Wrath. Regardless of Perceived Difficulty, This is an Issue.
First and foremost, Merry Christmas and Happy Winter’s Veil to everyone!
I’m posting an extra post today because the next few days I’m not going to be available much, and I would normally have at least one more post in a week. Enjoy!
I started to post this comment on another blog, and as it grew longer and longer I realized I needed to form this into a topic of its own.
It is no secret that there is quite a divide among players regarding the level of difficulty in Wrath of the Lich King. Time and again someone posts an argument for or against the perception that things are too easy/too hard. It is an issue, regardless of which side of the debate you stand.
I agree to the premise of an introduction to raiding. I also hope that the way raids scale will be similar to what people seem to cling to as a matter of fact, when in actuality it is more hope and speculation that lends credence to the thought that this will be the case.Neither of those thoughts debunks the theory that current encounters in Wrath are too easy. What it does provide is a “scapegoat” reason for not having some scale of difficulty brought to what we encounter in Northrend as of now.
I’m not, in any way, trying to say that things should be pre-nerfed KZ difficult.
There are plenty of heroics in Wrath. All of them can pretty much be approached with the same lack of thought or preparation (with very few exceptions, such as the Oculus and, to an extent, the Halls of Stone/Lightning). That does not teach anyone about raiding. If anything, with a decently geared and competent healer/tank combination, the current state of the encounters in Northrend breeds horrible raiding habits.
My long-winded point is simple:
Yes, there should be a solid entry-level raid. I’m in complete support of a scaling difficulty level for raids and dungeons. As it stands there is no concept of any strategy other than “run in, AoE tank, AoE damage, toss quick heals on tank, AoE heal DPS.” There should, however, also be heroics that teach core grouping concepts such as crowd control, aggro management, strategic pulls, and even how to work together on the timing of abilities.
No, not *every* group can do that right away. Fresh 80s, especially those who did not start out at 70 with decent gear, can have a tough time if the rest of the party is also comprised of members in “fresh 80 gear.” The current state of heroics (and please note I’m more concerned about their level of simplicity than I am any of the current raids) does nothing to teach the “Wrath Generation” about grouping, or raiding, or even something as simple as kill order.
This is the argument, at its core: having content accessible is great. I am completely supportive of such an endeavor. Accessible does not mean the content should be thoughtless in strategy, or easily overcome by “powering” through based upon gear that is easily available by the time level 80 is reached.
For those who say to make the content more difficult by doing the achievements, or by creating new ways to make the current content challenging, I only have one thought: we do not have any way to make the content easier for those who want things to be easier, why should we make things harder instead of having one or two encounters specifically designed to be more difficult? Seriously, let’s get over the double-standard. It is not like I’m asking for everything to be more difficult.
The real problem is that things are being approached from the view that “everything” should be the same. People seem fixated on the thought that either it is all more difficult or it is all less difficult, when there has to be a variety of both. Yes, this means some people will never see the content. I’ve been on that side of things, and I agree it can suck when you really want to see the end-game. Fine, make the end-game accessible to everyone. For the love of Elune, though, find something to give me to strive for that is challenging as well.
/end rant… I think.
I agree that it’s an issue no matter which side you fall on. I also agree that too many people seem fixated on the “all/everything” bit… wanting more challenge and difficulty does not mean you want ALL of it that way… just as wanting some easier/more accessible dungeons does not mean you want it ALL that way.
I think what makes this issue more difficult is that it’s really a no-win situation. No matter what, there would be plenty of people complaining or having issues whether it’s about it being too hard, too easy, too dark, too boring, whatever. Honestly, how do you develop content to please the masses across the board? That, I would not want to be in charge of.
D’s last blog post..BBV Express
As much as I love this game, I can still objectively state that it’s very poorly designed… and it’s done so intentionally. WoW has 11.5 million players. This doesn’t happen because of the challenge of the game, it happens because anyone can play, and anyone can win. They’ve already proven that every time they dumb things down, they get a boost in subscription numbers. It sucks, it’s horrid, yes you’re absolutely correct that no one learns how to really play any more, but it’s here to stay I’m afraid. For every one of us that prefers a challenge and actually leaves because of a lack of one, two to three others will pick up the game and fall in love with it.
Deekow’s last blog post..Getting Excited…
While I understand what your saying, I don’t completely agree. The fights all seem the same when you read a strat for it or have already done it in pre-BC Naxx. If you want a challenge and think things are too easy, tell your raid NOT to read the strat. Figure it out for yourself. I think this adds a significant challenge for most.
@Albero
That’s my whole point though. We intentionally ran every heroic without looking up the strategies, and they still were very easy to figure out quickly and overcome. There was not any challenge in figuring out how a pull should be executed, there has been no crowd control, and most of the time there has been absolutely no regard for threat management because there has been no need. It all seems to just be “run in, aoe, done.”
I’ve not been involved in a full Naxx run yet (our guild wanted to wait until the holidays were over for our officially scheduled runs), but what I’ve personally seen so far still doesn’t bode well for my thoughts on the matter.