7.2 Artifact Weapon

“Follow your inner moonlight; don’t hide the madness.”
Allen Ginsberg

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7.2 Artifact Weapon

Today’s date is: Jan. 28, 2017.

7.2 is months away and so we can expect many changes. However, we now do know the way that our “time spent” weapon will be changed.

All the information below is a copy/paste lifted from MMO Champions.

I appreciate the blue post detailing clarity to the process. I am unclear about that short quest chain in that I wonder, if I am at trait 37 will my weapon be empowered to the same amount as someone who is at trait 54? Meaning, will it be a super-boost to my weapon with 37 so it matches the quality of life that a 54 enjoyed? Mr. 54 is enjoying a 20% boost to his stuff currently.

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Blue Post

As many of you have noted, Patch 7.2 will be introducing several new traits to Artifact Weapons. We’d like to clarify how these traits will unlock so that you can best prepare for them.

After Patch 7.2 is available, players who have an Artifact Weapon of at least rank 35 will be able to further empower that Artifact through a short quest chain. Completing this quest chain will consume any ranks beyond 35, increase the overall power of your Artifact Weapon (to ensure that losing ranks 35+ isn’t a downgrade), and unlock access to the new 7.2 traits. Any Artifact Power spent on traits beyond 35 will be refunded and you’ll immediately be able to spend that refunded Artifact Power on the new traits.

Note that any Artifact Power tokens acquired before Patch 7.2 will not be usable on an Artifact Weapon that has had its new traits unlocked. If you’ve already reached Rank 54, feel free to use any tokens you earn between now and then on alternate specs; there is no need to stockpile those tokens for Patch 7.2. We’re also planning to apply a hotfix in the near future that will allow the current Artifact Power tokens to be sold to vendors.

Please feel free to add any feedback, questions or thoughts to this thread.

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With the availability of new traits and our refunded points to put them into, the first pass in the PTR looks like this. Let’s take Feral for example but all classes have a block of changes. Note the traits that go up to Rank 8, more heavy investment of time spent and yummy rewards.

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Feral

• Ashamane’s Energy (Rank 7) (New) Tiger’s Fury generates an additional 35 energy every 0 sec for 0.
• Ashamane’s Energy (Rank 8) (New) Tiger’s Fury generates an additional 40 energy every 0 sec for 0.
• Attuned to Nature (Rank 7) (New) Increases healing done by Regrowth by 105%.
• Attuned to Nature (Rank 8) (New) Increases healing done by Regrowth by 120%.
• Bloodletter’s Frailty (Rank 1) (New) Ashamane’s Frenzy also increases the damage you deal to afflicted targets by 0%.
• Feral Instinct (Rank 7) (New) Berserk increases all damage you deal by 35% for 0.
• Feral Instinct (Rank 8) (New) Berserk increases all damage you deal by 40% for 0.
• Feral Power (Rank 7) (New) Increases the critical strike chance of Shred by 35%.
• Feral Power (Rank 8) (New) Increases the critical strike chance of Shred by 40%.
• Fury of Ashamane (Rank 1) (New) Tiger’s Fury also grants 0 Versatility to you and your four nearest allies.
• Honed Instincts (Rank 7) (New) Increases the duration of Survival Instinct by 7.0 sec.
• Honed Instincts (Rank 8) (New) Increases the duration of Survival Instinct by 8.0 sec.
• Infinite (Rank 1) (New) Increases damage dealt by 1%. [PH]
• Powerful Bite (Rank 7) (New) Increases critical strike damage done by Ferocious Bite by 49%.
• Powerful Bite (Rank 8) (New) Increases critical strike damage done by Ferocious Bite by 56%.
• Razor Fangs (Rank 1) Increase damage dealt by Rip by 7%. 4%.
• Razor Fangs (Rank 2) Increase damage dealt by Rip by 14%. 8%.
• Razor Fangs (Rank 3) Increase damage dealt by Rip by 21%. 12%.
• Razor Fangs (Rank 4) Increase damage dealt by Rip by 28%. 16%.
• Razor Fangs (Rank 5) Increase damage dealt by Rip by 35%. 20%.
• Razor Fangs (Rank 6) Increase damage dealt by Rip by 42%. 24%.
• Sharpened Claws (Rank 7) (New) Increases damage dealt by Swipe by 49%.
• Sharpened Claws (Rank 8) (New) Increases damage dealt by Swipe by 56%.
• Tear the Flesh (Rank 7) (New) Increases damage dealt by Rake by 49%.
• Tear the Flesh (Rank 8) (New) Increases damage dealt by Rake by 56%.
• Thrashing Claws (Rank 1) (New) Increases the damage of Thrash by 5%.
• Thrashing Claws (Rank 2) (New) Increases the damage of Thrash by 10%.
• Thrashing Claws (Rank 3) (New) Increases the damage of Thrash by 15%.
• Thrashing Claws (Rank 4) (New) Increases the damage of Thrash by 20%.
• Thrashing Claws (Rank 5) (New) Increases the damage of Thrash by 25%.
• Thrashing Claws (Rank 6) (New) Increases the damage of Thrash by 30%.
• Thrashing Claws (Rank 7) (New) Increases the damage of Thrash by 35%.
• Thrashing Claws (Rank 8) (New) Increases the damage of Thrash by 40%.

