I must admit, the Looking for Raid (LFR) has given me a new found interest in raiding. Of course, those are “easy mode” raids, set so easy that even the worst bad player can find success. Still, I have had the chance to experience the raid content in Mists more than I have in any other tier of raiding in the last 8 years. Until recently I worked shift work, so even if my guild had a raid group, the chance of my being able to participate would be rare and infrequent. One week I could work until 9 pm and not be home until 10:30 central time, and the next I could start at 9 am and be home at 6:30. Makes it hard to be a part of a normal or hard mode raid tea and feel like anything but a carry through player.
This is why I feel a bit of frustration right now in hearing that Blizzard is implementing a separate bonus roll currency in the 5.2 raid, Throne of Thunder. Now, it is infinitely better that they changed their minds about the conversion of Valor to Justice, because if they had kept the change and still left the gear with valor to buy, it would have further invalidated Justice points. That change aside, I feel a bit frustrated to hear that all of the Elder Charms I have will be useless for the new content. The only small glimmer of hope is that of the three toons I have at 90, one has almost all top end LFR gear and no Elder Charms left, and the other has a full stack of Elder Charms, lots of Lesser Charms, but has only begun to hit LFR. Therefore, in theory, once he has the ability to get to the 5.2 LFR, he will have used up all of his Elder Charms, and will have a nice pile of the Mogu Charms of Fate to use early on.
I do think that Blizzard should have stuck with the same charms, because 10 charms (the pre 5.2 limit) is not going to get you much in the Throne of Thunder raid, even if you had a higher than successful loot drop rate from coin use. Assuming the Throne of Thunder raid has the same drop rate from coin use as the 5.0 raids do now, you might get 2 or 3 pieces at the high end, maybe only 1 at the low end. I don’t see how that would cause major problems for anyone. For those who do not have the time to do dailies and earn Lesser Charms, the change in charms for 5.2 hurts, though the amount of time beforehand that we were told is a bit of a help. Even doing dailies every few days until 5.2 hit, I was be able to start 5.2 with enough Lesser Charms to get 3-6 bonus rolls on those two toons via Mogu Charms of Fate once I entered the new raid. This is of course not guaranteed, and may require some free days being spent doing all the dailies I can, but I can always hope, right?
I do understand the base thinking behind the decision to do this. They don’t want stockpiling, which would give some players a head start on others. I don’t think this is as big of a concern as Blizzard does, and don’t think it is likely to give you as much of a head start. I hope, but don’t expect Blizzard to change their minds on this front, though. As we get closer to patch 5.4 with the third raid tier in Mists, I do plan to get out and do a lot of dailies to prepare for the next change in bonus roll tokens. I will also stockpile the Lesser Charms, and not convert all of them to the roll charms until we are closer to the next raid, and I know what to expect.
What are your thoughts on the change in charms? Did you feel super prepared for 5.2 when it hit?
