#1 - July 6, 2011, 5:55 p.m.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/2794770941
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Since many players have been saying to PvP players: "It is only 6 ilvls, suck it up". I believe many have the misunderstanding that this is just a "Tier Set" of 5 pieces, it is actually an entire gear set of 12 pieces that have been changed (14 if you include Trinkets).
Total honor to replace all 12 pieces: 19,450
Honor to replace two PvP Trinkets: add another 3,300
Honor for PvP Head/Shoulder Enchant: add another 3,000
I will focus on the 12 pieces of primary gear and illustrate the difference. Keep in mind, even the top 0.5% Arena and RBG players at the end of Season 9 were currently in i365 gear as well.
5-Piece Main Warrior PvP Set: Chest, Helm, Legs, Shoulder, Hands.
Increase from i365 to i371 Gear (totals across only 5-pc set and not including off pieces)
+ 250 armor
+ 93 Strength
+ 142 Stamina
+ 62 Resil.
+ 14 Mastery, +14 Crit, +14 Haste, +10 Exp., +10 Hit
Ok if it was just the "Tier" model of 5 pieces that changed... not game breaking but still annoying.
Now lets add up the base stats for the seven other standard PvP off-pieces: Belt, Boots, Bracer, 2 Rings, Neck and Cloak
+ 126 armor
+ 85 Strength
+ 136 Stamina
+ 60 Resil.
And an increase of +8 of another stat for each individual off-piece (Mastery, Hit, Expertise, Crit)
Grand Total of base stats alone for 12 pieces of Warrior gear: 5pc Main set, Belt, Boots, Bracer, 2 Rings, Neck, Cloak:
+ 376 Armor
+ 178 Strength
+ 278 Stamina
+ 122 Resil.
Add it all up and you can better understand why a 0.5% top Arena player might be a little upset about the fact the new Honor gear is this much higher in stats over their hard earned and fully enchanted Season 9 gear they expected to start Season 10 in.
End of Season 9 Blog: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/2880562
Quote: "All Season 9 items will cost Honor Points (equivalent to their previous Conquest Point cost) when the season ends, with the exception of any items with rating requirements attached. These items will no longer be available for purchase."
Except this new Tier of Honor gear is called: "Vicious Gladiator - Season 10" and is not Season 9 Gear like they state above, it is a whole new ilvl and tier of gear. There is no mention of the S10 i371 Honor gear that I have found from a Blizzard posting and the gear was not on the PTR either.
Expect to see lots of BG botters, RBG teams and Arena players in regular Battlegrounds for the next few weeks as people now will re-grind honor to start Season 10 in competitively matched gear. They won't be getting their Conquest gear for a while so this is the only option they have to stay at the top of the ladder and at 2000+ rating... the stat change across a 12-piece set of PvP gear does make a difference.