Project Lore

A new season of PvP is upon us! Along with all the great new armor for arena players, there is a lot of gear you can get without ever stepping foot into the arena. The entire Deadly Gladiator set is available for honor only, and many pieces can be attained in the Vault of Archavon. The chart below should be a handy reference for what pieces you can pick up. Its sorted first by rating required, with the first dozen or so not requiring any rating. This means you can get them from just doing battlegrounds. The "honor required" and "arena required" columns are non-exclusive; that is, a piece with an entry in both columns means that you must pay both the honor and arena points cost. For some pieces, you have a choice as to whether to use just honor or honor and arena points. Those options are listed in the "option two" columns. The VoA column shows the pieces that drop in the Vault of Archavon, with E25 standing for 25-man Emalon, K10 standing for Koralon 10-man, and K25 standing for Koralon 25-man.

Item	Rating Required	Honor Required	Arena Required	VoA	Option Two: Honor	Option Two: Arena
Deadly Gladiator's Idol/Libram/etc	0	15300	0
Deadly Gladiator's Gloves	0	31600	0		7200	200
Furious Gladiator's Wrists	0	31600	0	E25/K10
Deadly Gladiator's Shoulders	0	31600	0		9600	275
Furious Gladiator's Necklace	0	38000	0	E25/K10
Furious Gladiator's Rings	0	38000	0	E25/K10
Furious Gladiator's Cloak	0	38000	0	E25/K10
Deadly Gladiator's Legs	0	49600	0		12000	350
Deadly Gladiator's Tunic	0	49600	0		12000	350
Deadly Gladiator's Helm	0	49600	0		12000	350
Furious Gladiator's Belt	0	49600	0	E25/K10
Furious Gladiator's Boots	0	49600	0	E25/K10
Furious Gladiator's PvP Trinket	0	49600	0
Furious Gladiator's Idol/Libram/etc	700	6400	350
Furious Gladiator's Gloves	800	7200	400	E25/K10
Furious Gladiator's Legs	900	12000	700	E25/K10
Furious Gladiator's Tunic	1000	12000	700
Furious Gladiator's Helm	1100	12000	700
Relentless Gladiator's Wrists	1200	39400	0	K25
Relentless Gladiator's Belt	1250	62000	0	K25
Relentless Gladiator's Boots	1300	62000	0	K25
Furious Gladiator's Shoulders	1350	9600	550
Relentless Gladiator's Gloves	1400	0	1300	K25
Relentless Gladiator's Neck	1450	47400	0	K25
Relentless Gladiator's Rings	1500	47400	0	K25
Relentless Gladiator's Legs	1550	0	2150	K25
Relentless Gladiator's Tunic	1600	0	2150
Relentless Gladiator's Battlemaster Trinket	1650	62000	0
Relentless Gladiator's Cloak	1750	47400	0	K25
Relentless Gladiator's Weapons/OH/Wands (Tier 1)	1800	15000+	1100+
Relentless Gladiator's Helm	1900	0	2150
Relentless Gladiator's Shoulders	2000	0	1750
Relentless Gladiator's Weapons/OH/Wands (Tier 2)	2200	0	1245+
Relentless Gladiator's Tabard	2350	0	500

What are you going for this season?

Click to read more ...

Fighting in Lake Wintergrasp is among the most effective ways to obtain honor. With the addition of the weekly quests, you can jump in once or twice a week for an absurd return on time invested. Its no wonder that there is such immense lag whenever the battles start. In addition to honor, there are many other rewards to be had in Wintergrasp! Just like in a battleground, you recieve Marks of Honor upon the conclusion of the battle; 3 for a win and 1 for a loss. These can be exchanged for a variety of great gear. The first set of gear to note is the variety of trinkets, which will run you 25 marks each. There are the "Titan-forged Runes", which provide the "PvP Trinket" effect of being able to remove all movement impairing effects every 2 minutes, but also give a PvE stat. I don't really understand these items to be honest or why anyone would use them over a Medallion of the Horde/Alliance. The next trinkets are the Anvil of Titans/Flow of Knowledge, which provide 84 resilience and a chance on a successful melee attack/spellcast to increase attack power/spell power by 1000/590. Some players may recognize this as the PvP version of the Mirror of Truth/Sundial of the Exiled. You should note that they all share the same internal 45 second cooldown. Finally, you can acquire the Platinum Disks of Battle/Sorcery/Swiftness to increase AP/SP/haste on use, as well as provide resilience. Since I usually burst down targets once I open on them in PvP anyway, I use the Anvil of Titans and Medallion of the Horde. Next up are the Titan-forged belts. These are iLevel 213 and are nearly identical to the Deadly Gladiator's series of belts. You can pick them up for a mere 15 marks. The Titan-forged chest pieces are also on par with Deadly Gladiator's chest pieces at 40 marks, while the Titan-forged helms are on par with Hateful helms, also at 40 marks.  The  Cloth wearers can choose between haste (Salvation) and hit (Dominance). Rogues get armor penetration (Triumph), while druids can pick between the rogue piece and hit or haste. Hunters and Shaman also get to pick between Dominance, Salvation, and Triumph, while Warriors and Death Knights get only Triumph. Paladins get the choice of Salvation and Triumph. These provide great alternatives to spending honor on your entry level PvP gear. However, note that by using Titan-forged pieces, you don't get the Gladiator's set bonus from those pieces. Choose wisely!

