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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsUlduar nerfed, more nerfs on the way
by Eliah Hecht 
Apr 29th 2009 at 9:00AM
Blizzard posted a list of hotfixes to Ulduar last night in their ongoing hotfix thread, almost all nerfs, and a notice that they were "making further difficult adjustments via hotfix" to Ignis, Razorscale, XT-002 Deconstructor, The Assembly of Iron, Kologarn, and Auriya, with changes to other encounters "highly likely" to occur once they're done with these. In this case I read "making adjustments via hotfix" as "giving them a good whack with the nerf stick."
The specific changes that they just announced for Ulduar:
- The Ignis the Furnace Master encounter has received the following changes: The interrupt effect and duration of the damage from Flame Jets has been reduced, the damage from the Slag pot has been reduced, the number of Heat stacks needed to transform an Iron Construct into a Molten state has been reduced, the base melee damage done by Ignis has been reduced, and the damage bonus Ignis receives from Strength of the Creator has been slightly increased.
- The Assault Bots on the Mimiron encounter will now attack faster; in turn, they will do less damage per hit.
- The XT-002 Deconstructor encounter has received the following changes: The duration of Tympanic Trantrum has been reduced, the timer for XT-002 to hit berserk has been increased, the damage of Light Bomb has been reduced, the effect radius of Light Bomb has been reduced, and the health of XM-024 Pummeler has been reduced.
- Pure Saronite mining nodes have temporarily been disable in Ulduar and will return in the future.
Do you guys think these nerfs are merited? I've seen a lot of worry tonight about Ulduar becoming another Naxx, but in my opinion, it's got a long ways to go before that happens.
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 10)
Tim B Apr 30th 2009 3:16AM
They may as well have done that, the tempest minions now have so little health it's hard to fail to down them in time. Just another example of the challenge being taken out of the game.
Andrew Apr 29th 2009 9:29AM
I guess I don't understand people's mindset. When I go into a raid boss encounter, and the group I'm in struggles and wipes a few times, I don't automatically think the fight is too hard and that it needs nerfed. To me, it just tells me we (my group) are not doing something right, and that we need to work on our method and technique. Obviously the fight can be done as is, since many others have cleared it already. So why change it? It just makes it even more special when you do finally down it.
Brian Apr 29th 2009 4:46PM
The problem is that you, and the vast majority of people posting replies to this article, don't understand where you fit in the overall WoW population. The number of people here who think putting in 3 hours a night, ever night, raiding is the definition of "casual" represents the disconnect between hardcore players and the vast majority of the WoW population.
You look at your particular group, and think "if I can do it, EVERYONE should be able to do it"...missing the fact that chances are good that you have a lot more skill, and a lot better gear, than 90% of the WoW players out there. Blizzard, on the other hand, has a ton of data available to them that probably shows that guilds with decent gear are still wiping over and over on some bosses. It's not a matter of persistence, it's that the fight is just too hard for them.
Now maybe that's OK, but again, try to keep in mind what percentage of the WoW population the people in these comments represent...not just the percentage they THINK they represent.
Andrew Apr 29th 2009 5:35PM
I understand what you are saying, but I am hardly a hardcore raider. I've only been playing WoW since late October, and only just started raiding Naxx and OS within the last month. My gear is decent enough, (http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Ravencrest&n=Felegund) but I've had to plunk down some serious gold to get a lot of it simply because my guild isn't a raiding guild and so I was having a hard time finding a good group to run with. I fit in well with my guild though. I like the game as a whole, and I don't desire to be in raids for hours on end night after night. As if right now, I usually raid two or three nights a week for a few hours. Since I'm newer, I'm still learning. I am very much a casual player. It will be fun to raid Ulduar, and if given the chance to go with a good group, I would probably go now in hopes of getting a better weapon. lol
My point was though, people seem to be spoiled in this game. Like others have said, if they aren't clearing something hours, they think there is something wrong. I think people take this game waaaay to seriously, and personally. It is simply that, a game. However, it is a game in which real life principles like patience, hardwork, and discipline still apply. If you work hard enough, and long enough, you will eventually achieve what you are trying to achieve. Case in point: the group I am running with just downed Grobbulus last night. A lot of people may laugh at that, but we are just getting to that point in WoW experience. We've wiped on Grobb a good bit, coming close several times, but always coming up short in the end. We've worked on him for about a week or two, maybe three. Keep in mind, we raid two or three nights a week, and we usually clear one or two wings before calling it quits for the evening. Last night however, we went in and it was like something was different. We still wiped once, but it was very close. The second time, we downed it easily, and we were all pretty excited because of how hard we worked to get to that point.
