Why Are They Pigs?

It actually surprises me when I see blogs or forum posts complaining about why the warrior Tier 10 shoulder plates are pigs, or more correctly, boars. It seems a lot more apparent than the talk about the Tier 8 ram shoulders, and that's probably because the design is much more simple (more or less), and not as 'pretty'.

Still, I haven't found one post that actually explains the reasoning behind this. Is it because Blizzard thinks warriors are supposed to be untamed and wild or something? Well, sort of. I'll start from the top.

In the actual World of Warcraft Roleplaying Game, there are such things as barbarians. Quote WoWWiki:

"The barbarian is a ferocious warrior. He is uncivilized and brutal, relying on instincts, anger and raw physical might instead of tactics or fancy swordsmanship. His rage is frightening to behold, and it allows him to smash apart his enemies while ignoring all but the most brutal blows. He has a connection with nature's primal elements; this class is most commonly found among races that dwell in the wild." 

Sounds a lot like a Fury warrior, right? Well, if you go to the actual WoWWiki page on Barbarians and scroll down a bit (Hopefully you'll read the information on the page as well), you'll notice it has links to 'notable' barbarians. The first one listed is Agamaggan. Does this name sound familiar? Those of you who played before the introduction of the instant dungeon grouping might remember having to fight through the gauntlet of Quilboars if you wanted to run Razorfen Downs. You may also remember the skull above the entrance to the instance. Of course, this is only speculation that it is even an actual skull, but it is thought to belong to Agamaggan.

Now, Agamaggan was a giant boar demigod. No, really. 

This same picture is on the WoWWiki page about him, and was taken from the Warcraft RPG books. If you read the page, it mentions how Agamaggan was "a juggernaut of raw strength", and that he "assaulted the stronghold of Azshara, the Eternal Palace, slaying thousands of Doomguards and Felguards with fury."

Is this the official Blizzard reason why warriors have pigs on their shoulders? No. It's just my theory, it makes sense to me, and I'm going to stick by it until they say otherwise. Lore for armor? Feels good.

Thoughts on Gear Before Tuesday

Well I finally got my four-piece Tier 9, only a few days until Patch 3.3 is expected to release. Its a great set for Fury, I think. With the two-piece activated, Berserker Stance grants an additional 2% critical strike chance, and Battle Stance grants an additional 6% armor penetration. four-piece increases the critical strike chance of your Slam and Heroic Strike abilities by 5%. Both Slam and Heroic Strike are two bread and butter abilities of Fury, and I use both often. Arms benefits as well, especially since I've been seeing a few builds utilizing Heroic Strike, instead of completely ignoring it. Slam, of course, is the filler when Mortal Strike, Rend, and everything else is on cooldown. 

Anyway, I also managed to get Victor's Call, which finally enabled me to get the Epic Achievement (hah), as well as my T9.5 pants. I think I'll actually gem those with Armor Penetration and use those in my Arms spec. The Legguards of Ascension that my warrior currently uses is much better for Fury, and I'm already over the Expertise cap by 7 points.

I had a glance at the T10 and the set bonuses it provided. I'd have to look at and think about them a bit more before I can really put my thoughts down on stone. At a glance, I'd say the two-piece looks rather weak with only a 3% chance to increase attack power. The four-piece is strange to me, in the fact that it alters your spells instead of straight buffing them. Arms would get a chance to have instant Slams, but then I'm not entirely sure if the effect is activated for both spells in either Battle or Berserker stance. In any case, I think it would add a bit of technicality to the Fury and Arms rotations, and in doing so, make them more interesting and fun to play.


You can check out the T10 set bonuses here and here, and you can look at my warrior and her gear here.