Prompt for a Legendary Weapon
Posted: Sat Aug 03, 2013 4:14 pm
Before I became adrift and between homes, about four months ago now, I got exasperated by the then slew of anti-hunterisms on the forums (but what else is new). I got so mad, I wrote a letter asking for Blizzard to metaphorically bite the bullet and give us a Legendary weapon chain as compensation for the crap we've had to put up with since the Burning Crusade's "dark ages" with Thori'dal.
Here it is in all it's hastily written, tl;dr glory:
Thoughts?
Here it is in all it's hastily written, tl;dr glory:
Honestly, looking at it after so many months, it comes off as kinda whiny and entitled. However, I also think we could really use something like this, and that it's absolutely within our rights to ask as much - if we do it right.Hello. I am a hunter, and I would like a return of a personalized legendary weapon quest chain for the Hunter class. Now before the comments of OMG HUNTARD!, OMG U GOT SOOOO MANY PETZ!, OMG HUNTER LOOT ENTITLEMENT!1, hear me out.
Over the course of WoW, hunters have been the butt end of jokes, and extremely limited to moments of class-based glory. A lot of us tend to feel bullied and neglected, and our fears often prove to be true with continuing incidents of stealth nerfs, clunky mechanics, and getting blindsided by “balancing” acts revolving around other classes. Still, we love our class, so we stick to our guns (pun not intended) and keep on moving ahead. Good times come and go, that’s the way of the game. But we haven’t had a moment in the sun for a long, long time.
Hence, I request that we can give some love to the class by installing a personalized legendary quest chain.
Let’s have a list of Legendary weapons in the game, and who got what. I am not including Atiesh, Greatstaff of the Guardian because of its rarity and the fact that very few players got to see Vanilla Naxxramas, let alone embark on the quest for a completed Atiesh. I am also not including the weapons from the Kael’thas encounter at Tempest Keep, because they are fight specific and qualify as spawned temporary items.Excluding the new monk class, every class in the game has been able to take part in a lore-relevant quest chain that ended with them receiving a legendary weapon. While some specs, like paladin and warrior tanks and enhancement shamans have NOT received a chance to claim a specialized weapon, they certainly have had the ability to use an off spec to see this content. Hunters, being a pure DPS class, have no such option.Sulfuras, Hand of Ragnaros: Any class capable of wielding a 2-handed mace can use this item, but it obviously benefits warriors, paladins the most at the time of its release.
Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker: Again, another weapon that can be used by any class capable of wielding a 1-handed sword, which is most. However, any melee class benefits from Thunderfury more than ranged classes due to weapon mechanics. It was tailored to be most beneficial to one-hander and shield using tanks, which again are only warriors and paladins.
Warglaives of Azzinoth: Burning Crusade introduced the poor, one expansion wonder system of making legendaries a boss drop. The glaives were originally Rogue and Warrior only. When death knights and monks were introduced, they were tacked onto the list of eligible wielders.
Thori’dal, the Stars’ Fury: Introduced in Sunwell Plateau as a drop from the final boss of the instance, Kil’jaeden. The weapon immediately sparked controversy, as while it was obviously BiS for hunters at the time and benefited them the most, it was often a cause of sour fighting between classes because rogues and warriors would also claim rights to the weapon.
Val’anyr, Hammer of the Ancient Kings: The first exclusively healer-spec only legendary weapon was introduced in Wrath of the Lich King, through the raid Ulduar. All classes with a healing spec were able to access the weapon, and monks were recently included as also being eligible to start the chain if they wished.
Shadowmourne: Becoming available in the final tier raid of WotLK, Icecrown Citadel, the chain embarked on an epic quest to make a “twin” for Frostmourne, the Lich King’s infamous sword. Paladins, warriors, and death knights were the only ones capable of doing the quest chain.
Dragonwrath, Tarecgosa’s Rest: Spell DPS classes requested for this weapon at Blizzcon, and received. Mages, boomkins, warlocks, and shadow priests were able to embark on the chain starting at the release of Cataclysm’s second raid tier: Firelands.
Fangs of the Father: In an attempt to spark interest in the depleting population of the rogue class, the quest chain for this pair of legendary daggers was released in the final raiding tier of Cataclysm. It also introduced everyone’s favourite items pusher, Wrathion the Black Prince and last of the Black Dragonflight, This is currently the only Legendary tier in the game that is specific to only one class.
The Sha-touched Weapons: These were introduced in Mists of Pandaria. All classes have access to one or two of these weapons which drop from the first tier of raid bosses. Everyone takes part in an epic chain that spans across the entire expansion and, as of this post, has not seen its conclusion.
These weapons have special gem sockets that only hold legendary quality gems, and as of patch 5.2, this has extended to a legendary quality helmet enchant as well.
As of 5.4, after a very long and harrowing chain of quests, we now have legendary cloaks to show for it.
This does not exclude the fact that RNG is less than kind for many players, and many have yet to see their Sha-touched weapon drop.
I’d like to address another point that directly relates to lore: With the devs saying that Alleria Windrunner is probably making a return in the next expansion, we have a great opportunity on our hands to see hunter lore expanded. This would mean an amazing chance to see three of the best known archers and rangers in Azeroth, the Windrunner Sisters, potentially become big players in this story. Hunters are often only regarded as THE pet class, with little focus on being a ranged combatant. Outside of the isolated pet taming challenges, the only time we were required to test our skills as in the demands of the lore were for the Rhok’delar quest chain. This experience was removed with other personalized class quests in Cataclysm, replacing them with generic “go to X dungeon, gather materials, receive gear” quests that are the same for all classes.
It’d be a double dipper for lore: the Windrunner sisters, famous rangers and markswomen, and the hunter class finally getting a moment to bask in the limelight of having that moment in storytelling. It could encompass all that comes with being a hunter: a seasoned wanderer who chose to live in the wilderness, learned its secrets, befriended its beasts, and uses that prowess to slay their foes and stay one step ahead of the enemy. If the expansion does introduce a new land, it could easily be a challenge for the hunter to adapt to this new environment and conquer the challenges it brings.
We have a lot of potential, and personally I feel we’re long overdue for some development (since we obviously won’t get it in PvP, HAHAHAHA).
To summarize, we’re the only class that has not had access to a legendary quest chain that makes us feel relevant to some aspect of the game’s story, let alone having something that would give some attention for this specific part of the player base beyond “have some pets“. Which is fine, we like pets, but I’d be happy to trade a patch or two worth of sparkle dogs for a shot at orange glory. It’d give a healthy dose of morale, and maybe actually let us take a deep breath and say, “Hey! Blizzard doesn’t hate us that much after all!”
So, what are your thoughts?
Thoughts?
