Will T2 / Thunderfury drop in MC before BWL?

WoW Classic WoW Classic General Discussion
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So I read the post about Itemization, and it raised a few questions…

Looking at the plans for a phased content release … it’s clear that the aim is to create a progression experience that resembles the original arc from when WoW first launched. In thinking about what belongs in each of those phases, the team’s focus has always been on rewards.

Developers have scoured through vendor lists and treasure tables for items that were added in patches, and then attached them to the staged content unlock plan. This means that if a new item was originally added to a dungeon boss’s loot table with Ahn’Qiraj, you shouldn’t expect it to appear in WoW Classic until Phase 5, which is the phase that contains Ahn’Qiraj content.

This addresses items being added, but what about items being removed? Most of Tier 2 (beyond Ony/Helm and Rag/Legs) used to drop in Molten Core prior to BWL. That was the “original arc” when WoW first launched. Will this be happening again? Similarly:

When new items are added to loot tables, you’re generally seeing a deliberate effort to provide catch-up gear and/or to provide new goals for players who had exhausted an existing reward structure. For example, in original WoW, items were added to give players a way to quickly prepare for Ahn’Qiraj without having to spend months in Molten Core and Blackwing Lair.

The Bindings of the Windseeker for Thunderfury were added in 1.6 BWL patch. I had actually completely forgotten this and just assumed they were dropping in MC from the start since Sulfuras was available from the start. Based on these quotes, I assume “no” they will not be dropping till BWL patch. But once again, that just seems odd/wrong as I wouldn’t consider Thunderfury to be BWL “catch up gear” since it was a BIS Legendary item that lasted through all of Vanilla content, and not to mention incredibly rare to begin with.

Is Thunderfury intended then to be our “new goal for players who have exhausted the existing reward structure of MC”? Or was it something they wanted to add from the start but just didnt get around to till BWL? Will we really be waiting till Phase 3 (BWL) before we can even start hoping for our weekly chance at a 4% Binding droprate?

But again:

…the aim is to create a progression experience that resembles the original arc… …In thinking about what belongs in each of those phases, the team’s focus has always been on rewards.

I think the argument could (and probably will) be made that the T2 that later dropped in BWL belongs in the BWL patch despite that deviating from WoW’s original arc – and if that is the case, doesn’t Thunderfury belong in MC from the start too?

Would love to hear other peoples thoughts/opinions on this.

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Did someone say thunderfury blessed blade of the windseeker?

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Yes, I believe I did.

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Under the present content release schedule, any of the items that were added to MC in patch 1.5 would get added to Classic along with BWL in phase 3.

That is weird.

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i miss that

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One more important thing to note about Thunderfury:

Giving players a few extra months to try for their Bindings WOULD NOT change MC/early BWL balance/progression at all, as in order to craft Thunderfury you would still need the 10 Enchanted Elementium Bars from Elementium Ingots off the goblin technicians in BWL.

So best case scenario, an incredibly lucky player could enter BWL with both Bindings of the Windseeker, and still would not have access to Thunderfury until BWL was nearly fully cleared to learn the recipe to smelt Enchanted Elementium Bars from the Goblin after Flamegor.

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I was under the impression that T2 was something that was in MC the whole time, while Bindings were added later. I don’t mind personally if bindings drop or don’t till bwl is released.

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I was under impression bindings were always a chance to drop, you just never had access to quest or elementium until 1.6.

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About Thunderfury dropping before phase 3, I don’t think that it really belongs here.
For the lucky ones getting the 2bindings, you would basically have a quest with no way to complete it before x amount of time passed, which I don’t think was ever intended nor in the spirit of Classic.
If they intended to add it before BWL release, the questline would be different and never require BWL loot/Mind Control recipe, so it was part of the BWL patch no matter how I look at it.

