In a somewhat related question, how far has EJ gotten on the 40-man on the PTR? Or is that top secret knowledge?

We haven't yet set foot in it. PTR isn't going anywhere, and between server instability, Alliance comedy kings ganking people at the AQ zone-in (hello Barrens!) and annoying UI bugs, we're in no hurry.

Sadly I had the same experiences, but I am pretty excited with this new addition, I have been hearing good things about the instances and the more importantly the loot inside :)

What are your thoughts on the new items in the instances, do you think Blizzard is doing a better job creating drops? It seems like some of the loot in AQ is quite amazing. I am really excited to get my guild going with this new addition.

I am personally upset that Tigole said there would be no Tier 3 set, but in fact there practically is!

I guess blizzard defines "tier sets" as eight piece sets.

Not precisely -- for pure DPS classes it's hard to see much of a distinction. Better is better. More damage is more damage. But for warriors, druids, priests, shamans, and paladins, the AQ sets are not progression loot. Being able to shock and lightning bolt for a bit more will not really make the raid group much more powerful. The sets add a lot of versatility (the warrior set is a great example of this) and that's good. But Wrath is still better for tanking. Transcendence is still better for healing. And so on.

I think Naxxramas is going to be the true next "tier" of raid content, and BWL and AQ are designed to be roughly parallel. You will need some mixture of BWL and AQ gear to do well in Naxxramas.

Or maybe Blizzard really just has no sense of raid progression.

I would actually be somewhat excited if this is the case... my guild has had poor luck with BWL thus far, but I am hoping this new content addition will be the shot in the arm we need to get our arses in gear.

But you are right from a DPS, bring a rogue, point of view there are some definite upgrades for me in AQ, more so then I saw in BWL.

Well, after a bit of time spent in AQ40 tonight, the first two bosses are very much more accessible than the start of BWL.

If Razor and Vael are proving a problem, you can absolutely do the first parts of AQ40 as a parallel path. And it's nice to get away from all the fire and dragons.

I think a mix of wrath and other sets makes for the best tanking gear, but fundamentally, the upgrade path has turned into something of a squiggly line.

Maybe AQ is the raid that will go from easy to hard to match BWL's hard->easy progression.

Yeah, that's been stated openly.

Though AQ loot seems to be designed by someone who is actively trying to exploit the item budget system, and thus tends to be awesome, you can learn about how Blizzard views mob difficulty by looking at the loot ilvl they drop. Stats are spread among many areas and many equip bonuses for maximum effect. The Prophet dropped a 70.7 DPS 2h mace with +30 damage/healing and +55 or so split among str/sta/int. That's a touch below Herald of Woe, but not much. Herald of Woe is an ilvl75 item that drops from Flamegor. The Hammer we got is ilvl73 by my estimate.

Majordomo's chest yields ilvl70-71 items.
Onyxia drops ilvl72-76 items. (Ancient Cornerstone is ilvl 76 :blink:)
Razorgore drops ilvl73 items.
Vaelastrasz drops ilvl74 items.
Broodlord through Flamegor drop ilvl75 items.
Ragnaros drops ilvl76-77 items.
Chromaggus drops ilvl77 items.
Nefarian drops ilvl81-83 items.

Actually, I hadn't really ever sat down and plotted that out. I think Blizzard must have originally intended to be more of a linear increase in difficulty than it ended up being. Or maybe the loot that mobs drop is simply a reflection of how deep the mob is in a zone rather than the particular mob's difficulty. Because Ragnaros is not harder than Vaelastrasz or Firemaw, sorry.

But anyway, I think by whatever measure we use, Blizzard intends the start of AQ40 to be slightly easier than BWL, which I think it is. And I'm sure it'll end up much harder than BWL to justify the insane loot from the last 3-4 bosses.

The tier 2 breastplates that come (indirectly) from C'thun appear to have an ilvl of 87 or 88, so that's where the zone is going to end up.

And that's practically right from the zone in. The trash mobs leading up to the first boss are about as difficult as Onyxia's warders, and the boss takes all of 5 minutes to prep for and kill.

[quote=Praetorian,November 28th, 2005 @ 9:59AM] Not the hunter set :-( +dmg/healing is beneficial but not efficient.


But Tier Bug sounds good.

[quote=Elfan,November 28th, 2005 @ 3:09PM] stop reading/posting on the forums and check for teh dragons!

I hate to break it to you guys but no dragons will be spawning today.

When will the EJ RSS fead for world bosses be ready?

[quote=Elfan,November 28th, 2005 @ 2:09PM] There's still a shitton more agility on the Hunter set than the Tier 2.

The minute we're done making Nex shards, we'll let you know.