For a few years and expansions now, Mythic raiding has been the pinnacle of World of Warcraft progression. While the end game raids are certainly challenging and fun to do if a person has a lot of time to invest in the game, the number of people capable of achieving that is quite low.
So what are the issues behind WoW raiding at the highest level and how can we solve them?
Gear seems to be a significant factor
Loot is one of the biggest things that drives players to play the game, and it is also one of the main reasons why people complain about Mythic raiding being too difficult for the majority of the player base. In my opinion, this completely makes sense because there should be no reason for the best gear to be locked away behind a gigantic difficulty wall.
What actually started this whole debate about Mythic progression, gear, and the design behind it is the recent patch that will nerf Sepulcher of the First Ones by quite a bit. Some bosses got small touches, like nerfing their health by 25% (Rygelon), while other bosses got huge nerfs that will allow more players to clear out their aid.
The best examples of the nerf are Lihuvim, who lost 90% of the damage on Resonance Cascade, which is basically almost removing a whole mechanic from the fight. Another good example is Halondrus, the mighty crab which already got nerfed during the race to world first because he was just that overturned. This time around, he got a 75% nerf to one of his abilities and 65% on another.
It is quite nice that the raid got nerfed and that players will finally be able to get the gear from the Mythic raid and use it during their M+, PVP, or wherever else they want to. In our opinion, these nerfs are what the raid should have launched with, and while that would certainly make the raid much easier for the best raiders in the world, it would make RTWF easier to watch instead of it lasting for 2-3 weeks.
Cayna did pose a nice point last week. Mythic raiding may be a nice “achievement point” for the elite players, but also having the best gear in the game locked behind it puts plenty of players in a bad spot in terms of game enjoyment.
Potential solution to Mythic Raiding that satisfies all parties involved
There is three main avenues Blizzard can take toward solving the end-game content plight. They either change nothing, revert back to ideas used in the past or go toward gear capping.
The WOTLK way with ilvl capping
For those who played during the Wrath of the Lich King, you might remember the raid called Trial of the Crusader. Yes, we know, it is probably one of the worst-designed raids in the game, and a lot of people tend to hate it. However, it had one mechanic that was absolutely perfect for those who wanted to prove that they were better than the rest.
I am referring to the limited pull mechanic and also the achievement called A Tribute to Dedicated Insanity. In order to get this insanely difficult achievement, players would have to complete the raid without having a single raid member die throughout the raid and also have a gear that is under a certain item level.
This example might be a bit too extreme, but it is probably the best way to create end-game content for the best players. Those who wish to complete mythic with whatever gear will eventually do so by nerfing the raid by obtaining more gear and making their gear stronger, while those who wish to seek a true challenge will lock themselves on a certain item level and keep trying.
It is a solution that will essentially take care of both casual and hardcore players, as it will open a sense of progression for both, as well as a reward. Of course, to spice things up, if players reach the final boss with an X item level, they could have a hidden phase or perhaps an additional boss to fight, but using resources and time to design something like this is much better than having to think about designing the whole raid tier for 1000 people.
On another note, if the raid seems a bit too difficult for players having X item level, that can easily be nerfed by increasing the item level range by a couple of levels (a few pieces of gear swapped in and out).
Potential FFIV route to gear capping and similar limits
Another potential solution for gear and progression that would satisfy the community is if Mythic was made strictly for cosmetics and not stronger gear. Locking gear on the heroic difficulty was something a lot of people have been demanding for quite a while, but if this were to happen, Blizzard would have to make Mythic raids require a much smaller party because people might not want to bother doing it if the rewards are purely cosmetic.
Locking gear at heroic difficulty wont change much in how the Race to World First looks since most guilds clear the content with maximized Heroic level gear anyways.
Echo’s Scripe has really been getting into it recently:
Ten-man raiding?
Finding 20 people that are willing to make Mythic difficulty right now can be quite hard, so lowering the number of people to 10 would probably be the best thing to do for the game. It is much easier to gather a group of 10 people with a great synergy that is willing to try and clear current Mythic content than 20 because someone is always bound to have enough and quit raiding along with the loot they got.
Ten man groups however will have to be heavily class optimized for class diversity and specs. With how the game is currently laid out 10-man may no longer be an option especially with yet another race/class coming to the game.
Will Blizzard listen to any community feedback?
Considering what they did in the past, they probably will, but the only issue is that they will do it when it is just too late.
No matter what raid tier or content issue exists in the game, Blizzard always came to the rescue in the very last moment before everyone quit the game, and doing that one too many times might make the community completely numb to the game at some point.
Recently, it was announced that Dragonflight is going to be released by the end of the year, and while it already looks like it is changing a lot of things in the game for the better, we can really hope that they make gear easier to access while still introducing some exclusive end-game content for the 0.1% that would not require too many resources from the design team (hopefully the TOC Pull/Item level lock method).
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