Tier Debunked

It is probably no surprise to anyone that along the way, as I have been writing about loot, the subject has been a matter debate and discussion in our local guild on the Blade's Edge realm. New rules are hashed and changes are in the air. As usual, it generates hot feelings on both sides as we try to find good compromises in our methods.

During the subject I have discovered something I did not personally expect, but have seen signs about. Has anyone ever noticed why, while reading Elitistjerks or just inspecting players you admire, why so many do not actually wear much Tier gear? I am of course talking mainly about 7 and 7.5 now.

Well children, the fact seems to be that the much coveted Tier pieces are not truly that much better than the other pieces you find along side them. I brought this up in my guild the other morning and was shocked that from our small morning crew, three total raised their hands and gave direct examples where a non-tier piece of at least as good as a Tier piece they had or gotten possession of.

For me, I only donned my new Tier 7 shoulders because they looked awesome. After enchants and gems, the only benefit there was the increase of attack power by 11. For confirmation, both shoulders were drops from naxx10. However, it is true that tier 7 gives the added benefit of granting set bonuses but if you look at them carefully, they are not that great, and certainly do not merit farming for the pieces until judgment day.

Truthfully, if your guild is able to do the progression, by the time you get your 3rd or 4th set piece, you will already have out-geared naxx10 and getting naxx25 pieces, or even Ulduar if rest of your bunch are up for it.

Personally, this makes me disappointed because the whole hype around the Tier gear is that they should outclass anything else in the game. People are trampling each other on raids, especially pugs, to get the Tier pieces and do not even realize that they are not as great as lead to believe. Most of the time you will accomplish a much better balanced stats by combining just one or two tier pieces with some other drops from various runs.