PvP and PvP gear need to be completely separate from everything else in the game. PvP earned gear should only be cosmetic and gear from any other source should be useless in PvP. They need to double down on the stat template system so the gear is completely irrelevant for PvP and it's all just skill based (well truthfully more like what flavor of the month class is broken in pvp)
As much as I really enjoy M+, I'm glad it's not possible to basically get Mythic raiding equivalent gear in M+ due to titan forging, ect like you could in BFA. People who push high 15+ keys might argue it's just as difficult as Mythic raiding, but it really isn't when you factor in organizing 15+ additional players to co-ordinate together.
I really dislike PvP and Arena, but the gear is too good to pass up on so I'm forcing myself to do it. If M+ and raiding were more rewarding I wouldn't have to do to it.
Probably an unpopular opinion, but I don't get why everyone has to rush? We're a month out of launch and people are pissed they're not 233 ilvl. When did taking your time and enjoying the content become a bad thing? The game has so much to offer and many ways to play. It sounds like most people are loot driven and it's like a job. Either way, Happy New Year and good luck to all!
I think an issue that has so far (seemingly) gone unnoticed is the fact that in season 1 players are trying to jump 50 ilvls or so from when they hit max level in order to be able to be geared to compete in whatever content they are intending to focus on. When I hit 60 I was about ilvl 140 and I really needed to get to about ilvl 184 to be able to start clearing normal CN. Jumping 40 ilvls in a week (or maybe even less depending on when you hit 60) is a very difficult task for most players and is made even more difficult by the reduced loot across pve. I think once players get geared and start reaching the max possible ilvl for the season, which I'm guessing would be somewhere in the 220-230 range things will feel better. To me it seems that season 1 is always the hardest to gear for because you are starting so far behind where you need to be. Subsequent seasons don't seem to be nearly as hard. I think the issues here won't be as big of a deal (except for the weapons thing) heading into season 2 because players won't need to make that massive ilvl jump they had to make in season 1.That being said though, I do think that there needs to be some changes to M+ loot. It does feel really bad to do several M+ runs and only get anima from them. There needs to be some sort of bad luck protection for M+ and raiding imo (maybe bring back bonus rolls?) and there at least to be a shot at getting 233 weapons from M+. It doesn't seem fair that the best pvpers and the best raiders can get 233 weapons, but the best M+ers cannot obtain these except by dipping into one of the other systems. I can't say that I am in favor of a currency system though for M+. I think if you implement such a system you undermine raiding because then M+ will be as deterministic as pvp and raiding is going to be the only content subject to RNG. A better way would be to just adjust the GV rewards so that if you complete a +15 in time you will have a 233 option in your GV the next week, otherwise if you just complete a +15 you only get 226. This gives incentive for players to time higher keys, but doesn't punish them if they aren't able to.
pvp gearing is way better than pve, assuming you are a skilled player or play a busted class. Assuming you can reach 2.1 rating in 2's, for example, you can simply tank your rating to like 1k mmr in 3's in order to spam conquest and honor for weekly chest. You can literally have 3 options at 226 IL with like 2 hours of gameplay per week or so. By comparison, to get your 10 keys at +14 in order to have the same options, it will take you much longer, even assuming you are in a full premade group, you are easily looking at 4-5 hours of gameplay at least, turning into 8-10 hours if you chance the LFG (again assuming you play a class people want in their groups). This is enough to make pvp gearing the best option, however it is not the reason why it's busted. The ability to buy the items you want it's what makes it essentially broken. I personally bought at this stage 2 weapons which I upgraded to 226 IL. There is no targeting of items in pve, so yeah, maybe they should fix that somehow. Unless this happens, we will see the IL of pvp players easily surpass pve players if this is allowed to continue, because they will simply get 1 item from chest and another from vendor every week until they are full 226 on every slot, which they could potentially achieve in about 8 weeks or so. Secondary stats are not really that important to be a factor compared to IL either, so yeah, 2 months into the patch pve guy might still be unlucky with rng on weapons for example, while pvp guy has everything he needs at IL cap.
Valor points could solve alot of M+ or Raid Problems Cap it like Conquest with a Catch up Mechanism and let peopel Upgrade items with the Valor Points like we did in MoP ( upgrade gear until max 233 every slot or just the weapons/Trinkets)while keeping the Great Fault so everyone feels somewhat Rewarded for doing Content they enjoy and are not forced to do PvP or M+.
