Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
Mystery of the Unborn Val'kyr
The latest patch 5.3 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsUpcoming Adjustments announced for Old Kingdom, Nexus, Culling of Stratholme
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Jan 12th 2010 at 1:30AM
Old Kingdom will receive the most changes. Elder Nadox will spawn only one Ahn'Kahar Guardian and Jedoga Shadowseeker will ascend only once in their respective encounters. In addition, some static trash groups will be removed, while some roaming groups will have their paths altered. He stressed that these changes are not meant to make the dungeon easier, but rather to make it a slightly quicker run, more in line with other heroics. He also acknowledged that the dungeon finder made the daily quest associated with the dungeon somewhat complicated to obtain and turn in, and while the dev team would like to fix it, they still haven't found a satisfactory solution.
Later in the thread, he announced a similar change to Nexus, namely that Anomalus will use his Create Rift ability much less often. Finally, he revealed that a "quick start" option for the Culling of Stratholme is in the works, but will likely not be ready for the next minor patch due to the complicated scripting required.
All of these changes, I am sure, will cause great joy among the badge running crowd. I admit I never disliked the lore of the Culling of Stratholme instance, but after the first 10 times, you know, it loses some of the lustre. This also makes me wonder which dungeon is next. It seems like Halls of Stone is really the only dungeon left that still has a problem with people dropping group. I'm guessing we might see a reduction of the time to victory on the Tribunal of Ages event, and possibly a pruning of the trash before Krystallus and Maiden of Grief to give more incentive to grab them.
Regardless, there's no word on when these changes will be implemented, but all the same, they should be welcome. Stay tuned for any more news on this stealthily announced "minor patch" as we hear it.
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, News items, Instances, Bosses
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 9)
uncaringbear Jan 12th 2010 4:31AM
Ok, I must be nuts because I don't find any of the dungeons mentioned in the post and comments to be particularly difficult or irritating. Would people just prefer having the emblems given to them instantly when they zone into the dungeon?
I miss the days of running dungeons when it wasn't about instant gratification:
- people being excited about getting a gear upgrade from a heroic
- the camaraderie of running a dungeon with your guildies or a rare group of fun puggers
- making long term friends with someone you met in a pug
I know most of us are all past that now, but I feel sorry for the new people in the game who will only experience the current lifeless and grindy dungeons.
deweymaverick Jan 12th 2010 7:11AM
I agree with you, but with only one exception - the speech at the start of CoS.
I'm sorry, but after a year of Timear Forsees... and the random LFG tool, I've heard the speech more than enough.
Its long, its a pain, and I've yet to find a group that didn't AFK for the 5-7 minutes it takes.
It should 100% be like ToC and give you an option to skip if everyone's seen it at least once.
uncaringbear Jan 12th 2010 8:08AM
Ok, the long speeches at h CoS can drag on, but it's really only a few minutes long. I can easily find ways to amuse myself while the NPC's are busy talking, including:
- chitchat with the people I'm pugging with ("OMG, people talk!")
- kill the rats scurrying around
- jump on top of the wagon and use my Shadow Jade Focusing Lens on people
- RP with Arthas
- show off my collection of pets
- /silly
And the list goes on. Come on, a few minutes is NOT a life time!
sprout_daddy Jan 12th 2010 9:58AM
"chitchat with the people I'm pugging with ("OMG, people talk!")"
Do you find success with this? Every LFG PUG I get into is so focused on efficiency that no one ever talks - EVER! I guess I could be the conversation starter, and I try by just saying "hello" (another thing that seems to have gone by the wayside in the quest for badge gathering efficiency), but ever that rarely generates a response.
I love the LFG tool, but I lament the loss of some level of communication - it just doesn't seem like a lot of people are interested in being part of a group now - they're independent contractors, farming their badges.
zed Jan 12th 2010 11:13AM
This is why I always group up with at least one person I know before hitting the dungeons. The buddy system does wonders.
And I find that if three or four friends are having fun in an instance, those silent types often warm up and turn into actual people rather than killbots.
