After years of being a place where players could earn mediocre prizes by completing dull tasks, the Darkmoon Faire is finally receiving a much-needed makeover in Patch 4.3. Now taking place on its own special island, the new Faire includes better games, rarer prizes, and a way for players to get their hands on some armor sets that no longer exist in the game.
Replica Items Available On Darkmoon Faire Vendors
Blizzard hinted at this feature in their first preview and further confirmed it in a series of blue posts. Players will be able to purchase armor – presumably with Darkmoon Faire tickets – that is specifically made for Transmogrification.
Datamining has shown the Tier 0 and Tier 0.5 armors available via the Darkmoon Faire. These are the original level 60 dungeon sets and their upgraded, epic counterparts. Unfortunately Blizzard removed the dungeon sets some time ago because they were poorly itemized and – in many cases – not in line with the new level range for several instances.
Availability Of Rare Sets Still Undetermined
One of the biggest debates right now is the absence of the Tier 3 Naxxramas armor and similarly the old Zul’Gurub and Zul’Aman armor. Because these instances were redesigned, players have no way to obtain these unique models. Naturally players that completed those armor sets feel they should have exclusive rights to it, while others want a chance to wear any armor set in the game.
Personally, I think there has to be a compromise, and I think it’s likely one will happen. After all, the Zul’Aman bear was returned to players, just in a different skin. Anyone really wanting to nitpick can tell the difference between the bears, and I suspect the same will be true of this replica armor.
In fact, there’s no confirmation that the replica level 60 dungeon set armor doesn’t look slightly different from the original.
Are Replica Sets Offering Stat Bonuses?
The curious thing when looking at the Wowhead list of replica items is that some include an Equip bonus. Blizzard has already stated that stats and other bonuses won’t apply on transmogrified gear, but why create replica items with stat bonuses at all?
This does provide an interesting gear alternative for players turning off their XP gain at level 60 and deciding to raid or PVP in classic gear. While not the exact same as the old dungeon sets, there are some pretty decent bonuses like a flat 10% increase to hunter pet armor.
It’s an interesting consideration, but so far we don’t know how much effort these sets will take to obtain. Right now we don’t even know if they’re purchased with tickets, tokens, or through reputation and gold. We do know that this is just the tip of the iceberg, however, and Blizzard is likely to make another page on their community site once the full loot list is announced.
October 14, 2011
Gold