I can see the legions of trolls frothing at the mouth already but here I go..

One of the most looked forward to features of cataclysm was the fact that there would no longer be ratings on gear.

Oh what a great model that was going to be. The best of the best could be in the top gear fast and compete at their level and the rest of us mere mortals could eventually catch up at some point later. Ratings were only going to be on items with "bragging" rights such as mounts and tabards. (which are most often the most desired items)

Top gear should be bought with points earned through participating in rated Bgs and arenas and earning points depending on your performance for the week - no wins? Get a very low amount or zero points. simple and no ratings required.

Even top PvP players on arena-junkies are disappointed about this. All ratings do is make things that are supposed to be fun - not fun.

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Q u o t e:
I can see the legions of trolls frothing at the mouth already but here I go..

One of the most looked forward to features of cataclysm was the fact that there would no longer be ratings on gear.

Oh what a great model that was going to be. The best of the best could be in the top gear fast and compete at their level and the rest of us mere mortals could eventually catch up at some point later. Ratings were only going to be on items with "bragging" rights such as mounts and tabards. (which are most often the most desired items)

Top gear should be bought with points earned through participating in rated Bgs and arenas and earning points depending on your performance for the week - no wins? Get a very low amount or zero points. simple and no ratings required.

Even top PvP players on arena-junkies are disappointed about this. All ratings do is make things that are supposed to be fun - not fun.

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The only item with a meaningful rating requirement is the heroic raid ilvl equivalent weapon (the 2200 weapon). However, unlike the LK seasons there is also a weapon equivalent to the normal raid tier ilvl that has no rating requirement.

All of the other items with rating requirements (ie: the set pieces) have the exact same stats as the ones without rating requirements, they're a free upgrade and just have a different texture color so you get a little bit of visual distinction for having a high rating (no gameplay advantage).

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Q u o t e:
@Kalgan: Can I please beg for you to make the weaker weapons be a prerequisite for the better weapons, unlike WotLK's model? For example, the S8 2-handed axe (Decapitator) costs 55,000 Honor Points and 1,540 Arena Points. The 2200 axe (Sunderer) costs 4,670 Arena Points. Instead of the 2200 weapon having a separate cost, you would have to buy the Decapitator and then upgrade to the Sunderer once you hit 2200 for the difference.

This makes progression much smoother so people aren't saving points for 4 weeks to get the 2200 weapon first. It also makes it much easier for new players to the season to catch up (since buying the weaker weapons is a HUGE point loss when you're starting out).

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It already is set up that way. =]