Thursday (18 Feb) Gear Wars

Thursday (18 Feb) Gear Wars

The DER Family is definitely making out with all that heirloom gear. Not just one of each, but even going with more than one gear type (the shoulders cloth and plate). Wild's excuse is that his family would just squabble over all those goodies. Three pieces are all you get, boys and girls, Wild tells them. And sure, Melasahnd might want those plate shoulders, but hey, she can wear cloth, can't she? Of course, when Wild's back is turned JB twists Happy's nose and he buys off the rack gear from the AH for those who need it. Seriously, though, that is a nice set of heirloom gear to keep the DER Family moving forward.

Wild couldn't help but mention, however, that he won a couple of WG matches and spent his winning honor points on those i264 bracers, and is up to five i264 pieces. That now makes a weapon upgrade Wild's most critical need.

Wild is currently using [Surgeon's Needle]. This an i232 dagger won in the Pit of Saron dungeon on the day that new dungeon debuted. So, it is still a relatively new weapon, and better than many. As a standard for comparison, caster weapons are measured largely by how much spell power it offers. There are many other stats that must be compared as well, but those stats generally scale upward as spell power goes up, too. Wild's blade has +550 spell power. On Wild's first run of ICC 25 (now several weeks ago) the first boss, Marrowgar, dropped the dagger [Frozen Bonespike]. Wild's guildie friend and a fellow druid healer won the roll on this dagger. He was also wielding [Surgeon's Needle] at the time. The bonespike dagger has +741 spell power. One moment Wild and the other druid had equal weapons, and suddenly his druid friend had jumped ahead by almost 200 spell power, a titanic upgrade. Knowing that gear like that is out there . . . well, the Needle just wasn't good enough anymore.

Wild could wait until something like the bonespike dagger drops again, and hope he wins it, but maybe there are other weapons and other ways to get them. And what he came up with is the Quel'Delar quest chain.

Wild did not know anything about this chain just a few weeks ago, and only just recently learned that it was something Wild might be interested in. Some time ago Wild got it into his head to do the Sons of Hodir faction quest grind - primarily because I wanted the heirloom/BoA shoulder enchants that it offered, and second because it could be done relatively quickly. Part of that faction grind introduced Wild to Thorim and the Quel'Delar. There is a confusing array of lore regarding Thorim, but it mostly is a derivative of Norse mythology. Instead of Thor and his hammer, we have Thorim and his sword. Que'Delar is a sword. A sword that was broken. And the quest chain is for the reforging of that sword.

To start that quest, however, you have to find the battered hilt - the first piece of the broken sword. The hilt is a rare drop that can be found in the new 5 mans - Halls of Reflection, Pit of Saron, or Forge of Souls. Wild was lucky enough to get one during that first memorable run of all three of those dungeons. At the time I didn't really know what I had, but it started the quest "The Battered Hilt" (aptly named) and Wild started doing the chain along with the related Sons of Hodir faction quests. Wild reached Exalted with the Sons of Hodir, got my shoulder enchants, and then abandoned the rest of the chain. Why? Well, Quel'Dalar is a Sword. I repeat - a sword. Druids can't wield swords, so what was the point?

So, Wild was researching weapons and how to get them, and came across the [Hammer of Purified Flame]. Hmmm. It wasn't of the same calibre as the Bonespike, but it was a heck of a nice mace, and Wild could happily crush heads with a mace. Where does this mace come from? It comes from Quel'Dalar. It turns out that there are two "final" quests in the Quel'Dalar chain. One offers a set of swords to choose from - the other offers a set of maces, including the one Wild ran across. The spell power of the Hammer is +657, over a 100 more than what Wild currently has. Like I said, it's no Bonespike, but it would still be a major upgrade.

Wild rummaged around and found his quest log. Where in the chain did he stop? What is left to do? There are thirteen quests in the chain. Wild has completed six of them. Wild holds the remnants of the Quel'Delar blade. His next step is to go back to the Pit of Saron and reforge the sword at the anvil guarded by the dungeon boss Forgemaster Garfrost. From the looks of the remaining quests, Wild will be spending considerable time in the Pit, the Halls of Reflection, and the Forge of Souls. But this is all very doable. Wild can't wait to get started.

Wild is also reviewing trinkets. Both his trinkets are i219, but that isn't as bad as it sounds. They are excellent trinkets, better for a druid healer than many higher ilevel trinkets Wild could be using. He does have an upgrade path, though, but is still considering whether to go the high spell power route, or the high +int route. More on that when Wild makes up his mind.