widest spread.

Certain raids like ZG used to drop mostly blues and a few purples.  If they didn't adjust ilvl but did widen the range for blues to encompass some of the lower currently purple items, it would have the effect of making blues, including ones from quests, seem more desirable.

Given that it would also devalue raiders' (even casual raiders') epeen, combined with the thirst for new shiny, maybe it'd be better to introduce a new color, an epic-epic if you will, that casuals can get but not from the loot-pinata style bosses.

[kildorn]

ZG was a massive fuck you to casual raiding, by the by. At least when it came out. It was widely accepted as massively harder than any other content out at the time, and had a 70-80% chance per kill to drop blues. They were nice blues, but the reason we've switched to "everything is epic" is that it pretty much was saying "yeah, you worked harder for this, but it's still not 40 people, so haha."

If you make an epic-epic that casuals can obtain, everyone will be wearing epic-epics within a month, and it's still meaningless.

Eventually you just have to accept that loot color is a completely meaningless thing, and everything worth linking is purple. Everything else is a shard in disguise, or "Of Spirit", because our guild is fucking cursed.

[Lakov_Sanite]

What a couple people said above, item color is meaningless now.  What I'm saying is that's stupid because the casual are still going to be seperated from the hardcore, they just switched the standard to ilvl instead.  They already have an item quality system in place, there's no need to change it, they might as well just take item color away because eventually people are going to catch on that their purples are the crap ones.

In theory it's a nice gesture to let everyone drive a porsche but some of those porsches have the engine of a power wheel inside, eventually people will start noticing.

[Jayce]

I cut my raiding teeth on ZG, and we considered it the entry-level at the time. This was somewhat after it came out, so maybe that's the difference.

Also, I'm not saying that everyone won't be wearing epic-epics, but a color code that's actually meaningful to tell you the rough ilevel of an item relative to the current expansion would be more usable than what we have now, which is that they gave up and just put the ilevel on the item tooltip.  Color banding wouldn't be useless if it was more exact.

And also, I don't really agree that everyone would be wearing them anyway.  People seriously misuse the word "casual" nowadays.

[Rasix]

People seriously misuse the word "casual" nowadays.

There's a guild on my server that considers themselves a "casual progression guild".  Only 3 nights a week for typically 5 hours a night.     They're also #1 ranked one of the worst progression servers in the game.

I'd argue that casual raiding really almost doesn't exist unless you take it to what some consider extreme ends. 

[Fordel]

If they reverted back to a purely colour based system, we would need like 14 shades of purple to describe all the various levels of raid gear.


"Hah, your gear is only Mullberry? Noob! I'm decked out in full Orchid biatch!"

[Rasix]

HE'S GONE TO PLAID.

[Lantyssa]

I'd want all burgandy.  It's a good color for me.

[Sheepherder]

It's funny the way you guys toss around the welfare term like you do.

I say that with a certain degree of irony.  Nevertheless, they truly are welfare epics now, as opposed to week long BG grind-a-thons for a single piece.

Also, they really need to rethink the way they've been using iLevel rather than a colour code to distinguish between pieces.  One would think out of the 16581375 options they have they could choose some spiffy colours to distinguish relative quality.

[kildorn]

It's funny the way you guys toss around the welfare term like you do.

I say that with a certain degree of irony.  Nevertheless, they truly are welfare epics now, as opposed to week long BG grind-a-thons for a single piece.

Also, they really need to rethink the way they've been using iLevel rather than a colour code to distinguish between pieces.  One would think out of the 16581375 options they have they could choose some spiffy colours to distinguish relative quality.

A color system is far more confusing than a number system displaying actual exact power.

A color system is entirely flavor based.

[K9]

It is also bad for colour blind people.

[Rasix]

It is also bad for colour blind people.

Yah, I didn't know greens were green for a long time.

[Sjofn]

Ignis has been fixed in this patch and molten adds don't drop aggro when they turn molten. This should make him a LOT easier, as loose adds were really the only problem you could have that was hard to control.

Oh my God yaaaaaaaaaaaay!

[Ingmar]

It is also bad for colour blind people.

Yah, I didn't know greens were green for a long time.

I always used to have to look at the armor value/dps on items to know which ones were purple and which were just blue.

[Sheepherder]

A color system is far more confusing than a number system displaying actual exact power.

A color system is entirely flavor based.

Only if you can see the numbers.  Which they've fixed, but it still doesn't explain why the hell they have both a level and a multiplier that's based on quality when they could just as easily display a single colour, or a single number.

[apocrypha]

This brings whole new meaning to welfare epics.  The sheer amount of purple is frightening.

