The only real issue I have with the rings is not their usefullness (they are nice for adding extra stats on, pity about the healing amp and +4 AC, Gtr Devotion VIII is nice too, does that mean the cold recipe will give Gtr Glaciation VIII?) but just how we were told "OMG MORE THAN 30 MORE RAID ITEMS IN THE MOD 9 RAID, NOT COUNTING TOMES!!!!11!!" only to find out the items were all pretty much identical in creation (+6 stat for class, +1 exc related stat for class, Ability to craft using a 18month old system onto the rings, for the most part, slight changes)

Would have been nice to have some more special raid items like in past raids, though I know many of them sucked, there were still some nicely designed ones, hell, make say 12 items, then give them the ability to drop on say 3 different slots, to give more customisation for characters.