Season 4 items unveiled

by Zach Yonzon May 1st 2008 at 8:30AM

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.

Tags: Arena, Arena-Season-4, Brutal-Gladiator, Items, MMO-Champion, Patch-2.4.2, Season-4

Filed under: Items, PvP, Arena

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

dan May 1st 2008 8:41AM

I thought weapons were 2050 rating

Callandra May 1st 2008 8:42AM

Can anyone verify the approximate difference between S4 and S3? Similar to that of S3 to S2?

Svenn May 1st 2008 8:51AM

1. Weapons require 2050 rating, not 2200, those are the requirements for the shoulders.
2. 227 spell haste is not 12.5% speed increase, it's around 14.5%. 227/15.7
3. "Increadible upgrades"? The stat upgrades on each item is minimal, and you only need 1700 rating to get most of them.

WoW insider should really stop making pvp articles with bias or bad info.

Eamon May 1st 2008 8:54AM

I was always under the impression that mmo-champion.com just stole most of their data-mined info from wowraids.com

bwahaha May 1st 2008 8:54AM

"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."

the vendors have been enabled on the test realm. what a great accomplishment for him!

"He's tipped us to having managed to dig up files from Patch 2.4.2"

again, the vendors have been enabled. it's on worldofraids for like 7 hours now. great job being an mmo-champion fanboy ... :D

"The items are incredible upgrades from the previous season"

they are not.

Parcy May 1st 2008 8:58AM

No offense but the Arena Season 4 Vendors popped up on the PTR 9 hours ago, you should check several sources before posting. (wowblues, worldofraids, worldofwar)

Bob May 1st 2008 8:59AM

I always look forward to the release of new sets to see what the art team has come up with, but this is by far the most disappointing set of designs I've seen in this game. Very bland. Maybe the expansion is closer than we think and they don't expect people to sport that gear for very long.

Kassius May 1st 2008 9:14AM

/agreed, lack of class distinction is dissapointing, but i suppose their is no t7 to use. the looks aren't very impressive

evidence of Blizzard's prioritisaion of PVE i guess

Vestras May 1st 2008 9:09AM

Not that I care per se, but why is it the Priest PVP gear has no spirit on it whatsoever when many of their talants are greatly incresed by spirit?

Also, check out a lil ways down, they have gamefile images of 4 variations on the Zerva mount

Cynra May 1st 2008 11:24AM

Spirit's benefit to the priest relies on two key points: one, that we're able to regen up to 30% of our mana during casting and still within the 5 Secodn Rule, and two, that it adds between 5 and 35% of our Spirit stat to our healing and damage (depending on how far you spec into the Holy tree and if you acquire any points in Improved Divien Spirit).

In general, the benefit of Spirit is in its massive mana regenerative powers, especially post-2.4 with the changed to a Spirit-based mana regen system. Full raid buffed, I easily make 1,000 mana regen (as a human priest with Spirit of Redemption -- those two have huge impacts on my Spirit stat!).

There are two reasons that I can think of for why Spirit doesn't exist on the PvP gear. First off, my experience shows that mana regen doesn't come into play for most matches I've played (mind you, I've never been above the 1800 bracket!). The matches are far too short and the skills used in PvP favor fast-casting, highly mana-inefficient ability (Flash Heal as opposed to Greater Heal, frequent Power Word: Shields, and so on). The gear is instead itemized towards those stats that better suit PvP (Stamina, Resilience, Intellect for the larger mana pool and higher spell crit, and so on). Spirit is better suited to fights that last for an extended period of time.

Secondly, if PvP gear contained a lot of Spirit, it would be better suited to PvE and raid progression; while the weapons have typically been somewhat suitable for raiding, I like how PvP and PvE gear is itemized differently.

Of course, until the most recent patch it was an absolute bear to acquire gear that had a lot of Spirit, even on casters. The robes from Zul'Aman were among the first I'd seen. Even the pre-2.4 badge gear was oddly itemized and, as with the current healing weapon just released with the new badge vendor, the weapons completely lack any Spirit.

Vestras May 1st 2008 12:59PM

See I was wondering bcause I know Deep Discipline builds are popular in 5v5 and even 3v3 teams, and Spirit for Dam/heal bonuses really makes a diffrence, though I agree the mana regen side doesn't come into play in an arena fight.

Still, your points are well made

Cynra May 1st 2008 2:25PM

Ah, but if you're considering it from the Discipline perspective the benefit to be gained from Spirit is MUCH less than you would see Holy. With Spiritual Guidance, you're looking at an increase of 25% of your Spirit towards Bonus Healing and Bonus Damage; with Improved Divine Spirit, you're looking at a mere 10% at most -- and that's only if the buff remains up, which against the multitude of shamans and priests in Arena teams usually isn't the case. In fact, many Discipline builds include "fluff buffs" such as Blessed Recovery, a single point for Divine Spirit, and Martyrdom to prevent Renew, Power Word: Shield, Power Infusion, and Pain Supression from being Dispelled, Purged, or Spell Stolen.

So, in Arena and with a Discipline build, you're looking at much less benefit from Spirit than you would as a Holy priest. You're comparing a 10% of Spirit increase at most that can be removed to a 25% of Spirit increase that is innate. With the prevalence of Discipline priests in Arena -- and the absolute dearth of Holy priests -- you won't find Spirit on the gear because the itemization isn't really needed.

At least until they give Holy priests the Holy Form that the Sunblade Dawn Priest on Sunwell possess. An increases to Healing Effects of 25% and reduction of melee damage taken by 20%? Yes please!

Thakgor May 1st 2008 9:25AM

Those are some ugly azz armor skins.

Angelus May 1st 2008 3:50PM

couldnt have said it better myself.

Monkey5 May 1st 2008 8:19PM

Seriously fugly. Wow.

PJ May 1st 2008 9:28AM

Exactly, most people won't be able to get. So who cares.

patrick May 1st 2008 12:15PM

you people are ridiculous, at least he put it here to inform the rest of us that weren't monitoring the ptr in our sleep that the sets were available and whether or not it was that difficult to report or the set are that huge of an increase, he pointed to where the info is concisely gathered so you can peruse it or not at your leisure. Heaven forbid he covered something that another mmo news source has. Isn't that what news carriers do. Do you think the wall street journal would step back from covering a major event because the new york times published their take on it first? Chill out and get a life peeps!