Heroes!

Season 5 introduced us to Bloodforged Gear: PvP-focused equipment that dropped in High Risk and from players and out in the world. This new gear type was designed to solve several significant--and sometimes hidden--issues that arose as a result of Raid gear being freely tradeable:

• Players would make a dozen alts and run a new raid a dozen times on the first day of release, and funnel the gear to their main, getting BiS way too fast and ruining the experience for themselves and others.
• Raiding loses competitive integrity when you can just buy the gear from the Auction House
• It was impossible to balance how fluid gear needs to be in High-Risk while also keeping raids as relevant content at all. Either it was too hard to gear for High-Risk, or there was no reason to do raids because gear was so available.

Originally in High-Risk, weapons and armor weren’t soulbound. This meant that intrepid adventurers could make dozens of alts, run a newly released raid 40 times, and then transfer all the gear they acquired to their mains, essentially becoming fully raid-geared on day one. That's gamebreaking. Bloodforged Gear allowed us to return Raid-Gear to its Soulbound state and increase the amount of gear dropping in the High-risk world. Raiders get their Soulbound raid gear, and High Risk players get frequent gear drops in the world.

However, it's not a perfect system.

• Raids became easier with the introduction of PvE power, diminishing their integrity and the achievement of clearing them
• Players could equip one Bloodied and one Pristine version of the same item, essentially wearing the same item twice
• Bloodforged Gear became a catchup mechanic for raids.
  • Players could equip one piece of ‘pristine’ raid gear, then buy the bloodied versions off the Auction House to gain the set bonuses

For that reason, Bloodforged gear is changing:

Bloodforged Gear is undergoing updates to cement its role as an aggressive, PvP-focused option for Heroes who want to engage in Battlegrounds, High Risk, Arenas, and Open-World PvP.

1. Adding ‘Healing Power’ to PvE power, active only in Dungeons and Raids
2. ‘Bloodforged’ trinkets no longer stack with their non-bloodied counterparts.
   1. You won’t have to get both a Bloodforged and Soulbound piece to be competitive.
3. ‘Bloodforged’ items and their non-bloodied counterparts no longer share set bonuses: you’ll need the right pieces, either all Bloodforged or all Pristine, to unlock these bonuses.
   1. You won’t have to complete your set bonuses using Bloodforged pieces in PvE.
   2. Identical set bonuses do not stack. If you unlock the (2) set bonus on with Bloodforged and Soulbound, you will only obtain the (2) set bonus once. They do not stack.
4. Dungeons and Raids moving forward are balanced with PvE power in mind--restoring challenge and difficulty where it ought to be.
   1. No Ez Mode Dungeons and Raids due to this added mechanic.
5. We’re adding clarity to the Bloody Jar and the implications of turning Soulbound gear into Bloodforged gear.
6. Fixed an error where Pristine (Soulbound) PvP items had less PvP Power than their bloodforged counterparts
7. PvE Power will now include pets.
8. PvP Gear, Soulbound or not, WILL share set bonuses.

These changes will help cement Bloodforged Gear as the role it’s always been meant to have: kicking ass in PvP. In addition, it will ensure that Soulbound Gear maintains its status as the best gear for raiding.

We’ll be taking the steps necessary to ensure that Bloodforged Gear cannot be used as a catchup mechanic in raids in order to protect the significance of raiding and the accomplishments of those who manage to clear these difficult trials. Additionally, Raids will now be balanced and fine-tuned with PvE power in mind: the stat will no longer trivialize raiding, difficulty will exist where it ought too, and raiders who continue to wear their Soulbound Gear should find the challenge they love.

We’ll continue to monitor both Bloodforged and Soulbound gear in order to improve their roles and efficiency. As we move into the Burning Crusade, we’ll be exploring options to reverse the stat decreases to Bloodforged equipment:

• Exploring the possibility of reverting ‘Bloodforged’ stat decreases, returning Bloodforged stats to having the same as the original.
• Allocating that power to PvP and PvE Power accordingly

The changes to Bloodforged Gear will go live July 1st across Seasonal and Laughing Skull! 

Up Next: Arena Spectator coming to all realms