Click to read more ...

Recently I commented on crafted PvP gear and how cheap it was. As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. While its a cheap way to get started for PvP gear, PvE is so easy right now that you can easily get much better gear from heroics or even just level 80 instances. The next step up (although debatable) is the Savage Gladiator's set. The Savage Gladiator's set is not that much better than crafted PvP gear by and large, and for the amount of effort it takes to get Savage Gladiator's items, its not difficult to clear some heroics for comparable, if not superior, gear. In patch 3.1, Savage Gladiator will no longer be obtainable. Instead, the current step up from Savage Gladiator, Hateful Gladiator, will be purchasable for about the same amount of resources. In short, Savage Gladiator is really not that spectacular unless you really like playing battlegrounds and Wintergrasp and have lots of extra honor to burn. Most players are probably better holding off until 3.1 hits and Hateful Gladiator gets cheap. There are three options for purchasing the Savage Gladiator set in 3.0.x. You can use a lot of honor (45,000-70,000 per piece), arena points and some honor (200-400 arena points and 8,000-12,000 honor per piece), or Emblems of Heroism. You can purchase Hateful Gladiator's pieces with Emblems of Valor or arena points, rating, and honor. In 3.1, Hateful Gladiator will likely still have the option of being bought with Emblems of Valor, but you will definitely have the option of using only honor. Anything in the columns "Season 6" is still uncertain. It is unclear how VoA drops with work in Season 6, so I showed my best guess. Emblems of Conquest may be exchangeable with a requirement of some lowered rating for Furious Gladiator's gear; its unclear. "X honor" means that we know it will require only honor to be bought with a possible option of a mix of arena points and honor. "X arena points" means its certain that it will cost only arena points. "Removed from PvP currency exchange?" means that these items are probably no longer accessible.

