One of the most disappointing things at the moment is how the epic weapons and legendary gem that you spent months farming essentially turn out to be worthless the minute you acquire a better weapon from the Throne of Thunder. While it’s always exciting for new forms of loot to be found, I felt that the treatment of the Sha-Touched weapons and legendary gem pretty much made the whole experience not very epic nor legendary.
So one of my suggestions to Blizzard is that for the next major raid, they ought to allow your Sha-Touched weapons and gem to be upgradeable. No, I’m not talking about the Voidbinders having the ability to upgrade them further (although that would be logical). I’m talking about finding things in the raid or some quest line that allows you to re-use the Sha-Touched weapons and gem with enhanced stats.
With Garrosh being the supposed end boss for this expansion, one can only assume that he has some connection to the forces of the Sha. Perhaps, his existence can only be affected by the Sha-Touched weapons? Perhaps, the gems that you use have some sort of property that can cause him grief? Unfortunately, since the weapons will not be as effective as say the weapons you end up finding from Throne of Thunder, you still need ways to improve their effectiveness.
In turn, the only way to defeat him is through undergoing a quest line (more than likely some scenarios) that have the players acquire materials to improve and perhaps customize their weapons in preparation for defeating Garrosh. Doing this quest line would provide an entry point to allow players to enter the new raid. Either that or those who have acquired Thunderforged weapons would also have the opportunity to enter the raid since perhaps those items will have the capabilities to affect Garrosh and his minions.
I like this idea because it’s a different approach to how the game has been handled in terms of boss encounters. My problem in World of Warcraft when it comes to raiding is that the loot system ends up being ass backwards from a well told storyline viewpoint. That is, you’re blocked in getting the items needed to down a boss by another boss who acts as a wall. In my scenario, you’re given the tools necessary to down the boss.
Here’s another way to look at this situation. Think about Dungeons and Dragons and how certain creatures are immune to weapons unless they’re magically imbued. Take a Demilich as a prime example. A total asshole DM can insert a Demilich at any time but without weapons such as a +4/+5 weapon, vorpal sword, sword of sharpness, etc. the party pretty much will be wiped out in an instant. The only way around this is to allow the party to find the weapons or items necessary to defend themselves. There was a module that did something like this and it’s something that makes sense anytime you decide to put a foe that is practically unbeatable.
Usually, what I’ve found in encounters is that the weapons are the most significant aspect to the DPS of a group. Yet most weapons are barricaded behind the last boss. Well, that really isn’t fair. You could be farming for months for weapons like the ones you acquired from Heart of Fear or Terrace of Endless Spring but the effort becomes meaningless just because a new raid comes about. Then you’re behind once again until you coincidentally roll on a decent weapon. When you get into this situation, it’s quite frustrating because it’s a case of “what’s the point?”
My solution at least makes use of your previous effort and creates a better sense of overall continuity rather than relying on the cheap tricks Blizzard pulls when it comes to loot. I mean, think about it. Let’s say all the horde raid Ogrimmar, they’re home base and they’re getting gear that excels everything. So why didn’t the weaponsmiths in Ogrimmar simply provide epics for people to use against the Lich King, Deathwing, the Sha of Fear, Lei Shen, etc.? Wouldn’t you think that the people you’re trying to save, if they had the equipment to spare, would simply give out that gear to those trying to save them? Why would they just sell really shoddy equipment and buy back all your gray junk? What kind of fucked up economics is this?
At any rate, I like this idea a lot. It’s something that they slightly tried with the legendary gem quest. I would like them to expand on this idea even further.