Wutteät SL Season 2 (Week 4)

The honeymoon part of the patch is now over for me. The initial rush of new content to do turning into chores and deciding what do bother doing more of. The hit of constant upgrades now becoming wrong upgrades, items I want to trade but can't and bad vaults. Week 3 was still nice, so a month was the time of change this patch. I still did a lot of keys and did all the "obligatory" timegated power increases that was available.

What didn't help with motivation to play was the news about working conditions in ActiBlizz. While I never idealized the company as much as some have, finding out that the products you are paying for are being made under bad worker conditions is never a good thing. I hope the workers gets some improvement to their conditions and the offenders gets held accountable. But given how corporate is operating over there when it comes to securing worker rights, they have a big task ahead of them.

Since last time in world content

Korthia, Campaign and other patch content

The usual fare of completing Shaping Fate and anima gathering weeklies was now down to under 45 minutes completion time.

Also did the campaign quests. The venthyr one was both fairly short and had interesting story attached to it which was nice. The night fae one was reminiscent of the night fae campaign. The Night Warrior and Bwonsamdi story concepts really resonate with me so I want to know more. But dear god, the fedex quests breaks up the storytelling so much, and it was fragmented with different stories to being with. It reminds me of FF XIV where watching it on youtube makes the experience better than playing the game.

Also did one assault since last time, which will be the final assault I will do in this patch. I had to do it for the cinders for legendary rank 6. Which I now have so don't need to do them anymore. The combination of a lot of boring quests and the same ending sequence to the assaults with scraps of reward made my interest cool very fast.

Torghast

Layer 12 was available the previous week, and I needed to do both wings to craft a rank 6. The first wing (Skoldus I think) I died about as much as on Sire heroic progress last tier and ended up with 0 stars and an hour runtime. For the second run Tara helped out. Bosses not getting endless power stacks was a good thing, but some mobs still pretty much twoshot me with autoattacks.

Will stop doing Torghast for now. Not actually playing Havoc at the moment means no rush to upgrade that legendary and I assume they will nerf the capstone ability for Mikanikos so I will not need to get a second vengeance legendary either. But will go back if either of those become relevant.

Crafting

Completed leather wrist skillups so I could make rank 6 leather wrist base items. Resulted in being able to make the rank 6 legendary the first possible week. Not a fan of this crafting system. The crafter has to make a lot of outdated base items that is difficult to sell with a profit or at least cover materials. Because people can just buy the highest rank one and skip all the other ranks. Which leads to crafters just dumping the skillup base items and then try to get a big return on the max rank one. Then fleecers corners the market since not many are made.

Still remember the developer posts when going into Legion that they thought professions were boring and wanted to change how they worked to make them more exciting. Years later we are at a point where item crafts are down to recipes needing 400 silk, 400 cloth and 40 korthite crystals. And for the second expansion running alchemy and engineering are the only ones you feel real value in having, at least for keys.

Gold

Up about 160 000 gold since last week. Most of it from the most unlikely source - the rank 1 legendary base items that I have tried to sell for next to nothing for weeks. Seems some AH fleecers wanted to corner the market, and for every one they bought I could put up a new one for a higher price but still massively undercut. Not entirely sure what made them try to corner a market which is swamped in items nobody is buying.

Not doing Korthia on all characters resulted in a sharp drop in raw gold generation. And I gather materials just for my own consumables and gear, I don't get extra to sell at the auction house. So I need to figure out what I am going to do for gold down the line with all the alts put in hibernation.

Since last time in m+

Status

Affix sets were Tyrannical/Spiteful/Necrotic and Fortified/Quaking/Bolstering. The Tyrannical set might be the worst one on the calendar, can't do big pulls with necrotic and spiteful being a hinder for skips, opening mist gates or using kyrian airways flights. The fortified set a contender for slowest fortified week with bolstering hindering good pulls, and quacking often leading to bodypulls that then gets bolstered . During the Tyrannical week I ended up with 9 keys done so missed the third vault option. Fortified week I filled up vault - first two options will be 252s, the third option is a 249 and just one more 15 away from a full 252 vault.

Scoring runs

The Tyrannical week only saw progress in 4 dungeons mostly due to not playing much. Fortified had better results in spite of the slow affix set.

Sanguine Depths 15 (+) [Tyrannical] & 15 (+) [Fortified]

Sanguine got the honor of being the first dungeon we timed on 15 on both Fortified and Tyrannical. We normally do well in here, and the affix sets felt like it affected Sanguine less than most other dungeons. Quaking can be really bad with bad timings, but we avoided the worst. Pain points on Tyrannical was third boss and gauntlet (due to Necrotic), on Fortified the gauntlet. Guilds groups.

Mists of Tirna Scithe 15 (+) [Fortified] & 14 (+) [Tyrannical]

Mist keys have been rare so far this season, we had a single one both weeks. Both runs went well, but like HOA the lack of pride makes some fights, the first boss mainly, take much longer. Making the timer be a lot tighter, especially on Tyrannical. Pain points the typical of first boss on Tyrannical, the trash up to first boss on Fortified. Guild groups.

