While these are a nice reward, I'd like to see a couple of things looked at. First of all, I'd like to see these "count" towards having gotten a same slot piece of level appropriate raid armor and be considered as an unlocking mechanism within the raid armor levels. Currently, they don't count for anything other than being a nice replacement for a shoulder pattern. And yes, they do have a black adorn slot. I'm not clear on why regular raid armor drops don't have those either. Why would a player need or want two items of similar quality, one unlocking the next tier, and one doesn't, and one having a black adorn slot and the other doesn't. Not the least, you have to infuse both items to be useful. That's a waste of resources in my opinion. Secondly, while I get the current game design absolutely adores artificial gating mechanisms, here's one that would be hugely appreciated by gamers and would absolutely reinforce your stated goal of making the game more accessible to a larger playing base and get people more interested in continuing to play or return. ELIMINATE the armor gating system currently in place for both Heroic and Raiding. Currently, you have to have every piece of an underlying heroic/raid armor set before you can get the next upgrade for the same slot. So raids are continuously running lower level zones and nauseum getting players geared for stuff they really don't need just so they can qualify to buy the next slot upgrade for T2 and so one. Which means that piece doesn't get used and since you can't mute it, salvage it, it has zero value.That also means the person who does need it as an upgrade isn't getting it either. If you're in a Heroic or raid group that's already running T2s on a regular basis, you really don't need to be running T1s just to get a piece you missed because it doesn't drop that often. If you're in a T2 zone, then if someone wins that piece, they should be able to wear it immediately if they have gems, regardless of what they are currently wearing. If that logical notion causes you shortness of breath, then here's an alternative: when a crate drops in a T1 zone, have all the appropriate armor available for that level available as a choice. So if it's Mudwalker for example, all slots are available to select your choice, not just one item that no one needs. This stops groups and raids from running zones endless amounts of time hoping for an elusive drop. The point of running zones--at least in my opinion--is getting gear you can actually use, so you can take on the next level. It makes grouping and raiding more attractive and progression would be quicker. It would be a "win-win" for all parties...DBG and the player base. Thanks for considering.
Partial answer about the black adorns Gemcrafted and high tier armor all have black adorn slots. The t4 raid mobs check periodically and kill all toons that don't have a full set of black adorns during their fight.
Thanks, Mermut, it's good info. Since the item dropped in a tier two zone, it makes the drop even that more interesting--or odd--depending on your point of view.
Gemcrafted armor pieces are all T3. The weekly quests drop gear that's above their own tier. For example, the T1 weekly quest can drop Mythic 1 armor, T2 patterns, and T2 jewelry/cloaks/belts/weapons. Similarly, the T2 weekly quest can drop T3 armor, Mythic 1 patterns, and Mythic 1 jewelry/cloaks/belts/weapons. I can't confirm it, but I believe the T3 weekly acts the same way.
Personally, I think from the get-go, all the raid gear should have been tier unlockers, and not set unlocks. It's a pain in the tookis to wait for certain pieces to drop, or just taking what you can to try to unlock the next tier of stuff. I'm still not sure if I took a destruction piece from one tier, if I could unlock an enlightened piece of the next tier, or if I have to wait for something of the same set. But it's ridiculous trying to piece together a set, and the bottleneck on t1 and t3 stuff is painful, especially since there are only a few t3 mobs at all.
Yes, I simply consider it another artificial gating mechanism that's annoying as hell to players trying to progress through content. It wouldn't be so bad if the crate dropped all pieces in a pattern chain, so you can get the missing piece you need as a raid and move on. Instead, let's only have one instance that drops a chest piece so we can run it 24 different times as a minimum just to get a piece so we can actually move on to the next raid levels.
Something as simple as the reward being the unlock for the spot, arms, legs, etc, then buy what you need from the armor merchant. This continual forced slow downs do nothing more than aggravate the raiding community.
Anyone else notice that the Jeweler recipe books in progression for crafting belts has the Veilwalker's Belt of Stamina & Voidpiercer's Belt of Stamina but the Empyral version for the same belt is missing... All the other belts are there.
