9.2 will be released in 2 days from now, so it's about time to slam down some thoughts that I can laugh at after season is over.
This season is shaping up to be one big bingo card. There's a lot of people who has lost interest in the game, so how many will be around for keys and raids is uncertain. There's also role logistic problems, due to people switching mains so m+ roster and raid roster might be a bit weird.
This also goes for me. I originally made plans based on if everything was up to me, but since I am not leaving guild or switch who I play with to attain them I am at the mercy of what people around me do.
This post however is about my primary intentions, so here is plan A.
Raider
Stormlufser (Dwarf Enhancement Shaman)
Venthyr (80), Kyrian (80), Night Fae (80) and Necrolords (75).
It's finally time. Enhance is main spec for raids, but plan to dabble in all 3 for keys.
Raid goals
Attend 80%+ of the normal raids.
Attend 40-60% of the heroic raids.
Keystone goals
2125+ score
World goals
269 iLevel [Start: 242 iLevel].
Rank 7 enhance legendary.
Rank 7 unity legendary.
Chapter 4 of patch campaign.
Get 4 piece set bonus.
Dungeoneers
Wutteät (Night Elf Vengeance Demon Hunter)
Kyrian (80), Night Fae (80) and Venthyr (in progress).
Expansion main and well suited to do early keys in the season. Vengeance still main spec, but will dabble a bit in havoc with the tier set and second legendary.
Keystone goals
2500+ score
World goals
272 iLevel [Start: 251 iLevel].
Rank 7 vengeance legendary.
Rank 7 unity legendary.
Finish patch campaign.
Get 4 piece set bonus.
Honored with Enlightened.
Hollowfury (Human Death Knight)
Venthyr (80), Night Fae (80), Kyrian (80) and Necrolords (80).
Guilty pleasure tank. Might try frost a bit with the new patch powers, but it doesn't seem to add much besides output numbers.
Keystone goals
1750+ score
World goals
266 iLevel [Start: 242 iLevel].
Rank 6 blood legendary.
Rank 6 unity legendary.
Get 4 piece set bonus.
Chapter 4 of patch campaign (To unlock the raid entrance/crucible).
Dominator (Human Protection Paladin)
Venthyr (80) and Kyrian (80).
Nostalgia tank. Will try the offspecs, but neither seems like they get anything fun this patch.
Keystone goals
1750 score.
World goals
266 iLevel [Start: 236 iLevel].
Rank 6 protection legendary.
Campaign Unity legendary.
Get 4 piece set bonus.
Complete patch campaign.
Revered with Enlightened.
Crafting
Main crafting goals
Being able to craft rank 7 legendary leather bracers [Current: 6]
Being able to craft rank 7 legendary leather belt [Current: 5]
Being able to craft rank 7 legendary cloak [Current: 6]
Bonus crafting goals
Being able to craft rank 7 legendary ring [Current: 3]
Being able to craft rank 7 legendary amulet [Current: 3]
Being able to craft rank 7 legendary plate boots [Current: 3]
To note about backup plans
There are 3 potential problems with plan A.
Problem 1: Raid roles. Due to tank uncertainty, I ended up offering to tank the raid on normal and drop heroic raiding. Instead of playing my shaman. If this happens I am going to play Dominator for chance at tier pieces and general iLevel upgrades.
This will obviously make it impossible to complete the raid goals with my main. So I need to figure out if I will then do my dps raiding outside of guild when season starts (with pugs or community stuff). This goes against the grain of wanting to stick with guild, but this would be the second season in a row my early progress would get ruined. The only blame can be put on myself and I always wonder why the hell I offered, right now I'd rather not play the game than raid as tank. Hopefully some of the people that are interested in raiding sorts it out. On the plus side I have an excuse to give up raiding after normal...
Problem 2: m+ roles. This is less likely since tank uncertainty is an issue here too, but healing might also become an issue. Neither of the current two main healers are typical candidates for the normal key times we have, so it's offspec or alt healing to make the group happen. This doesn't matter in like vault keys, but when doing "higher" keys the drop from Ulve/Urzien/Alshah healing to say Maka/Psycho healing was profound. Not because they are bad, but it's very clear on lots of pulls they don't go in knowing what will happen and then pressure makes it a mess. So if someone has to constantly play offspec they might burn out, and if people want to push keys it might get awkward. So if I can grab a tank I will go healer on shaman for the weekly premade and practice some extra in pugs.