It's funny the way you guys toss around the welfare term like you do.  I've played this game off and on since release and still have yet to see more than two 5-man instances while they were still yellow.  It's tough, as an adult, to find people to play with when you don't have an established group.  Granted, I'm pretty unwilling to pug so I accept a lot of the blame for my own choices. 

This for sure.

9 months behind the levelling curve, limited to a couple of 1 hour sessions a day, only dinged 80 on a couple of characters a few weeks ago. I was looking at a bastard long time of rep grinds and crafting asshattery to have a chance of even getting into heroics (almost nobody runs non-heroic dungeons on my server any more).

I don't care about epics for their own sake, I just hate having so much content cockblocked off from me. Did 3 runs of this new instance yesterday, on normal, and got 4 purples that were better than any of the things I was looking at spending a month or more trying to get previously. Another couple of drops and some tweaking and I'll be happily running heroics and maybe even get to see some low-end raid content.

Oh, plus, I enjoyed the runs, it's a fun place and beautifully short 

[Hindenburg]

Hrm, grabbed a DK to try out the place. Jousting bit is...odd, seems buggy. Had just changed to a new horsie, had shields up, and was knocked out of it after a charge.
Purples per minute was awesome, though.

Also, when did they change stuff to make every raid boss drop FOUR purples? Why, back in my day you had to take FORTY people to get a shot at TWO purples, three tops /humbug.

[Fabricated]

The 5-man has pretty much been a boon for my alts. A lot of people leveling tank alts don't realize it but the new 5-man's tank loot is way, way better optimized than pretty much everything out of Naxx10/25 and even stuff from Uld10. Expertise out the ass, where pretty much nothing in Naxx10/25 had it.

[Ashamanchill]

I am really starting to fucking hate this dungeon.  Every group I get in has at least two other plate wearers to gobble up my drops.  And those fuckers roll on my tank pieces.

[apocrypha]

Yeah but the shit drops so fast and so often that it'll only take a few days to get everything you can from it anyway. I got lucky as a mail wearer, got all the things I can (from normal anyway) in 5 runs. My brother's still after the plate chest but I'm sure it'll only take a few more runs.

Might be able to actually do some heroics now 

[Fordel]

I am really starting to fucking hate this dungeon.  Every group I get in has at least two other plate wearers to gobble up my drops.  And those fuckers roll on my tank pieces.

How is that the dungeons fault?

[kildorn]

I am really starting to fucking hate this dungeon.  Every group I get in has at least two other plate wearers to gobble up my drops.  And those fuckers roll on my tank pieces.

two paladins, two DKs, and my green/blue newly 80 ass were most of my first two days of that instance. I'm decked the fuck out <3

[Rendakor]

If you're worried about dps rolling on tank shit, just Master Loot it.

[Ashamanchill]

I am really starting to fucking hate this dungeon.  Every group I get in has at least two other plate wearers to gobble up my drops.  And those fuckers roll on my tank pieces.

How is that the dungeons fault?

It's not.  I just like pointing fingers.

[Fabricated]

This is why you get a guild of non-retards and run guild only runs.

The day it dropped our geared members grabbed 2 non geared members apiece and we hit it up with 3 groups. We ran the normal version until everything people wanted dropped. Then we switched out for alts and other non-geared guildies who haven't had a lot of luck/time and did it again.

[Nebu]

This is why you get a guild of non-retards and run guild only runs.

Please tell me how to find this.  Being in vent with most people in this game makes me want to shove a pair of scissors in my ear. 

I'm enjoying this expansion a lot, but fear I'll never see any of the 5 man content. 

[kaid]

The 5-man has pretty much been a boon for my alts. A lot of people leveling tank alts don't realize it but the new 5-man's tank loot is way, way better optimized than pretty much everything out of Naxx10/25 and even stuff from Uld10. Expertise out the ass, where pretty much nothing in Naxx10/25 had it.

I will second that I am sporting the pants and trinket from the 5 man non heroic as they were MUCH better itemized than the nax 10 varient. The gloves were pretty much a toss up giving up a parry for dodge in near equal amounts. The ones from the joust are probably a smidge better than the nax 10 set piece ones but pretty minimal.

The stuff I am seeing from the 5 man non heroic seems at very least good side grades to naxx gear and in many cases clear upgrades. Item level tells a lot but some stuff is just badly itemized such as the conquest badge tank pants. Screw you I do not need a ton of freaking shield block rating. Giving up so much stats for shield block value and rating makes me a sad panda.

[K9]

This is why you get a guild of non-retards and run guild only runs.

