The gaze of the Black Prince had been both blessing and curse to her once upon a time. Her journey long and arduous, the blood of the enemy stained her boots. Now she stood on the corpse of the vanquished Fire God – Ordos – her cloak whipping about her frame and victory beating within her heart. Her journey was at an end. But as with any end, there is always another beginning ‘round the bend.
To be legendary, one must obtain– a truly legendary cloak. What hero is hero without one? To help you on your danger fraught quest, the infamous Black Prince would grant you a boon to help make the journey toward adorning your own cloak a little easier. Will you follow in the footsteps of heroes that have come before and brave the challenge?
Beginning Tuesday, June 17 at 9:00 a.m. PDT, through Monday, June 30 at 9:00 a.m. PDT, we’ll be applying the Gaze of the Black Prince buff which will increase the reputation gained with the Black Prince by 100%. It will also increase the chance of obtaining items from his foes needed as a part of the Legendary Cloak quest line including: the Secrets of the Empire, Sigil of Wisdom, Sigil of Power, or Titan Runestones.
To learn more about the Legendary Cloak quest line, check out our previous blog posts: I am Legendary and The Time Has Come: Legendary Quest Line. Or, for a complete walkthrough check out Wowhead’s guide here.
While I do appreciate that blizzard is giving us anything to help with alts (for people that have been playing) or a catch up mechanic for those just starting the quest this buff is a joke. Not only is it too short for anyone to really take full advantage of it, it is one of those too little too late things. If blizzard really wanted to give people something to play out as a catch up mechanic for those alts and newer player it would need to last a lot longer.
Let just say I wanted to start my journey this week on my paladin, who has not stepped into a raid this expansion, the two weeks would effectively mean I can get all my sigils of power, without a shadow of a doubt right?
Now lets look at my last 4 characters to go through the process collecting sigils of power and wisdom. All four of them finished it in two weeks. One almost finished it in one week managing to snag 19 sigils in their first week of hitting 90. So now maybe that one out of four lucky characters might only take one week and maybe those other three might even now take only one week. What exactly did it speed up? Lessen my need to run LFR for a couple of sigils? Not exactly a friendly catch up is it. Sure, any time I can avoid doing the LFR is a good time, but lowering it like that seems more like a joke than anything else.
And to further the joke even more what happens if you are on the valor portion of the quest. Just started it, or started it one week ago. You get nothing. Congratulation for being late to the show, we are going to give you a buff to make collecting the things for the legendary quest line easier. Too bad you can't use it because you are stuck collecting valor for the entire time this special buff is lasting. Sucks to be you... loser. That is the attitude blizzard is giving its players with this buff.
How about if you are alliance side and stuck on the PvP quests and want to take advantage of this. You better get used to spending the better part of your entire life PvPing if you want to move along with the quest line and take advantage of this. Winning the two battlegrounds as alliance is such a nightmare that it would give the grim reaper nightmares. Death would be scared.
So lets say now you feel forced to complete that part of the quest line to take advantage of this. It could very well make you end up hating the game. I know it did on my lock who I once spent the better part of 8 hours over a weekend PvPing trying to get my two wins and it never happened. What about the poor sap who does not have the free time I do and is not capable of investing that sort of time? Better hope you are lucky or the buff will be long gone before you see two wins in PvP. Jokes on you when you miss the whole event because you happened to make the unlucky choice of rolling an alliance character. Not saying all is hopeless. I have one shot both on two characters, so you can still get lucky. Good luck, but it is not like blizzard cares if you are stuck there.
Now, the increased reputation gain, that is something great and something that will be worth taking advantage of. If you can manage to kill anything on the isle of thunder with the 100s if not 1000s of people that will also be looking to take advantage of this. Better bring some friends that can mow things down fast or your double reputation will actually build up slower than normal reputation did when the isle was empty. My mage, on a dead isle, needed 5K more reputation. I killed stuff while in queue for the LFR, not even chain pulling, just waiting for them to walk to me, for 45 minutes and was exalted. I'll be willing to bet I managed to get more reputation at normal rate while not even rushing my kills while alone in 45 minutes than you will at 100% increased rep with everyone and their mother there to take advantage of that tiny window they have for increased reputation.
For people on the further parts, secrets and stones, this will be a god send. Last week I had a few characters with luck. 8 secrets on a hunter and 9 on a druid. And last week I also had almost no luck. 2 secrets on a mage and 2 stones on a monk. So any boost will be a welcome boost.
For anyone at those further stages this ia a nice buff, a huge buff, and you would be best to take advantage of it. For anyone else, it is a joke. I really feel bad, very bad, for any poor sap caught in collecting valor stage right now. My most heartfelt feelings go out to you, you deserve better from a game you pay to play. Better than getting stuck without being able to take advantage of a buff that was intended for everyone, well, everyone but you that is. You get nothing and you'll like it. Sorry.
Now, if blizzard really wanted to make a catch up mechanic here is how you do it. It is about time some one with half a brain (because that is all I have and it is still a full half more than anyone at blizzard has) tells them how to make a real catch up mechanic.