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Now lets look at the Artifact Calculator.

Our current in-game Artifact Calculator is here. It should look familiar!

The PTR Artifact Calculator is here.

We can see that some traits that go to rank 8 in the data-mined strings (Powerful Bite, for example) do not go up to 8 but are still set to 3/3. We have to assume that the Calculators have not been fully updated!

We can also see the four new “side traits” that will be added in 7.2. One ends with a 20/20 which is scary (Infinite – a percentage boost) which will lead to another 20/20 (Fangs of the First – the original Paragon that we get refunded to us but then will re-fill months and months and months from now).

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What does that mean to us? We will have a lot of fun, on Day One, pushing points into the new traits if we continue to boost up our Artifact Weapon now.

My Main is currently at 44. I will easily get to 54 by 7.2 (April? May?).

In fact, my other specs (Balance, Feral, Guardian) may also be maxed out by then.

What about the guys at 54 now? Well, you see it on your way to the grocery store every day — someone zooms past you at 54 miles an hour but you, at 35, meet him at the stop light. Wasted gas I say, but they had fun zooming about.

The Philosopher says, “All Patches are like stop lights. Some race, some dwaddle but every one is equal at the stop light: stopped.”

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Happy hunting and may all your hits … be crits.

Paragon 1; Trait 35

“Buy, buy, says the sign in the shop window; Why, why, says the junk in the yard.”
Paul McCartney

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Paragon 1; Trait 35

A pretty big deal to me, I wanted the 5% boost to healing and a sense of completion. Knowing that it was close, I screen-capped my stats for a before and after thing for this very blog.

Tranquil Mind is a major trait with a 20% boost to Tranquility. Maybe it would become a 25% boost.

My stats didn’t change. My spells didn’t change. Maybe I looked in the wrong place?

I guess I’ll just have to trust them.

A Demon on my Shoulder

“Perhaps all pleasure is only relief.”
William S. Burroughs

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A Demon on my Shoulder

I’ve finally figured out that everyone has the same Artifact Knowledge. The catch-up mechanic in time-to-research has put everyone on an even scale. In general, most players will be even when it comes to filling in the traits on the weapon since those with lower traits will zoom up due to the Knowledge Multiplier. If you have 14 traits and I have 20, your Artifact Power token does a whole lot more in filling in the bar.

That weapon is a constant this entire expansion. There is a demon on my shoulder, constantly whipping me to feed this weapon. It always wants more and is never satisfied. AP is like crack. Is this really a weapon or am I dragging a huge caravan of wagons full of AP tokens across a long endless desert?

If I am up-to-date, then my AP means little; waiting two weeks for the Knowledge Multiplier would be more meaningful but then I’d still be behind of where I would be if I was adding those little ones now. So, I run meaningless Emissary Cache dailies to get 1/4 of a bubble on a very long bar.

It is evil, this weapon design.

That nasty Demon sits there and screams, yanks at my failing hair, jumps up and down screaming and is fine with making me suffer as long as I get one more dirty token to feed that mainline bar which is my weapon progress.

Players were banned this week for exploiting some World Quest to gain Artifact Power. They wanted it bad enough to cheat and formed groups to do so. It is a harsh little Demon.

There is a Promised Land. Where AP will raise your power by a percentage, they call that circle: Paragon. The first step is 5% but like the “come back to the dealer” the next will be only 1%.

Artifascination

“It is one of those lessons that every child should learn: Don’t play with fire, sharp objects, or ancient artifacts.”
Patricia Briggs

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Artifascination

No, that’s not a word. We all obsess a little bit on our Artifact Weapon. Even as we play there is much that we are learning about as we go along; the synergy between knowledge and power, traits, major traits, stats and the questions about unknown plans in future patches.

On one level, one can treat it as simple passive upgrades and wonder how much does it matter — since we’ll fill in everything eventually; every Relic taken, we’ll always choose the highest ilevel as it impacts our stats.

On another level, we should (early) plan a path to major traits and design our way to the best advantage early in the game. Looking at those major traits and using them to our advantage when playing.

On the third level (just use that link in the prior paragraph) we can see what we can not see when we open our weapons in-game; the Big Picture. For healers, it is called G’hanir’s Bloom; once you complete your weapon trait-paths there are a whopping 20 more, very expensive, completions to make!

For Beast Master hunters, the last 20 are called Spiritbound; each Artifact has it — it is a percentage increase on all that you do while playing.

