One of the things I, and I assume most other people, were excited for to return in 9.2 was the Class Tier Sets.
It has been almost 4 years now(?) since we saw class tiers in Legion and the seek peak we got the other day was-- well, it was rather disappointing.
While some of the sets looked really good, a majority of the sets felt like they continued to be disconnected from our classes. Heavily themed around the new Zone and Raid, we continue to lose sense of what makes our classes, our classes.
So I wanted to take a moment to give feedback on each set and where it felt disconnected from the concept art shown and the class itself. Now, keep in mind, some are better than others, so I will start with what I believe to be the strongest sets, then go from there.
1. Rouge
Personally, I believe this set to be the best. It captures a lot of that rouge fantasy, while tying into the new content very well.
I hope more smoke gets added to the tier in the Mythic/1800 rated versions and we see some really interesting color schemes. This set was well designed and transferred over very well.
2. Shaman
While this set does seem to be pretty well themed after the shaman class. The shoulders do very little to help enforce that.
When I first saw the set, I couldn’t tell if it was Monk, Shaman, or even Druid.
While I do not want to see the Shoulders removed from the game, as those are designed fairly well, it may be better suited to capture that Shamanistic feel by changing the shoulders.
This set gives off too much of a “Monk Samurai” feel to really nail that Shaman aspect.
A good reference would be:
Using these shoulders as reference could help reinforce that wolf/fox feel.
3. Druid
While this set will probably look a lot better on the small character models, such as Night Elves, the Shoulders really get lost from the concept art.
The Orb within the “fur” gets lost and might have to be brought up more toward the head.
The Fur Belt feels extremely bulky, and the chest has little to no detail that “pops.”
4. Death Knight
This set is carried heavily by the Helm and slightly by the belt, but the set all around feels to “bulky.”
The Shoulders appear to suffer from the Torghast Shoulder Syndrome where they sit 10 inches too far off the shoulder.
I am unsure what causes this, but it makes the shoulders appear as they are floating and completely ruins that appeal.
The shoulders fixation point should be lowered, or another layer added of detail added to them, so that it sets better on the character model.
The Chains and Skulls help tie into that Death Knight fantasy, but similar to the Mawsworn Charger mounts, the “flat, 2D” chains do not help make the set feel complete.
The Shaman set from Legion had wonderful chains attached to them, and I wonder why that aesthetic is not continued.
It would be nice if the chains resembled this style more:
The finger tips of the gloves could also use some TLC.
5. Priest
While the priest set comes off as another very strong set, with clear ties to “Tier 3 - Faith” a few concerns really stand out.
The first being, the complete lack of detail to the chest piece. The robes of this set are one of the most bland and basic that do not do it justice.
The extension from the midriff is lost and the “side armor pieces” feel very poorly attached.
The helm also feels like a missed opportunity to give some ambiguity to the set. A completely closed off face mask while glowing eyes could have a better ominous feel.
6. Warrior
While the warrior set feels very concept art accurate, the one thing I noticed right away was the lackof glow among the set pieces. That glow/shine really gave it its appeal and hopefully we will see that added or at least on the Mythic version.
Additionally, the Helm and Chest feel a bit off.
The Helm could use the same treatment as the Paladin one, and be completely blacked out.
The “back” of the chest doesn’t feel as bulky as the front and I’m afraid that that won’t transfer out very well within game.
I would be curious to see how this set would look if the chest piece got the “fur” from the chest piece below:
The addition of this “fur” along with the pure white glow we see on other sets could be a good addition.
It’s very “bland” but that’s warriors- right? The pants/belt could use some TLC too so that it doesn’t feel like such a big gap between the two pieces of armor, but the set isn’t all that bad.
7. Monk
I am going to assume that the monk set is still incomplete. It is on the right track to feeling like a “monk” but the color scheme needs to be adjusted.
The helm does not carry overwell from the concept art and it would definitely look better with more of an emphasis in the front.
The “Stone Necklace” also feels a bit too small compared to the rest of the set and the chest piece is way to bulky for being a monk.
Again, I assume the set isn’t finalized and the cloth pieces attached to the shoulders aren’t going to be floating upwards like that all the time.
8. Demon Hunter
While the shoulder pads being very Warden themed seem to fit that class fantasy, that’s about all that is good with this set.
Nothing from the concept art carried over well to the actual in game model. The helm looks funky, broken, and has that “glued to the face” feel, which is never great.
The texture and detail in the gloves, pants and boots make this feel like a questing set and not something you would receive from saving the universe.
This set needs a heavy rework.
9. Paladin
This is another set that looks good in concept, but completely misses the mark in game.
The Uldir/Kyrian vibe from this set is also way to heavily influenced.
The helm clips way to much, the shoulders are too small, and the chest piece does not capture that same feel as the concept.
It looks like a Kyrian starter set then a set from the final raid tier.
This is a 20 min photoshop using existing models, now- I am not an artist, no do I have enough time and skill to make a drastically amazing set, but I would much rather see something with more detail and arguably less of a “Kyrian” vibe.
10. Hunter
While mail wears have had amazing sets thus far in Shadowlands, I fear that time for Hunters has come to an end.
This set falls miles from that heroic concept art and really needs to be retextured.
If you look at the in-game model, the Chest and Pants have drawn on detail that appears to have no consistent flow. It feels very rushed and unpolished for a final tier.
The Boots need to be completely reworked and I hope these are just a place holder.
The Shoulders and Helm I can only hope have an amazing Mythic graphical effect, but what is shown here is very lack luster.
I get that this is a Pharaoh reference to Overwatch… but I don’t see how this ties into being a Hunter.
The gloves need to be redone and the boots really need to express better movement. That feeling that you are on "the hunt."
11. Mage
This is where it gets really, really bad. When I saw this set, I couldn’t tell if it was mage, lock, priest, or an NPC…
This set is extremely underwhelming and has almost no resemblance to the concept art.
Nothing about this set screams Mage to me and it feels like “left over” sets used when designing Alpha Shadowlands.
Its hard to give meaningful feedback on this set, because it feels incomplete and unimaginative. Something very uncommon for the WoW art team.
Again, I am not an artist nor claim to be, but spending 20 min on Photoshop and I feel like recoloring old tier assets would be better than this.
Taking existing items and adding to them to help speed up the process is fine, imo, its just the way the world works, but this set shows no connection to being a Mage and adds nothing to the class fantasy.
This set needs to be reworked.
12. Warlock
Similar to mages, I had to brainstorm whose set this one belonged too, because it has absolutely NOTHING to do with warlocks.
The concept art, to the in-game model, is night and day. Nothing in that concept of a mystical lock has been captured in game and parts of the set seem missing.
The belt and chest piece show chains attached, which is a staple Warlock custom, but it didn’t make it to the set.
The shattered orbs and hanging flyers also don’t translate well for “Warlock” and I’m kindof confused as to why they were attached.
Again, I’m hoping that we are seeing early screenshots of these sets and complete overhauls are planned for a few of them. Because this is just not WoW Art Team quality.
Additionally, one of the things that really stood out for me across all sets seem to be the complete lack of the Cypher Runes coming in 9.2.
These runes, unless they have a deeper meaning:
Seem like extremely low hanging fruit to attach to the armor sets where appropriate.