Difficulty and Complexity

I've now run a few heroics on my main, or at least I've finished a few. I got in a Scholomance run right before Gandling and I got into Shado-Pan Monastery after the first boss (still have a heroic sword and shield now, which is a load off my mind for now.)

It's clear that they've swung way back in the direction of Wrath's dungeons - in fact, they swung past it. Wrath of the Lich King, despite how we remember it (which was when we were decked in at least 232 epics, running dungeons designed for people in 187 blues) was a bit challenging. You could usually be relatively confident you'd finish a heroic early in the expansion, but there were definitely some fights and some dungeons where you'd wipe or at least lose a couple people on boss fights. Heroic Loken was a real killer (back when healers hadn't gotten to infinite mana situations) and I remember how I would dread to see Ahn-Kahet, The Old Kingdom, because I knew we'd be in for a wipefest.

Now, admittedly, Heroics are not really what you have known as heroics in Mists. There are no level-cap dungeons (such as the four for Wrath: Old Stratholme, Oculus, Utgarde Pinnacle, and Halls of Lighting, or the three for Cataclysm: Lost City of the Tol'vir, Halls of Origination, and Grim Batol.) Yet perhaps that isn't accurate. It's more like there aren't heroics, and that there's simply another version of the four level-up dungeons (and the revamped Scarlet Monastery and Scholomance) in addition to Siege of Niuzao Temple and Gate of the Setting Sun, which serve as the level-cap dungeons.

So what does this mean? Well, you're going to have a much easier time running 5-man content for now. Heroics are quick and easy (well, Taran Zhu is still a bit of a pain in the ass, but when we get the dps decent gear, expect it to be dropped with no problem as well.)

I generally err on the side of easy. While I know endless grinding of trivial content is not exactly fun, I've always been more interested in achieving perfect execution than the mad scramble to eek a victory out (though I love when I do achieve such a thing.) These dungeons are quite easy. In many ways, this is probably for the best. Most 5-mans are done through LFD, and Blizzard made a good point: With a guild group, you know that mistakes will serve as lessons, and that the people are going to stick with you and figure things out more with each failure. Many people go into LFD, on the other hand, expecting things to be quick and easy (and, I would add, not really bringing their own personal responsibility to the group) and if they see any sign that the group is not going to be perfect for them (like that healer needs, god forbid, mana, or the tank actually needs that piece of tank gear, or someone dares to ask how the next boss fight is going to work) they'll drop, and the group just gets another person who doesn't have the experience to learn from. So, by making the dungeons easier, it makes it more likely the group will finish.

Opinions will differ on whether they took it too far. To me, the problem is not ease of content. It is the culture that this breeds. And no, I'm not talking about "casuals" being coddled. The thing about super-easy content that pisses me off is the abdication of responsibility to the group. In late Wrath, if you were tanking and did not chain-pull (except maybe on the Frozen Halls dungeons) the dps would do it for you. Now, as someone decked in ICC gear, this was not a problem for me. But if I wanted to play, say, my newly-80 warrior tank, I would find myself basically unable to establish any threat or do my job.

I worry that the "GoGoGo" mentality is bound to return. Do I wish that we would go back to Cataclysm's extremely punishing 4.0 dungeons or the Zuls? No. Actually, while I did get a bit tired of them (not End Time, though. I seemed to get that about a quarter as often as the other two,) the Hour of Twilight heroics I think struck a decent balance. There was real danger of getting splatted if you didn't do the fights right (I don't care how hardcore you are. You had to focus fire one of the ghouls on Echo of Sylvanas,) but if you were decent and paying attention, you were going to be fine. They were also not too long (unlike the endless Grim Batol or Zul'Gurub slogs,) a quality I see in Mists heroics that I am very happy with.

There is an interesting question. What is the future for Mists 5-man content? Blizzard has said that they want to put more emphasis on LFR as the continual gearing option for those without a regular raid group. They were unhappy that things like the HoT heroics allowed you to skip past Firelands and go directly to DS, and would prefer that people work their way through the Raids, at least via LFR, to gear themselves.

Does this mean no new 5-mans in the expansion? That I find a little troublesome. 5-man dungeons are a cornerstone on which WoW is built. But without raid-level rewards, there will be little incentive for people to run new dungeons.

I realize that Challenge Modes will certainly provide some extra-challenging 5-man content, but only with cosmetic rewards. It strikes me that this strategy is ignoring a portion of the playerbase that doesn't only run 5-mans because they are quick and easy, but runs them because that's how they like to play the game.

Next I'll talk about the Reputation and Daily Revolution and imagine how these will look in a few months.