The Caster Legendary "Delay"

So our Blizzcon dropped first tier legendary for Cataclysm has been pushed back. The sky is falling, world is over, and there'll be nine more tank/melee legendaries in Grin Batol before we get ours.

Seriously, take it easy. The delay is most likely a good thing for final-tier progression in Cataclysm (granted this is on the order of three years away).

It's been a long time since there was a first-tier legendary. Thunderfury and Sulfuras were the last two (Though Thunderfury required a non-trivial tier 2 investment). How are they remembered? Thunderfury is remembered as a tank weapon, and with good reason - that proc was absolutely ridiculous to the point it's threat had to be neutered four tiers and sixty some itemlevels later because it was still outpacing far superior weapons. However, Thunderfury was more than that. It had its time in the sun as a glorious weapon for that lucky fury warrior who didn't have to wear a shield 24/7, and at one time it was the best thing a rogue could put in their offhand. It was a viable DPS weapon, but it's not remembered as such, because by the time AQ rolled around it was outclassed by epics.

Sulfuras, however, was a DPS weapon, pure and simple, and completely contained within tier 1. How did it stack up? Thanks to the extensive fire immunities in tier 1/2, Ashkandi already gave it a run for it's money, as did Kalimdor's Revenge in AQ40. Dark Edge of Insanity was already to the point that even on non-immune mobs the fire proc was hard to justify, and by the time Might of Menethil was on the scene, it was already over for Sulfuras, buried by itemlevels.

Sulfuras didn't have hard mode itemization to contend with, either. Remember, the top weapons right now are effectively tier 13, not tier 10 - tiers 8-10 all had a second level of loot. Ashkandi already made life uncomfortable for Sulfuras, but a heroic version, comparable to Dark Edge of Insanity, would have been death.

A tier 11 DPS legendary will face the same fate: Buried by itemlevels in a world where casters will likely be pushing five digit spellpower and itemlevels could well push 500. Even a tier 12 legendary may need an unfair advantage built in to survive in the final tier of Cataclysm thanks to hard mode itemization. Two such advantages would be an immense additional bonus specifically against Dragonkin (like the Warglaives demon killing power - though the Warglaives were a third tier legendary and had little to fear in Sunwell regardless) or, and as a demonologist this really tickles me in private places, another raid support legendary like Atiesh was, that will provide benefits not just to the wielder, but to the entire raid.