For gearing guide more useful for most players:WoW Shadowlands Gearing for Casual Players and Alts
The ilevel on m+ gear is very lacking, but number of loot I am okay with if that means no more titanforging. If only Blizzard could make pugging raids better, but alas the community will not allow for any improvement there. Also all these guides about who is performing best/worst hurts players who want to join a guild, play what they like and compete. But that's again, a community problem. Always great to know if you really love something and great at it, and its fotm you'll never fear an invite. But when you're at the bottom, pubbies auto decline you 'cause there is no way to measure your skill.
WoW Gearing System - efficient guide for Casual Players and AltsThe vast majority of players don't do and have no significant interest in: Mythic+ above +10, Mythic Raiding or PvP above 1800 rating. A significant portion of players will be doing much less or at least less on alts. In Shadowlands you might have interest in doing storyline for all 4 covenants and you want 4 characters to feel strong doing Callings, Torgast and the Maw, but want to gear them in a time efficiently manner.Covenant gear - you'll have to work up to Renown 22 and complete Chapter 9 of the covenant campaign, but once you do this gear can be upgraded to i197 gear in your covenant.PvP gear - The unrated Honor point gear can also be upgraded to 197 ilvl once you hit Renown 22. You'll get a good bit of conquest on the way, so try to be conservative with your honor points, so that the Conquest gear and Covenant gear do most of the work and use honor to fill gaps, for example rings, trinkets, neck. Save conquest for a Weapon.Easy-ish PvP Honor PointsIf you don't want to do much pvp, but still want something from the gear system, then note that there are two pvp quests that reward 1000 honor each. For both these quests you can que for specific battleground to focus your time/effort.- In Ashran one of the quest givers in your base has a once a season quest to collect 50 Fragments rewarding 1000 honor. Ignore the main battle and head to the northwest on the map to kill easier mobs and gather fragments. - In Wintergrasp, there is a once a season quest to win that gives 1000 honor, ask people to share it if you don't get it from starting npcs before match starts. World Bosses - drop 207 gear and cover slots: back, wrist, feet, fingerx2, hands, legs, neck, waist. Drop rates are low, but you'll likely get 2-3 pieces over course of the season. Also note that killing world bosses has chance to give you +1 Renown if you're behind the current renown cap.World Quests - don't know yet what ilvl these will top out at, improves at Renown 10,19 and 29. Could be useful for quick upgrades to weapons and neck, rings and trinkets.Summary:- Use Covenant Gear for core armor slots (Head, Chest, Feet, Hands, Legs, Shoulders, Waist, Wrist, Cloak)- Get Legendary item- Try to at least a little pvp for Weapon slot, or if you like pvp save Conquest for Weapon and honor for rings, neck, trinkets- Do world bosses for occasional nice upgrade- Watch World Quests for rings, neck, trinkets, weapon options- These will get you to around 200 ilvl and you'll character should feel strong in everything you do, Maw, Torgast, Callings, etc.- If you want to go further, then start looking at Mythic+6 and above, Heroic raiding or Rated Arena, Rated BGs in pvp.Renow catchup- Check your daily Callings and do any that give +1 Renown as additional reward- Do Souls recovery quest in Maw each week- Try to do the 1000 anima quest each week, not essential for the Renown, but you'll likely need the anima for convenant upgrades and transmogs/mounts later.- Kill world boss each week, its quick and has chance of gear, renown and often rewards 250 anima.- Extra: Try to do some of the daily Grateful Offering quests that you get through the Anima Conductor, you will probably want the 'grateful offering' currency later for transmogs/mounts.
As a casual player I adore the pvp vendors. I never really bothered with PvP much before but if it means I don't have to deal with dungeons then I love it. So glad Mythic+ isn't the be all and end all anymore. Running +15's back in BfA was utter hell.
Personally I'm loving the challenge of gearing in Shadowlands, it took me forever to hit 2100 in PvP, and it makes the rewards that much more rewarding for the effort. Also, the high vers from the PvP gear is helping a #$%^load in high keys, and I'm giving that loot away most of the time, because of how much better my PvP gear is at the moment. In my opinion, M+ has been broken since Legion as far as easy loot goes. You didn't really have to raid anything other than Mythic because you could just target gear through M+, and there was no incentive to PvP if your main focus was PvE. There is just a lot more to do in game, and having fun PvPing isn't penalizing your PvE performance anymore. At least that's how I feel about it.
Don't care about gearing. Gear comes naturally as you do content. And there really is no reason to want to be decked in BiS a few weeks into the expansion. In fact, there's no reason to be grumpy about not being decked in BiS when the next raid tier drops. Play for the experience, not for the reward.