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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsIs Wrath too easy, or are we just better?
by Michael Gray 
Mar 10th 2009 at 1:00PM
In the eternal question of whether Wrath of the Lich King is too easy, Our Girl Friday posits an answer that I've often wondered about myself. Is it really that WotLK is so gosh-darned easy, or could the issue actually be that maybe, just maybe, the players have gotten better?The wealth of knowledge about the nuts-and-bolts of theorycraft has never been more available. New players and old veterans alike have resources like WoW Insider, Wowhead, WoWwiki, or that juggernaut of theorycraft, Elitist Jerks. There are strategy videos, stategy manuals, and even a few strategy comics. The forums themselves have never been more informative, especially when you consider Ghostcrawler laying down wisdom all over the place. The information about how to play is out there for the taking.
And, c'mon. It's been about half a decade and near 12 million subscribers. Once you've done Nethekurse or Zereketh, you should know that you're not supposed to stand in pink, black, or red circles. Really, just don't stand in stuff. Is that really such a deep and meaningful skill that you have to relearn "Don't stand in stuff!" for Kel'Thuzad? So, if the Wrath raids aren't demanding a gear-based progression (meaning, it's all a gear check), then we should entertain the idea that we've gotten pretty good at not standing in stuff. That's certainly not the only raiding skill, but I'm using it as an indication that we're meeting the basic "skill" requirements.
Of course, even Ghostcrawler has acknowledged that Naxxramas is somewhat the new welfare epics. We know that Ulduar's going to be noticeably more "difficult." But until then, we could probably accept that the current accessibility of content owes some part to us getting better as players.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Tips, Tricks, Blizzard, Guides
Reader Comments (Page 7 of 7)
automator Mar 10th 2009 10:42PM
Easier. Definitely. I wasn't tanking in vanilla (I was addicted to my rogue at the time), but once TBC was out, I had my trusty warrior. First TBC run ... Ramparts. On the very first pull in the very first instance you have two mobs who hit hard and disarm, and if you don't pull back far enough or kill fast enough, you've got an even harder hitting mob who stuns. In subsequent pulls you've got a pat to deal with, groups with stealth seeing mobs, mix of melee, caster and ranged, a group of fearing mobs that you have to kill or they respawn, a pat who calls adds if you don't burn him, and the boss is patting through the last part of the first region.
Constrast that to my first Wrath run, Nexus. The pats are pretty much self contained, in that they aren't walking past stationary pulls. With a couple exceptions, the pulls are 3-mobs or fewer. Nothing incapcitates the tank.
Then there's the talent changes. I can now frontload AoE threat in a way that was impossible in TBC. Thunderclap + Shockwave and the dps can go to town, versus making sure I'm far enough away from the CC'd mob to TC, then constantly changing targets so to not lose aggro to a DoTted mob.
However, maybe it's also skill + gear. When I was starting tanking in TBC, I'd only tanked the vanilla instances up through Sunken Temple. But on entering Wrath, I'd had, what, a year and a half of raid main tanking experience? As for gear, entered TBC in old-world greens and blues, a TBC quest reward or two, and that's it. I think my HP was below 8k, and I was still specced for dps. Come Wrath, I was wearing all the tanking badge gear you could buy and epics from the old end game. Think I had somewhere around 25k hp.
Tonymcs Mar 11th 2009 12:14AM
The problem is in the definition of "easy". Is it easy for the so called hardcore players where clicking buttons 24 hours a day has given them an undeserved appreciation of their own "skills" or is it easy for the great majority of players - of course it's always going to be hard for those players down the other end of the Poisson distribution curve. If it's easy for you that doesn't mean it's easy for me.
Understanding an encounter, knowing how to play your class and spec and above all co-operation will ensure that an instance goes smoothly. Gear and Uber power may protect you from stupidity some of the time, but understanding and co-operation will always make the job easier. The wealth of resources and your own progression mean you start at a much higher preparation for the dungeon then the good old days.
I went through Naxx on the weekend with my Guild for the first time, using my Boomkin. This was my first exposure to Naxx and it was a welcome change from the BC days. I actually got to see more than one boss ;-) Most of the 10 person group was very familiar with the encounters, but as we use alts and respecs, not everyone has the same grasp of their spec and class - we wiped a few times but for the most part went though it smoothly and stopped after 2 tries at the 4 horsemen as time ran out. Was it easy? Not easy enough to get through it without wiping, but certainly easier than some of the BC ones. We tried Gruul more times than I can remember and most of that ended in bitter dissappointment.
Unfortunately some people equate hard with enjoyable. This may have been "easier" than BC and Vanilla WoW for the knowledgeable dungeon visitor, but it was a lot more enjoyable and picking up 2 nice drops was icing on the cake.