So that's where I'm coming from.
sephirah Apr 29th 2009 9:30AM
The thing I surely like about the Ulduar nerfs is the hardcores QQs...
Julie Apr 29th 2009 9:59AM
Yay! :)
Ok, I think some people are really confused. So I'll try to explain.
Pre-wrath: Blizzard was putting a lot of time into developing content, that only a small fraction of the population was seeing. ie. Black Temple, Sunwell, etc. I don't know how much time Blizzard spent designing Sunwell in particular, but I can tell you 95%+ of the playerbase never saw it. When designing wrath, Blizzard decided this wasn't a smart way to design raid encounters. They don't want just 2%, or 10% of the population to raid. They want whoever wants to raid to be able to get in there. Ideally what this should mean, is that all content will be accessible (ie. doable) as long as you meet the minimum gear requirements. There should be no such thing like Naxx is for everybody; and then Ulduar is for half of everybody; and then Icecrown is only for the top 1% again :/ If you finish naxx, those same players should ALL be able to move into Ulduar and finish that. It shouldn't require them to get into a more "serious" group. If it does, then pretty soon Blizzard will be back to the point of designing raids for only small percent of the population.
That said normal mode = casual. Hard mode = hardcore. If you think Ulduar is too easy, you should NOT be doing it on normal mode. Normal is not meant for you. You have a whole tier better loot waiting in hard mode; and the more difficult challenges. So if you claim it's "too easy", and you're still doing it on normal, then get out of town :p This is actually the brilliance of hard modes; that Blizzard can balance the two modes seperately, one for casuals and one for non-casuals. Now if you're just complaining that more people will get to see the content in normal mode than you would like... duh. Blizzard wants them to see the content.
Viper007Bond Apr 29th 2009 9:31AM
The enrage timer on XT-002 is a bit rediculous. It's at least 3 minutes longer than it was I think. We screwed up, had him heal for 15%, lost half of the 25 raid, and still managed to kill him with no problem.
andyjay220 Apr 29th 2009 9:32AM
I am going to yell at both sides (FYI, I am a hardcore raider).
To those supporting nerfs: Stop sucking and whining about raiding being hard because some of us want some challenge and sense of accomplishment still.
To those whining about those supporting nerfs: OMG now more ppl can raid and get uber gear and you'll have no other way to show everyone how awesome you are in your digital game! Get over it, raiding is more accessible and you get hard modes to crack your head on. I'll be impressed when you clear out all the hard modes and are farming it like Naxx was in 2 weeks.
Bottom line: no one will win this argument. This is what WoW is, do it or quit (that goes to both sides).
Karilyn Apr 29th 2009 10:01AM
Buff hard modes.
Nerf easy modes.
Everyone wins!
cedric.roland Apr 29th 2009 10:13AM
Very nicely said, in fact.
Having led ~6 hours of Ulduar 10 so far, spent mainly getting our asses handed to us in every imaginable way, I had thoroughly enjoyed the wipefest, but I know many of my raiders are getting angry at having downed no bosses (no, FL is NOT a boss. He's just the doorbell you need to knock to enter).
I think it's important to see both sides of the coin: I'm a bit miffed that things might be too easy - I remember a Grobullus kill where a Hunter assploded in the middle of the raid, telling me "Who cares? We won." I don't want that in my Ulduar. Never. Ever.