Please tell me how to find this.  Being in vent with most people in this game makes me want to shove a pair of scissors in my ear. 

I'm enjoying this expansion a lot, but fear I'll never see any of the 5 man content. 

I avoid vent like the plague in WoW. That said, I really like the other officers in my guild. Guild chat can get a bit tarded, but officer chat is really good since more or less everyone is 25+.

So long as you avoid spam-invite guilds, trade-channel guilds, and guilds where you should know better from the name you could do alright. Obviously it varies by server, but I'd imagine most servers will have several guilds built around people with jobs. Ultimately, as an unguilded fellow the best way to find a guild is to PuG, and use that to meet people.

With the way Blizzard have changed their raiding ethos there are now a number of casual guilds who raid only once or twice a week for a couple of hours, and will keep non-raiders on their roster, like mine. We have a majority of working adults, and although we have some kids, they're not too bad. I'd imagine that you'd be able to find a guild similar to mine, which does raid, but no-one is forced or expected to raid; and also does plenty of 5-man runs.

Also, since the proliferation of badge items it's harder to get superbad PuGs, since many people can brute-force stuff based on gear.

[Hindenburg]

I'm enjoying this expansion a lot, but fear I'll never see any of the 5 man content. 

As an unguilded DK tank, I did all of the 5mans in heroic mode in... uh... a single day. Last saturday, actually. Even got into pug VoA's and Naxx. Saw, tanked and cleared every last boss in all of the 5mans, including those I'd never seen before.
Would that have happened as a guildless dps? Maybe. We sure got loads and loads of 1.5k terribads, but that didn't stop me from completely pugging everything, so I guess they also do just fine. Healers, thanks to the wonders of dual spec, were also in ample supply and demand.

Don't worry about not seeing the 5mans, you'll manage just fine, even with pugs and text-only comm. Just play and have fun.

[Rasix]

This is why you get a guild of non-retards and run guild only runs.

Please tell me how to find this.  Being in vent with most people in this game makes me want to shove a pair of scissors in my ear.  

I'm enjoying this expansion a lot, but fear I'll never see any of the 5 man content.  

I don't use vent for 5 mans unless it's someone I know or it's a guild run (no guild anymore, so that's taken care of).  I also don't talk in vent, ever.  My mic doesn't work worth crap (unless I shout and that isn't happening), and I'm not going to spend money on a new one.

PUGing isn't completely terrible.  You can usually figure out on the way to the stone if it's going to work or not.  Taking too long and no one talking or making any initiative to get to the stone? Tank sporting a whopping 20k HP?  Generally retarded or profane chat?  Insistance that you join vent?  Someone bitching about the drops or claiming loot before you go in?  Feign a family emergency or a digestive catastrophy.

Still, I've done every thing out there save Occulus. The worst of the bunch I don't even try for anymore (OK, HOS, HOL).  Pugging 5 mans really shouldn't be that bad considering you have the same reservations about people in these games that I do for the most part. I've survived.  Some bad experiences, sure, but survived nonetheless.

[Sjofn]

Our guild is a lot like K9's. We raid twice a week for a couple of hours (usually), but we have plenty of people who don't/can't raid and it never occured to me that was bad. Raiding is more like another thing to do with guildies than THE TRUE PURPOSE OF TEH GUILD or whatever. We do have to carry some people but that only drives me a little crazy most days. 

[Nevermore]

We do have to carry some people but that only drives me a little crazy most days. 

Some of us read this site too, you know! 

[Lantyssa]

Aww.

She hasn't even had to deal with me yet.  When I catch up we can all group and have some real fun tormenting her.

[K9]

Our guild is a lot like K9's. We raid twice a week for a couple of hours (usually), but we have plenty of people who don't/can't raid and it never occured to me that was bad. Raiding is more like another thing to do with guildies than THE TRUE PURPOSE OF TEH GUILD or whatever. We do have to carry some people but that only drives me a little crazy most days. 

From reading what you say I have always felt that our two guilds were very alike.

On another note, we finally got our act together and got Mimiron down tonight. We also had a go in the new raid instance. 3-shot the Northrend Beasts and 2-shot the Demon. The worm phase is a little messy, but I think we're getting it. The Demon guy was piss easy in terms of execution, just needs good gear. The fights are quite fun, and thankfully short, and moreso than Ulduar I feel they stress everyone in the raid (DPS, Tanks and Healers).

On the flip side. Holydin Belt, Feral Boots and Resto Shaman Boots all gone to de.....

[proudft]

We do have to carry some people but that only drives me a little crazy most days. 

Some of us read this site too, you know! 

Drop an earth elemental, it'll make her feel better.