Titan Residuum hotfix tries to limit gear funneling but just encourages extreme split raids

One of the side effects that came with the new Titan Residuum system in patch 8.1 last month was that it could be acquired from any piece of gear, including that not of your own armor type. Naturally, in a game where players strive to use any advantage, this encouraged funneling loot to individuals so they could acquire enough Titan Residuum to purchase gear from the vendor.

In a hotfix that came with this week’s restarts, that particular mechanic was removed, making it so that only gear you could use would give Titan Residuum. Unfortunately for many players, this change comes too late.

With this week's restarts, a hotfix is being applied applied that causes items not intended for your class to no longer provide Titan Residuum when disenchanted or scrapped.

This fix is now live in NA/ANZ, and will be live with the upcoming restarts in the remaining regions.

— WarcraftDevs (@WarcraftDevs) January 15, 2019

It seems odd to make such a large and controversial change after a month of players taking advantage of it, and very likely has to do with the new Battle of Dazar’alor raid coming out next week. It’s not like Blizzard wasn’t aware that funneling for Titan Residuum was happening or even that it would happen — many players provided feedback and warnings on the forums. It seems that they are trying to stem the tide of gear acquisition and remove a way for players to grab the new pieces right away when Season 2 opens for Mythic + the same day as raid opening. This could mean Blizzard is trying to prevent balancing the new raid around a raid full of players having access to 415 ilvl gear, as opposed to a few select members.

On one hand, we have top guilds like Method and Limit stacking single armor type raids to funnel loot. But, let’s be real, split raiding is never going to go away completely. As long as there is an edge to be gained, world-first raiders will take it. They raid on a completely different level with a completely different mindset. What this change seems to be aimed at are those middle guilds who would follow in their footsteps if given the chance.

While it can be nice for raids to give gear to players who are lacking in a certain armor slot, the original mechanic also encouraged pressure to give up gear that players may desire for an off-spec so that others could get more Titan Residuum. While this change seems like Blizzard “saving us from ourselves,” it also encourages more extreme behavior at the higher end and punishes those players who just wanted to help their friends. We already had a system before that made up for gear slot inadequacies and didn’t pressure players or encourage split runs — it was called Badges. Maybe we need a return (of the return) of Valor Points.