OTOH, I'm happy thinking about our Boomkin who worked an hour a day learning his rotations, refining spec and glyphs - she'll have a better chance at seeing her efforts being rewarded.
Somebody Apr 29th 2009 9:35AM
Mimiron is still a pain in the tush, all we can say is phase 1-3 is on farm :) . That phase 4 though yuck.
Rasmus Bech Apr 29th 2009 9:37AM
Oh god...Will someone put an end to this endless nerfing? It appears that what blizzard meant by saying that you should bring the player and not the class, was that you could bring the village idiot if you like him, as long as his head is able to hit a keyboard. Granted i play in a hardcore guild and i may have found ulduar easier than other players, but even the most casual guilds on my server are progressing nice and easy. But it seems blizzards intent was that every single player in the game should be able to faceroll his way through ulduar in 3 weeks.
Karilyn Apr 29th 2009 10:05AM
"blizzards intent is that every single player in the game should be able to faceroll his way through ulduar ON EASY MODE in 3 weeks."
Fix't.
And yes, that is Blizzard's intent.
Now stop QQing, and go have fun with /Hard Modes/ and Algalon. Get back to me if they are too easy for you.
Rich Apr 29th 2009 9:39AM
Wow
Love the whiners with "why not just hand loot out" based on those comments. You have no clue what is really going on. Reduced could be 1%or 50%, no one knows yet. Chances are these are minor tweaks and will not be noticeable had they not said anything.
The Claw Apr 29th 2009 9:42PM
Sorry, my guild experienced these changes last night, and they are NOT minor changes. The front half of Ulduar-25 has been _severely_ nerfed.
MechChef Apr 29th 2009 11:44AM
"Pure Saronite mining nodes have temporarily been disable in Ulduar and will return in the future."
WTF!?! OMG!!1! Casuals must have complained about raiders making too much money on ore! /wink
moremead Apr 29th 2009 9:41AM
Nerfs to Ulduar 25 man bosses that are already being pugged. Its just another slap in the face to guilds that only just managed to stay interested when the only instance available was pugrammas.
Im no elitist but seriously blizz, do you want players to finish the game in 3 weeks, get bored and play another MMO - or have players stay with you long term and have a true sense of achievement when they do something hard.
I remember when in TBC the feeling of awe when we got to see Vashj and Kealthas for the first time, it felt like all that hard work had finally paid off just to actually see these bosses let alone fight them. At this rate in 3 months time youtube will be full of videos showing hunters soloing the first 4 Ulduar bosses.
Brian Apr 29th 2009 4:47PM
You ARE an elitist, that's the point. You think WoW raids should be balanced around providing a challenge for the top few percent of players, which you are conveniently part of, while totally excluding everyone else. You might as well be a rich guy at an art show saying "since when did they start letting THOSE people in?".
The really stupid part of this is that Blizzard came up with an excellent way to solve this problem in a way that should work out well for everyone. If you want an extra hard challenge, do the damn hard modes! You get extra loot that the peasants won't have, plus achievements telling everyone how awesome you are, PLUS enough of a challenge to keep you interested for a long time. All the while a lot of other people get to see the content at all.
Yet for some reason everyone is ignoring hard mode in these discussions. It might be different if the hardcore folks had done the hard modes already and didn't have any challenges left, but here's the thing...most of them haven't...like, at all. Complaining that the content is too easy before you've done the content doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
Firespirit Apr 29th 2009 9:41AM
The change to XT-002 Deconstructor's Tantrum is not a nerf. That is a major major major buff.. Think about it. 120% of damage over 10 seconds. Now you have 120% of damage over, what, 7-8 seconds? Holey moley I am glad I am not a healer.
Ihartpie Apr 29th 2009 11:22AM
I don't think it will still be 120% damage. It's a DOT, so I'm sure cutting the duration will also cut the damage of the DOT. Just a guess though.