style="font-style: italic;">World of Warcraft
is reaching its 5 year anniversary. 5
years of leveling, quests, instancing and raids. It has come a long way
from
its vanilla days and for players who have raided since the Molten Core
days,
have gone through many different looks of Tier Set pieces. Raids have
changed
from needing 40 people to just 10 or 25 people. Some Tier Set pieces
look good
and some look just plain horrible. You see how the detail and colors of
the
armor have changed over 5 years. Plain and simple colors in the first
Tier set
to more complex looks, with glows and sometimes random animation in
armor with
Tier 3 armor and up.

style="">Tier 1 Set

style="width: 550px; height: 115px;" alt="Tier 1"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/72943">

Ah,
Molten Core. Those of us who have played style="">World of Warcraft
long enough remember
how frustrating things used to be. You remember the constant
“Loot the Dog”
mentioned over vent or in chat. When tanks didn’t pull, the
hunters did and Paladins
and Shamans were never in the same group together.

To see
someone in full Tier One
is like seeing a walking
antique. It looks nothing like any of the Tier set pieces of today.
Nothing is
glowing and no random animation. Paladins hated the banana shoulders
and rogues
had to carry boobs on their shoulders.

style="">Tier 2 Set

style="width: 550px; height: 130px;" alt="Tier 2"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/72944">

Black
Wing Lair had some of the toughest boss fights in the
game, at the time. Even at level 80 it was tough fighting Nefarian,
even
tougher 20 levels ago. Many raid guilds had a policy that did not allow
any of
their raiders to move on to Blackwing Lair without having the luck of
getting
Tier One set pieces from Molten Core. At this time, I think some of the
classes
had the best looking armor, for Rogues, Druids and most definitely
Paladins.
Paladins loved the new look of the Tier Two set from the banana look of
the
Tier One. Warriors went from a neck brace helm to an axe on top of
their head. Druids
traded in branches for moose horns. Glowing armor was introduced with
the Mages
and the Priest armor. The look of Tier Two armor was a great
improvement to
that of Tier One, more complex and of course, better stats.

style="">Tier 3 Set

style="width: 550px; height: 130px;" alt="Tier 3"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/72945">

The
Tier Three set pieces were short lived, and were not
easy to acquire. Naxxramas’ first release came early before
the release of the
first expansion pack of World
of Warcraft
and it was rare to see anyone in a full set. Priests, I think, had the
best
looking armor, as it introduced a halo and wings in their armor pieces;
it fit
the class very well. Tier 3 was reused again when Wrath of the Lich
King was
introduced, bringing back Naxxramas for many of the players that have
never
seen the original Naxxramas. Compared to the look of the Tier Seven
armor
pieces, much of the Tier 3 had bright colors. Warlock armor was the
most odd
looking, especially the helm that looked like a gas mask. If it was not
for the
improvement in stats, many Paladins were sad to turn in their Judgement
armor
for the odd look of the Tier Three Redemption armor set. Sadness also
fell over
many of the raid members that worked hard collecting all or most of
their Tier
Three armor only to be easily replaced by blues that dropped in the
Outlands
with the release of The Burning Crusade.

style="">Tier 4 Set

style="width: 550px; height: 120px;" alt="Tier 4"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/72946">

With
The Burning Crusade, raids had changed dramatically for
many guilds. 40 people were no longer needed to raid, but rather 10 and
25
people. Karazhan and Gruul armors were traded in to a vendor without
the need
of hoping that the piece for your class drops. Druids traded in skirts
for
pants. Hunters who couldn’t get Tier Three armor were happy
to trade in their
purple Dragonstalker armor for the less bright look of the Demon
Stalker armor.
Paladins, still unlucky in the look of their tier armor, had to deal
with pink
glows (sure it’s supposed to be purple, but it’s
pink!) Warlocks had a great
improvement from the Tier Three look to the Tier Four look. Priest
armor looked
more like it was meant for a mage, than a priest. Mages were happy with
the
look of their armor, and wouldn’t trade it for the
priest’s very plain look.

style="">Tier 5 Set

style="width: 550px; height: 120px;" alt="Tier 5"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/72947">

Karazhan
was as far as you could get with 10 man raiding. To
continue moving forward to get Tier Five, you need 25 people for
Serpent Shrine
Caverns and The Eye. Tier Five had some of the best looks, I
think…except for
the paladins; poor paladins went from pink glows to pink all over.
Druids got
their skirts back, Shamans got pants and Priests got their wings back. style="">  Warlocks
loved the look of Tier Five armor;
it was very fitting for their class. All in all, besides the Paladins,
each of
the different classes had very nice looking armor and was an improved
look to
that of the Tier Four.