For those that already have a legendary cloak on one character:
1) This buff should be active all the time on all character on any server they play.
For everyone going after their first cloak:
2) The valor part should be capable of being completed along side the rest of the quest line. As in you can be collecting valor while also collecting secrets. It should no longer be a bump in the road.
3) The PvP part should be changed to "participate" in each battleground, not win each.
Now those simple three changes would be something to toot their own horn about, this, is not. This is the joke of the black price. If they made those changes I could see it drawing people back to finish it, I can see people popping on alts to finish it, I can see people trying to get it on characters they had not even considered getting it on. As it is, if you are not already on the secrets phase or starting it this week, this buff is more an insult than a help.
Not saying I am not going to take advantage of it. I would be a fool not to, but it should not be for only 2 weeks if for no other reason than it is effectively screwing anyone that is stuck on the valor part in full or in part. That is why this is a joke. But it makes sense, because blizzard is a joke lately. Hey, lets be happy, at least they gave us advanced warning this time, not like the last buff where they released it in the middle of nowhere after many people already valor capped and let it run long enough so some people were capable of getting an extra week out of it while others that had to work couldn't. So some people got only one weeks worth of use from the buff and others got three weeks. Gee, thanks blizzard. Blizzard just loves screwing things up. Want them find a way to screw this up too? I mean, even further than it is.
Ask someone that just started the valor collection this week how excited they are about this. I am pretty sure they would have some very colorful words for blizzard and rightfully so, because this is a joke.
Nice try blizzard and thanks for the buff anyway. Next time try to think of more than just throwing any sort of buff out there for a couple of weeks to try and save face because we are stuck in a horrible content drought.
There's still 6 months till December they've got to pull this out as long as they can >_<
ReplyDeleteI would end up doing on characters anyway because I seem to be experiencing a bit of self hate (you need to have some to subject yourself to that many LFR runs) and any buff is a good one but I think they are really just not thinking things out right now. This screams of desperation, panic if you will, to add anything to the game.
DeleteThis buff will actually help my Alliance hunter, as the valor one did, but that's only because I happen to be at the right point of the quest. You have very good points. I'd really like to see all the buffs applied to alts of people who've done the quest once, or even have the buffs be available from an NPC as a one time use per character with a set duration on them, letting someone go and turn on that valor buff for ten days or whatever when they need it and then do the same for this one. Because you're right. As it is it's useless for probably a good number of the people working on this, and no... even though it does help me it doesn't make up for the lack of new content. If it were going to be available for alts I have not at the stage to take advantage of it right now... it might help do that.
ReplyDeleteSome characters, if in the right phase, will get lucky with it. I was lucky with the valor buff because 3 characters that I do not often play were able to get past their valor (or a good chunk of it done) because of it.
DeleteOver all the buffs work if you happen to be at the right place, and they do nothing if you are not.
I like your idea where it is an activated one time buff that lasts for the two weeks, instead of a two week buff that you might miss out on.
Ha ha ha ha, how useless can they be. Sure, like the short valor boost, this will help me, but only because I have alts on all phases of the questline. This will shave about one week off of the quest for anyone, not really that much overall.
ReplyDeleteBasically that is all it seems to be, something to shave a week off the over all process. I doubt, unless some amazing luck happens, that it will shave any more than 1 week of anyone's journey. It is nice, but not really needed. Already have the cloak on 4 characters and did the whole line no problem, even one when I was doing it as it came out. The process is not so horrible, except the valor and pvp parts, and this does nothing to address either of those things.
DeleteLooking at this and the other recent "limited time offer" with double valor buff, I think they are only doing it for attention. They want people to look at the game every once in a while and they want them to stay subbed guessing what's next.
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty lame, because it's so clear what they are doing and it's also very clear that all they can offer is these increases in drop rates, which are made temporary so you try and chase them. I am laughing on the suggestion that I am going to chase anything. Nah.
Next step: achievement that you can only get by logging in during these two weeks. Or title / mount / pet. If something like that ever happens, I will unsub and never return, because this will devalue the only thing which is of interest to me besides PVP - long-term char progress via achievements / collectionables.
It is surely an attention grab. It is not really to help players or it would have been a much better buff. They do not care about helping players, they just want attention.
DeleteWell, there has always been the achievement for logging in on their anniversary. I've gotten one every year and will get one this year if I am still playing. But I guess that is a little different. Hey, at least this time we get a pet from logging in. Love my 5th anniversary onyxia pet.
OT, some food for thought:
ReplyDeleteWhat if they never release WoD? OK, fine, they will, but suppose they will drag their feet for 10 more months and cut some more features. I know this seems unlikely, and perhaps things will be better, but just imagine - what if?
