No, the upcoming World Quest gear ilevel boost won’t ruin your raiding gear

With the introduction of Crucible of Storms last week and the coming of Mythic and Raid Finder this April 23rd, a lot of us are preparing for our first time inside the new raid. For those of us who primarily raid via Raid Finder, therefore, it can sometimes be a bit of a struggle getting geared up — that one piece you’re looking for to boost your ilevel just won’t drop and even if everything else you have is well above the level of the instance (350 for CoS raid finder) that one piece can hold you back. Now, Blizzard is doing something to help players get that ilevel increase — it’s boosting the item level for all item drops from World Quests. Starting with this week’s reset, gear is getting a ten item level boost except for Azerite Armor pieces, which will go up to 400 from the current 385.

I don’t run Raid Finder — when I raid, I go with my guild, which tends to run Normal or Heroic and doesn’t worry much about Mythic. This puts me squarely in the middle of the pack in terms of raid gearing. And I think this is a great change. First off, no, it doesn’t invalidate raiding or raid gear — raiding items have always been better itemized than WQ drops and I don’t expect that will change any time soon. The raid gear has better Azerite Armor powers overall, it’s got better stats, it more often has sockets. Pound for pound, the raiding trinkets are much cooler and more interesting than the ones you’ll get from WQs or Emissaries. So no, I’m not worried that making WQ and other soloable content drop better gear is going to invalidate raiding or raid gear. Raid gear looks better, it has better stats, it’s still better.

Options aren’t a bad thing

No, what this does is simply put. This change means that if you get a WQ trinket or ring or weapon that fills a hole in your itemization — whether that hole comes from bad loot luck or you being undergeared and trying to gear up so you can go to a raid in the first place — it’s going to help you a little bit more. For players who don’t raid at all? It’s a positive change. For players who primarily raid in Raid Finder? It’s a positive change. For players who primarily raid normal or above? It’s at best a mildly positive change, and if you don’t bother with WQ gear or Emissaries anymore? It has no effect on you. Similarly, if your main source of gearing is running 5 player Mythic+ content? This will again be a net positive, making it easier to get gear for those slots the dungeon hasn’t given you pieces for yet.

It’s hard to imagine for everyone, but as much as WoW is a social game, not everyone wants to always be social in that game. There are times when I log on just to do an Emissary or two, because I’m feeling stressed and want to mindlessly kill some stuff for a while. I still chat with guildmates and such, I still raid when I feel up to it, but for me and others like me letting us gear up purely through WQs is another positive step. It takes us a lot longer and we won’t get gear as good as raiding or Mythic+ (which is a nice carrot to get me to go to raids) but overall letting players get geared up through solo play before sticking their feet into Raid Finder is a really good decision.