One of the most powerful items in World of Warcraft is being nerfed. The end of the Picollo of Flaming Fire has come. Cortyn mourns.
There are only a few fragments in World of Warcraft that I associate with the “good old days” of Classic. One of them is my Mage’s Tier 0 set, of which I am still very proud. Another is the trinket “Neltharion’s Tear” that I obtained from Nefarian back then – it was the first item for me with a “flavor text”, meaning a yellow description under the item.
The last piece from that time is the Picollo of Flaming Fire.
For everyone who is not familiar with the item: The Picollo of Flaming Fire was a trinket back then. It had no stats and only a “Use” effect: All players within a certain radius around the character would start dancing.
When I first heard about this item in Classic, I did everything to get the Picollo.
I stayed up all night and fought – often alone – through Stratholme. I pulled groups, defeated a single enemy, and then fled from the instance. This reset the group, I reentered the dungeon and repeated the process. Over and over. Continuously. Until I reached the rare mob Hearthsinger Forresten and after well over 20 kills, he finally handed me his Picollo.
Since then, I have always kept the Picollo in my inventory. Often it remained unused for several weeks, but occasionally it came into play and made everyone in the vicinity dance.
Even when the Picollo was transformed from a trinket into a toy, it always had a place in my hotkeys. For me, it was and still is a piece of “WoW history”.
Picollo of Flaming Fire can only be used in groups now
With patch 7.3.5, Blizzard introduces a small change that I do not like. Other players will no longer be affected by the Picollo of Flaming Fire unless they are in the group of the Picollo’s owner.
I find it hard to put into words why this change affects me so much.
The Picollo of Flaming Fire was simply a constant in World of Warcraft that could make any place (at least temporarily) a little sillier, funnier, and more positive.
No matter if it was in the auction house of Ironforge, in front of the crowded entrance to Blackrock Spire, or in front of the bank of Stormwind. Whenever someone pulled out the Picollo of Flaming Fire, you had to roll your eyes in exasperation, but couldn’t help but grin at all the dancing characters.
But apparently, the complaints became too loud, feeling wrong to see your own character forced into such reactions. While I can absolutely understand that from a roleplay perspective, it still makes me sad to know that the time has passed when the entire auction house was happily dancing.
Rest in peace, my beloved Picollo of Flaming Fire. Tonight we will dance one last time in the auction house. You will never be the same again.
What patch 7.3.5 brings along can be found in the full patch notes in German.