style="">Tier 6 Set

style="width: 550px; height: 120px;" alt="Tier 6"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/72948">

Tier
Six introduced a much darker look for priests; it
looked great on Shadow Priests. Rogues for the first time had a helm
that
actually showed their face. Warlocks went from the awesomely cool Tier
Five
armor to a brighter look with Tier Six, and demonic wings. Warlocks had
the
most unique looking shoulders at the time as once in awhile wings would
sprout
from them. Sadly, Warlocks couldn’t jump off a ledge and fly
with them. Hunters
who had the helm and shoulders would often creep people out who stood
close to
them. The eyes….they’re watching you! Paladins
finally get lucky and didn’t have
to wear pink anymore, they even get a halo. Shamans, it’s
hard to notice, but
the color of their armors starting from tier one go in a pattern. Red,
blue,
red, blue, red, and back to blue with Tier Six, it’s true!
Tier 7 could be
skipped as it is just a copy of Tier 3, but Tier 7 is blue, Tier 7.5 is
red!
Shamans continue the red-blue pattern with tier 8, sharing the same
colors of that
as Tier One. Warriors had a nice look with the Tier Six armor. With the
shoulders and the helm, they had the look of a tank, a true tank, if
they were
specced Protection.

style="">Tier 7 Set

style="width: 550px; height: 110px;" alt="Tier 7"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/72949">

The
Burning Crusade becomes a thing of the past and Wrath of
the Lich King is the new Expansion Pack. With it comes new raid
instances and
Tier Sets. 10 and 25 man raids continue, but with a twist, Tier 7 from
10 man
raids and Tier 7.5 armor with 25 man raids looks the same but with
different
colors and of course different stats. style=""> 
Because few raid guilds were
able to make it to Naxxramas before the
release of The Burning Crusade, it was reintroduced with Wrath of the
Lich King.
Even the armor is the same model, but the colors are less bright and
the look
more complex with better detail. Some of the classes show a slight
difference
in detail between the Tier 7 and the 7.5. Such as the warriors, who get
an axe
look on their shoulders and helm on their 7.5 armor which is not there
on the
tier 7 armor.

style="">Tier 8

style="width: 550px; height: 110px;" alt="Tier 8"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/72950">

Many
guilds soon had Naxxramas on farm mode and style="">World of Warcraft
introduces Ulduar and
Tier 8 armor. Mages wear pants! From a distance and at first glance,
they could
look like a rogue. Paladins also get a skirt again, after their first
skirt
came from the Tier Two armor set. Some rogues may like the new helm
they have
with the Tier Eight armor set, but personally, I think it could do
without with
collar around it. The face on top of their head is awfully creepy
looking
(shivers), but still doesn’t creep me out as much as the
Hunter’s Tier Six
eyes. Warlocks again, get really nice looking armor, but still not as
cool
looking as the Tier Five.

style="">Tier 9

We
have reached the end of the tier sets so far, and it is
the third Tier Set of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. Which could
mean
that a new expansion is due for release soon? Or will they hold off and
this
will be the first expansion to have 4 sets. Tier Nine armor was a huge
disappointment for many of the classes. Each of the classes based on
armor had
the same look only different colors. Plate, for instance, looks the
same on
warriors, death knights and paladins. Mail, leather and cloth all look
the
same as well. The difference is that Horde and Alliance have a
different look to their
armor. The look of the Tier 9 armor seems to have gone downhill from
the look
of the Tier 8 armor. It’s just much better to have each class
have their own
look instead of organized based on armor worn. Put a Human Mage, Priest
and
Warlock next to each other and if you didn’t know which class
is what color,
then you would just have to guess who is what class. Probably would
fail on one
of them at least.  

style="">Conclusion

You
look at each of the different tier sets and you see will
definitely notice the difference in detail and look for each of the
classes.
Warlocks seemed to have been the lucky class to get the best looking
armor the
most out of the tier sets, while Paladins seemed to continuously get
unlucky,
especially with all the pink/purple in Tier 4 and Tier 5. Majority of
the time,
each class gets their turn in having great looking armor with new
expansions
and patches bringing new tier sets and looks for each of the classes.
Tier 9,
again, a disappointment, but it would make sense due to its location.
It’s in tournament
grounds, and having the Horde and Alliance have a different look from
each
other is something new and nice to see. Maybe with the next expansion
and tier
set, they will separate the look of the different classes, but keep
with a
different look between Horde and Alliance.