I’d like to talk about one inconspicuous change related to Strongholds today that is set to alter the way players are going to level their characters rather drastically. It’s actually so inconspicuous that I forgot to put it into the post about the Stronghold changes yesterday (thanks putzboy78 for pointing it out!). Turns out however it makes sense to dedicate an own post to the topic, so here we go!
Stronghold Company Gear
As said the change itself looks rather minor. The Guild equipment (Guild Assault Armlets) that you can currently buy in your Stronghold gets a nice bump to item level 140 (420 in the new system). In times of Relic Gear and item levels north of 150, it seems to make sense. But it heavily impacts areas below “bis”. Let’s quickly look what types of armor the new Company Gear surpasses or is on par with in terms of item level:
- Elemental Elven, Alliance, Burning (Mod 6)
- Dragonflight and Lionsmane (Mod 7)
- Elemental Drowcraft (Mod 8)
- Dusk (Mod 8)
- Warborn (Mod 8)
- Frostborn (Mod 10)
Or in other words: Pretty much everything except Relic and Prestige Armor sets! Elemental Dragonflight and Lionsmane have a slight edge, but it can be questioned whether two item levels are worth the extra effort. Essentially equipping Company Gear at level 70 will become your best and most convenient option until you make the next step to Relic or Prestige. Unless you’re not in a guild, this demotes all gear from Mod 6 to Mod 9 to Salvage fodder. It also makes Frostborn even more useless for anything outside Storm Kings Thunder content.
The dragons are safe again
Especially the impact to Dragonflight gear and the attached event is worth looking at. With Marauders guilds get a more efficient way to farm vouchers, and the Dragonflight gear now is largely irrelevant. Which means that literally nobody will run the Dragonflight event. Well, and the Stronghold Siege, but the PVP mode was dead anyway. It also should be noted that Alchemy and its creation of Unified Elements will probably take a hit as well. Elemental Infusion is deemed useless for anything other than creating a stat combination that doesn’t exist on other pieces. So if you’re still running those Alchemy farms on your profession alts, you might want to start leveling Leadership.
Guild vs. Guildless
Although in my opinion it’s a minor point, it also widens the gap between those that are in a guild vs. those that aren’t. The fact, that you can instantly equip any character at level 70 with gear equivalent to weeks of farming in solo mode, is quite drastic. Note that the new Company Gear also comes with artifact sets, so you can really instantly max out alts at item level 130-140(ish). The artifact sets do not bind to the account like the armor though. So you do need to actually be in a guild and farm the Marks on the character that wants them. That’s a clear drawback, but since you probably will only be willing to refine gear on characters that you are actively playing, it makes sense.
Overall Company Gear presents a noticable shift in how item progression is going to work in Shroud of Souls. What do you think about the changes? Do you like the highway to item level 140 or feel too much of old content is made obsolete? Share your thoughts in the comments below or visit the corresponding thread on our message board!
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