World of Warcraft has been abuzz with news of late. Between the Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard, to the release of "Eternity's End" edging closer and the announcement of cross-faction play in World of Warcraft, there's been a lot to ponder about as people wonder just what all these disparate factors might mean for the immediate and long-term future of the game. At least far as the immediate is concerned, players have always had the opportunity to check out the upcoming content through the Public Test Realms.
Yet sometimes, during this public testing phase, unexpected bugs and glitches that survived internal testing show up, and one such bug was discovered recently. It is tied to the game's Legendary system, an important aspect of the itemization in World of Warcraft, and one that has undergone through several iterations over the course of the game's long history.
Mr. GM, a World of Warcraft streamer from the UK, came across this potentially game-breaking bug, where the new Legendary power introduced with "Eternity's End" wasn't working properly. Namely, the final patch of Shadowlands is introducing the ability for players to equip more than one Legendary item at the same time. However, this comes with its own set of specific restrictions. In addition to their base legendary – often one tied to their specializations, players can only equip a second one (in any remaining equipment slot outside of trinkets and weapons) if it's forged by the Runecarver using the new Memory of Unity unlocked through reaching Revered reputation with the Enlightened, a faction found in Zereth Mortis.
This Runecarver memory is adaptable and grants the player a Legendary power tied to the special ability of their currently chosen Covenant. However, where the system broke down was that it didn't recognize the "Unique: Enlightened Legendary (1)" restriction on any of the crafted Legendary items bearing the Unity power. To Mr. GM's dismay, the Legendary bonuses did not stack, but the power level gained through this exploit was still substantial.
In practice, it allowed Mr. GM to craft an entire set of gear with finely tuned secondary stats, and would have allowed him to upgrade them to a slightly higher item level than is currently possible to obtain through normal means. While it is very likely that this bug won't last long on the Public Test Realms, one can imagine how big of a balancing nightmare this would be if it ever intentionally made it to the live servers.
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is available on PC.