Several ideas have been bothering me for a little while until a fellow guildie proposed what might be the correct answer that ties them all together. I'd like to see what the rest of you think.

1. What will happen to the "pre-TBC" raiding timeline? Will MC/BWL/AQ40/Naxx automatically become "extinct"? Will new guilds that level up together simply get to 60 and then directly begin the grind to 70 and TBC content?

I have to believe the answer is "no". Why would Blizzard simply destroy the viability of grinding pre-TBC content, and do so as of "day 1" of TBC? I could see them initiating some sort of longer-term "decay" but to simply throw it all out...??

2. For guilds currently progressing through AQ40/Naxx, will the best strategy be to dump their current progress the second TBC comes out? Again, I think not.

So far the conversation on this has focused on whether the gear will be useful for leveling up. I think this is missing one major point.

Reputation.

Wouldn't it be exactly like Blizzard to require Honored, Revered or Exalted reputation with a faction linked to a an old raid instance for some reward (like opening the doors to a new instance, perhaps??)?

I could completely see this happening. Thus Brood or Hydraxian (to name two) rep might be required for a future instance, quest chain or gear rewards.

On a related topic, I've been wondering what they are going to do about the recipe drops in MC and AQ. While some of them appear to have upgrades in TBC it would be nice if they moved them to vendors like the Thorium Brotherhood and Cenarion Circle enchants.

From this interview:
So I doubt it would be rep-based. OTOH, I could foresee either quests started from current raid end bosses, or tradeskill materials dropped/gathered in the raid zones (a la Bloodvine and the MC stuff).

But overall, I can't really think of any reason why any new players would want to 'stand still' at level 60 to gather up 40 people for raids. The majority of players would either a) not be doing them at all or b) do them at higher levels with fewer people, if there is any good reason to do them.

Honestly with the items coming out now, I'm getting convinced that everything is gonna be worthless pre xp. There is a slight hope that Naxx items may still partly be good for a while. I mean, there is a questable "blue" axe that is better then sulfuras/severance, etc.

Kinda like you don't farm maraudon gear today, you get to 60 by grinding or doing whatever and then you do dire maul/strat/etc runs to get a full set of gear it look certain now that the best course will be to get to 70 asap and start doing dungeons, totally overlooking everything else or so.

I think Blizzard has compared the current top-end instances to previous ones that used to be on top, but were replaced. Scarlet Monastery, Maraudon, BRD, and other instances used to be "cutting edge" back in the day, but now are replaced by the current endgame content.

Yes, these instances are not run by people as much, but people still play through them, enjoy them, and get good gear and experience from them.

So when TBC comes out, maybe fewer people will run MC/BWL/AQ/Naxx, but it's not like they will become ghost towns. Heck, since people can get to level 70 and come back, maybe MORE net people will see Naxx this way, since it will be easier to make progress in there and see those encounters. And even if people leave these instances and never come back, Blizzard has surely gotten good mileage out of them.

My OP wasn't about gear though. It was about reputation (rep rewards or requirements to achieve specific things). The gear discussion has already been pounded to death.

Every new player should have to grind Hydraxian, Brood, Cenarion and Zandalar rep.

Why? Because I'm bitter for having had to do them.

Completely different story on those instances though. Any 5 man sub-60 instance had a shelf life of a few weeks as players out leveled them. BRD kept its legs as it was integral to a lot of the post 60 content. There was no rep component to any of them that I can recall, so its not a fair comparison.

Rep gain comes into play at 60 when you are 'plateau'd' for a year+ and you only means of advancement is gear/rep. Unless they heavily tied new content to the old instances, people will just end up bypassing them on their way from 1-70. I can't see them making people 'stop' at 60 to do the same raiding instance in a few months.

1. Yes, except for Naxx/AQ40. The other two's rewards are matched or beat by level 62 blues.

2. It matters on what your guild as a whole wants to do. If everyone rather farm AQ40/Naxx instead of TBC content, keep going at it. However, I believe that people rather progress in level, so I think for most guilds best strat is abandoning the old stuff and go after the new stuff.

While Naxx hasn't been enjoyed by most of the player base, it doesn't seem worth a guild's time if you haven't made some progress by now.

think in terms of Blizzard's marketing arm. They have a fixed number of current customers, and many of them will roll onto the expansion no matter what. The goal is to attract new customers. Forcing people who just buy WoW this christmas to run MC, BWL, AQ40, and Naxx before stepping foot into any of the 70 instances is just plain foolish and silly. So the obvious choice is to equalize all players in the mid 60s, so that whether you are an old player or a new player the game is "the same" by the time you start hitting 70.

They are the equivalent of MC for guilds that are currently in Naxx. Maybe you'll run it once in a while for fun but thats about it. Many new guilds will run Naxx at 70 in superior gear just to have the pleasure of seeing many of the fun encounters, but it will only be done a few times - not a regularly scheduled event.

Yes, current and new guilds will level up to 70 hitting the 60-69 instances along the way. There are a few level 70 5 man instances, plus the lower ones can be set to "hard mode" for better loot. Once everyone is kitted out equally from the 65+ instances, they will hit Karazhan, the 10 man instance to get the next level of gear. Once they get Karazhan gear, they will hit Black Temple, the 25 man raid instance. There are a few smaller (Onyxia style) 25 man instances for quick epic loot runs on off days. Plus arena PVP.

For most of us its been pretty obvious that naxx loot will deprecate very quickly, we're seeing some of it leak out from the alpha but the cap is still level 67 so haven't seen it all yet (especially not the end game instances). But again, keep in mind the need to constantly attract new players or players who previously quit, forcing any of them to rep grind before enjoing new stuff is a great way to drive tons of people away.

All the guilds who are in tier3 and such will be a little angry and miffed, but honestly, how many of those people will suddenly quit the game because loot you get at level 68 is better than naxx gear? Hardly any.

Blizzard's greatest worry right now is too many people deciding to suspend their account until the expansion, and the expansion being delayed for some reason. So they mantain vagueness about upgrades and release dates, so people still play.

Enjoy naxx/AQ40 now for the challenges and fun of the instances, not the gear...

Why would you spend time in the cespool known as MC when you can spend the same amount of time grinding outside or in a new 5-man for better gear AND more fun? You don't.

Just like in any other game's first xpack, old material is just that -- old. Don't expect to see me or anyone else back in any of the old zones.

Not only did the new item formula for stamina force a complete out-classing of old gear, the old encounters sinply aren't set-up for lvl 70 toons. With all the posts about how awesome human/orcs are with their +5 wep skill bonus, can you imagine what FIFTY points in Weapon and defense skills will do for you?

The 4 raid zones we currently have lasted us for over 2 years (although grimacingly), I can see the 5-6 in TBC to last us a year without a problem, especially considering we might even have a PVP system worth devoting time to.