Quick Thoughts About Val’Anyr

There’s been a few updates about Val’nyr since the last time I wrote about it. Now we have some more information regarding the retrieval and construction of the legendary mace. Here are the Coles’ notes version:

  • 30 fragments
  • Step 1: Bring shattered fragments to the Archivum Console
  • Step 2: Throw the shattered fragments into Yogg-Saron’s maw while he is casting Deafening Roar
  • Kill Yogg-Saron and loot
  • Condition 1: Can only be completed in Ulduar Heroic mode
  • Condition 2: If at least one Ulduar Watcher is not assisting you

This leads me to conclude a few things.

First is that it appears the person who is collecting all the fragments does not have to be the same person who ends up with the constructed mace. After all, the fragments must be thrown into Yogg-Saron who must then be killed. The loot master should then find the completed mace on the loot table of the old god.

This means the fragments can be looted to any one person as a keeper until the guild collects the necessary amount of fragments.

Second is that the construction of this weapon is going to be out of the reach of many of the casual oriented raiding guilds due to the conditions needed.

Some more questions remain

What happens if the raid group fails at killing Yogg-Saron during that attempt? Or even during that week? Are the fragments lost?

Lastly, it seems that PTR build 9767 (the most recent) was pushed through mostly for bug fixes. Since the latest build was meant to fix stuff, we can assume then the patch is very close to completion. I do believe 3.1 will be here sometime this April. Two weeks.

A good indicator that the patch will be coming out soon is when PTR servers shut down.

20 thoughts on “Quick Thoughts About Val’Anyr”

  1. I like the idea that this is something that a guild/raid bank can collect and then create rather than individual people. It will add a lot of flexibility to who actually gets the loot, rather than “getting lucky” like you had to with things like Thunderfury.

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  2. (Got an error my first attempt to comment, hopefully it doesn’t double-post. My apologies if it does!)

    “The loot master should then find the completed mace on the loot table of the old god. ”

    Could it not, in theory, be treated like a quest item? Where the person throwing the fragments triggers a quest or something, and only they can see/loot the mace? (The way items for daily heroics, or other quests work.)

    Considering that the fragments are BoP I’d be surprised if the mace can be looted by someone other than the collector of the shards.

    ACs last blog post..Are you stuck in the past?

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  3. In following with AC, the quests seem to suggest that only the person on them, which I believe requires you to have all 30 but that may be wrong, can loot the item off the boss.

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  4. Thanks for the post Matticus. This should help my guild figure out what to do with it, previous to this we honestly had no idea on how to handle it!

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  5. I too think that you should be on a quest to loot the item. Now what happens if Yogg Saron is not defeated is an interesting question.

    @Athryn Well when patch comes out you will probably find out anyway. And information presented here might not be true actually

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  6. Why would the fragments be BoP and limited to classes paladin , priest , druid and shaman if anyone theoretically could loot them and do the quest but not necessarily be awarded the final product? see description of the fragments on wowhead ptr site.

    Darias last blog post..A Different Approach

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  7. There are two Val’Anyr items.

    The Shards you collect (30 of them) http://ptr.wowhead.com/?item=45038

    &

    The item you create AFTER, collecting 30 http://ptr.wowhead.com/?item=45039

    The item created is a Quest Item, as it “begins a quest.” Much like the random items that are world drops, which then leads you to this quest: http://ptr.wowhead.com/?quest=13622

    Which in turn leads you to: http://ptr.wowhead.com/?quest=13629 Which is the throwing quest.

    I would be very surprised if you lose the hammer created in quest #13622, and had to collect another 30 to rethrow the hammer again. But I do suppose, anything is possible.

    Also it is important to know that both the created item, and the 30 shards are both BOP. And its the quest reward that appears to be the mace (Item #46017), so the lootmaster likely wont be able to assign it since it is a quest item. Im thinking like the Maylgos/KT quest item necks.

    Good write up, Matt. Some good observations, especially about the “hard mode” requirement to get quest done. It does sound like a head nod to more Hardcore guilds over the casual ones.

    Derevkas last blog post..Add On Corner: Auctioneer

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  8. The quest is slightly confusing to me however I think you might be reading it wrong. I didn’t make it into raids for Atiesh back in the day so I’m not sure if the fragments can even be picked up by someone other then the classes listed but I’d imagine they can be. You can’t get the quest though unless you are one of those listed classes.

    I would guess the item you get is something you click that may or may not disappear upon clicking to throw into Yogg’s mouth.

    “Throw the Shattered Pieces of Val’anyr into Yogg-Saron’s maw while he’s casting Deafening Roar and defeat Yogg-Saron and recover the Reforged Hammer of Ancient Kings.” (http://ptr.wowhead.com/?quest=13629)

    It says you get the Reforged Hammer of the Ancients, not Val’anyr, Hammer of Ancient Kings. You likely have to turn the Reforged hammer in to get Val’anyr. I can’t think of any open ended quests that autocomplete w/o having to turn it into some mob.

    Xeonios last blog post..Epeen Rankings

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  9. Couple of comments… it is imporant to know that both the shards (http://ptr.wowhead.com/?item=45038) AND the combined shards (http://ptr.wowhead.com/?item=45039) are BOP.

    The combined shards (Item 45039) is a quest item, which leads to to step 2 of the quest. http://ptr.wowhead.com/?quest=13622 “Ancient History”, and you bring the quest item to a place in Ulduar.

    From there you get the final quest http://ptr.wowhead.com/?quest=13629 which requires you to “throw” the item. “Provided Item: Item #45896”

    Once you “complete” that, the Compete Quest gives the Reward Item (Item #46017) and 22g… that will in all likelihood be the mace. Not a lootmaster item.

