Emblems Schmeblems

After reading up on Shamantics impression of the new badge system, I must admit that I think Blizzard missed the boat.

There is an entire contingency of players who will say, “ZOMG, STFU and L2Play noob instead of hoarding 5 man badges,” but that obviously isn’t the real reason Blizzard has implemented the new system.

They say that they don’t want guilds skipping tiers of content and grinding heroics for a month to get into the current tier, but that is BULL SHIT! If it were true, Blizzard would not have made some Ulduar recipes with if not BiS, then amazingly good in slot, craftable BoE items. Basically, they are willing to let Runed Orbs hit the AH for ridiculous amounts of gold, and let a player get some high end gear. I know this doesn’t mean that tiers can be skipped, but it can help with getting to the next tier a little faster. Not exactly the same, but the gear helps to serve the same purpose. Less time in tier x of content to get to tier y.

I would also ask why this is such a terrible situation anyway. With server transfers, rerolls, alts, and real life interruptions, would it be so terrible to help guilds get to the current tier of content? Good guilds can skip a tier and survive, not because they farmed heroics, but because at their core, they are good guilds. If all those heroic runs result in a guild skipping Naxx for Ulduar, the strength is in the guild, not in what is seen as the exploitation of the badge system. If you combine a ragtag group of 5 manners and put them in the proper gear, there is no proof that they are going to become a good progression guild. That distinction is still reserved for guilds that have great players, good leadership, and the knowledge and ability to execute encounters.

The most glaring mistake in multi-tier badges, is that in their attempt to push content and allow more players to see Naxx, Ulduar, 3.2, and Icecrown, they are also killing content much faster. If the entire expansion had one badge system, like TBC, then the 5 man heroics would be more than rep grinds and charity runs. So much of what Blizzard does is awesome; I have no idea why they insist on killing content at every turn. TBC killed progression in vanilla wow, and Lich killed progression in TBC…this is understandable to a degree, but why have your major content patches kill content for the last one? Why make it even harder for newly minted 80’s to hop on the progression wagon by reducing the reward available to guildies or friends to do a few heroics with them a week? Having 2 toons who have absolutely nothing to gain from running a heroic 5 man, I will admit that a chance at a frozen orb and the love of 5 mans is all I have left to gain.

-Rhab