World of Warcraft developer Blizzard Entertainment confirmed in the past days that a new system called Corruption, inspired by the latest lore events, would replace Warforging and Titanforging mechanics.
For those unfamiliar with these mechanics, when you obtain loot from any source, be it player versus player or player versus environment, it has a chance to increase stats granted by item slightly (warforged) and increase stats by around 10% (titanforged).
Season 4 items from dungeons, raids, player versus player, warfronts, and other new sources of loot will not be able to warforge or titanforge. Items from older content will still be able to be warforged or titanforged but to a maximum cap of item level of 455. Instead, the Season 4 items will be able to become corrupted by N’Zoth.
How Corruption works – a corrupted item will have a useful stat, similar to the Benthic effects known to players from Nazjatar, but will have a new detrimental stat called Corruption. Items can have different levels of Corruption, and the amount of Corruption directly correlates to the amount of beneficial stat received (for example, a helmet might give 4% haste and ten corruption, while a helmet that offers 6% haste gives 15 corruption).
As Corruption increases, a series of debuffs are activated. The inspiration for this system is the boss Cho’gallCho’gall from the previous expansions raid Bastion of Twilight. The drawbacks are currently on the Public Test Realm and are not final.
”Our general intent is for low Corruption to activate a minor effect that most people can play around without too much difficulty, medium levels of Corruption to activate a couple more effects that have a higher skill cap,” the developer added in the patch preview.
While obtaining gear that has drawbacks is not very appealing, there will be ways for players to diminish their Corruption level. A legendary cloak will be able to be obtained from Wrathion, the Black Prince, who had a similar quest chain in Mists of Pandaria. The legendary cloak will negative some corruption in the early stages of the patch and be able to be upgraded to provide more protection.
The developer noted that while some players might enjoy the Corruption mechanic, others might not, and so any gear obtained with Corruption can be purified without any restriction at the Heart of Forge.
This system is not permanent and is an extension of the theme for the next patch, ‘Visions of N’zoth.’
While the general community reaction is positive towards change, many players feel like the developer; Blizzard Entertainment hasn’t learned from past mistakes regarding the ways to acquire loot.
