This morning, Mandyasked how everyone felt about the new Season 4 gear that was recently unveiled on the PTR. The general consensus seems to be that the armor sets are -- for lack of a better word -- underwhelming. Reusing the skins from the token gear that drops from Sunwell Plateau, the armor sets seem to suffer from a case of the Jackson Pollocks. Player feedback, according to the comments on this site as well as the World of Wacraft forums, indicates disappointment with the new sets.
Unfortunately, players unhappy with the look of the new gear shouldn't be holding their collective breaths for an update. Drysc has already stated that Blizzard's artists are devoting all of their energy at Wrath of the Lich King. He says that it takes time to develop new armor sets and that he's not surprised that the new (Badge) gear are mostly color shifts. While Arena gear has traditionally been recolored versions of their PvE counterparts -- e.g. Season 1 gear was recolored Tier 4 -- the new sets create problems because they're no longer distinctive to each class but rather to the armor category to which they belong.
So I've been really excited about the coming of Arena season four.Unfortunately I'm not particularly thrilled about the gear models, and I am not alone.Perhaps the developers say reusing the tier 6.5 models from the Sunwell (Tier 6.5) as a good way to cut corners, but it just doesn't look like PvP gear.It seems to be the way the Arena gear is designed.
I'm pretty sure whoever recolored these skins probably has an issue with their visual perception. The Hunter gear looks like an armored clown suit and the Shaman set is reminiscent of a test for colorblindness. I'm not usually one to rant, but these sets are a visual disappointment. I'm not asking for pink and black (although that appeals to my inner girly girl), but for the love of Christopher Walken, at least make the set match itself.
To date my favorite set to look at is the Season Two gear, especially the Warrior set.I feel that they the designers really captured the uniqueness of the classes best with those sets.
Our diligent friend Boubouille from MMO Champion has done it again -- we don't know how he does it, but he's done it again. He's tipped us to having managed to dig up files from Patch 2.4.2 and found a treasure trove of the items most people probably won't be able to get. The items are incredible upgrades from the previous season and look to be on par with Sunwell Plateau gear in terms of item points. [EDIT: Apparently, what Boubouille did was take the game files after the vendors on the PTR were unlocked and collated them -- still nothing to dismiss.]
Following the trend of Patch 2.4, two new spell haste weapons have appeared in the files -- the Brutal Gladiator's Blade of Alacrity and a hammer version called the Brutal Gladiator's Hammer of Swift Judgement. The hammer has slightly more Stamina but possesses no spell hit. The two weapons have no spell damage and healing bonuses but are, if they make it to live in their current form, the highest spell haste items in the game at a whopping 227. This translates to roughly 14.5% speed increase, the highest gain from a single item. From the looks of it, these weapons alone will be worth the 2200 2050 [EDIT: my bad! i wrote this post up in five minutes before rushing out to see Iron Man! That movie rocked, by the way, so go out and watch it!] rating required to get them. Read about every single Brutal Gladiator item -- from item sets to weapons -- over at MMO Champion.
Zach Yonzon takes over Blood Sport this week while new columnist Amanda Dean recuperates from a fever. Former columnist Vims decided he'll take his ominous laughter over to the Warlock columns exclusively.
The writing is on the wall. Welfare epics are on the way out. With the new changes to the personal rating requirements -- which now includes gear purchasable by Honor -- it will no longer be possible to completely gear up through PvP without stepping into Arenas. The moment the announcement was made, everything changed for PvP and gear distribution to the player base. With the introduction of the new requirements, Arena and Honor-bought gear has become more restrictive than ever.
How does this change the playing field? In two words? A lot. The good will get better, the bad will get worse, and the mediocre won't be getting anywhere. It is no longer possible to participate in Arenas casually. In fact, World of Warcraft PvP as we know it has changed completely. Clearly meant to address point selling teams, the personal rating requirement affects legitimate contenders -- or at least challengers (no pun intended) -- who play Arenas.
There is no question that gear is a differentiator in Warcraft PvP. Certainly it's not the only differentiator, but the impact of gear disparity in Arenas is such that it creates an artificial barrier of entry for players who are only beginning to play it. Players who have been playing since Season 1 or 2 will have garnered enough Arena points for at least 4/5 Season 3 gear. Players who have just hit Level 70 or decided to do Arenas late are at a disadvantage. With the changes to the PvP gear system, the gear gap will grow even wider.
Drysc has just posted what may soon be known as the death knell of "welfare epics," announcing new arena season 4 rating requirements for the brutal gladiator gear that extend not only to the shoulders and weapon, but to many other pieces of gear as well, even to honor-purchased gear. We've seen some of the gear leaked recently, and some of the ratings requirements leakeda bit earlier than that, but now we have the official whole picture.