Zanathos Jan 12th 2010 12:46PM
The new people in the game can look forward to experiencing the next expansion's heroics in a level appropriate way, and be happy they didn't start playing at the end of the BC cycle when gearing up and farming badges was more annoying. Endgame 5 mans have a very limited shelf life. Old Strat/Scholo/Dire Maul immediately stopped being run as soon as BC came out. Outland 70 instances are heroics were likewise irrelevant when Wrath hit. Wrath heroics are very near the end of their lifespan, and on life support now. That's just the nature of content designed for level capped characters. It will cease to matter to the game. If it weren't for the incentives to get geared up players in heroics now, new players wouldn't be able to run them at all. Before they started making conquests drop in heroics it was nearly impossible to find groups, and it's only gotten easier since then.
Hyacinthe Jan 12th 2010 4:35AM
I'd like to see them adjust the Anub'arak encounter so that he submerges less frequently. It's just a way to draw out a fight that we already know we're going to win, at this point.
Evernius Jan 12th 2010 4:42AM
I can't remember the last time I lost any of the boss fights in heroics, should I ask them to just give me the badges then?
Also my mining ability never fails, can I just have lots of titanium please?
Rubella Jan 12th 2010 6:11AM
I wish that were true. I just finished dropped a H-VH run after wiping three times on Xevozz. At start everyone looks geared and has pleasantly high gear-score ratings.
First wipe no one is talking (since it's the grim wave of death phase in heroic dynamics.
Second wipe the healer asks tank to kite but tank just turns in a circle right in front of the spawn door. Lose first dps.
After rez, everyone is asking wtf is going in and why the tank refuses to kite this boss. He tells us he never did it before and asks what is kiting. Healer patiently explains what needs to happen and what mechanics to watch out for. Tank then proceeds to stand on the summoned orbs, thinking they were the safe zones.
No badges, just repairs. It's still possible to wipe on a heroic boss if you don't know the mechanics and refuse to adapt.
Bossy Jan 12th 2010 4:39AM
So ..... guys....
Where is the mmoRPG part in this madness for badge racing ?
Blizzard is calculating now in minutes and seconds to gain or loose for a badge grab.
HOW are they ever going to bring back people to enjoy the ride in open world questing in CATA again ?
There is always two sides to something and I certainly don't want to bring back the old days where you had no chance to find a group to do levelin dungeons ..., but WOW is not holding it together in the end game.
I think the cross server LFG mechanism should work for the leveling part of the game (level 1 to 79), because there people really lacked group play.
The system of the daily heroic on server worked perfectly and you still had a world feeling.
Now WOW in its end game became a world KILLING instance crawler.
That's just a lazy way of instanced gameplay,.... EVERYONE will be bored off in a few weeks/months time.
And how in the world are they EVER going to bring back the people to the WORLD of Warcraft in that beautiful seamless world setting ???
I want to have an adventure - even in its end game - not playing in a racing game with mindless timed dungeon runs.
So for leveling: cross server LFG tool : GREAT, best invention ever...
For end game random dungeon cross servers : FAIL: you simply kill the mmorpg in a very short time.
The same for leveling btw: boosting and racing to meet end game... for what .... redoing the same 10 dungeons with yet another alt?
The unlimited badge is the second worst implementation since rated Arena play.
Certainly for the next year to come.
Aggrajag Jan 12th 2010 5:04AM
I think you hit the nail on the head with the "unlimited badges is bad."
I was never a power player and I always like to enjoy the game, explore and do many many quests. I got caught up in the welfare loot race and now I'm burnt out and disheartened by it.
We all need to remember that the journey is the game.
