Blizzard Explains The Changes To ‘World of Warcraft’ Loot In Patch 6.2

Patch 6.2, the next major patch for World of Warcraft, will be adding a new zone to explore, bonus weekends, and a number of other features for players to discover when it releases. Before it launches, Blizzard developers have been explaining upcoming changes and previewing imminent features of the patch. This time, the discussion revolves around itemization and loot as discussed by the Systems Design Team.

First up, personal loot will be changing a bit with patch 6.2. The changes are to meet certain goals for personal loot, like making the system more rewarding, more consistent, and more competitive with the group loot setting. Not to mention, the developer wants personal loot to be celebrated among the group rather than it being a completely private ordeal.

Currently, groups using the personal loot setting sometimes leave with certain party members receiving one item or even no items during the entirety of the instance. With the change in 6.2, personal loot will work more like group loot when deciding how many items to distribute to players.

“As a result, groups will receive a much more predictable number of drops when they defeat a boss. In addition, set items will reliably drop in Personal Loot, just like they do in Group Loot today. The end result is that groups using Personal Loot will acquire their 2- and 4-piece set bonuses at around the same time as groups using Group Loot acquire theirs.”

Another change to itemization is the way item levels progress on gear through different content. The idea behind the change is to reward players with items with a higher item level if the challenge is greater behind the boss that drops the gear. A piece of gear might be a little easier to obtain from the beginning of a raid, while the final boss of the same raid is more difficult to defeat. The loot of the final boss will have a higher item level than that of the first boss with this new system.

“We’re doing this for a few reasons. First, it feels good to get higher-level items as you progress through a zone. One of the more prominent pieces of feedback we got about Blackrock Foundry was that it felt unrewarding for challenging bosses like Iron Maidens to drop loot that was just as good as—or possibly worse than—Gruul’s.”

Personal loot and itemization may be evolving, but the 6.2 patch will also add a few new features to the game. As the Inquisitr noted, bonus weekends, the Tanaan Jungle, a new raid, garrison shipyards, and many more other additions are being added with the World of Warcraft patch launches. The content within is a far cry from the previous patch that included minor changes like Twitter integration, the heirloom tab, and Blood Elf remodel, but no real traditional content. Interested players can view an updated look at the tentative and lengthy patch notes for 6.2 at the official World of Warcraft website.

How do you view the upcoming loot changes?

[Images via Battle.net]