WoW Artifact weapons

Im pretty sure none of this is a spoiler, but  read at your own risk.

I was so excited for my awesome new artifact weapons. Woo! it's all shiny and new and super powerful and it can give your abilities all kinds of buffs and stuff. So fun! ....... However, in my fevered elation, I failed to realize that the weapon is spec bound.  I thought that maybe I could use it with another spec, just not get the bonuses from it, alas I was wrong.  

My advice is to weigh the pros and cons of using your artifact for a leveling spec or forthinking to your "end game" destiny.

While your past can inform you and your future can inspire you, the moment of choice exists in the here and now. - Debbie Ford

Thanks  for the heads up. I hadn't thought about it being spec bound. I will consider that as I chose  artifacts for my toons :)

In an interview they said that at level 102 you will get a quest to unlock the other specs. So for the time being you will be stuck with one weapon. Good luck out there! 

Yes it's a pretty big choice, but there is a vendor in your class hall that sells high level weapons for every one of your specs.

I chose Truth Guard (Protection) and I will empower it first for tanking, but I also bought the two handed sword from the vendor in case I feel like switching to Ret while questing.

At about 102 you will get to choose a second artifact weapon.  Eventually you will get all of them.

The more artifact power you apply to your weapon the more powerful it becomes, so knowing what you want to do up front does help get you more powerful faster (by focusing on one weapon).  Eventually you can get all of them empowered though it will take a lot of time.

Awesome replies. Thanks for the tip about the vendor and the 2nd artifact quest.  Now, I am prepared =)

The only artifact weapon anyone really needs:

Underlight Angler

Oh yes.  It will be mine.

LOL! Awesome, Twilah!

I noticed when I got the weapon for my shaman that it was split up by spec, so I wondered. Glad to have it confirmed.

yes, i am working on my third artifact wpn atm. So all you really have to decide, is which of the three are you going to put all the artifact power in , or all of them. Decision decisions :)

To confirm, I hit 102 this morning and went back to my Order Hall to complete a mission, picked up the quest for Ashbringer (Ret) that I will complete as soon as I get home after work.

Yay!  So that's two relic weapons.

All of the trade skills are progressing nicely except for Cooking.  I trained it but I hear you have to quest for recipes.  Some might drop, but I haven't seen any yet.  I was able to cook some Draenor recipes to get to 710.

Just dropping this here....

OH YEAH WHO FOUND PEPE ON LAUNCH DAY?

THIS GIRL!!!

I received a quest to unlock the sec. spec weapon...wasn't sure I want to do this on my hunter so I haven't activated it.  Will definitely do it on my druid, priest and pally.

So if you play a class that has very different specs (Druid, Shaman, etc...), please know your 2nd and 3rd artifact scenario's do require you to change specs and know what you are doing. :)

Further, please know your other spec's artifact will be disabled and you need to purchase the weapons mentioned earlier.

I tried to do the Shaman Resto one without switching to resto and that did not go well. Then I tried it without having a weapon and off-hand. It still did not go well.**

**Sarcasm to make me feel better about my ignorance! :)

Yeah, I got these out of the way because I figured the lower level I was when I attempted them the better (since everything scales to your level now).

Whoever put the 640 intellect offhands in the guild vault BLESS YOU!.  I had already vendored my Draenor shield when I got the Prot artifact set, but it was also my healing shield and I forgot lol.  Many NPC's died in my quest to get the Holy artifact, but I survived with the main dude and apparently that was enough :)

Got all three of my artifact weapons, so now I can quest and power up Ashbringer and chill about it.

Most importantly, I hit Fishing 800 last night.  YEAH.  First tradeskill maxed.  Tonight, archaeology and probably herbalism.  Alchemy has quests and I can't get the next one until I hit 104.

The good part is that the first 13 traits for each weapon cost the same as the 14th trait by itself. Plus once you hit 110 you can start putting in "Artifact Knowledge" work orders. Each one ups the amount of Artifact power you get from whatever by a %. It goes up to 25 ranks, which you're going to need once you max out your traits, since there is a bonus trait after that costs a ton.

Somehow I managed to do the quests for the 2nd (Elemental) and 3rd (enhancement) in my resto spec. When the window popped up telling me I had to change specs, I hit that I didnt want to and just when on to do the artifacts quests as resto. It may have been a bug or something. 

Ckemikal,

I had the exact same thing happen to me. That is why, in part, I died so many times. I did not realize it was the resto quest.

So glad I am no longer progression raiding.  The time and pressure to "level up the weapons" is probably huge.

I'm going to focus on the fishing pole :)