Darky Jan 12th 2010 10:15AM
my main bores me now, i got the battered hilt replaced my ilvl 200 cloak with the frost version and downed a boss in ICC 10 (our guild is too badly geared to get much further). Now all this mindless instancing is boring me so now i play my many low level alts (64 disc/shadow priest, 32 ret pally, 30 rogue, 24 mage, 16 druid, 13 warrior) and do the frost daily if i can be bothered. i really miss leveling my death knight... wtb more than one DK per realm.
threesixteen Jan 12th 2010 11:02AM
i agree with this too. Even tho it was a pain in the arse to fly to UK, you still felt like you were travelling across the world. Yes, it took a long time to find pugs, but many of my friends that i've made in game came from PuGs wherein we discovered maturity and a likeminded calm in each other and then went on to become guildmates and reliable realm companions. it's fun teaching someone how to kite; it's fun learning together.
the LFG is great, no doubt. but there is certainly an ennui now. I also hate to say it, but i am finding i actually don't like the fact that everyone is wearing the same Tier gear. What's the difference between us? We all race to be 'eligible' for ICC and that's it.
I still love playing this game; but some of the fun stuff (ony attunement, fishing achievements etc) seem to have passed into the past.
The other thing is, i think many of us are findign that our social network is shrinking in a way. our realms are mature, guilds are more or less set. you don't see the same churn and turnover so if you're locked into a small guild you're sort of stuck there. not much chance to meet and recruit. unless you spam trade, but who wants to join those kinds of guilds? well, maybe they're not all bad, but for me i prefer getting to know someone and having it evolve naturally, rather than the mercenary approach.
i'm rambling. allow us the option to cut the talk; but don't remove it. lore is key to this game. as is the concept of achievement. you have to be really good, really dedicated, and well-connected to be able to brighten all the corners wow offers.
Pinhocas Jan 12th 2010 5:22AM
Thank you all you cry baby's out there. lol
This nerfs suck big time. Blizzard is making things just to plain easy, there is no fun/Challenge anymore
Valt Jan 12th 2010 8:32AM
Fun? Challenge? I do not see your point about these changes. Or did you just wanna QQ about the QQ that almost didnt exists about anything other than lore at CoT?
Are these things FUN and CHALLENGING to you by todays "gear standards":
Listening 8 minute talk at start of instance for 100th time: Not fun, not challenge.
"less geared" people wiping or dying on trash that got pulled because other trash pulled other trash and there was other trash that got bodypulled that made massive damage in same spot/person: Not fun or really challenge either, just annoying. And annoying does not equal challenge.
Anomulus/Elder nadox going immune every 5th second because dps is high: Not fun, not challenge.
4-5 minute "boss event" where mobs die in 3-4 seconds: Not fun or challenging.
Pinhocas Jan 12th 2010 9:43AM
@Valt
Some changes i agree, like being able to skip the intro in CoS and ToC.
You are seeing things, looking only at your own belly. You probably like most of us are way overgeared for the HC and don't fell like a challenge doing HC now a days.
But for those who reach level 80 now for the first time and start doing HC to gear up, will they have the same felling of satisfaction you probably had doing the same dungeon? probably not.... probably they will catch in the LFG a overgeared tank and skip all boss's, or maybe they will find a not so good group and must use their skill's and brain to overcome the mobs...... But i guess nowadays asking for brain, patience and skill is to much ....
I loved the hard times i had to gear up my Paladin Tank, was fulfilling :)
Byff Jan 12th 2010 10:17PM
I don't see that many ppl drop group on HoS, but we definitely skip straight to "the event" most of the time. No one wants to bother with the trash and the silly @ss bug that allows you to be "stoned" for 30 seconds even if Krystallus is dead. Plenty still drop in occ though, the new mount is simply not enough incentive to keep ppl from going "Oh Gawd! Not again!" and blowing your debuff timer. While I'm not wild about OK, it's still only a two boss instance if you're just running for the frost badge daily.
Steve Tanner Jan 12th 2010 5:31AM
Quick, heroics are stupid easy, and already take little time or effort to complete, make them easier!
zweitblom Jan 12th 2010 7:43AM
Blizzard adjusts things according to player wishes, quick whine more!
nekorion Jan 12th 2010 5:43AM
I keep forgetting how greatly we outgear encounters. People still hide behind pillars in UK due to habit or something.
Some things never change.