Icecrown raid difficulty to be set on a per-boss basis
by Adam Holisky 
Nov 4th 2009 at 1:25PM
Now in Icecrown Citadel, Blizzard has appeared to reach a final solution of sorts -- potentially even going back and changing the way hard modes in Trial of the Crusader are triggered. Difficulty (hard mode on/hard mode off) of the upcoming Icecrown Citadel raid in patch 3.3 will be set on a per-boss basis.
The full statement after the break.
From Bornakk today:
In the upcoming patch we are adding a new feature to the Icecrown raid instance that allows the raid leader to change the instance's difficulty setting on a boss per boss basis. The way the raid leader chooses to switch is the same as now, by right-clicking on the character portrait. The difficulty settings can be changed from inside Icecrown Citadel, with some restrictions. For example, you cannot change the difficulty in combat or during certain events specified by our design team. To enable the ability to change the raid difficulty to heroic, you must first defeat the Lich King on normal mode, as doing so unlocks the heroic version of this raid instance. There is no heroic version of trash; meaning changing the difficulty will only affect boss difficulty.
We chose this particular functionality because we didn't want to use the Trial of the Crusader method, and have four versions on a raid of this size. We felt the Ulduar method of having to know a certain trick to do on the boss was difficult to communicate and tied too heavily to achievements. We might eventually convert Trial of the Crusader over to this new system but Ulduar and Naxxramas will likely never change.
Patch 3.3 is the last major patch of Wrath of the Lich King. With the new Icecrown Citadel 5-man dungeons and 10/25-man raid arriving soon, patch 3.3 will deal the final blow to the Arthas. WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.3 will keep you updated with all the latest patch news.Filed under: Patches, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Chris Anthony Nov 4th 2009 1:30PM
This seems like the most reasonable way to do things. I approve.
Eternauta Nov 4th 2009 1:42PM
I aprove too.
GeofforySWC Nov 4th 2009 11:40PM
Agreed
Charlie Nov 4th 2009 1:34PM
Old News? I swore this was talked about like 3-4 weeks ago.
Cadros Nov 5th 2009 7:11AM
Ol I thought the same thing when I read the title: Bornak- "bump".
After reading the statement I understand though lol
Sumanai Nov 4th 2009 1:40PM
few weeks ago post: "probably, working on details"
today's post: "fo' sho'" aka "confirmed"
Adam Holisky Nov 4th 2009 1:46PM
^^ This.
Wild Colors Nov 4th 2009 1:43PM
I don't get it. Ulduar already did this (and with cool, built in story aspects seemlessly integrated into the game world, none of this "hold on, Syndragosa, I just need to toggle an interface option to make you more difficult").
I feel like Ulduar has the ultimate mix of immersion and flexibility in this regard, and I think the Ice Crown mechanism is a step back.
iansbucket Nov 4th 2009 1:46PM
this
Nigel Nov 4th 2009 1:50PM
I've been to a few partial guild runs, where I was not part of the guild, where people insisted on destroying all four towers after talking to Brann because they didn't want to do the hard modes. I think the toggle mechanism is easier to understand.
Ringo Flinthammer Nov 4th 2009 2:01PM
They should have it more clearly communicated, but the Ulduar method is still superior to a drop-down menu.
A number of the Ulduar hard modes functioned as gear checks just to activate them -- if you can't activate Thorim hardmode, you don't have a chance of beating it. And yeah, having Sif there definitely integrates with the Storm Peaks story in a way that "OK, I clicked hardmode" would not.
Likewise, the more granular hard modes on Sarth, Freya, the Iron Council and Yogg-Saron are something I really enjoyed, where you can work your way up to the big rewards. A binary system is a huge step back.
Ringo Flinthammer Nov 4th 2009 2:05PM
Oh, and Flame Leviathan is granular, too. I think that's all of them ...
Jorges Nov 4th 2009 5:07PM
I agree. But we have to remember that Ulduar was designed that way. The activation of hard modes has some kind of lore/reason to it.
We don't know yet how are designed the final version of the ICC boss encounters. If they are somewhat near to the TOC ones (straightforward story, just kill the boss) then the new system applies perfectly, (maybe this is why they would change TOC, but not Naxx or Ulduar).
Evissadia Nov 4th 2009 1:52PM
I like that they are adding this feature. I just wonder if you can toggle it on after you have defeated the boss? F'instance, say you kill a particular boss and decide that you want to attempt the hardmode version. In ToC, you have that ability since the hardmodes are on a different reset.
will it be the same in Icecrown? Or once the boss is dead, you have lost the ability to do the HM for that particular week?
