In a message published during the evening, Scariizard goes into detail on several experiments that the developers want to put in place for raid loot with Season 4 of shadowlands. Find all the details below.
As we move from class sets and the Creation Catalyst from Patch 9.2 to Dragonflight, the developers are thinking about the philosophy of rewards, including loot acquisition and how it could be improved. Season 4 represents a unique opportunity to try out some experimental changes that might be too volatile for a regular season, but provide data and feedback that can be used to improve the game over the long term.
It is important to clarify that the systems that will be discussed today are designed around the specific objectives of the shorter Season 4. It is possible that even if these are well received, significant changes will take place to match the pace and expected progression of a normal content season. Nevertheless, the team wants to show that it is interested in approaching rewards from different angles, and listen to players’ wishes for increased bad luck protection and ensure that in-game rewards match player efforts. .
Raid Vendors and Limited Currency
Season 4 will have a trio of Trader vendors present near the Great Vault. Each of these Traders has goods from one of the three raids of shadowlands : Château Nathria, the Sanctum of Domination and the Sepulcher of the Founders. The latter sell jewelry, weapons, and other special items from their respective raids. Each of these items will have the same price: one Puzzling Cartel Dinar each, with a specificity. You will only be able to get 3 Puzzling Cartel Dinars during the entire season. After spending your last Dinar, Traders leave town and take their goods with them. Items sold by these vendors will be from the Normal Season 4 ‘Fated’ item level range, 278-285, depending on the item.
To acquire these, enter any raid of shadowlands after the start of Season 4 to begin a three-part questline. These quests require killing a number of unique Fated bosses while the Season 4 raid affix is active. These quests offer a Puzzling Cartel Dinar upon completion and progress to the next part of the quest. (Killing the same boss in the same week does not grant progress – killing the Naphtremens on Normal and Heroic in the same week only grants one victory). At the moment, this one calls for 30 wins, 20 wins, and 10 wins, making your second and third coin faster over time – week 3 being the fastest possible to receive a Dinar, and week 6 the fastest. possible to receive the latest.
This system originally came to reduce the rotating nature of Season 4 spokes. Each player has less of a chance of seeing individual pieces of loot when Sylvanas Fated or Jailer Fated is only killable once every three weeks, and the developers want to see how players respond to this idea of having a limited but fixed way to aim for individual rooms in raids. Everyone has already spent months and months killing a specific boss every week without seeing the desired item drop, and the developers hope this system will fix some extremely bad luck in the worst cases. At the same time, the team doesn’t want a shortcut to the gameplay experience – it shouldn’t be possible for players to just buy the best item for a slot through a vendor in week 1 of a season – and it’s very possible that this implementation will undermine some of your character progression. That said, the developers have heard the wishes for such a system, and believe Season 4 is the right time to give it a try.
Heroic and Mythic Enhancement Items
Next, the developers are exploring ways for raiders to improve raid loot when passing difficulty. In Season 4, killing bosses on Heroic and Mythic difficulties will drop a ‘fragment’ of an upgrade item, and when you have enough of them (currently 20), these will combine to upgrade a Heroic or Fated gear. Mythical respectively. Unlike the Puzzling Cartel Dinar discussed above, which is a quest you need to complete to earn these over time, these buff shards will start dropping on day one of the season with a 100% drop rate. , allowing you to progress each week from the start. These enhancement items will work on any item with the Fated tag, including those sold by the previously mentioned Trader vendors. This upgrade system combined with Puzzling Cartel Dinar vendors will allow players to purchase three pieces of Heroic or Mythic raid gear, if you complete enough difficult content to build yourself a stash of upgrade shards.
While the Heroic or Mythic buff item still requires the base item to drop for you in some way, this means the option to do other raid difficulties to get your desired piece is available for players who wish to go further. Additionally, it gives guilds that start at Normal and upgrade to Heroic, or Heroic and upgrade to Mythic the ability to keep some of their favorite items with them as they level up. Often, if a guild can’t pass a specific point while progressing (a new boss or a Great Vault threshold), the time it takes to re-raid to that pass can feel like a wasted effort. The developers hope this system brings more value to just killing bosses with your party, while also allowing those playing on higher difficulties (like, say, a guild that can only do 3 Mythic bosses per week) the ability to ‘save’ for a moment of excitement that both rewards effort over time, and makes progress towards completing your raid objectives easier.
Season 4 is an exciting time where the team is trying many things that WoW has never done before and the developers can’t wait to see how these systems work for raiders with the Fated affix at launch.
What about class sets?
Class sets from Patch 9.2 will still be active in Season 4, and the Creation Catalyst will remain active with all charges accumulated. Tokens will not be added to Castle Nathria and Sanctum of Domination, as you will be able to upgrade any obtained item to a set piece of a higher item level as is currently possible .
Domination Locations
Shards and Domination buffs will be disabled entirely for Season 4. The developers didn’t want to put any additional pressure on Sanctum Fated’s balance, and there was enough disparity between classes and armor types that specializations and classes could potentially carry a 3-piece Domination bonus and their 4-piece unlike others which would create an imbalance during these weeks. The developers have also had feedback indicating that it would be unfair for players who have not kept Domination gear to be at such a disadvantage.
Raid Finder/Open World
Raid Finder will have a Season 4/Fated difficulty, and all wings will be available from the start. If the rotation starts with Castle Nathria in Fated raid, all Castle Nathria in Raid Finder will be replaced by the higher item level Castle Nathria Fated. Raid Finder also counts towards quest progress, players who do not complete a raid during the week can complete the remaining bosses via this difficulty.
Additionally, World Bosses tied to currently Fated raids will also be scaled – more difficult and giving Fated gear of item level 285.
Why only weapons and jewelry?
These systems are not intended to replace the primary method of obtaining gear – having all raids in a set at the current item level is something entirely new to WoW, and will create many powerful item combinations as well as a lot of frustration not receiving them. The developers wanted vendors to target loot pieces that are more impactful to players and bring negative feedback. Many players feel that if they can’t get a Night’s Edge, they can’t play Rogue in 9.1/9.2. This is rarely the case with boots or armbands. Focusing on those high-level items makes those vendors special, and the system focuses on that protection, rather than being an alternate/replacement method of gearing (which it isn’t).
Grand Vault Integration
A current demand is the integration of this system via the Great Vault tokens. While the devs aren’t currently interested in providing a higher amount of Dinars during the season, offering Heroic or Mythic buff shards in some way could very well be possible, but the team wants to make sure that you can only buy Heroic or Mythic upgrade shards if you do a minimum of raids on those difficulties. No guarantees, but it’s not impossible.
Heroic and Mythic Enhancement Fragments
The latter do not improve in a linear fashion. If you have a Heroic upgrade item, it takes the Raid Finder or Normal item and makes it Heroic. Similarly, if you have a Mythic enhancement item, you can target a Raid Finder, Normal OR Heroic item, and it will turn into Mythic. These don’t need to be in order – Mythic raiders can ignore Heroic if they wish.