More about the cheaping of WoW Raid Content

Ok, so I just wrote about the change to them Emblem/Badges system that we’ll be seeing in patch 3.2. Now, let’s take a look at the possible philosophy behind these changes.

Blizzard pays a lot of artists to create art and “content” for WoW. They spent a lot of money building Naxxramas. So, what’s the problem? Well, back in the day, a tiny percentage of players ever got to SEE the inside of Naxxramas. That’s a shame, especially when you consider that the best raiding guilds all said that Naxxramas was, at the time, the best instance that Blizzard had ever created!

This, I’m sure, did not please blizzard. Their best work, that which they were most proud of, and so few got to see it. When Blizzard released the Burning Crusade, complete with Karazhan, they saw the numbers eventually come up much more – I think I remember hearing that at least 50% of all accounts had toons that had been inside Karazhan. This is all because Karazhan was the first raid instance in BC, and it was the first raid instance that could be raided in SMALL groups, and eventually became puggable.

So, if you’re blizzard, and you want people to see your best work, you start to think maybe you could get more people to see Naxxramas if it was the first raid instance in the new expansion, and if it could be raided in small groups. Voila, behold Wrath of the Lich King.

So, now a huge amount of players have already seen Naxxramas. The plan worked, brilliantly, I must say.

But now, history is repeating itself. Now the best guilds all say that Sunwell Plateau is the best instance Blizzard ever made. There seems to be a pattern forming here – the most powerful, dangerous, and difficult instances seem to be the ones that the best guilds like the most. At the end of the era of Burning Crusade, Blizzard severely nerfed almost every raid boss. At the time, there were many reasons to do this – Talents were being changed, player mechanics were being revamped, and lots of other things were all happening at the same time…

But, Blizzard’s biggest concern is that if people didn’t get to see the Tier 6 and Tier 6.5 instances before Wrath came out, they might never get to see them. Case in point – I’ve never seen the inside of Sunwell Plateau myself, and I don’t expect to see it unless I pug an achievement whoring group to go see it. I will never get to experience the instance with a group of level 70 players all geared with loot from MH and BT.

So, they nerfed stuff. And more people got to see it. Because it was easier to do. The money they spent MAKING Sunwell was better invested because it entertained more players.

So, now we’re at the end of Wrath.

[needle scratches across the record like nails on a chalkboard]

WTF? Seriously?? WTF? We’re not at the end of Wrath. They haven’t even announced the next expansion yet!!??! They haven’t even announced Ice Crown Citadel yet.

WTF is going on here? It looks like Blizzard has started nerfing the raid instances again. But, this time, they’re doing it from the inside out. Instead of making the bosses have less HP, they’re giving the players more power for free. Seriously, it’s too soon, and this is the wrong way to do it.

They’re making it so that players can acquire tier 8.5 2pc set bonuses by simply running heroic instances. Dear God, WHY??!? The problem here is that as players collect more emblems of conquest, they buy tier 8.5 gear, and they clear out heroic dungeons even faster. You don’t need that kind of gear in those dungeons. You can run those heroics in the blues that drop from the non-heroic versions of those same dungeons. Hell, you can run Naxxramas in leveling greens. The first guild that cleared Naxxramas did it 3 days after Wrath was released, so you can bet they were wearing very little heroic dungeon gear when they did it. And that was before any nerfs to it.

I can understand the philosophy of blizzard wanting people to see their content, and thus making it easier for players to gather the gear to be powerful enough to go see it… But this is simply the wrong way to do it. Go nerf the bosses HP again. Go nerf the damage again. Go add more powerful gear to the bosses… But for GOD’S SAKE, Don’t make it so players can SKIP the content entirely! that’s NOT how you get players to SEE the content you paid to build.

The way this is going, players will be able to hit 80, run a half-dozen or more 5-man heroics every night, never step foot into Naxx - OR ULDUAR for that matter - and walk right into Argent Coliseum with level appropriate gear, and about as much skill as an over-toasted s’more marshmallow.

WTF? Seriously, WTF??!!!?!?1?