Finally, A Legendary Shield! [Updated]
With every patch comes undocumented changes, but I’ve got to hand it to Blizzard, this time they’ve really caught me by surprise. It turns out that the Kael’thas encounter in Tempest Keep now has a chance to drop a permanent copy of the legendaries used in the encounter. For those of you unfamiliar with them, here they are:
- Cosmic Infuser
- Devastation
- Infinity Blade
- Netherstrand Longbow
- Phaseshift Bulwark
- Staff of Disintegration
- Warp Slicer
W.O.W.
Yes, it’s a lot to take in because while these weapons certainly lack the stat bonuses we’re used to on level 80 gear, they make up for it tremendously with amazing abilities and usages.
Especially the shield.
100,000 Damage
Yes, you read the shield correctly. That’s easily enough damage to suck up a Soul Reaper from our friend, The Lich King. What’s even better is that the shield’s usage is on only a 30 second cooldown. But, best of all, since it’s a Shield, you can put it on in the middle of combat so you won’t have to always be wearing it. Put it on when you need it, take it off when it’s on cooldown.
Definitely an item we’ll all want to be farming for our tanking toolkits. In fact, it’s very possible it’ll still be extremely useful at level 85 in Cataclysm.
Better Lucky than Good…
Well, I suppose I should say, better lucky AND good. You’ll have to forgive me though for being a little annoyed that the first one of these beauties found it’s way onto a Paladin. Don’t ask me why Paragon was doing Tempest Keep, but then I suppose with Heroic Lich King dead, they’ve got plenty of time to play around with these days.
Update!
As many of you realized, today was April 1st. Some of you didn’t realize this and you have my thanks because without you this joke would have been far less believable. (No, I didn’t create any alias accounts) To those of you wondering, “Where’s my comment?” or “Why didn’t it show up right away?”, I manually moderate all comments on this day so as to not ruin the joke immediately for any readers. I’ve approved all of you peeps now that wanted to ruin the joke, those of you that I didn’t probably said something a little too generic and it got stolen by my spam filter.
Happy Fools day, see ya next year!
April 1st, 2010 at 12:47 am
Aye, you’d have to be some sort of fool not to grind up a Bulwark
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April 1st, 2010 at 1:12 am
*sigh* The day when all useful information on the internet is .. useless. Still, nice one
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April 1st, 2010 at 1:24 am
April Fool’s!
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April 1st, 2010 at 1:26 am
That’s pretty awesome. Nice that they’re finally adding legendary weapons for all classes!
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atcq reply on April 1, 2010 6:15 am:
*ahem*
Fooled us once, Vene…
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Doug reply on April 1, 2010 6:32 am:
This coming on April 1st? I’ll remain skeptical for a bit…
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Daigeil reply on April 2, 2010 6:03 am:
in fairness my comment originally had PS: White Rabbits
tacked on the end but Vene removed it - guess he was filtering the comments so it wasn’t too obvious straight away. still, not a bad april fool’s. 
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April 1st, 2010 at 1:29 am
Happy 1st of April to you too!
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April 1st, 2010 at 2:04 am
I for one welcome our new Legendary Overlords /bow
The shield might be a bit dusty after lying untouched in Tempest Keep for so long, I’ll spruce it up with the new AXE: Sunwell grooming products to give it that raiding gleam!
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April 1st, 2010 at 2:24 am
4/1/10
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April 1st, 2010 at 2:26 am
*checks date…. ah 1 April
Would have been imba but too bad
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April 1st, 2010 at 3:17 am
Ah, a ’seasonal drop’ - nice one
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April 1st, 2010 at 3:51 am
Happy April Fool’s day , Vene!
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April 1st, 2010 at 3:59 am
So what are the odds of a permanent shield dropping?
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Veneretio reply on April 1, 2010 7:11 am:
Don’t know. I’d guess extremely low. It is a legendary after all.
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April 1st, 2010 at 5:13 am
If this announcement had come on any day other than April 1st, I would have been intrigued. Instead, I’m just amused. I wonder how many will start running Tempest Keep thinking they can actually get these items. Good one!
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April 1st, 2010 at 5:33 am
I love this day… and hope people really do go try to farm Kael now!
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April 1st, 2010 at 5:40 am
Damn you, I took the bait for about 5mins.
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April 1st, 2010 at 5:45 am
I am able to equip two shields speced in fury with the titan grip talent, that is pretty awsome too!
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April 1st, 2010 at 5:49 am
From one WoW blogger and tank to another…happy April Fools Vene
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April 1st, 2010 at 6:03 am
Wow, Staff of Disintegration is seriously going to change PvP!
*snicker*
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April 1st, 2010 at 6:12 am
You’re an evil, evil person…
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Marrick reply on April 1, 2010 7:46 am:
Honestly though, I don’t think this one is as good as the ones from the previous two years (Rage removed and Thunderfury upgrade seemed much more plausible, and really played into warrior tanks wishes). You still seem to be getting some bites though.
