New Titanforging in WoW corrupts - extreme pros and cons

Blizzard will replace the “Titanforging” system in WoW with patch 8.3. The new system will be darker and even change your character.

Several weeks ago, Ion Hazzikostas, the Game Director of World of Warcraft, announced a revision of the “Titanforging” system. The system is intended to become “corrupted” and “tainted” compared to its current state and thus provide new bonuses. At that time, they were not yet ready to discuss specific details – but now the first version of it is on the PTR for Patch 8.3 Visions of N’Zoth.

What is “Titanforging”? So far, it has been the case in World of Warcraft that most items in the endgame can randomly be affected by “Titanforging”. This is a random chance for an item to be upgraded. A cloak with item level 400 may then have item level 425 and has the addition “Titanforged” as well as better stats.

This system is controversial among players. On one hand, it ensures that you can occasionally get an unexpectedly powerful item, while on the other hand, it leads to frustration because you rarely get “the best possible”.

How is Titanforging changing? In patch 8.3, everything revolves around N’Zoth and his corruption. This also affects Titanforging. When an item is upgraded in patch 8.3, it becomes “Corrupted”. This is a new negative value on items.

In addition to attributes like “Haste”, “Mastery”, or “Critical Strike Rating”, the attribute “Corruption” can also be found, in addition to various positive effects.

What positive effects are there? The data miners at wowhead have already found a variety of positive effects that can be found on items together with corruption. These include:

Your avoidance is increased by X% of your haste.
Increases the amount of haste you receive from all sources by X%.
Increases the amount of mastery you receive from all sources by X%.
Increases the amount of critical strike rating you receive from all sources by X%.
Increases the amount of versatility you receive from all sources by X%.
X% of your health regeneration continues during combat.
Increases all healing received from all sources by X%.
Increases your lifesteal by X%.
Your spells and abilities have a chance to grant you a Spirit Blast of Clarity, which reduces the cooldown of your next 3 spells by 2 seconds.
Increases the damage you deal with critical hits by X%.
Reduces the damage you take from periodic sources (Dots) by X%.

What does corruption do? Depending on how much corruption a character has on their gear, they will suffer additional negative effects. The following effects are currently known:

Grasping Tendrils (from 1 corruption): When you take damage, there is a chance that your movement speed will be reduced for 5 seconds. The strength of this slow increases with additional corruption.
Corrupted Zone (more than 20 corruption): Your spells and abilities have a chance to create a corrupted area beneath you that deals shadow damage every 2 seconds. The size of the area and the amount of damage increases with corruption.
Grand Delusions (more than 40 corruption): When you take damage, there is a chance to summon a creature from the depths that will chase your character for 10 seconds. Its speed increases with corruption.
Creeping Death (more than 60 corruption): Damage taken is increased by X% and healing received is reduced by X%. Both values increase with corruption.

Moreover, your character will become darker and thus more ominous with increasing corruption, as this example from wowhead shows:

Can the armor be cleansed? The game files already contain hints that corrupted gear can also be cleansed. How exactly this works and whether it is indeed possible with all items remains to be seen.

Players view the system critically: The initial reactions to corruption among players are rather negative. For most, it is a mix of the items in the Crucible of Storms and the benthic gear. This would make an already complex system like Titanforging even more complicated.

However, there are also some players who are excited about the new system, as it brings a few RPG elements that have been long missing.

What do you think about this corrupted Titanforging? A cool change or should it be discarded?