Raiding in Catalysm

ASKF

2010-05-04 09:27:01 UTC

Post by ASKF
At
<http://www.wow.com/2010/04/26/cataclysm-raid-progression-refinements/>
the following points have been substracted from a blue post at
<http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=13200223842&sid=1>

Because several regulars of this group can't access the web-sites from
work, I will copy-paste the wow.com post (includes the blue posting):

Today Blizzard released some stunning new standards for raids in the
upcoming Cataclysm expansion. Chief amongst these changes, which every
WoW player should be aware of, is the combining of 10- and 25-man loot
tables, 10- and 25-man raid lockouts, and the continuation of gated
content.

No longer will 25-man raids provide better gear than 10-man raids
(although they will drop more of the gear), and no longer will players
be able to farm both the 10-man and 25-man version of a raid dungeon
each week.

The following are the bullet points of this announcement:

* 10- and 25- man raids in Cataclysm will share the same lockout
* Normal versus Heroic mode will be chosen on a per-boss basis in
Cataclysm raids, the same way it works in Icecrown Citadel
* 10- and 25- man bosses will be close in difficulty
* 10- and 25- man bosses will drop the exact same items
* 25-man bosses will drop a higher quantity of loot, but not quality
* For the first few raid tiers, our plan is to provide multiple
smaller raids. Instead of one raid with eleven bosses, you might have a
five-boss raid as well as a six-boss raid.
* Content will continue to be gated
* First Cataclysm raids will be tuned for players in dungeons blues
and crafted items

The full statement after the break.

Cataclysm Raid Progression Refinements
We're continuing to refine the raid progression paths in Cataclysm, and
we'd like to share some of those changes with you today. Please enjoy!

The first of the refinements being made is that we're combining all raid
sizes and difficulties into a single lockout. Unlike today, 10- and
25-player modes of a single raid will share the same lockout. You can
defeat each raid boss once per week per character. In other words, if
you wanted to do both a 10- and 25-person raid in a single week, you'd
need to do so on two different characters. Normal versus Heroic mode
will be chosen on a per-boss basis in Cataclysm raids, the same way it
works in Icecrown Citadel. Obviously the raid lockout change doesn't
apply in pure Icecrown terms though, as this change goes hand-in-hand
with a few other changes to raid progression in Cataclysm.

We're designing and balancing raids so that the difficulty between 10-
and 25-player versions of each difficulty will be as close as possible
to each other as we can achieve. That closeness in difficulty also means
that we'll have bosses dropping the same items in 10- and 25-player
raids of each difficulty. They'll have the same name and same stats;
they are in fact the exact same items. Choosing Heroic mode will drop a
scaled-up version of those items. Our hope is that players will be able
to associate bosses with their loot tables and even associate specific
artwork with specific item names to a far greater extent than today.

Dungeon Difficulty and Rewards
10- and 25-player (normal difficulty) -- Very similar to one another in
difficulty; drop the exact same items as each other.
10- and 25-player (Heroic difficulty) -- Very similar to one another in
difficulty; drop more powerful versions of the normal-difficulty items.

We of course recognize the logistical realities of organizing larger
groups of people, so while the loot quality will not change, 25-player
versions will drop a higher quantity of loot per player (items, but also
badges, and even gold), making it a more efficient route if you're able
to gather the people. The raid designers are designing encounters with
these changes in mind, and the class designers are making class changes
to help make 10-person groups easier to build. Running 25-player raids
will be a bit more lucrative, as should be expected, but if for a week
or two you need to do 10s because half the guild is away on vacation,
you can do that and not suffer a dramatic loss to your ability to get
the items you want.

We recognize that very long raids can be a barrier for some players, but
we also want to provide enough encounters for the experience to feel
epic. For the first few raid tiers, our plan is to provide multiple
smaller raids. Instead of one raid with eleven bosses, you might have a
five-boss raid as well as a six-boss raid. All of these bosses would
drop the same item level gear, but the dungeons themselves being
different environments will provide some variety in location and visual
style, as well as separate raid lockouts. Think of how you could raid
Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep separately, but you might still
want to hit both every week.

We do like how gating bosses over time allows the community to focus on
individual encounters instead of just racing to the end boss, so we're
likely to keep that design moving forward. We don't plan to impose
attempt limitations again though, except maybe in cases of rare optional
bosses (like Algalon). Heroic mode may not be open from day one, but
will become available after defeating normal mode perhaps as little as
once or twice.

In terms of tuning, we want groups to be able to jump into the first
raids pretty quickly, but we also don't want them to overshadow the
Heroic 5-player dungeons and more powerful quest rewards. We'll be
designing the first few raid zones assuming that players have
accumulated some blue gear from dungeons, crafted equipment, or quest
rewards. In general, we want you and your guild members to participate
in and enjoy the level up experience.

We design our raids to be accessible to a broad spectrum of players, so
we want groups to be able to make the decision about whether to attempt
the normal or Heroic versions of raids pretty quickly. The goal with all
of these changes is to make it as much of a choice or effect of
circumstance whether you raid as a group of 10 or as a group of 25 as
possible. Whether you're a big guild or a small guild the choice won't
be dependent on what items drop, but instead on what you enjoy the most.

We realize that with any changes to progression pathways there are going
to be questions. We're eagerly awaiting any that we may have left
unanswered. To the comments!

--
Allan Stig Kiilerich Frederiksen
"When you try to change a mans paradigm, you must keep in mind that he
can hear you only through the filter of the paradigm he holds."
-Myron Tribus