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April 1st, 2010 at 6:23 am
Actually, that trick won’t work Vene. Items with cooldowns, when equipped, start a 30 second cooldown. Bliz doesn’t want us equipping something, using it’s use, then taking it off for a better item. Looks like I’ll have to keep the Bulwark on at all times. Meh. The bubble is worth it.
That said, depending on the proc rate of the Netherstrand Longbow and the impact of the 50% critical modifier, hunters might get involved in weapon switching.
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Veneretio reply on April 1, 2010 7:10 am:
Hmm, good point. For a lot of fights though, it’s still probably worth just wearing the shield the whole time, I’d say.
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April 1st, 2010 at 6:25 am
It it’s like trinkets, it will have a 30 second equip cooldown, so taking it off, just won’t make sense.
I know what I’ll be doing every chance I get now.
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April 1st, 2010 at 6:26 am
It seems pretty lackluster to me, I’d rather be ablo to [url=http://www.tankingtips.com/2008/04/01/blue-confirmed-thunderfury-upgrade/]upgrade my Thunderfury.[/url]
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April 1st, 2010 at 6:30 am
Very Dubious on April 1st
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April 1st, 2010 at 6:33 am
can anyone else say “april fool’s”?
remember the bard hero class?
and the tauren marine?
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Storm reply on April 1, 2010 6:41 am:
and http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/underdev/equipmentpotency.xml ?
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April 1st, 2010 at 6:35 am
I was so happy you almost got me.
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April 1st, 2010 at 7:02 am
What does the “Duration: 15 min (real time)” mean on the gear?
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April 1st, 2010 at 7:10 am
Sorry, but have to ask…………….
Are we being tricked by and April Fools Day joke here? It is the day, and hel just look at your Armoury Profile.
Had to put it out there. LOL
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April 1st, 2010 at 7:13 am
well Thunderfury one from previous year wasn’t bad either
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April 1st, 2010 at 7:17 am
So am I the only one calling shenanigans on this? I know you pulled a nice April Fools day trick last year Vene….and this looks like another one you pulled out of your sleeve!
Unless Blizzard made some huge change to these items I wasn’t aware of….all the legendary items in Tempest Keep say on them “Tempest Keep”, meaning that they can only be used inside Tempest Keep: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=30314 .
I actually saw your post shortly after you made it after midnight, without any comments, and thought by the time I’d wake up someone would catch on…but looks like I’m the first! So clearly…good trick Vene!
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April 1st, 2010 at 7:19 am
Hehe
Nice one Vene
I almost fell for it!
Wish it was true though - would have been cool
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April 1st, 2010 at 7:22 am
Some1 forgot to look at the date again it seems..
safe to say this one is.. legendary though :p
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April 1st, 2010 at 7:27 am
Fight specific item, if you read the Wowhead page comments they indicate it can’t leave the instance. This makes sense as it would absolutely unbalance PVP.
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Veneretio reply on April 1, 2010 7:36 am:
See that’s the big deal here, it used to be fight specific. It’s not anymore! You’re right though, they do seem really unbalanced for PvP. It’ll be interesting to see how they handle that.
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Ragnvald reply on April 1, 2010 7:56 am:
And it’s not unlocked just because it’s April 1st? If April Fool’s Day isn’t the case, I truly agree … it’ll be interesting to see how it’s integrated.
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Ragnvald reply on April 1, 2010 8:50 am:
/facepalm … notices image title on mouseover.
Belak reply on April 1, 2010 8:40 am:
I’m expecting they’ll nerf Shield Slam again just for good measure to compensate for the PVP issues.
Either that or set it so you can’ t spell reflect while the shield is equipped. Too bad that would make the encounter a bit harder…
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April 1st, 2010 at 7:27 am
You should be a fisherman!!
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April 1st, 2010 at 7:32 am
I wonder how much this shield will increase my Equipment Potency EquivalencE Number that Blizz is implenting?
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April 1st, 2010 at 7:45 am
Nice try vene!!! happy April fool’s
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April 1st, 2010 at 7:56 am
Happy April fools?
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April 1st, 2010 at 8:02 am
Do you only have 4 seconds to absorb the 100k? If so, it doesn’t all that great. Yeah if you know you’re gonna be receiving a couple of big hits in a row, which is what I imagine it was designed for, but otherwise, is 4 seconds really that big of a deal? Seems to me, you wouldn’t receive the full 100k in most situations.
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Signu reply on April 1, 2010 8:39 am:
Having done the fight and used it at the wrong time, I can tell you for sure, that it does, indeed, only last for 4 seconds.
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April 1st, 2010 at 8:18 am
Are you sure that’s not a fishing item? Because I think you caught some.
