The legendary cloak in World of Warcraft is slowly becoming a problem. It has become so powerful that newcomers have no chance and are at a disadvantage for months.
In World of Warcraft, the legendary cloak is causing frustration and problems again. Meanwhile, many characters’ Corruption Resistance is so high that it becomes a selection criterion in raid or dungeon groups. Because those with higher Corruption Resistance can also use stronger Corruption effects, which mean more power.
What is the problem? Those who have kept their cloak at maximum level from the start now have a proud 86 Corruption Resistance. Newcomers start with no Corruption Resistance and may only have 50 resistance after a few weeks when the cloak reaches rank 50. This difference is especially a problem for newcomers and second characters, as each week the hurdle and thus the problem grows.
Is there a catch-up mechanic? Yes, there is. It is possible to collect up to two cores per week if you are not currently up to date. For this, in addition to the Disturbing Vision, you must also defeat the raid boss N’Zoth, at least on normal difficulty – LFR is therefore not possible.
Especially PvP players are left out here, as there is no way to catch up through PvP. They are basically “forced to raid” or must live with being at a disadvantage until almost the release of Shadowlands.
Catching up takes 3 whole months
How long does catching up take? That is the second problem. Catching up takes an extraordinarily long time. If a player were to bring their cloak to rank 15 today, they would need a solid 12 weeks (almost 3 months!) to be at the current level. This table illustrates that:
| Week | Newcomer Resistance | Current Maximum Resistance |
| 0 | 50 | 86 |
| 1 | 56 | 89 |
| 2 | 62 | 92 |
| 3 | 68 | 95 |
| 4 | 74 | 98 |
| 5 | 80 | 101 |
| 6 | 86 | 104 |
| 7 | 92 | 107 |
| 8 | 98 | 110 |
| 9 | 104 | 113 |
| 10 | 110 | 116 |
| 11 | 116 | 119 |
| 12 | 122 | 122 |
A catch-up mechanic where players have to find a raid group for 12 weeks is simply not a good catch-up mechanic.
Also in the World of Warcraft subreddit, the topic is discussed almost every day. The obvious solution would be to simply grant a core for every complete run of a vision until you catch up. Many players demanded this at the start, but now that the problem is becoming more obvious, the voices are getting louder.
Cortyn says: I am fortunate to mostly be in a guild group, and therefore do not necessarily need to have every character at maximum Corruption Resistance. Nevertheless, I can understand that this is especially a real problem for players who want to join random groups.
Especially through the Corruption Effects Vendor, players can quickly accumulate a high degree of Corruption without being able to contain it in the near future. Being 30 or more points behind here, without a valid way to catch up in the near future, is certainly exhausting and leads to frustration.
For me, there is no good argument against expanding the catch-up mechanic here. It would certainly help that even more players try out additional characters in endgame.
Or how do you see the whole thing?