	Season 5				Season 6
Item	Emblems	VoA	Rating Requirement	Cost	Emblems	VoA	Rating Requirement	Cost
Savage Gladiator's Gloves	30 Emblems of Heroism	X	0	50,000 honor OR 275 arena points and 9,600 honor	30 Emblems of Heroism?	X	0	Removed from PvP currency exchange?
Savage Gladiator's Shoulders	30 Emblems of Heroism	X	0	50,000 honor OR 275 arena points and 9,600 honor	30 Emblems of Heroism?	X	0	Removed from PvP currency exchange?
Savage Gladiator's Helm	45 Emblems of Heroism	X	0	60,000 honor OR 350 arena points and 12,000 honor	45 Emblems of Heroism?	X	0	Removed from PvP currency exchange?
Savage Gladiator's Legguards	45 Emblems of Heroism	X	0	60,000 honor OR 350 arena points and 12,000 honor	45 Emblems of Heroism?	X	0	Removed from PvP currency exchange?
Savage Gladiator's Chest	45 Emblems of Heroism	X	0	60,000 honor OR 350 arena points and 12,000 honor	45 Emblems of Heroism?	X	0	Removed from PvP currency exchange?
Deadly Gladiator’s Trinket	X	X	X	X	X	X	0	?? Honor
Hateful Gladiator's Bracers	X	X	0	31,600 Honor	X	X	0	?? Honor
Hateful Gladiator's Cloak	X	X	0	38,000 Honor	X	X	0	?? Honor
Hateful Gladiator's Necklace	X	X	0	38,000 Honor	X	X	0	?? Honor
Hateful Gladiator's Rings	X	X	0	38,000 Honor	X	X	0	?? Honor
Hateful Gladiator's Belt	X	X	0	49,600 Honor	X	X	0	?? Honor
Hateful Gladiator's Boots	X	X	0	49,600 Honor	X	X	0	?? Honor
Hateful Gladiator's Trinket (Medallion of the Horde/Alliance)	X	X	0	49,600 Honor	X	X	0	?? Honor
Hateful Gladiator's Gloves	30 Emblems of Valor	Normal	1615	7,200 honor and 400 arena points	30 Emblems of Valor?	Normal	0	?? Honor
Deadly Gladiator's Belt	X	X	1630	62,000 honor	X	X	0	?? Honor
Hateful Gladiator’s Leggings	45 Emblems of Valor	Normal	1645	12,000 honor and 700 arena points	45 Emblems of Valor?	Normal	0	?? Honor
Deadly Gladiator's Bracers	X	X	1660	39,400 honor	X	X	0	?? Honor
Hateful Gladiator’s Chest	45 Emblems of Valor	Normal	1675	12,000 honor and 700 arena points	45 Emblems of Valor?	Normal	0	?? Honor
Hateful Gladiator’s Helm	45 Emblems of Valor	X	1735	12,000 honor and 700 arena points	45 Emblems of Valor?	X	0	?? Honor
Hateful Gladiator’s Shoulders	30 Emblems of Valor	X	1775	9,600 honor and 550 arena points	30 Emblems of Valor?	X	0	?? Honor
Deadly Gladiator's Wand/Relic/Idol/Libram/Totem	X	X	1930	1,200 arena points	X	X	1250	?? Arena points
Deadly Gladiator's Gloves	X	Heroic	1750	1,350 arena points	X	Heroic	1300	?? Arena points
Deadly Gladiator's Leggings	X	Heroic	1810	2,250 arena points	X	Heroic	1350	?? arena points
Deadly Gladiator's Chest	X	Heroic	1870	2,250 arena points	X	Heroic	1400	?? Arena points
Furious Gladiator's Bracers	X	X	X	X	X	X	1400	?? Honor
Deadly Gladiator's Helm	X	X	1990	2,250 arena points	X	X	1450	?? Arena points
Furious Gladiator's Belt	X	X	X	X	X	X	1450	?? Honor
Deadly Gladiator's Shoulders	X	X	2050	1,800 arena points	X	X	1500	?? Arena points
Furious Gladiator's Boots	X	X	X	X	X	X	1500	?? Honor
Furious Gladiator's Neck	X	X	X	X	X	X	1550	?? Honor
Furious Gladiator's Gloves	X	X	X	X	30 Emblems of Conquest?	Heroic?	1600	?? Arena points
Furious Gladiator's Rings	X	X	X	X	45 Emblems of Conquest?	X	1650	?? Honor
Furious Gladiator's Leggings	X	X	X	X	45 Emblems of Conquest?	Heroic?	1700	?? Arena points
Furious Gladiator's Chest	X	X	X	X	X	Heroic?	1750	?? Arena points
Furious Gladiator's Trinkets	X	X	X	X	30 Emblems of Conquest?	X	1800	?? Honor
Furious Gladiator's Weapons	X	X	X	X	X	X	1850	?? Arena points
Furious Gladiator's Helm	X	X	X	X	X	X	1900	?? Arena points
Furious Gladiator's Wand/Relic/Idol/Libram/Totem	X	X	X	X	X	X	1950	?? Arena points
Furious Gladiator's Cloak	X	X	X	X	X	X	2000	?? Honor
Furious Gladiator's Shoulders	X	X	X	X	45 Emblems of Conquest?	X	2050	?? Arena points
Furious Gladiator's Weapons (2nd tier)	X	X	X	X	X	X	2220	?? Arena points
Furious Gladiator's Tabard	X	X	X	X	X	X	2300	??

Click to read more ...

So some of you have finally earned your very first title. A large block of text above your head, that says, "Yes, I've completed enough of this game to be adorned with a wall of text." Titles have always kind of been a way to separate yourself from the masses and declare yourself better than someone else. It used to just be your PvP titles, "Of The Shattered Sun", or the occasional "Hand of A'dal" (the ever glowing pre-nerf beacon that said, "I don't enjoy sunlight"). Then all of the sudden, WotLK dropped and we got a metric crap ton of titles poured upon us. Ambassador, Chef, Salty, the Love Fool, the Seeker, and Elder are all titles that have been crammed into the new world we totally have come to love. The real question is, What are the best titles? Is Champion of the Frozen Wastes the best? Does the Seeker or Guardian of Cenarius mean that you are the baddest on your block? Maybe, However I will be giving you a 5 title primer. A primer that says, "If you have one of these titles, they garner respect, admiration... or will at least keep you from getting ganked." Lets be honest, That's all that matters right? If I have X title, it makes me E-Peen way bigger than yours. Nonetheless, on to the titles (in no particular order)!