Spires of Ascension 14 (+) [Tyrannical] & 15 (+) Fortified

For Tyrannical, we had two tries at 15s that depleted and had to settle for a 14 as highest scoring run. For Fortified we had one 15, that we timed. After the depleted 15s I decided some more aggressive pulls was needed. Double pull right at the start for example; we had some deaths from it but saved time overall. Fortified feels more painful as there is a lot of pulls that packs a lot of damage, all of the trash feels like a pain point. On Tyrannical it has mostly felt like the timer is the pain point. Without pride, lust and double boomie bosses take 1-2 minutes longer, revealing the crutch we had in season 1.

Guild groups.

Theater of Pain 13 (+) [Tyrannical]

Still our worst performing dungeon I think. No matter who is in the group. Think I will start going right-right in the platform section instead of right-left; there just seems to be a logistics problem if people die there every time. The other platform is way slower but dying is less of a logistics problem. Guild group.

Halls of Atonement 15 (+) [Fortified]

Was not played during Tyrannical week. Did riskier than usual pulls to compensate for the tight timer; had deaths but barely made it. Fairly certain need another 5 iLevels on group to go back to chill HOA runs. Pain point was some trash pulls that killed the others, but I have no idea if that was casts, quacking or aoe stuff the trash did that caused it. And didn't log, so will never know. Guild group.

Necrotic Wake 15 (+) Fortified

Another of the keys barely played so far. Since last time they moved one of the affix mobs that made it less annoying; the second one that seems to be either cold guy or the bucket. The ziggurat was painful as usual on fortified and with the nerfed dungeon items in effect, I did not expect to time this by 3 minutes. Easily a contender for easy over 15s on fortified weeks now. Guild group.

Plaguefall 16 (Depleted) Fortified

First Plaguefall in a while. Didn't really think of it being a 16 before we started. First key of the night. So mishaps that resulted in bodypulls, random deaths and general time loss was somewhat inevitable. However, I don't think we would have timed this run even if doing it without mistakes. The current route is just too slow with current gear. And it feels like Atal'Dazar first boss all over again where every run has the same mishap at the same spot in spite of clearing for safety, like before the tentacle gauntlet. So I should do a harder route with bigger pulls instead if playing safe doesn't give a return to shave off time. Guild run.

Overall

Vengeance Score: 1957

Havoc Score: 190

m+ progression having real breaks on after 2 weeks of massive rating increases, now down to just double digit rating increase over 2 weeks. While having a 2 week period of 0 rating increase is not going to happen the next 2 weeks either, we might hit last season's stagnation point a lot earlier this season.

This week in alt projects

After the initial crafting rush I got into the habit of playing those alts. But becoming aware of the dopamine hit of the easy upgrades, I cut down on alt time this week. The ones needing gear to be ready for possible m+ later was sorted out: I wanted iLevel 210, a legendary on them and some relevant conduits.

When I do play them in m+ once one of the two mains stops doing m+, I've made a generic goal to strive for before moving on the the next one. Get iLevel 236 - 1000+ score - have at least one scoring run for each spec.

Serwaswathan (Draenei Night Fae Frost Mage)

Serwaswathan almost exclusively got Korthia upgrades to get to 210. Originally bought a 200 iLevel ring on the AH, but the first thing that happened was that a korthian ring dropped to replace it. Character was intended to be a fire mage, but ended up with as frost. Ready for m+ and now. Going into hibernation for active content, but will continue to craft base ring and amulet legendary items.

Hollowfury (Human Venthyr Frost Death Knight)

Hollow was the gatherer of the week. Just feels relaxing to queue for LFR while gathering ore and herbs until queue pops. And spread it out over the week so the gathering and LFR gets too jarring. Time spent gathering was on the low side, since only 2 wings of LFR are available at the moment, and the queue times were about 15 minutes. But will have increased gathering time as more wings open and less people do LFR to fish for domination shards for their mains.

This week the vault had plate bracers (that has domination sockets), got a neck andthe unholy dps domination gem as loot in the raid. The character now has 3/14 possible slots filled with LFR gear. Goal is to have ring legendary and full LFR gear with 5 domination gems slotted. Just to see how long it takes. And to compare LFR gearing for m+ with Korthia gearing for performance in keys when that time comes.

Ihnanna (Human Necrolord Windwalker Monk)

Ihnanna geared through Korthia. Exception being a neck I got from a heroic dungeon in january I had to do do pvp to swap out. The iLevel being lower in pve makes pvp less appealing content to do for gearing than it was, with Korthia providing everything but neck and a second trinket on top. Ready for m+, going into hibernation.

Dominator (Human Venthyr Protection Paladin)

Geared through Korthia, but did 3 weeks worth of m+ for valor to buy crafting materials with. But is currently sitting on 2250 unspent valor due to being spared the buying of materials. Properly geared and ready for m+, hibernation for now.

Navarim (Human Kyrian Destruction Warlock)

Korthia and LFR geared. Doubt it will do any m+ this season, but might be dragged out for alt raiding if the progress to heroic sylv is short enough. Hibernation for now.

