Besides the armor value, is there a penalty for wearing the wrong armor type? I’m trying out a paladin healer, since I’m not planning on taking hits, why couldn’t I just ware a higher level cloth gear with better stats?
There’s no penalty for wearing the wrong armor type, but there are bonuses for wearing the correct one.
Wearing the correct armor type for your class confers a 5% bonus to the primary stat appropriate for your spec. This bonus kicks in at level 50 – before that, there is no drawback to wearing an incorrect armor type.
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I think many classes receive passive bonuses for wearing the all of the “correct” armor type (classes that can wear more than one).
Otherwise, no, I don’t think there is any other downsides.
Well… it amounts to the same thing. You are effectively being punished for wearing the ‘wrong’ type.
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Blizzard had enough of the Mail/Plate classes having the ability to pick loot from all four armor tables while the Cloth/Leather were limited. I wouldn’t really call it a punishment, more of just a protective measure.
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The only real ‘penalty’ for wearing a wrong armor type would be present in the stat being incompatible to the class. Warrior/Paladin/Death Knight don’t always have a conversion from Agility, Warrior/Death Knight/Demon Hunter benefit zero from having Intellect, etc.
Incentives to do something are not by their nature a punishment for doing the opposite of that something.
I don’t much care for the, “I didn’t get rewarded, hence my present circumstance is a punishment,” way of thinking.
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I believe it’s that you get 5% more to your main stat, (intellect, strength, agility) if all the armor is the right type. Doesn’t kick in until level 50 though.
It’s different from a psychological point of view. Mechanically, it’s exactly the same.
Let’s have an example. Suppose you’re a plate wearing class. I make a warrior and see that I get a 5% bonus for wearing plate armor. My reaction? Great! I feel like I have a choice, and am rewarded for making the ‘correct’ choice.
Instead of the plate bonus though, let’s make it so that all other armor types have a -5% penalty. My reaction? UGH why let me wear it then punish me for it this game suuuucks omg lol
The designers prefer to reinforce the correct behavior, rather than punish the unwanted behavior. It’s more effective, and as we can see here, easier for players to accept.
But the motivation and the outcome is the same.
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Well, back before items were a Primary Stat, Stamina, and two Secondary Stats, people wore a slew of different armor types because of various different stat arrays on gear. At the end of WotLK going into Cataclysm they felt it was just going to end up better in the long run if they at least made a reason for a Holy Paladin to stop taking gear from Holy Priests, Resto Druids, and Resto Shamans.
Game won’t let you transmog over the wrong armor type for your class. If you’re a paladin and wearing cloth robe chest, it will remain that cloth robe chest appearance, the game won’t let you change its appearance.
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[laughs in Elegant Dress]
… if people want to talk about “punishment”, stats are laughable… but not being able to transmog your gear is just painful.
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