• Arena Titles (Challenger/Duelist/Rival/Gladiator): This title is one that garners instant respect. Not one of the old world "Private" titles that could be gotten much easier. The simplest PVP title meant you had to be in the top 35% of the arenas in your team bracket to achieve it. It meant you slaved for hours in PvP, and you could pretty much gank at will. It means when you turn to tap a node, people really wouldn't want to attack you. You also only keep the title for the next season of arenas. These titles are fresh, new, changing always and mean that you recently have been polishing your armor with the blood of arena noobs. If someone even attempted to target you, you would give them a rain of pain so bad they'd need a "Rambo Shower" to cleanse themselves.

• Salty: This title is maddening, but so rare to actually see in game. This title has many components, of which I'll just list a few. You have to fish up the really rare fishes from Ironforge/Orgrimmar known as Old Ironjaw and Old Crafty. You have to go to your weekly fishing tournament, Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza and win it which is one of the hardest things to do in game to date. Completing the entire Accomplished Angler achievement will garner it for you, but as a person who's currently trying to complete Salty -- I've found little harder than fishing up all the coins, fish, and manuals needed for it. This is still one of the rarest achievements in the game. Only 52 salty titles are given a year per server, so put that in perspective.

• The Immortal: First off this achievement is like the Highlander, except not. THERE CAN ONLY BE 25! The premise is during one lockout period, you have to fight, and kill every boss in Naxxramas without anyone dying during the boss fights. Frogger doesn't count as a boss, neither do any trash pulls. So you can make people stand out of rooms, you can even sub people in and out (though only the 25 that pull Kel'Thuzad will actually obtain the title). It's quite the achievement to get people with the same latency, the same skill, and laser like focus. Our guild has personally tried to do The Undying, and we've had a few unfortunate losses of focus that prove 10 people barely communicate. So to scale up to 25 and pull it off sets you aside as one of the baddest PvE asses that are out there. If only that title came with the highlander theme song, I'd give a kidney for it.

• Loremaster: Though this basically says you don't love sunlight, it's one hell of an achievement and title.It's 2,720 on the horde side or 2,878 quests on the alliance side. This is not only a good idea because the sheer amount of gold that you'll make but you actually learn a lot of the back story of Qarcraft. It'll feed your offsets and let you practice and hone your skills with your other spec's of your class. It's also a great way to pass time between raids. It'll really say you're a completionist. Someone who has loremaster really has a dedication to the game that you can respect and admire. I've only seen 3 people with it on my server, one of them being Juggynaut. Loremaster also awards a tabard with the infamous exclamation point. So you don't have to wear a tabard that isn't that great, and you can celebrate how much you've dedicated to the game.

• Of the Nightfall: This is the Twilight Zone achievement. This is the 10 man 3 drake up Sartharion achievement. Now dont get me wrong, the title sounds extremely weak. Ghostbeezy of the Nightfall? That is worse than being in the front row of a madonna concert and your picture being put in the newspaper. It's embarrasing like the time you were chapperoned by your parents on a date, and your father has to sing "Hooked on a Feeling" while you get driven to a bowling alley. However, the title MEANS a great deal more. It's a healing/tanking/dps check the whole way around. You really have to be on your A-game, and not a bunch of people on servers world wide have this achievement. So when you see that title pass by, you understand that person is one of 10 elite players of the guild that they represent. That title is one to be proud of.

I know, I know there are some of you saying, "What about Magic Seeker, or Conquerer of Naxxramas?" I don't count either of those as titles that even should be acknowledged. I personally enjoy having an adult life and from time to time even basking in sunlight. If you were one of these people to have those titles, while I respect your dedication... I can't include you in this list. You may or may not have a social life, in a may not sort of way. Plus so few people have the title, and even less actually wear it. It's a scarlet letter of anti-social behavior. What is your vote? Which titles do you think make you a warcraft ninja? Which titles do you strive to achieve?

Click to read more ...

As we all know, Season 4 is almost upon us. What does that mean for me? It means Season 2 equipment will be available for Honor. Ideally, I would be grinding out Honor and tokens with the rest of the noobs who don't have Merciless or Vengeful gear yet. I'd love to buy a whole set of Epics, since both my Enhancment and Restoration sets have ugly blue holes in them. Unfortunately, I decided long ago that battlegrounds alone are much worse than battlegrounds with friends. Now, for me, this is pretty much the case with anything in WoW. But most of my time is spent dealing with guild organization (I had no idea what I was getting myself into), raids (same), or financing my habits, both in game and IRL. This leaves precious little time for battlegrounds and even less when friends are available. Alas, Season 2 gear, it seems we are not meant to be. I guess I will have to try and make those ZA runs in the future.

Click to read more ...