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April 1st, 2010 at 8:22 am
Are you deleting all comments pointing out this is April 1st, or are all the above comments your aliases? lol
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April 1st, 2010 at 8:39 am
and how about that bow! 25% increased physical damage, ZOMG! and that shield should be warrior only just like it was back in the day b/c warriors were (and still are) the only real tanks. yeah, that’s right.
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April 1st, 2010 at 8:45 am
I find it odd that I’m the first to notice this, I suspect there is someone dutifully watching the comments and deleting any that blow the whistle.
Do a quick armory on Laziel folks… you’ll be /facepalm when you realize what day it is today
A good job Ven, almost had me going.
*wonders if this comment will last longer than a squishy mage that grabbed agro*
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April 1st, 2010 at 8:46 am
Well done, Vene, u’re a genius!
Happy April fool!!!
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April 1st, 2010 at 8:58 am
Happy April fools to you too Vene
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April 1st, 2010 at 9:21 am
I can’t believe NO ONE has looked at the date?????
Must I remind everyone of the “Tin Foil Hat”???
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April 1st, 2010 at 10:02 am
april first anyone?
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April 1st, 2010 at 10:16 am
Been a fan of your site/blog for quite a while. Years even. I bought the rage removal then and were it not for that id have bought this now.
“Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice….”
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April 1st, 2010 at 10:19 am
Seems pretty lackluster, would rather be able to upgrade my thunderfury.
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April 1st, 2010 at 10:28 am
Is the drop rate fixed or is it fluctuating ? I bet that it will be really higher on each 1st of April than any other day.
Good luck for anyone willing to try tempest keep, if you do not loot a permanent epic shield, at least you would have seen a pretty enjoyable fight.
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April 1st, 2010 at 10:32 am
I know most of you already know this, but date, people, date. Go back in time roughly, oh, a year. Vene is great at this. Date, people…date.
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April 1st, 2010 at 10:53 am
Your best April fool’s day joke ever. I actually believed this one for a few minutes, until I remembered it was April 1st.
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April 1st, 2010 at 11:05 am
April Fools Day is so last year….
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April 1st, 2010 at 12:19 pm
Hmm. I wonder how many people you’d need to farm Kael. With all those weapon effects to cancel out buffs, and to control the 4 adds properly.
Probably need to convince about 8 people to help me farm it.
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April 1st, 2010 at 12:33 pm
yay for april first wow jokes, i just love them.
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April 1st, 2010 at 12:38 pm
Wait a minute…I C WUT U DID THAR!
Although it would be nice to have some sort of legendary item for tanks.
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Namthe reply on April 2, 2010 12:51 am:
Like…. Thunderfury, blessed Blade of the Windseeker maybe?
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April 1st, 2010 at 12:44 pm
Folks … check the date on the post. April 1st.
Now think about it …
Odds of this shield dropping: 0%
Nice one Vene … you had me for a while too!
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April 1st, 2010 at 12:44 pm
Come on guys, seriously?
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April 1st, 2010 at 1:04 pm
Sounds…too good to be true. April Fool’s? ;D
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April 1st, 2010 at 1:30 pm
Yeah! And check out the file name on that picture!
(In case you read this far and didn’t get the idea yet…
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April 1st, 2010 at 1:39 pm
Nice job! I guess many readers were not aware this shield ceases to exist as soon as you leave Tempest Keep.
It would so overpowered if the restriction was ever removed…
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April 1st, 2010 at 1:54 pm
The bummer is the downtime….these items will only work once a year on April 1st….
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April 1st, 2010 at 1:54 pm
If only it had block rating.
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April 1st, 2010 at 2:01 pm
I read the same Blizzard post and it also mentions plans in Cata for upgrading Thunderfury to lvl85 through a chain of quests. OMG!
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April 1st, 2010 at 2:01 pm
Haha! I guess I’ll be forming a TK run this evening instead of ICC. Thanks for the update Vene! ^.~
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April 1st, 2010 at 9:59 pm
I knew it was an april fools thing because when I entered my comment about that being the case it was “awaiting moderation”.
Well done though, it have me going for a minute.
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April 2nd, 2010 at 7:15 am
Wow, that is a TON of people who wanted to spoil the fun. You’re allowed to just play along.
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Criv reply on April 4, 2010 5:55 am:
Online April Fools end when you’ve finished reading them. It’s the traditional concession considering that it lasts 35 hours due to timezones online rather than the 12 RL hrs.
I don’t know anyone that reads the comments before the blog post mate and broadcasting ‘April Fools’ in some fashion helps those who are on the 31st of March or the 2nd of April…and still getting April Fools.
We’re not fun hating nazis…honest.
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June 10th, 2010 at 8:44 am
If this announcement had come on any day other than April 1st, I would have been intrigued. Instead, I’m just amused. I wonder how many will start running Tempest Keep thinking they can actually get these items. Good one! …kiss
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