|
While I'm certainly not about to speculate on specifics for any, I'm going to take a stab and say that, like encounters in TBC, they will exhibit a higher degree of complexity and sophistication than the instances and encounters of the preceding expansion or core game (with, in my personal opinion, the exception of 4 Horsemen, but I simply say that because I have not done the Kael encounter or any of BT, so there might be something better in there). What I'm wondering is if that will end up hurting the guilds and, ultimately, the franchise, if they continue a development of the curve in the fashion they have without offering something like a 'soft reset' of the curve for new players.
|
I agree with this. However, I don't spend my time wondering; since TBC didn't kill WoW. And everyone back then was asking the same thing you're asking now. Not an original question whatsoever. Everyone thought 25-man raiding was going to kill wow, their guild, their moms and dads, their kids, their job, etc etc.
|
There's really none of that easing in, in TBC. Kara felt, to me, like a jumbling of the concepts from BWL and AQ40, with a MUCH broader range of error and forgiveness. The encounters, however, seemed to anticipate a certain level of competence in all parties present basing on the assumption that you had learned the lessons of at least MC and BWL previously. For a lot of new people who had bought the game only after TBC came out, that simply wasn't the case, and it showed in their ability in the encounters there. Karazhan is EASY. It really is, outside of one or two extremely special cases. However, having gone into the place with groups where this is their first instance with more than 5 people, I watched any number of them screw up doing things that should have become reflex waaaaay back in the Core, and it frustrates them. It's still doable, but it seems to come at a significantly higher price for them, since they have to piece together the fundamental concepts of tanking, healing, and DPSing as well as multi-target fights on their own, without the benefit of individual encounters specifically designed to teach each one of those concepts individually, and then building on them. Personally, I think it's that, more than anything, that is the main cause of the dramatic increase in PvP; personal opinion, but it seems to me that people simply want something where it doesn't matter if you're necessarily bad at your class or not, because odds are you'll be going against people just as bad as you, so it's a more even playing field, and somewhat more forgivable.
|
They weren't a challenge hardly at all; and MC did not teach you how to tank. UBRS and LBRS and BRD taught you how to tank. In the same vein, Kara doesn't teach new people how to tank; all the heroics and normal instances prepare them for that. In small doses.
They don't need to learn things from 'the Core' because 'the Core' was a terrible instance and there is nothing to learn from there except 'how to not ever put trash in an instance ever again' Or maybe 'examples of terrible raid aesthetics' or 'the most uncreative boss names in the world.' You can learn the exact same things, if not better, from TBC instances. Everything you need to prepare yourself for karazhan, including tactics, is in TBC.
It became reflex for you back in 'the Core' because that was your first instance. For many people, their first raid instance is karazhan, and 3 expansions later, these same people are going to be saying the same thing you are, only inserting 'Karazhan' in place of 'the Core.'
It matters today if you are terrible at your class; it did NOT matter back then. You could take all the crappy offspecs back then because having a ton of dead weight in your raid didn't matter as long as you had really awesome tanks & healers; you could beat your head against the wall and eventually the wall would fall down. Now, DPS has a large burden. Enrage timers and crap keep everyone on their toes; not just tanks and healers. This is a GOOD thing. Would you rather go back to 'AFK Autoshot?' Fuck that all over the place.
The old 40-mans were aesthetically atrocious compared to today's raids; the music was crappy; the trash was horrible. Like, we're talking about the trash as a monumental failure. Also, people don't seem to remember how bad it is to have to put together 40 people for a raid, not to mention what happens if 1-2 don't show. Plus the sheer amount/block of time involved to clear an instance was so much larger than today. Also, consumables were terrible to have to farm back then. TERRIBLE. The ability for different classes to fill different roles has been exponentially widened, particularly/specifically for hybrids. Class balance has come so far; the new abilities and raiding tactics that have been added/introduced are far superior on many levels to the old instances.
Like about the only thing good about those places was how epic feeling they were; but seriously; who in the world wants to walk that far every single time? Come on; you couldn't pay me enough to do that anymore.
|
What I wonder is, maybe it might be in Blizzard's, and raider's, best interests if that same sort of learning curve is re-introduced, bu at an accelerated pace in WoTLK. Instead of forging huge 25-man instances (or even 10-mans) that gradually introduce these fundamental concepts (you can't tank with a 2-hander, watch your damn aggro, healing is a marathon not a race) in 5-mans specifically designed to tackle these concepts in a narrow, intensified manner might result in a new generation of players that are at least more prepared for the kinds of situations we'd expect to see in end-game encounters, allowing a larger cross-section of players to experience what really are very well-done and highly entertaining encounters, as well as soften attrition curves for the established guilds.
|
Heroics?
Well, I'd say heroics pre-nerf, but nonetheless; heroics?
|
The flipside is this: will experienced guilds get bored with going through the curve again? After all, we've already learned through trial by fire. Rehashing the same stuff we learned for new people might feel like a downgrade in entertainment, right? That's why I think that, say, the first 10-man (probably that Utegard place) might need to be somewhere along the same complexity as Kara/Gruul's, since by this point, the newer players will have had time to absorb these fundamental concepts and allow for victories to come easier than they were for utterly new players in TBC, giving them a taste of raiding, and allowing the victories to fuel further pushing, creating more sophisticated raiders over time, while not dumbing it down very much for experienced veterans that might still be growing into 10 levels (and a new class's) worth of abilities and talents.
|
I do NOT want 15 extra retard slots to fill in my raids. I do NOT want 25 minute walk backs. I do not want trash that is harder than the boss. I do NOT want a game where tons of specs of different classes are totally excluded. I do NOT want to deal with retards in my guild who then wipe us over and over again while I'm taking 15 different consumables. How in the world does that kind of stuff help me learn? There is absolutely nothing to be gained from old world content that can't be gained from TBC in a better, more efficient fashon.
Why does everyone put rose colored glasses on when it comes to pre-BC raiding content? Pre-BC raiding content was 1000x times worse on almost every level you can compare them. It is DEFINITELY not some genius idea/development in gaming. Probably the opposite. I hope Blizzard NEVER EVER goes back to it.