World Of Warcraft: 8 Piece Sets Never to Return

Back in the day (pre-BC) the epic tier sets ranged from anywhere to 8-9 items in size. Collecting the entire set (and getting that epic 8 piece bonus) was an achievement. Finally getting 8/8 (or, if you were doing well enough, 9/9) elicited "grats" and "omg!" from both guild chat and random observers in the world. Not only was your gear somewhat predestined, there was also a reason to not break set...many times the bonuses were better than some of the off-set gear you could've collected. As a result of this, much of the arguably better gear from instances like AQ40 (or even breaking set to upgrade to the next tier) sometimes seemed like more hassle than it was worth considering you would lose unique and helpful bonuses.

This changed with the release of BC, as sets were reduced down to 5 and set bonuses were reduced in power from the insanity of tier 3. Now it's common to ignore many pieces of your tier gear to simply fill out spots with off-set gear that is either more specialized or simply better. For many players, such as Claymore on Medivh, this change didn't sit well. The responses to his post seem to suggest a pretty even split on whether or not the departure of 8 piece sets is a good or a bad thing, but Bornakk set the record straight:

The problem with a big 8 piece armor set is that it may cause someone to ignore an item that would be great for them as they are focused on the specific items that will get their set bonus. With the 5 piece sets, players are able to mix and match pieces to fit their style of play better or even help out for the specific encounter they are at.

At this time we are happy with the itemization that the 5 piece armor sets offer and plan to continue implementing them.

So love them or hate them, 5 piece sets are here to stay.