Hello!
Unfortunately, Blazefury Medallion is now BiS for Exodin after Truthbearer has been replaced with Claymore of Unholy Might. While I’m stoked that I have a new weapon to use (as cool as Truthbearer is), I’m significantly hamstrung by not having an item from phase 4, now three phases later, because of its interaction with one of the paladin runes. I like the Exodin playstyle and I want to be able to perform at my best.
The real issue with Blazefury isn’t that it’s a random drop from a boss, as most raid epics are, it’s the boss it drops from. It’s not really possible to get a group for Lord Kazzak together at any time of the day (I am an Australian shift worker on Wild Growth, so I have tried literally at all times of the day). The only people interested in running Lord Kazzak are ret paladins who want to HR Blazefury, which either leads to them not joining a group if it’s free roll because they don’t know if they’ll get it, or them starting a group with HR, ensuring that virtually no one will join to help them get their piece.
Of course, my guild has helped me with Kazzak runs from time to time, but the real issue there is that I can’t expect my entire guild to put a raid night on hold, or extend it, or change from Naxx current content to something from three phases ago because it’s a DPS increase for one player if it drops. And that’s not to mention, if any of the other rets in my guild wanted to go to Exodin, we would then somehow need to organise getting two Blazefury’s for two separate players.
On the other hand, there are dungeon runs going relatively often. Even when there’s not, it’s so much easier to get 4 players together instead of 10-15 for something that’s out of the way, annoying, and only drops one thing people want. MCs and BWLs also seem to be plentiful, where reals are dropped consistently. These are much more accessible than outdated Kazzak, even if it would take longer to get the Blazefury or other piece that someone might be chasing. As it stands, beyond the lootboxes on the real vendor, there’s not really anything of value that reals can be used for anymore.
If there were more desirable items on the real vendor, people would be more willing to join or make PuG groups to build the power of their characters.
It is for those reasons that I propose several items that are a PITA to get now be added to the real vendor. I’m not suggesting that this be an alternative path to gearing in its entirety but instead a mechanism to allow for a way to get pieces of gear that are detrimental to play without and are also now outdated.
I won’t create an exhaustive list, but just bits and pieces, like:
Blazefury Medallion
UBRS skinning knife
HoJ
BWL Class trinkets (people seem to be having issues getting these)
Maybe UBRS key gems
As for pricing, HoJ should match the ranged version that was created and added to the real vendor, as should the skinning knife from UBRS. The rest of the items that are currently BiS and will likely remain BiS or are more recent/very powerful should be more expensive. To be honest, I don’t think anyone will complain if Blazefury or class trinkets, if added, were max reals. It’s better to be able to get it at all and be able to play my spec as well as possible then not at all.
Please comment if there are any more items you think should be added under this rule set or if you have any other ideas.