Problem 3: Loot luck/power specs. At the start of the season, Wutteät is obviously the best geared tank and I will from week 2 of season use it to push. But now more than ever loot luck and output will rely a lot on early vaults. So if Wutteät gets hosed early on with gear, while Dominator gets 4 piece before week 8 it's gonna be hard not to switch m+ main to push for KSM. Or if all my characters ends up unlucky, I might burn out on the game being miserable in higher keys that people that do get the gear wants to do.
Patch timers & things to think about
I originally wrote a long post about all the things to unlock and my thoughts that never got published. Instead of the long opinionated piece I have this to do list to go by instead.
Week 0 of season unlocks the new zone. I should get all my characters there this week, hopefully there is a skip for campaign part 1-3 for alts. A high key done would be an asset to people wanting to do weekly no leavers (a 19 timed to get a 15 is the theory). I'm going to lower mine to a 10 anyway in week 1, so I'm not going to put in any particular effort for this.
Week 1 of season will have chapter 4 of campaign available which together with Enlightened honored unlocks the base item recipes for the rank 7 legendary base items. So important for crafters, as getting a share of the initial rank 7 ah buy rush will pay back a lot of the cost of being able to make those items. The p2w for non-crafters will be very visible here. Wutteät should do this.
Normal/Heroic raid opens. Doing chapter 4 on the raider to get there needs to be done, in case no warlock for summons is around.
The m+ season starts. m+ dropped items are iLevel capped (assuming 255 or so) so doing one high key for vault item, and a lot keys that drops the capped iLevel (assuming +10s) is what I will aim for. If people want to do weekly no leaver higher keys and keep asking me to tank I will take Dominator and Hollowfury for some, and follow "my" plan on Wutteät.
Week 2 & 3 of season unlocks the last 3 bosses in normal/heroic, while mythic raid and lfr wing 1 opens. And m+ drops will go back to normal. The fundament for getting KSM will be laid here, with possible 265 drops from dungeons and filled out vaults.
Week 4 of season has the last campaign chapter. Which either rewards you with the baseline Cinch of Unity or lets you buy it from the vendor for a bunch of currency, the info was a bit of a mess.
If you also have revered with the Enlightened after completing the campaign, you can buy the power from the vendor that lets you craft a legendary with the Unity power on any slot.
Dominator should reach revered this week and get the belt from the quest and the power so the other characters can craft their unity piece.
Week 5 and 6 of season has no unlocks. Assume the group output spike from double legendaries plus the loot gotten so far will see KSM achieved if I were a betting man.
Since Dominator is done with the zone at this point, my other crafters should get their honored with enlightened here.
Week 7 of season unlocks the tier set crafting thingie and is the last big power unlock week.
It is highly unlikely any of my characters have 4 piece bonuses at this point, so this will be a big gain. It has 1 charge per week, and it will be fun to see which of my characters gets 4 piece first - the raider or one of the tanks.
Week 11 of season is noteworthy because all my characters should have all the patch power at this point. It is also the last week of the m+ affix rotation so have full info on when the good weeks are this season.
If the weekly premade group is still going, I guess I will continue playing after this point as there will be chances for making a point of pushing.
If people are not around anymore, trying to pug the next two good weeks after this point and then quit will be the plan.
Predictions for patch
Will play the first 12 weeks of the patch.
There will not be people for Week 12 of season onwards keypushing.
Will get KSM in week 6 of season (7 of patch).
Wutteät will have done the most keys at the end of the season, and the highest score.
Stormlufser will have the most raid progression.
I will ragequit the game after I try beta for next expansion.
And come back 12 days later.
I will make an angry post about the legendary crafting system.
I will for the first time NOT go crazy with alts.
Most played with on Season in Review: Taralei.
Most played dungeon on Season in Review: Sanguine Depths.
Least played dungeon on Season in Review: Tazavesh Wing 1.
Number of dungeons on Season in Review: 400.
Guild Curve: Week 16 of season.
Predictions for expansion
Vengeance Demon Hunter most dungeons done.
Most played dungeon of expansion: Halls of Atonement.
Least played dungeon of expansion: Tazavesh Wing 1.
Most played affix of expansion: One with Volcanic.
Most played with: Taralei.
Number of Dungeons in expansion: 2000.
Predictions for next expansion
Dragons.
Angry elementals.
Sword of Sargeras resolution.
iLevel squish.
Worst mindless grind that is also alt unfriendly ever.
Will play tank in spite of trying to go over to dps/heal.
Spec tier list expectations
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