Edit:
Adding the 60 versions is a change made to classic. The 58 versions were the original versions of the PvP gear. The 60 R10 armor is a separate set of items with unique item IDs was only introduced in 1.11 with Naxx, and Classic is nowhere near that phase.There is already precedent in classic for making the non-1.12 versions of items available if the items have separate unique item IDs. Currently in Classic The Darkreaver Menace grants [Helm of Latent Power]. The quest reward was later changed to [Skyfury Helm] in 1.7(?). While 1.12 itemization for a given item ID is used, it is not the case that item availability is strictly based off of 1.12.
Classic has made a change from vanilla to make items that were not available at the patch equivalent to this phase, items that only first appeared in 1.11, available now in Classic. I am asking that the original item IDs that were originally available in this patch/phase be added back and made available in Classic.
First, I don’t care either way if the lvl 60 blue PvP stays or goes. The level 58 armor should be in the game for the 50-59 bracket. Not all servers had an active 50s bracket in vanilla, but for those servers that did, it was in some ways a PvPer’s paradise because you could actually earn strong competitive gear for every slot with a combination of BG reputation, Rank, and PvP quest rewards.
For all other brackets, strength is mostly from PvE gear brought in from outside of PvP. For 19-49, it’s taking advantage of the strength of 60 enchants and using a 60 to farm and buy gear and consumables. For 60s it’s all about raid gear. Even if you can do the R14 grind, only 6 armor slots and the weapon slot are actually competitive with raid gear. In later phases, it will likely not even be viable to grind out R14 unless you have equivalent or better raid gear already and the title and epics become merely status symbols. Being competitive means also being a twink or on the cutting edge of raiding.
Carrying a 59 twink is much more difficult and much less rewarding than any other level. A 60 can’t easily solo a lvl 60 dungeon, and 60 enchants aren’t that much stronger than at 60. Raid gear is mostly nonexistant at 59 (although I’m sure someone will try), and the gear disparity is less than those between the raid tiers at 60.
I used to play in this bracket a lot, and eventually did the grind to get R14, but there is something special about 50s. Me and some players from my old server rolled on Fairbanks(H) hoping something similar could happen in Classic. 58 rank gear could open up a different Classic endgame than raid-or-die 60s and twink BGs. It’s also not against classic gear philosophy, previously Blizzard said loot and vendor tables would be based on patch and 58 armor is a separate ID from 60, not a stat update like the epic set.
- Trying to get competitive gear from doing the R14 is unreasonable for most people
- R14 gear is only fills certain slots and rep gear isn’t very competitive at 60
- R14 gear later becomes a sidegrade at best meaning the title requires gear equal to the rewards and is just for prestige
- Not everyone wants to raid to be PvP viable
- GY camping or dancing in a ranking premade isn’t really PvP
- Win trading, afk-scouting, or just giving up to escape a premade-vs-premade is also not really PvP
- Power creep means PvP feels like a different game when Naxx equipped and TBC was expected to reset everything
- Game longevity and current knowledge mean more Naxx-vs-Naxx match-ups than there ever were in Vanilla
- The new 60 set was introduced to deal with power creep from Naxx
- The new 60 set was only released in 1.11 (168 days) compared to the old set (438 days)
- Not everyone wants to twink to be PvP viable
- Twink brackets come with limited abilities and not everyone likes that
- 50s gives virtually the complete toolset of a 60
- 50s PvP resembles 60s PvP at lower gear levels
- 50s has access to every BG, and access to some AV rewards in addition to WSG and AB
- 50s provides an environment to earn some PvP gear for 60 without outgearing the rewards, even if eventually it isn’t competitive gear
- 50s lacks the gear disparities of 60s and twinks making it more welcoming to casuals
- 50s armor rewards relatively obtainable and competitive gear earned from PvPing, letting you PvP to gear instead of gearing to PvP
- 50s armor means it doesn’t require as much PvE gearing as the other brackets since gear can be earned while PvPing
- 50s armor gives a reasonable PvP goal for people to work towards unlike the R14 grind
- 50s armor means geared people are also experienced PvPers and less likely to win just because of gear, or good PvPers lose just because of gear
- 50s armor rewards means less emphasis on consumables since most would rather farm honor to rank than farm on a 60 for consumables
- 50s armor makes for an ideal endgame environment for people who want to just PvP, for casuals and dedicated players alike
It is unfortunate that Blizzard did not add lvl 58 PvP armor, and however unlikely it is that they add it, it could do much good for the game with little harm to anyone else. In many ways, it retains the spirit of the earlier days of WoW PvP, when early raid gear wasn’t actually a huge upgrade over dungeon or PvP blues, fewer players were raid equipped, and there were fewer twinks since the change of bracket levels uprooted any early twinks.
