I have read a number of blogs and forum threads these past few weeks lamenting the fact that “casuals” will be able to get T6-level gear through Badge of Justice vendors.
Ridiculous.
I know its ridiculous because I am that casual player. I have one character at level 70, not four or six or more. I play most evenings but only for about two hours at a time. I have been in Karazhan many times, but I have never done a full clear. I am in a guild that has no chance of ever mustering 25 people to go to Gruul’s Lair. I play as much (or more) for the social aspects of the game as I do for the raids and loot. I would not jump to a progression guild because I don’t want to abandon the friends that I have in my current guild.
While there are all different types of “casual” players out there, I feel that I represent a fairly typical casual raiding WoW player.
And I have no chance of ever buying that Badge Gear.
The raiding elite seems to think that players like me are going to come up with enough Badges to deck ourselves out in the same type of gear that they have earned by grinding their way through Hyjal and Black Temple. Outrageous! It’s taken me over a month to accumulate 50 Badges for my Searing Sunblade. At 100 Badges for a chest piece and 105 Badges for a one-hand weapon, I have as much chance of getting those as I do of soloing Illidan.
Is that just me? Or is it the majority of casual players? WoWJutsu has catalogued 2.3 million US and European characters who have been in Karazhan, but that figure is inflated since it includes all toons in all Kara-running guilds, as well as alts, etc… Tobold used these numbers and estimated that less than 1/3 of the players in US and Europe have been in Kara, and far fewer have actually cleared it. If you’re not clearing Kara, you’re not likely to get enough Badges for a set of T6-level gear. One piece? Maybe. A whole set? No way.
So lighten up, raiding elite. I’m not going to crash your T6 party, and neither are the majority of players in the game. By the time I can amass enough Badges to buy even one of the new items, the expansion will come out and all pre-WotLK gear will be forgotten.
