Massive Shadowlands Season 4 Loot Changes - Dratnos and Tettles Discuss

wowhead.com:

Blizzard is experimenting with Deterministic Loot from raid in Shadowlands Season 4! As explained in a blue post, they're looking to curb some of the extreme bad luck that's possible with gearing and make sure that players have the opportunity to pick up a few of the most impactful items from raid. In this week's GG WoW video, Dratnos and Tettles explain the new system and its implications, as well as speculate about what it might mean for gearing in the future.

The basic way it'll work is that any specific item on Normal item level (252 or 259 in Season 4, just like in Sepulcher right now) can be purchased after killing 30 Fated raid bosses (the Fated raid rotates between the three Shadowlands raids weekly). After that 30, there are then quests to kill 20 and then 10 and then that's it, you only get three guaranteed items, and they're all at normal item level, BUT you can then upgrade items to Heroic or Mythic level by using Shards that drop from each boss on those difficulties — 20 Shards lets you upgrade any Fated piece to that level, including the items bought from the vendors.

This system has huge implications and means that any player can identify the most important three items like Jaithys, the Prison Blade, Gavel of the First Arbiter, Edge of Night, Antumbra, Shadow of the Cosmos, or Old Warrior's Soul and then know for sure that after a few weeks of clearing the raid they will own that item at the difficulty they're clearing. It's probably worth avoiding this system for Sepulcher items since those already drop at the same item level this season, though for returning or newer characters that might make sense! It's also potentially difficult if you're a multispec player to prioritize the three best uses of your