Just wanted to toot my own horn a bit! Here's a snippet from a post I made May 12th:
QUOTE
Whatever means a player is given by which to obtain one of his set pieces, give 5 of them a choice between three different pieces of gear. Make the quest repeatable, but the items unique. For only these 5 pieces, give a Balance, Restoration, and Feral option. But make them all part of the same "set" and therefore capable of contributing to the 8-piece "complete" bonus.
Something like the chestpiece should be the most difficult item to obtain, and rightly the best. I would expect a Tier 3 chestpiece to be alterred so it is indeed a Tier 3 quality piece no matter what one's spec may be. For that piece, I would think only one option should be given. But some of the lesser items such as gloves, boots, bracers, belt, and shoulders could be given options.
This way you don't have the one suit of gear that is overpowered by being able to fill every need a player may have. But at the same time, he may swap out some pieces on his so-called hybrid character while still retaining the epic aesthetic and set bonuses from the Dreamwalker set.
Perhaps instead of the +heal and mana regen on gloves, one could choose a pair with spell crit and +dam/heal. Or maybe a pair of gloves with higher armor and some feral stats with +hit would be more appropriate?
The benefits are most apparent on the hybrid characters, but even those classes with a normally singular purpose in a multiplayer situation could benefit from true "set" items tailored to their spec. If this sort of system were implemented across the board, the hybrid characters wouldn't be the only ones jumping for joy. Tanks will love their Tier 3 set, but Fury or Arms warriors could be given a second option on their gear for +hit, +crit, etc. instead of the hefty +defense on the tanking items. Rogues could be given items that focus on swords or daggers, or perhaps a choice between an item with extra critical strike or a speed increase while stealthed. There's no limit to what could be done, and since the item quests are repeatable, there's no dooming a player to one piece if he makes a decision he later regrets (akin to the trinket reward from Drakkisath).
The goal of this idea is options, and to make those who don't play a "cookie cutter" build actually have an option in a set, without making it a generally weaker set in the process. True, this would mean a bit of additional work on Blizzard's part, but I would say that's a small price to pay for the amount of polish it would add to the loot system in Naxxramas. That doesn't even begin to mention the appreciation the player base would have for such a move.
Thoughts/comments/nexuscrystals/flames appreciated. I'm submitting this idea both for discussion on the players' behalf and as an offering to Blizzard in case it's an avenue they've not considered. If nothing else, I hope it gets the wheels turning and demonstrates that there are options to making set items besides creating entirely new sets for separate specs.
Sure, I was proposing that for Tier 3. But I get to say "I called it!"
*flex*
