i365 Vicious vs i371 Vicious - Comparison Pt2

This is a continuation of the discussion about the Vicious i365 vs i371 Honor Point gear change that occurred and hopefully how Blizzard plans to address what happened. Relevant links are below:

Original Posting and Discussion Thread:
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/2786569136?page=1

First Blue Response (Zarhym):
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/2786569136?page=2#22

Second Blue Response (Nethaera):
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/2786569136?page=42#831

Third Blue Response (Nethaera):
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/2786569136?page=43#843

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Synopsis:

The original post I created was to illustrate the baseline stat changes between the Vicious i365 Season 9 gear to the new Season 10 i371 Honor Point Gear released at the start of Season 10. From that I will repost a key part of it:

Grand Total of base stats alone for 12 pieces of Warrior PvP gear going from i365 to i371: 5pc Main set, Belt, Boots, Bracer, 2 Rings, Neck, Cloak:

+ 376 Armor
+ 178 Strength
+ 278 Stamina
+ 122 Resil.

This does not take into account the additional stats on each piece like Hit, Crit, Haste, Expertise and Mastery.

Game changing? Not really and is a small percentage change overall. To many, it isn't about the stats, it is about how this unannounced i371 tier of gear was implemented and the lack of any communication about it in the first place.

As an additional note:

Total honor to replace all 12 pieces of gear: 19,450
Honor for PvP Head/Shoulder Enchants: add another 3,000


Main issues and Timing:

1.) Arena/RBG players finished Season 9 in i365 gear bought with hard earned Conquest points and understood that the i365 was to become the new baseline Honor Point gear in Season 10.

2.) During the Season 9/10 transition week, the Honor Point gear vendor started selling Season 9 Vicious Gladiator i365 gear for honor points. Seeing this gear now on the vendor, players believed that the S9 gear in fact just became the new Honor Point level of gear for Season 10.

3.) During the transition week, players used that time and the Alterac Valley Call to Arms weekend to gear up their character(s) in preparation to start Season 10 with i365 quality gear. This includes adding gems and enchantments to this new "Baseline" gear which also takes time and gold to acquire.

4.) After Tuesday's Maintenance, a new tier of i371 "Vicious Gladiator - Season 10" Honor Point gear that was never announced or mentioned in any patch notes replaced the S9 i365 gear on the vendor. This gear sells for the same amount of honor as the S9 did the week before and, unfortunately, now shares the exact same texture/models as the older Bloodthirsty i358 Gear.

This left players wondering why the i371 was not announced so they could plan for it appropriately. It also surprised Arena/RBG Season 9 players because they understood that there would not be a new honor grind for updated tier gear at the start of Season 10.

The Blizzard posts we received admitted they made mistakes and explained what happened. A key part of Zarhym's post that many players latched onto is:
"We agree that the mistakes made were very unfortunate and unfair to a lot of players. We're currently exploring some options to try and alleviate some of the misfortune many of you experienced while purchasing PvP gear in the last week."

What those options are is the key thing we are waiting to hear back on.

This is a continuation of that thread and I sincerely hope we can continue to keep this discussion on topic and constructive.