And about the T2 dropping in MC before phase 2, I highly doubt it’s gonna happen. Since the T2 is now recognized as BWL gear by everyone, and that, adding and then switching the bosses looting it (and having no way to complete some T1 sets), falls under the same policy that “updating gear is too confusing”.
Also you need to remember that MC was put together very quickly by one of the developers with existing assets. So I don’t think the first form of the raid was really what the team intended it to be.

So I’m expecting the loot tables to be with full T1 sets (except head and legs ofc) and being half empty before phase 2 tbh (even tho it gives some people more chance at some item, which doesn’t make sense either)

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Blizzard brings time gating even to Classic. :sunglasses:

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Looking more and more like we’re getting the horrible private server MC drop table that never existed in the actual game.

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the real question is, will the legendary neck drop in MC?

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I sure hope I’m one of those lucky Warriors with both bindings when we get that far into BWL.

It’s an interesting question, OP.

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I highly doubt (and hope not) that the T2 rare drops will be added as they weren’t on the loot tables at 1.12. Also these items were on the loot table before the first round of item revamps.

As for bindings, they probably should be added in P3 as it was loot that was released in the BWL patch originally.

My 2c

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T2 is now recognized as BWL gear by everyone, and that, adding and then switching the bosses looting it (and having no way to complete some T1 sets), falls under the same policy that “updating gear is too confusing”.

Agreed, for all these reasons.

About Thunderfury dropping before phase 3… …you would basically have a quest with no way to complete it before x amount of time passed , which I don’t think was ever intended nor in the spirit of Classic.

Is that not essentially what waiting for your weekly MC reset/farming for your second binding already is? The population with both bindings before BWL release would be exceedingly small. For them, they would have one more reason to look forward to BWL release. Everyone else with 1 binding wouldnt be affected as they’d still be farming for their second binding, they would just have a small head start.

There are many times (especially with retail) where you are time-gated on some giant epic quest. Basically every Legendary questline since MoP has been some version of GET/KILL XYZ from Raid then you’re waiting till the next raid releases to continue. There’s no reason you IMMEDIATELY must get TF just because lightning struck and both Bindings dropped.

Similarly, in the Spirit of Classic, if your guild was just starting raiding after BWL released, and you got a Binding to drop in MC progression - you were likely not getting Thunderfury until your guild was progressing deep into BWL anyway, as Enchanted Elementium Ingots were rarely sold. Not to mention, getting both bindings is incredibly rare in itself, so you are likely STILL sitting around with an item that does nothing until the other one drops for months.

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There’s a difference between waiting and having nothing to do to progress a quest during 10weeks (could basically unsub and come back when phase 3 hit) and having to farm every week for a quest tho.
(especially when you can get most mats before BWL is even released)

A Thunderfury would be possible day 1 of Phase 3 if the bindings drop from the start
Yes the bindings are rare, but people looting both over 6months is more than likely
My stance on it is that would dumb down the definition of Legendaries (we’ll already have way more TF during phase 4 than during Vanilla anyways) so I would be against it, but that’s my personal opinion.

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Interesting questions. I am certain Tier 1 and the Tier 2 Helm and Legs will be in MC and from Onyxia, while the rest of T2 drops in BWL. The question about the bindings is a good one though and I hope we can eventually get an answer to it.

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No, because each week you can go in and try for the other binding. If you have both bindings before BWL is released, no amount of MC runs is going to advance that quest any farther. You’re basically stuck on a quest with no possible way to advance it through no fault of your own.

Edit: In short, there is a major difference between something not dropping and the content not being available.

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No, because each week you can go in and try for the other binding. If you have both bindings before BWL is released, no amount of MC runs is going to advance that quest any farther. You’re basically stuck on a quest with no possible way to advance it through no fault of your own.

So essentially, exactly how Legendary questlines worked in MoP, WoD, etc? Sorry, I am failing to understand why this is a big deal to the 2 players this would affect.

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Just as the items that replaced them on the loot tables in 1.4 and 1.5 are recognized as MC gear by everyone.

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