Thomas Prescott Nov 4th 2009 1:58PM
I assume one boss = one kill (for each raid size). No killing the normal version, then having it respawn and doing it on heroic, and vice versa. Pretty sure by activating heroic you'll get the normal mode loot + hard mode loot.
Ekko Nov 4th 2009 2:26PM
Would definitely like to get some clarity on this one as this would put a wrinkle in how my guild will do ICC. I sort of like the fact that we have multiple Raid IDs in TOC and hope it continues to be similar to this (i.e. if you toggle to hard mode you still have the option to go back and do it normal mode).
I'm part of a large (ish) guild and while 25 mans are our priority, we still spend 1 night of the week breaking up in to three or four 10 mans and blowing through the 10 man normal content. I'm also part of a 10 man "Hard" mode group that raids outside of normal raid times. We've recently just got Tribute to Insanity in 10 man, but we break up this group and disperse ourselves into the the normal 10 mans to make sure those runs are fast and everyone is getting gear upgrades and emblems. Not to mention the fact that in TOC, 10 man Heroic, 10 man normal, 25 man normal (and some attempts at 25 man Heroic) equates to over 45+ Triumph badges weekly (that excludes H dailies, Ony and VOA).
We were hoping to continue this strat going into ICC as 10 mans are a much easier and quicker way to get upgrades vs 25 man limited drops (unless bosses will drop more pieces of loot in 25 mans in ICC than 10 mans?).
Regardless, I guess I'll have to withold my judgement until more information is made available.
Ekko Nov 4th 2009 3:05PM
To clarify my view on how Hard Modes/Normal Modes have worked so far:
OS/Ulduar: Triggered Hard Modes, I agree with other comments that to even get to some of these, it's a gear check, but the lack of flexibility in having both Heroic and Normal saved to the same Raid ID was pretty limiting. While the 10 man "Hard" mode group I'm in did work our asses to get our proto-drakes, it did sort of suck that we couldn't help out other guildies working through normal 10 man Ulduar since were saved already.
TOC: Pre-Raid Toggle, was very flexible as I stated above. Allows a group to focus on Hard Modes, knock those out and still be available to help out other guildies get through normal. Obviously, it'd be great if every guildie's gear level was equal all the way through an expansion. Unfortunately, that just isn't the case and you always tend to get that core group of hard core raiders who are there every raid and do hard modes, etc and gear up faster. TOC allows that group to still be available to help out in normal runs and make raids full guild runs versus having to pug a few open spots (NOT that there's anything wrong with that!!! lol). The fact that you only have so many attempts in Heroic mode is also a plus as the "Tribute" aspect of it is a nice touch IMO.
ICC: Per Boss Toggle, while details are still sketchy, if you aren't allowed to run both on separate Raid IDs, then we're back to Ulduar/OS inflexibility. Yes, it's more "clear" that this is hard mode, but honestly, I don't think it was that confusing before (i.e. 4 towers, No elders killed, Big Red SHINY Button pushed, etc). With this per Boss toggle, does this mean a raid can just bang their head repeatedly on a heroic mode encounter with no consequence? I liked the limited number attempts in Heroic TOC and hope it stays in ICC somehow.
Meh, maybe I'm just qq'ing too much, but I do hope there's some flexibility in ICC where you can run both normal and heroic in different Raid IDs.
Byronius Nov 5th 2009 4:51AM
I think an important thing to remember is time frame. We've been in ToC since August if I remember correctly, and we're already talking about ICC, which I'm guessing will drop some time sooner than we can anticipate. ICC has to last us all the way til Cataclysm, so I can see why they'd institute something to make getting loot slower and increase the time around the process of raiding the place.
ToC was just a "Get in, get out, get onto the Citadel" kind of raid, so it's incorrect (in my mind) to assume that ICC will have the same sort of instant gratification.
Jason Nov 4th 2009 1:59PM
Magister's Terrace anyone? Frankly, I like this model better than 4 different versions of the same raid or the "Woops! I didn't mean to kill the Heart of Deconstructor during the 3rd heart phase!" method.
Aarkan Nov 4th 2009 2:14PM
What does this have to do with Magister's Terrace? The finish normal to get heroic? That's how ToC works and that has nothing to do with this discussion.