Vims has already speculated on when ArenaSeason 4 will arrive, pegging it somewhere around early to mid-June. I tend to agree with that statement as Blizzard has noted on several occasions that Season 4 isn't coming anytime soon. Considering that none of servers worldwide have even opened the second gate in Sunwell Plateau, it means that equivalent level PvE items won't be cascading into the player base for quite some time. This gives players roughly around a month and two weeks to prepare for the next Arena season, if not longer. Banking ahead Because Arena points are capped at 5,000, players with enough Arena gear can start banking points in preparation for the new season. If gear prices remain the same (which is likely as prices have been constant through Seasons 1-3), players can open the Arena week with 3/5 Brutal Gladiator pieces: the gloves, which are priced at 1,125 Arena points during the current season; and any two of the chestpiece, headpiece, or leg piece, which go for 1,875 points. It is also possible to purchase the 1,500 points worth shoulder piece on the first week if players manage to raise their personal rating to a highly restrictive 2200 if the speculated changes make it live. Because personal ratings are calculated directly after each game, it is possible to purchase the personal ratings-limited shoulder pieces or weapons provided the player has enough points during the first week.
MMO-Champion was able to take a sneak peek at some items released on the official WoW Armory and discovered some truly brutal news: if the items go live as they appeared on the armory, the new personal rating requirement to wear Season 4 shoulder pieces will now be 2200. This is a steep ratings increase from Season 3, where shoulder pieces required a personal rating of 2000. As of this writing, the two items that MMO-Champion was able to scope out cannot be searched for on the official WoW Armory -- either hidden from searches or removed from the database entirely. The Brutal Gladiator's Mooncloth Mantle and Brutal Gladiator's Ornamented Spaulders no longer appear in the item database although MMO-Champion was quick to take screenshots. [EDIT: Apparently, the items are viewable in the EU Armory, you can view the Mooncloth shoulders and healing plate shoulders. - Thanks, BaboonNL!]
There is no guarantee that these item changes will make it live or if the weapon requirements -- currently 1850 for Season 3 -- have also been raised. Although Tharfor has gone on record to state that it's likely that Season 3 items' ratings requirements will be lowered in Season 4, Blizzard didn't mention raising the rating requirements for Brutal Gladiator pieces. According to Realm History, this means that roughly 12% of players rated 2000 and above in 5v5 teams will qualify for the shoulder pieces; 11% of the 3v3 bracket; and about 9% of the 2v2 bracket. That means an even smaller percentage of the general population. As much as Patch 2.4 catered to casual content, if these details make it live, it seems as though Arena play has become even more hardcore than ever.
Although we've speculated in the past as to when Arena Season 4 will be going live, our anticipation fanned by the revelation of more and moreBrutal Gladiator gear, Kalgan pops by the WoW General discussion forums to pour cold water on everyone's expectations by saying that Season 4 will start "Not very soon." He explains further that "S3 rewards have quite a bit of life left in them before they start to feel obsoleted by pve gear." Given that the Arena items uncovered so far in the PTR are only a fraction of what is supposed to be a wide collection, this sounds more than plausible.
As Drysc explained earlier in the same post, PvP gear is designed to match PvE gear progression -- for instance, Arena Season 3 items are roughly on par with Black Temple and Mount Hyjal gear. The Sunwell Plateau needs to be unlocked in stages, as quests and raid drops open up more content, meaning most of the PvE gear that is a step up from BT/MH gear won't be available until at least a few weeks after Patch 2.4 goes live. It stands to reason that Arena Season 4 will only begin when most of the PvE progression has access to the Sunwell Plateau's latter bosses such as M'uru and Kil'jaeden. Considering that Patch 2.4 doesn't seem quite done yet, Season 4 is probably quite a ways off.
More news on the PvP item front: MMO Champion has uncovered more Season 4 items on the PTR. While they're not yet available from any vendor, it seems like the first Brutal Gladiator items have been appearing in trickles, including the first and so far only weapon, a 2-handed sword. The new sword seems to be taking after the trend started by Season 3 which added Armor Penetration into the item points. It's a good bet that all other Season 4 melee weapons will also contain Armor Penetration. The weapon also seems to be a massive upgrade over the previous season's Vengeful Gladiator's Greatsword, which has a top-end of 580 while the new weapon appears to have a top-end of 624, a full 44 more than its predecessor. In contrast, the Vengeful weapon only had 31 over the Merciless Gladiator's Greatsword. The PTR files peg the Season 4 2-hander at 144.4 damage per second, a whopping 10.2 DPS over Season 3's greatsword, which in turn was only 7.3 DPS over Season 2's greatsword.
The Honor-purchasable PvP non-set items have also been revealed to be called Guardian gear, following Season 1's General, Season 2's Veteran's, and Season 3's Vindicator's items. Just like their predecessors, the new belt, boots, and bracers are a visual match for their corresponding Arena set. This should be welcome news to those who like to look their prettiest in public. While the prices haven't been specified, there's good reason to believe that they'll match current Vindicator gear Honor prices, which means it's probably a good idea to start saving up those Honor and Arena points now. It looks like Season 4 might be coming out sooner than we think.
So I've been really excited about the coming of Arena season four.
Although we've 
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