Same for us.

While I hope they will change this when the patch comes live, I think it quite possible they even forgot what they said about putting a new reward there.

Not that there is a huge challenge now, but..

They should probably just remove the "Unique" tag from those rings instead.

I think that putting an Amani Warbear vanity pet in the 4th chest would have a certain kind of ironic fun.

That would make ZA popular again in 3.0, the Bear is awesome looking, not to mention certain types of people would like a big bear followed by a little bear.

I'm not a collector, but I'd be after this like a fat kid going a donut.

This is really a good idea. People on Beta should try to suggest this to the GMs multiple times. Maybe it will stick. What is the official "I have a suggestion" box for this game? Is there one that actually provides feedback?

I posted it to the general wow forums and the suggestion forum after getting some positive feedback here and from guildies as well, for what its worth, and the general responses in the community are positive.

I doubt it will be done in time for 3.0 or even Wrath, if it is done at all, but damn I'd love it (for reasons I can't fully explain).

This post by Tigole seems to indicate that the current build on the PTR and Beta (or the net immediate one) might be the one going live with the prospect of a 3.0.3 patch coming up.

I would think their reasoning for removing the Bear mount would also preclude them from adding a ncp, level 80 players being able to run through the content makes getting the prize insignificant. The current fastest time for it is what, something like 30 minutes, imagine how fast a well geared 80 group could run through it. There is no real reward, having it would, be tantamount to saying, " Hey look at me, I'm a 70 that solo'd Wailing Caverns". Yeah you could do it, but everyone can, and a reward should always be something that is tough to attain.

Its unclear from what you said, but I presume you are referring to the idea of a vanity pet dropping in the 4th chest? I doubt a level 80 can solo the timed event in ZA.

Further, vanity pets are hardly something Blizzard makes hard to achieve. Most come cheap from vendors, simple quests, etc.

EDIT-I'll add that I think things like this are a good thing. Note that the turtle polymorph spell is still a reason to grab a few 70's and go kill the fishing boss in ZG, which is a fun thing that draws folks to play with old content occasionally.

Something like this would provide similar reason to go have some fun in ZA every so often. Not sure how that would be a bad thing.

They have no reason to make doing a 4 chest run unappealing, they simply did not wish to diminish the accomplishment done by those who got the bear mount the "correct" way by allowing people to continue to get it when it becomes trivial to do. Adding something desirable to the chest in no way takes away from the current bear holders, if anything it honors their accomplishments by paying tribute to it. I think it's one of the best ideas I've seen in a very long time and I very much hope that they use it.

Though I still don't quite understand why they remove the Warbear in particular, as it isn't that much of a unique acomplishment, compared to other hard to get items (i.e. an item from Kil'jaeden). At least on my server owning an Amani Warbear means a) you were in a group capable of beating the timed run or b) you had 5k- 10k gold lying around and paid one of the groups - and the second is probably the much larger group.

The War Bear is still useful to a player at level 80. It's a status symbol. That's the difference. 6 months from now, nobody's going to notice you for carrying Apolyon. Sitting on a massive bear will always attract some level of attention.

You can hardly compare a level 70 weapon drop to a mount. The weapon scales down in usefulness as your level increases. Mounts are always useful, regardless of level.

Not to steer this too far off track, but wearing full tier 3 seems to garner a lot more attention than a War Bear these days, and that's certainly passed it's viability level by a long shot. There is something to be said for having legacy items, but that's neither here nor there. The removal of the level 70 'achievements' is certainly appropriate., although I think a flavor item could certainly be used (non-combat pet was the best idea, especially with the new pet achievement in wrath).

In addendum to this, the most visible pieces of gear are also what draw attraction. Shoulders/Helm/Weapons and mounts are a lot more easy to notice then a chestpiece. That was part of why the later arena shoulders had such a high rating requirement.

Did you try opening your eyes?

Class Mechanics - Elitist Jerks

Aye I did. I didn't see anything specific for 3.02 spec discussions for the classes that I play.

At 80 you can probably just bypass more of the trash since they will be gray-green to you, much like what people do in ZG nowadays. The fact that ZG can be 3 manned right now when it was a 20 man raid zone back then should be a strong indicator of what you can do with just 2 (1 may be difficult) people in ZA.

Bear mounts were never "hard" to get in terms of gear requirement, as more experienced people (aka people that have done it on more geared toons) have done it in karazhan gear. Most guilds already acknowledged that and were selling bear runs for a long time since gold is actually useful for raising alts and funding consumables.

With that said, while it isn't a bad idea for a pet as the fourth chest, having another ring really isn't a bad thing if people do ZA for progression purpose (a bit late right now, sure, but some people will still benefit from getting rings)

Reading is hard.

http://elitistjerks.com/f31/t28560-p...es_discussion/
http://elitistjerks.com/f31/t17193-p...s_theorycraft/
http://elitistjerks.com/f31/t17089-p...rotection_you/
http://elitistjerks.com/f31/t16934-healadin_thread/

In case there was any doubt, Tuesday's patch day will feature a 12-hour extended maintenance. Servers aren't scheduled to go up until 2 PM Pacific... at the earliest.

EU forums has a new thread by Vaneras pretty much confirming the same: WoW-Europe.com Forums -> 13/10 Patch Day Paradise!