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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsHard Mode raiding is here to stay
by Matthew Rossi 
Feb 18th 2009 at 4:00PM
In a thread started by Lightsnight, who argues that hard modes in a dungeon are 'a stupid gimmick', Valnoth counters with what I think is a measured response (keeping in mind that I'm very sarcastic) - " Hard Modes are intended for people that want additional challenges and rewards. You might view them as a gimmick, but I assure you that hard modes will test the mettle of the most seasoned raiding guilds. The choice is yours, my friend. " This is a relief for me heading into Ulduar.
Now, I dislike the mechanics of the Sartharion with three drakes up fight (don't stand in this, run away from that, are you standing in that), but that doesn't mean that it's poorly designed, and I think it does exactly what Blizzard set out to do. It creates a means for anyone who can get 10 or 25 people together to experience raid content while simultaneously giving guilds that like challenging content a way to pursue that without making some content simply inaccessible. There was a lot of complaining in the past that superlative raids like Naxxramas 40 and Sunwell Plateau simply weren't accessible to the majority of raiders due to their difficulty. With hard modes, raids can choose to do this content at its most basic setting and get to experience the content, or they can opt for more difficulty and get better loot and bragging rights.
Honestly, I don't really see Lightsnight's problem here. But I am glad that Valnoth confirms that not only are hard modes not going anywhere, but that they will continue to provide some of the best loot in the game. Now all I need is for them to remember to put a 2h weapon that can be used with Titan's Grip on a hard mode boss next time around.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Blizzard, News items, Raiding, Bosses, Forums
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 5)
DanH Feb 19th 2009 7:40AM
Because they frequently feel very, very gimmicky?
realmreaver Feb 19th 2009 8:01AM
With the inclusion of hard mode's better loot and achivements. (Though I do think achievments is enough but I regress)
The ONLY reason ANY hardcore could possibly whine is because they want exclusive content for themselves in large quantities.
This is an MMO. Leave your ' I am the only one that matters here' commentaries at the door or be on ignore.
This is definitely a fundemental step in the right direction to give what I always wanted for hardcore people. A version of content ment for them with rewards and achivements ment for their ilk.
10 man = easy.
25 man = moderate.
Hard mode = Elite.
Where the hell is the issue?
DanH Feb 19th 2009 8:12AM
The fact that there are people out there who, for example, want non-easy content which doesn't require 25 people, or the fact that "Hard Modes" are basically just asking people to intentionally nerf themselves.
There's also the issue that 25-man content is apparently easier than 10 man.
I'm a casual player, and I genuinely don't understand the mindset of other casual players who want to play "endgame" content but *don't* want it to be difficult.
unigolyn Feb 19th 2009 1:45PM
Deliberately nerf themselves?
No. Sartharion is a fight with three phases, the Shadron, Tenebron and Vesperon phases. That is the fight as intended.
They added the option of killing the three drakes before engaging Sarth to turn the fight into a very, very simple encounter for people who have never raided before.
Killing him the proper way awards players with the title Twilight Vanquisher.
You can't possibly claim that Sarth was designed as the "hop left, hop right" encounter that zero drakes gets you.
realmreaver Feb 20th 2009 11:14AM
Outside the idea of some 10 mans being tougheer than 25 the point I was making DanH is I have no problems with it being difficult. I just don't want it to be overly time consuming cause I don't have time to throw away to a game that in the end is for fun not a goal of life.
The only thing Blizzard can throw at us is time eating encounters cause we defeated everything esle so it must be time consuming and that being the only true challenge is not challenging at all. We don't need a FF11 16 hour encounter.
I want a 15 min do or die one max without taking forever getting to that fight.
Everything til the boss is fluff and time wasting.
Ryu Feb 19th 2009 9:56AM
The phenomenon of 'casual' only exists in WoW. It doesn't exist in any other walk of life you could care to mention, for example at work or a hobby or sporting activity etc. People who are more skillful, more dedicated and more willing to invest time and effort will reap bigger rewards, its that simple.
People who have achieved any sort of success in life will have chosen the difficult option and made sacrifices. Only in WoW do the casuals drive Ferraris!
unigolyn Feb 19th 2009 1:46PM
"People who have achieved any sort of success in life will have chosen the difficult option and made sacrifices. Only in WoW do the casuals drive Ferraris!"
Paris Hilton owns several Ferraris, I'm sure.
Terry Feb 20th 2009 4:55PM
I'm kind of confused about something. Everyone's complaining that the current raids are too easy when only 17% of the guilds have defeated Malygos 25? I agree that Naxx was kind of easy but I'd like to see anyone walking into a Malygos fight with "Quest blues and greens" and not wiping immediately. As far as on topic, i'm glad they added hard modes. Some nights i'm down from the deepest and hardest encounters with all the fixings and some nights I just want to hit the loot pinata and move on to other encounters.