World Of Warcraft To Phase Out Raid Sets In Upcoming Expansion

Raid armor sets in MMORPGs serve a variety of purposes: one of which is to make players look “cool” where if you see someone walking around in a full raid set, you know that they’ve probably worked really hard to get it. The second reason is also for raid set bonuses, where developers usually encourage players to get multiple items of a set to get extra perks.

This is true in games like Blizzard’s World of Warcraft, but it also seems that Blizzard is kind of over the idea. Speaking to Game Informer at BlizzCon 2017 which took place earlier this month, World of Warcraft game director Ion Hazzikostas revealed that with the upcoming Battle for Azeroth expansion, they will be phasing out raid set bonuses that have been more or less a staple in the game since its inception.

According to Hazzikostas, “With sets and cosmetic appearances we’re always trying new things. We’re currently not planning on carrying forward traditional raid class sets.” He claims that this is because they want to give players more flexibility in choosing their gear, and not be locked into certain pieces for months on end.

“Back in the day, these 8 piece sets you would put together over the course of 6 to 8 months raiding a zone, where now the smaller sets and so many more sources of gear, it’s very common to get 2 or 4 pieces at the start of a tier and it actually kind of locks down those character slots, it limits your choices. It feels like more of a drawback than a strength at this point.” World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth still does not have a release date set yet, but given Blizzard’s past releases, we’re probably looking at some time in 2018.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Gaming
Tags: Blizzard, blizzcon, blizzcon 2017, World of Warcraft