World of Warcraft community manager Bashiok informed fans that a hotfix will be deployed to increase the item level by a factor of 5 iLevels to all loot that drops in the Blackrock Foundry.
This is a very well-received change for the sake of progression and the sense of achievement. I was at the Blackrock Foundry LFR last night and it is definitely harder in difficulty than Highmaul — especially the Iron Maidens encounter. I couldn’t describe my face when I got an item the same iLevel as the one I was wearing — and I realized some people might just ignore playing LFR Blackrock Foundry and stick with Highmaul which has a lesser difficulty approach. Now at least you have the motive and the challenge to go there, which is very welcome.
Now if we could get rid of the Runes and add something else for us enchanters to disenchant or more Elemental Rune … I got a stockpile of runes for at least 3-4 months, you know?
We are preparing to deploy a hotfix next week that will increase the item level of all raid drops from all difficulties of the Blackrock Foundry raid.
The main purpose of this change is to ensure that killing new bosses in the Blackrock Foundry raid feels appropriately rewarding. We are finding that groups coming out of a couple of months in Highmaul could often have an average item level that was just barely shy of the loot dropped by the appropriate difficulty in Foundry. A core part of the experience of progressing through a new raid tier lies in the sense that even if you didn’t manage to kill a particular boss this week, the upgrades your raid group gathered along the way will make things smoother and improve your chances the following week.
This change will be retroactive, affecting existing items that players may have in their possession. Thus, instead of an item level range of 650/665/680/695 for Raid Finder/Normal/Heroic/Mythic Foundry, the loot awarded will now be item level 655/670/685/700 respectively. At the same time, we will be increasing the item level of the new highest-tier crafted and Apexis vendor items by 5, in order to keep their power unchanged relative to the Foundry raid itemization.