If they do that, is that time that we are spending on the game now, playing, thinking and writing about it - is that time wasted? Yeah, I know about "play as long as it's fun", but a big part of why people play - lately, almost the only part for me - is that "investment" into long-term char progression which stinges on hopes to advance it. Most of the fun left to be had consists in getting that mount that you never saw drop, etc. If they never release WoD, it wouldn't make much sense to play the game now, because, well, there's nothing going forward, you are already at the ceiling. And if they release it late and / or with not many features worth talking about, it's the same, just a bit weaker, there's little sense to play, because you are near the ceiling.
And what then?
Scary thoughts, eh? :-)
That is an interesting question.
DeleteWhat if? I can do you one better than a what if. I do not think they should release warlords at all. Yes, I honestly do believe that.
I see what you mean about looking forward, a lot of people are still playing now only because they have something to look forward too. If it were not to come out I would not be surprised if the subs dropped 50% within the first month.
However, I do like my idea, do not release WoD, not as an expansion anyway. Just release it in content patches.
Release the leveling part, 90-92, two months later give us 92-94, then two months later give us 94-96, and so on, you get the idea.
Then when capped release a raid, then a content patch, then a raid, etc.
They should never make us buy another expansion ever again. We pay 15 a month, why should we have to pay for a box too. Just release the content when you have it ready instead of making us wait.
We know that blizzard can do small patches at one time, they did great at the beginning of this expansion, so why can they not add everything in the future, WoD included, in a series of patches.
Is the obsession with a box you can sell so important that you would rather lose customers while they wait for it instead of keeping them while you release it a little at a time?
Perhaps that is something blizzard should think about.
Your thought however, is scary. It would end the game effectively if nothing were to ever come. How long until everyone is gone? Only RPers and PvPers would still have content if that happened.
well here is the other side of the coin. I didn't see the valor buff and it would never have help me. I don't understand this black prince legend cloak crap and I still wouldn't do any type of pvp or lfr or lfg stuff to do what seems a awlful lot of dungeons, etc.
ReplyDeleteSo, in a nutshell this is wasted on me, but on others, maybe not.
Well, I put my priest to bed in an inn becasue I found priest leveling is very very slow even as an evil priest. She is lvl 34. I started up a gnome locky (my 2nd ever) named Bigwasp. Now what is funny, my first toon in WoW was a locky, gnome of course named Bigwasp! LOL, and man can she kill. She's only 6 or 7, but thats ok. I saw I had a lvl 84 monk, a lvl 45 monk, a lvl 30 shaman, a lvl 80 warrior, a lvl 80 death knight, a bunch of mages lvl 20 and below, and 5 hunters from lvl 5 to 80. Oh well. I guess my goal is clear - get them to lvl 90. :)
fare thee well
-roo
For someone like you an increased experience gain for 2 weeks might be suitable, or an 20% increase in damage in the world, etc.
DeleteDo not be surprised if we see those, and others, while we wait the long wait for the next expansion.
You are almost at the point where your priest will get atonement, then you can go back to leveling as disc and it is fun even if still kind of slower than a pure DPS spec would be.
Have fun leveling, I still think that is the best part of the game. You always feel like you are getting somewhere, at your own pace, and you can see yourself moving forward.
You are so right about the timing thing. After much hemming and hawing, and after getting the cloak on my main hunter and my healer, I decided to bite the bullet and go for it on 2 of my other dps alts. Yep, you guessed it. I was on sigils during the valor buff, and now I am on valor for the duration of the tokens buff. To cap it all off, THE NIGHT BEFORE THE ANNOUNCEMENT, I put in some serious grind time to get exalted with BP on both.
ReplyDeleteWords cannot express how mad I am over this, it just seems like a big fat f*** you from Blizzard, and one I am paying for to boot!
That is why I think it needs to be longer, at least a month. If it were a month, even people like yourself that get caught in an unfortunate part of the quest would still be able to get "some" help from the buff.
DeleteAs it is now you basically had blizzard say "screw you" to you two buffs in a row.
About the rep thing, depending on the size of your server, you might have been better of doing it when you did. When you are alone there grinding rep is pretty quick and painless. When you are fighting for mobs (more so if on a PvP server) even with double reputation you might end up with less in the same amount of time.
I don't recall speed-up mechanics being introduced for any of the previous legendaries so I'm not sure complaining about this makes much sense in that context. It's a perk... not a huge one, but a perk. It'll get some people to pay a bit more attention to progressing on alts... it has me thinking about it although I probably won't bother. That's all it's intended to do, I think, just introduce a reason to shake things up a bit.
ReplyDeleteThey were not, because they were not needed. This is a different case. It is a legendary yes but it is one intended for everyone that puts in the work and effort to have. Add to that the fact everyone is experiencing some burnout and needs something to keep them interested, and that is why we are getting a catch up now. At least that is how I see it.
DeleteI agree it is a perk, but I do feel bad for the people stuck in a place where they will get nothing from the perk.
It is not the buff anyone is really complaining about, no one would complain about a buff. It is the limited nature of it and the fact that it does make a great deal of people feel as if they were screwed by the timing of it. Namely those stuck on the collect valor phase.