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Sunday, February 6, 2011

Luck of the Draw Buff vs. Ghostcrawler's View

I just wanted to find out what you guys think about the Luck of the Draw buff that Blizzard plans on implementing in patch 4.06. They are putting this in the game so that less skilled, or less cordinated, or less geared, or less experienced, or less hardcore, or less dedicated or w.e type of person can do these as I understand it, "impossibly demanding" dungeons that require us to use something called CC and practice proper game mechanics while playing our specific role that we chose when creating our character. I also find it odd that not even a month ago, Ghostcrawler himself addressed this issue http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/2053469 and even went on to say "The bottom line is that we want Heroics and raids to be challenging, and that is particularly true now while the content is new and characters are still collecting gear." and then "In Cataclysm, the Heroic dungeons and raids are intended to be challenging -- and they are, at least until you overgear them."

Ghostcrawler then goes on to list strategies and communication tips and how to improve your character. He goes on to say "Heroic PUGs are definitely harder than going with groups of people you know, but they aren’t impossible." Then he dives right in to mistakes Blizzard has made int the past, such things as Tol Barad 1800 honor for doing nothing and the Heroic Strike buff that warriors enjoyed. He then says "Example three: the Lich King Heroic dungeons (and Naxxramas) were too easy to zerg, setting up an expansion-long expectation that purple gear would come easy and often. In retrospect, that was a mistake. We don't at all view the Cataclysm dungeon and raid balance as a mistake." which I find very interesting for this topic. If its not broken Blizzard, do not attempt to fix it.

The article concludes with Ghostcrawler telling the players of WoW that he hears our voices and that no post goes unnoticed. He says they are aware of the issues that some casual players might find in a Heroic Dungeon and "We also just tend to nerf content over time because the original players hitting that content have moved on, so we want to open it up to a wider audience." What exactly is this "wider" audience? A few people QQing on the forums cannot make up the majority of WoW players.

Now Ghostcrawler is saying "The intent of Luck of the Draw is to help make up for the lack of coordination, communication, and familiarity that pick up groups suffer relative to organized groups of guild members and friends." And I wonder why the sudden change of heart? He went from giving less skilled, or less cordinated, or less geared, or less experienced, or less hardcore, or less dedicated or w.e type of person tips, to straight up nerfing the content. He goes on to say "Cataclysm dungeons, especially on Heroic mode, are quite challenging and ask for more group organization than the Wrath of the Lich King dungeons did." but Ghostcrawler did you not just tell us that one of your mistakes was that "the Lich King Heroic dungeons (and Naxxramas) were too easy to zerg"? And that you "don't at all view the Cataclysm dungeon and raid balance as a mistake."

I find this nerf to Heroic dungeons to very premature, I really do not see any issue the dungeons in their current state. Heroic is Heroic in my mind. If you can't beat the content then stay in normal mode dungeons. Maybe read Ghostcrawlers tips for how to improve your communication or character. To nerf this content along with the more challenging bosses in the dungeons them self seems a little extreme.

What do you guys think?

Game On

2 comments:

  1. It's not good, that I can easily tell you. And I do believe that part of why these 'nerfs' are being put into place is because the bean counters at Activision are getting pissy that WoW is not keeping subscribers. They like easy games for a reason: because people will by into things that give them a quick fix, or an effortless reward. Wrath was like that... very easy.. mostly AOE spam... dumbed down and uninteresting outside of lore. But it made more money that the other two expansions because people could buy into it and get instant gear.

    I do think this is the result of direct Activision intervention. They want the game to be easy, keep subscribers, and generate revenue during our current recession, and I wouldn't put it past them to nerf Cataclysm content just to do so...

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  2. You bring up a good point and I really think you might be on to something...The "casual gamer" seems to have a much bigger voice then the more dedicated.

    I hope that this is not snowball into a trend that left Wrath at the bottom of most gamer's lists for WoW releases.

    Game On

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