What a lot of the “hardcore” raiders fail to recognize is that the playerbase for WoW is STILL continuing to expand. There are probably people that are making their first level 1 character as I write this. Assuming these people level all the way to 80, and do not get distracted to playing alts, it would likely take between 1 and 3 months, pending the amount of time they devote to gameplay, and how much of a learning curve they have for the game.

In that intervening time, what experiences will they garner that will suddenly prepare them for raiding? Heroics? Rep grinding? Dungeon grinding? None of these are necessary or particularly rewarding until level 80 (well, I really do love grinding the old dungeons as I level alts, I still feel that some of those encounters are among the most exciting/entertaining in the game, but maybe that’s nostalgic on my part).

There is no transition prior to Naxxramas. Blizzard can no longer safely assume that someone new to the game has set foot in even 1 instance along the way to level cap. Hardcore gamers are no longer the dominant culture in WoW, and they haven’t been for quite a while. New gamers will likely not know or understand why dungeons/instances are important, the rewatrds and fun they provide, if they’re even aware they exist.

Do they cater solely to the desires of the smallest percentage of players for challenge, or provide content that a larger audience can participate in and have a chance of success and the enjoyment that comes with it?

Of course, I think the Achievement system was a fantastic leverage for this. I can’t count the number of times I did something in the game that I thought was really cool/impressive/difficult, that no one outside of those present would likely believe I had done. Now there is a system in place that recognizes many of these things. If you are raiding for bragging rights, and many raiders do, then the Achievement system is perfect. It offers incentives not only for doing things, but for doing them the hard way and still succeeding.

I suspect that the next raids will actually not be a huge step up in terms of difficulty, but a more incremental 1. In my opinion, if Blizzard is smart, they will likely make it so that people can safely start doing the 10 or 25 man version if they have completed either version of Naxx.

I will also point out that I agree with Byaghro on 1 thing. As obnoxious as I found its seeming necessity through most of TBC for almost all content, I do lament the currently almost complete irrelevance of CC in 5 man content.

Blizz didn’t want to make the same mistake this time around so they made it new guy friendly. I wouldn’t be surprised if the difficulty curve from Naxx to Ulduar is in the same area as Black Temple to Sunwell.

In BC heroics used to at least require some type of crowd control most of the time. There was a challenge associated with pulling mobs in an order to facilitate success. In Wrath heroics everything is basically AoE tank, AoE burn, and if you have a solid enough one AoE heal. This is the valid complaint that I hear often, and see firsthand.

If your tank and healer are decently geared, nothing is really a challenge.

I’ll admit, I’m more hardcore (as of late) than casual, but when I can heal through a borked pull in a heroic, where we end up with an entire room on us instead of the 2-3 mob pull, I have to side on the argument that things are too easy.

Naturally, this also depends a lot on gear. I can understand how people are encountering tough times if everyone in the group is relatively equally geared in quest gear and regular drops from Northrend. I had an advantage of starting at 70 with very good gear. But even our newest people who swapped mains and leveled to 80 aren’t struggling.

Byaghro’s last blog post..?GOOD!? What do you mean ?good?!??

so I dont get it – except to say, as we all know in wow, ppl love to complain. When ppl do quit wow, its mostly for reasons much more prosaic and RL-related than content or mechanic changes.

I’m having a blast too. We have yet to clear heroic naxx – 2 bosses to go. We’re gonna start hard mode in obsidium next week. Malagos in 10 man too. Meanwhile plenty of alts to mess around with.

People also seem to forget that Naxx is just the opening raid – like Kara in BC. You can’t tell me that the hardcore raiders from original WOW took months and months to clear Kara.

What might have taken them months is clearing all the way up to Black Temple, Sun Well etc. Well, the Wrath equivalents to Black Temple and Sunwell are not even in the game yet.

I’ve heard all the boohooing too, but I’m reserving judgement til some of that harder content hits the screen. And in the meanwhile, my guild, which had just progressed from Kara into ZA when Wrath hit, is also just hitting Naxx now. And, since we never did this content before, and none of us were in beta, we are not finding it a cakewalk or a brick wall, but a decently challenging instance, and look forward to learning it.

K

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