I'm looking forward to Uluar and like the vehicle use both in quests and the coming dungeons. It really puts people out of their comfort zone and forces people to think a little rather than spamming their OCD rotations.
Ilya Mar 11th 2009 12:15AM
WotLK is fairly easy, I have to admit. Then again, there is much to come, and Blizz may make it more challenging with time. For now, though, yeah, it's fairly simple.
uncaringbear Mar 11th 2009 1:00AM
Blizz: In retrospect, perhaps Kara was a bit hard when we first released TBC. Let's nerf it a bit.
Players: Scream! Kara is too easy!
Blizz: We'll show you - Sunwell is not going to be a cakewalk.
Players: Sunwell is too hard!
Blizz: Ok, ok - you'll love the new Naxx. Nice easy starter raid.
Players: Scream! Naxx is too easy! Welfare epics!
Blizz: Too easy, huh? Wait til you see Ulduar, you wimps.
Players: Agh! Ulduar is too hard!
etc. etc.
MindGem Mar 12th 2009 5:00AM
Just a comment on the
"Is Wrath too eazy or have the players got better"
Well, Wrath is a little easier than the old world content but the exp come in bottles in wrath.
Blizz found another way to screw us over by making Wrath supereasy so every nut in the world could enjoy it.
They want as many as possible to like the expansions so they aim for the really stupid and/or the really young and unexperienced players.
Us with a normal size brain or in my case, humongous brain feel a bit cheap shotted by this. We would like to have some obsticles to overcome aswell, I burn thru Wrath soo fast with every class.
I now have 6 lvl80s and the rest of them are lvl75+.
TOO EZ is TOO boring.
I remember the days when I had to try finish a quest in The Barrens like 20 times before I succeeded. Sure it was a pain but it was a good pain, it was a way to find a solution to a problem.
Wrath to me is just a gallery of art that you ride by quickly...
When you can solo a Suggested 3 man quest aimed for players 4 lvls over yours...you'll know it's too easy.
Bossy Mar 11th 2009 2:53AM
GUESS WHAT ????
Players like to play the "easy way'.
Which dungeon/Raid is done the most per player you think ?
VoA... My head on it if it isn't right.
That shows a LOT of bragging and lying on this page.
As the stats show: the most difficult and so HARD things in the game are only being done by far LESS than 10% of the raiders (not even talking of players).
If ONLY 1 % of ALL raiders can do the final Raid achievements of WotLK, that shows Blizzard "programmed" these achievements perfectly ...
http://www.wowprogress.com/pve/eu/
(like the Immortal or the prestigious "The Raider")
And please please do NOT come up with the crap "achievements don't interest me": ALL play for titles, mounts and prestige in an mmorpg... And if you don't do them, it is clearly a sign you are not up to those HARD Raid modes.
Because ... Raid achievements are all about coordination and skill not about time or 200 times downing a boss etc...
So I guess between 92% and 99 % of all you guys here are just lying about the Raid difficulty because of .... failure to meet the hard modes in the Raids....
Those who talk about "easy" in the leveling open world department are complete noobs of course. Because who EVER finds any mmorpg "hard" on progressing levels, unless you talk about very badly designed "time sinks".
As for PvP: the rating system in WotLK is FAR too hard: only a very few elite can go for the Gadiator title (0.5%) or PvP wepaons.
So please recognize the human nature: we LIKE to brag.
Verit Mar 11th 2009 9:10AM
I think there's several things that have made it easier. One being a lot of bigger guilds have gotten used to testing bosses and dungeons out on the PTR weeks or months in advance of doing it live. Re-releasing naxx after bunches of people had done it at 60 and even 70.
Also making gear easier to get will certainly make raids more accessible and easier. Its actually easier to gear a single toon than it ever was in months of running Karazhan. T4 epics didn't all drop in 10 man instances, unlike T7.
When 40 man instances were king - gearing up was a nightmarish endeavor that took months to do, now if you don't have at least 2-3 tier set pieces after a month you're probably just unlucky or lazy.
Sugar Mar 11th 2009 3:49PM
WotLK is a joke, while achievements make it harder, I would rather have the normal fight its self be much harder and then have an achievement to do on top, cause if your not doing an achievement all the content in WotLK is very very very easy, and honestly there are few achievements that are even hard, Immortal, 10/25 OS +3 Drakes, and maybe undying, really the other achievements are cake walks for a decent guild.
Give us a challenge Blizz. >_
shiju Mar 12th 2009 1:49PM
Oh come on "players are better" if you agree with this you must have started playing in BC.
The game is easy now! Too easy.
So i get my friend away from FF. He lvls a priest. Is geared to the teeth in 2 weeks and quits the game.
When i asked why he replied "that game is way too easy, no challenge".
Bah