The Artifact Calculator (that link again!) also shows us all of the different appearances available except for the secret to-be-discovered looks found in the game. On mouse-over, one can get hints on how to unlock some of them down the line.

What about End Game? We know that there are plans (or hints, suggestions) from the Devs that we’ll get a fourth Relic slot someday. It is possible that they’ll add new things to the Artifact traits themselves; but I doubt that. Best guess is the flexibility inherent in Relic design will be the future changes that we’ll see as we work through Legion.

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NB: the understanding of making paths, the credit goes to Restokin and this part of her healing guide.

Legion: Take Your Time

Vegetarian – that’s an old Indian word meaning lousy hunter.
Andy Rooney

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Legion: take your time.

Misdirections, who I have followed forever, has a new post called Legion Release Date? Take your time. If you have a spare 30 minutes, go take a read (comment section too). As ever, leave a comment.

It is a very in-depth article and an angry one too. Alt leveling, Artifact weapons, spec swapping and more are all covered. Now I’m thinking on it too.

This article makes me hope that the pre-expansion patch will be fairly lengthy. With it we will get our new spells and class swapping mechanics. I will be able to preview the Marksman vs Beast Mastery specs and decide which to commit to when Legion arrives. The sampling of play-style is crucial to me, more than if I have a pet by my side.

In WoD, our tier pieces changed depending on which spec we were in. I pray to the benevolent heart of Elune that the approach is expanded and goes deeper. My hard-won trinket should support both (or three or four) specs. I should not be penalized by swapping specs but encouraged to move forward. All gear should have all the flavors, except crafted gear.

I’ll have the same approach to my Alts that I had in Mists of Pandaria. I have my mains and then I have alts who support my mains. My profession alts (I hope) will only have to level to get the recipes and then camp in Dalaran. I’ll be leaving a ton of alts behind in their garrisons because that was their job: make gold.

The article also made me wonder if the Artifact is a way of balancing raids and dungeons. I imagine a flattening of the arc of dps, heals and tanks with a lot less spikes in power. Pivoting around the assumption that all Artifacts are equal in damage, no one player will show up as super weak or strong. A design coup, perhaps, but will it be fun?

It will be pretty easy to scale dungeons based on the Artifact’s progression. The assumption that your gear level will match how far one is on the Artifact is a solid one. As the expansion goes along, we’ll get more sockets or gems or whatever for the Artifact. If, mid-way through Legion I have progressed my Artifact to “level five”, then the I’ll be matched with all of the other “level fives”.

Thank you, Misdirections, that is a lot to think about!

Legion: Artifact Weapons

There are two ways of spreading light:
to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.
Edith Wharton

Legion: Artifact Weapons

It is early, oh so early, there has only been the conference at Gamescom. Still, early on we can see and read the concerns that players have simply because we don’t know yet.

The main question that I don’t see asked, of which is my great concern is: dual-speccing the Artifact Weapon.

We know that once we land in 7.0, we’ll get a quest to go find our weapon and this weapon will be our only weapon through-out the expansion. Cool! The weapon will come with potential; upgrading by playing it will infuse with “perks” (a term from last expansion) and it will upgrade through steps, changing color and appearance, until the end game when it looks shiny or smoky.

There will also be a talent tree on the weapon. This action will be executed in our Class Hall, so no Tomes to change on the fly in a raid. The talents will be (currently unknown) either dps increase, double up spells or cosmetic; we decide.

Relics, I don’t understand. In my mind they look like gems that we insert in sockets; earned from boss drops, quests, zone completion etc.

The question is: what about dual spec? If I am a Marksman Hunter and a Beast Mastery hunter, will I have to duplicate the zone quests which unlock? That would be impossible! If I decide to dedicate myself to MM Raider and Surv PvP; then there has to be a solution baked in.

The only way I can see it is: you get unique quests for each spec and then your rewards are mirrored on your other artifacts. If you gain a relic or perk or talent, you can swap specs and decide on your other weapon.

There is no way they are going to lock us into a single spec. Right?

Druids have four specs. We get the dual-spec ability at level 30. We can decide then whether to go ranged dps, heal, melee dps or tank. Healers commonly and painfully level (from 100 to 110 in Legion) as a dps. How can I balance my desire (healing) while leveling through all the zones?

There has to be a Mirror System. If you are a level 110 DPS and decide to go healer, then you swap to that spec — get a easy ‘find your artifact’ quest and through the experiences of your prior leveling, the new artifact can whoosh up to level 110 talents, perks and relics.

Otherwise it will be the Mud Expansion. Leveling from 100 to 110 through six new zones as a healer will be brutally slow and simply not fun. The same with a tank, slow slow slow.

Because we need our healers and tanks to be able to do group content. Sure, there will be dungeons along the way but we want to see the game’s content and zones too!

I look forward to Blizzcon in October (or is in November?) to see how they solve this crucial issue. I hope for the Mirror System, I really do.