    I would be very surprised if the item is a “one throw”… or God I hope not! Though we wont know until we know more on Item 45896, but I’m guessing it will be a “use” item, with some cooldown, but we don’t actually “throw” it.

    Good write up, Matt, as it brings a lot to the table. I do agree that it likely will be a head nod to the more hardcore guilds over the casual ones, as the Hard Mode is a requirement. Good work!

    Derevkas last blog post..Add On Corner: Auctioneer

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  10. @Xeonio: Now THAT is another view I can believe given Blizzard’s history track. Looting a quest item off a boss and then turning it in for the mace of your choice.

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  11. @Xeonio: I like this idea. The healing classes tend to want different stats. While priests and druids would want spirit, it would be completely wasted to paladins and shamans. Likewise, shamans would want MP5, but paladins wouldn’t. Just like Atiesh had four different version, I believe this new legendary will have at least four different version as well, each for a specific class.

    Ashimbos last blog post..Meanwhile, Back at the Wrench…

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  12. This is a really weird way of handling it.

    Basically, if you get one person to hold the 30 shards then that person becomes required. Assuming that they unlock the loot table which then lets the legendary drop. That also means that it is guarenteed to drop every week? I am assuming of course that the shards stay in your inventory after being used.

    Of course, if they are removed it might suck for some people to have someone totally blow their chances at getting the weapon if they use their charge and someone doesn’t get out of the fire wiping the raid. I can see some serious drama being cause over this, many friendships lost.

    Then again, I guess that’s why its a legendary, you better be darn sure that you are going to perfectly execute the kill before wasting a charge. And I don’t expect someone else to be awarded the weapon if you are the person using your frags. Blizzard condoning ninja tactics… nah.

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  13. A couple of others have touched on this but I wanted to expand on it:

    You loot the Shattered Fragments of Val’anyr: http://ptr.wowhead.com/?item=45039

    They begin a quest called Ancient History: http://ptr.wowhead.com/?quest=13622

    “Bring the Shattered Fragments of Val’anyr to the Archivum Console in the Archivum in Ulduar.”

    The followup quest is called Val’anyr, Hammer of Ancient Kings: http://ptr.wowhead.com/?quest=13629

    “Throw the Shattered Pieces of Val’anyr into Yogg-Saron’s maw while he’s casting Deafening Roar and defeat Yogg-Saron and recover the Reforged Hammer of Ancient Kings.”

    The reward is the Reforged Hammer.

    Compare to the Heart of Magic quest. I can’t collect the quest item from Sapph, start the quest, and then let someone else loot the Heart of Magic.

    I can only assume this will be exactly the same with the legendary mace. You collect the fragments, start the quest, throw them into his mouth, and the reforged hammer only appears for you to loot, not anyone else.

    Keevas last blog post..Raider preparation for 3.1

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  14. It may work similar to the Quel’serrar. Only the person that dropped the sword could loot the forged blade. I don’t recall them losing the blade if Onyxia wiped the raid, but it could even just be that you abandon the quest and pick it up again. After all, part 1 is “bring the fragments to the console.” This means part 2 must give a different item than the 30 fragments, awarded by the quest itself.

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  15. If they do it like they did Quel’Sarr I’d be happy.

    http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=7509#comments

    if you wiped you just chose to fail the quest then had to go pick it back up before doing it again, but you could do it again. I would imagine they would do something similar for this. Would seem silly to make you waste all the fragments only to have to go collect them again. hardcore or not I would have a fit if that was the case >.<

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  16. Read up on this page:
    http://www.mmo-champion.com/index.php?page=855

    In particular:
    http://ptr.wowhead.com/?item=45038
    http://ptr.wowhead.com/?item=45039

    The fragments will have to go to who is ultimately going to get it. When they get 30, they get to start a quest. From there it’s a grey area. I suspect it’ll just be that the quest gives you an item that you click however it’s possible it’ll be an item that’s consumed and you’ll have to re-pick up the quest again. I wouldn’t expect it to be the kind of quest where once you fail it you can never do it again. Blizzard isn’t that cruel.

    Overall, I’m most concerned with who we’ll give it to rather than how it’s acquired. Wouldn’t mind seeing a post on your thoughts on that one, Matt 😉 (Even better, it’d be kinda cool to have a whole bunch of bloggers tackle that one in a shared topic)

    Veneretios last blog post..Avoidance vs Effective Health: Healers not Focusing

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  17. I’m siding on the Quel’sarrar/Sapphiron necklace type looting will happen.

    Without actual stats it is hard to judge it, but that one equip bonus is lacking imho. It is hardly legendary, the equip proc was in the game before as a trinket, and with the amount of health tanks have now as compared to then? Sure it’s still good, very nice to have, but will not make or break any raid imho.

    Half tempted to say throw it to caster dps if it has enough spellpower on it lol.
    *ducks from fallout*

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  18. I personally STILL don’t like that any of these things can be completed only on 25 man. I don’t care if it is supposed to be easier. It is still lame as all heck. I am in a guild that cannot FIELD a 25 man, let alone do it week in and week out. So I am going to be stuck with absolutely no way to get it.
    Sorry if it sounds like I am complaining, but I just don’t like this tract. Right now, 10 mans are harder and you have be a tighter group to finish them.
    Oh well.
    I guess we will just have to see what the patch ultimately brings.

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  19. Has anyone seen the stats on this item yet? We keep discussing it a lot, but still don’t seem to have a clue on which class it will benefit the most…

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