For great (Badge of) Justice!
by Amanda Rivera 
May 14th 2007 at 5:50PM
The other night my guild stepped into a heroic instance for the first time. Now this isn't great news for those of you who already spend your weekend nights huggling Gruul, but it's a great accomplishment for us. Since we all have the Coilfang Resevoir key we started with Slave Pens, and I must say it was a joy to have challenge in that instance again.
It felt like I had been given the instance back, as it were. If I were to walk into Slave Pens at the normal level I would feel little interest since it's tuned for 62-64. I finally understand the method behind the heroic dungeon concept, to allow level 70 players to have fun going to those dungeons again. But what I'd really like is heroic dungeon settings for the old instances in Azeroth. Can you imagine what Van Cleef would be like at level 70? It makes me giddy just to think of it.
We only got as far as the first boss, and then the trash beat us to a complete pulp before exhaustion forced us to quit. I really was surprised how the tides shift with heroics. I have a hard time reconciling trash mobs who are impossible to kill and bosses who are manageable. Either way I am excited to have such a novel experience added to our game play. Whoever came up with the concept of heroic dungeons was brilliant. I have my first Badge of Justice, now. Only 112 to go.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Instances
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
honkhonk May 15th 2007 8:31AM
"Can you imagine what Van Cleef would be like at level 70?"
Yes, boring like hell given that I've been there way too often with way too many characters. Not to mention that the instance layout is rather dull in general.
Robert May 14th 2007 6:53PM
Well, grats. Try Underbog sometime, I think it's a touch easier than Slave Pens (though you need a well-geared tank to survive the Bog Lords) and you get an extra badge. Steam Vaults is probably easier too.
It's wierd trying to put myself into the mindset where heroics are still really challenging and a great achievement. I guess I just play too much.
BigFire May 14th 2007 7:09PM
Even with a well geared guild tank, I still hates Underbog. Especially the much dreaded Bog Lord pull. Their damage ranged from 2k to 8k, and I literally have my cursor on the super mana pot to get that last bit of mana to heal. Thankfully, they're getting nerfed in 2.1. As for Slave Pens, it's a good place to start learning Heroic, where the rule of the thumb is this: Trash hits harder than the boss.
Guernia May 14th 2007 7:33PM
When the next x-pack comes out, will people call for the (currently level 70) heroic instances to be made Super Heroic so they're a challenge? Will people call for Scarlet Monastery to be made Super Heroic because it was fun at level 35, and so they can run it with their level 80 and feel challenged?
What about at level 100? Will we have regular, heroic (lvl 70 optimized), super-heroic (lvl80), ultra-super-heroic (lvl90), mega-ultra-super-heroic (lvl100) and hyper-mega-ultra-super-heroic (ZOMG hacked private server hax OMG BBQ lvl 255 only) of every instance? For some reason, RFC with trash that hits for 50k damage really seem that appealing to me. Or maybe Rags in MC with Super New Abilities (Laser beam eyes! Through walls! That hit for instant permadeath! Woot!)
Stop the madness. If you want Van Cleef to be a challenge, run it with a group of level 12's in grays. It takes, what, 5 hours /played to get there? Or twink level 6's. Or barehanded. There's lots of things you can do to challenge yourself without "exciting" new content.
Also, current heroics are still being tweaked, and Blizzard will probably continue to do so. In fact, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they're nerfed way back in coming months, much like Scholo and Strat were. Sure, they'll still be more of a challenge over the regular instances, but my prediction is that they'll be rather more manageable. And trivially soloable with a level 80 warlock.
Ambril May 14th 2007 7:37PM
Good luck on getting your Quagmirran's Eye out of there. It's a pretty nice trinket. :)
Guernia May 14th 2007 7:39PM
"...trash that hits for 50k damage really seem that appealing to me..."
should read DOESN'T really seem that appealing.
Sarcasm aside, my point is that content does and should get old, and be replaced by new interesting content.
Which raises an interesting (to me) point: are people calling for heroic old content because the new stuff just isn't all that exciting, even with the new difficulty level? WILL people 12-18 months from now be calling for super-heroic Ramparts because it was awesome, and up there with Stockades and Uldaman (yeah right) as their favorites?
Trogg May 14th 2007 8:08PM
I'd like to see a creative approach to making old dungeons heroic. I think people who immediately respond with "boring!" on these posts completely miss the point. Heroic Van Cleef wouldn't have to just be the same dude with 10x the hit points and melee dmg.
They could give the same encounters new abilities (like they do in heroics), and add some scripting, like maybe after beating heroic VC, the giant gate opens and the ship sails out into STV waters where you fight a Krakken alongside Orlando Bloom.
Joking aside, you get the point. They could easily extend the storyline for the old locations. It also helps keep the world "alive." I mean, you have to wonder how that whole "Stockades" situation isn't under control by now. What's really going on there?
Robert May 14th 2007 9:04PM
I already wish there was Legendary difficulty after Heroic.
Heroics have gotten too easy :/ They were really fun when we started but we've outgeared them to the point where running a heroic with my usual group is like doing it on normal with a decent PUG.
After the 2.1 nerfs there will really be no truly challenging small group content in the game.
Urthona May 14th 2007 9:05PM
I'd love some older content get the Heroic treatment. Amongst my guild we like to imagine what that might be. The first suggested grouping is a revisit to the Lordaeron instances, as they all have a somewhat common link through the Argent Dawn reputation.
Those exalted with AD purchase the Dawn Key, which unlocks the Heroic Scarlet Monastery instances, Heroic Scholomance, and Heroic 10-man raid of Stratholme. And then we all agree that Naxx should get a 25-man nerf.
Similar takes are given to the Troll instances: Zul Farrak, Sunken Temple, Zul Gurub... and the Twilight Hammer/Elemental instances: BFD, BRD, Molten Core... and the Cenarion Circlish ones like Wailing Caverns, Dire Maul, and ... I forget.
And that's usually when the discourse turns to new races or something.
The Destroyer May 15th 2007 3:01AM
Slave Pens is hard but I find Underbog easier. This is only with an ideal group makeup though. If you ever try Underbog make sure you have two healers. This means one of your dps should be an Elemental Shaman or Resto Druid unless you want your DPS gimped. As for the other two DPS, a Warlock is a must for first timers and you'll probably want a mage or hunter. FYI for more "challenge" try running these instances with lax crowd control. Unless you're doing something like Heroic Shattered Halls it really is a crutch. I can understand one or even two CC for a most Heroics but people who think you need that much crowd control just suck period.
The Destroyer May 15th 2007 3:03AM
EDIT That should say Balance Druid not Resto because that would be suicide.
Wxndy May 15th 2007 9:33AM
@10 just enough CC and you are fine. You don't need two healers. We did Underbog with a mage, hunter, warlock and priest. :)