Stormlufser (Dwarf Venthyr Enhancement Shaman)

Korthia and low m+ geared. Was a valor for mats character, but did an extra week so now have a bit of a head start with both vault pieces and valor. Hibernation, unless needing to farm leather.

Adagabo (Night Elf Night Fae Guardian Druid)

Korthia and old dungeon weeklies geared. Doubt it will do anything, be either crafting, keys or raid this season. But ready for m+ if I want to play flavor of the month tank. Hibernation.

Mimara (Lightforged Draenei Protection Paladin)

Mostly gear from m+ last season, with some Korthia pieces. A valor for materials character that snuck in some extra dungeons, so have a head start if m+ happens. Hibernation.

Ghoset (Blood Elf Kyrian Vengeance Demon Hunter)

Gut reaction told me to restart this character for safety in case people weren't gonna play this patch, but gut reaction was wrong. Ready for m+ technically but lack all the support professions and gold, so will be abandoned this patch again unless gut reaction was right in the long term.

Thought of the week

After multiple bad vaults and some fishy loot drops the last few weeks, the bad loot luck finally ended in a Sanguine run as my BIS weapon dropped.

But instead of joy of getting a drop, it felt a lot more like relief. All this loot was here last season. My character had the gear I wanted that enabled me to do the content I wanted to do. Now people want to get back to that level of content fast. And the chance of ending up being the one holding the group back from timing keys and progression due to game stops giving you gear or the wrong kind of gear is a risk. And I get the impression this thought is present for other people too, be it for raid or m+. If you dps, you don't want to be doing tank damage. If you tank, you don't want threat issues or risk dying all the time. If a healer, not do tank healing. Or be last on performance for your role in general, holding group back.

Just feels like the current WoW pve gearing with the vault, the enormous difference in importance of some gear (weapons and trinkets) and now the shards of domination makes early season way too volatile. Not sure this qualifies as "fun". The dopamine hit of "progression" just passes faster for every patch that I have been through, as it's just the same 4 secondaries gear with some secondaries feeling a lot better than others. But otherwise not really any gameplay changes. I was considering skipping the patch for this exact reason. Once that illusion breaks the game just feels so unrewarding.

The same goes for raidlogging. The people skipping m+ are constantly behind. The people that get the domination gear/shards gets a gigantic boost compared to people that don't. The regular items are so boring and even unbalanced, but the patch stuff they put in are often so far off it's in the 50% buff/nerf range, and acquiring them often made with the idea of them being annoying to get a design choice. There was a tweet from some world first raider that didn't get the shards when gearing up to do the mythic stuff, and was just left off the team for example.

This is the stuff that is going to make me quit permanently in the end I think. I doubt the dungeon and raid designers will ever botch an expansion. But the systems/gear designers are either failing at translating ideas into the game, trying really hard to make a system just for metrics or playing second fiddle when it comes to resources. Or all of those.

Lesson of the week

This vendor seems to have appeared this reset? A place to dump anima. The prices are a bit steep it's better than nothing.

Mount of the week

Prestigious Ivory Courser, got it from honor rank.

Goal Progress

m+ goals

1957 Rating out of 2000 Goal (+87 Rating) - Progress.

Soft goals

Kyrian Renown 54 out of Kyrian Renown 80 goal (+6 Renown) - Progress.

1 rank 6 Vengeance Legendary out of 1 rank 6 Vengeance Legendary crafting goal - Complete!

No Havoc crafting out of 1 rank 5 Havoc Legendary crafting goal - No progress.

238 iLevel out of 246+ iLevel goal (+10 iLevels) - Progress.

Stats

Covenant: Kyrian (Renown 54)

Main spec: Vengeance (238 iLevel) [1957.5 score]

Offpsec: Havoc (236 iLevel) [190.7 score]

Main Secondaries: Versatility (9%) & Haste (27%)

Legos: Scorched Soul Shackles (rank 6), Collective Anguish (rank 4)

Soulbind: Pelagos (Combat Meditation - Repeat Decree - Focusing Mantra - Fel Defender - Cleansed Vestments - Growing Inferno - Viscous Ink - Let Go of the Past - Adaptive Armor Fragment - Better Together - Shattered Restoration)

Raid Prog: 5/10 Normal

Professions: Leatherworking (max) & Enchanting (max)

Going forward

Being 43 score away from Keystone master, getting those points for next update would be a logical step. Tyrannical week will contain small points, the alternate runs are only worth a third of the best runs and I don't see us getting any improved best runs on Tyrannical. But having some 15 keys timed, some depleted 15s and some 14s timed would set up a fortified week where timing a couple of 16s would push Wutteät over the 2000 rating line. Affixes and what group members get in the vault will decide how easy this is to do, however.

Other noteworthy progress to be done is to do the renown and campaign stuff still first upcoming reset, which will unlock the broken Mikanikos trait. I am expecting a last minute fix still on reset day, but if it's not it will be a gigantic dps boost.