Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
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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 9 of 9)
thebitterfig Jan 12th 2010 1:20PM
ONE elder? ONE ascent? Yeah, that's lame. They should have made it two. Instead of bosses using abilities at every 25% health, just make it 33% hp, and that will do it. it will get easier, quicker, but not as insanely trivial as only using the abilities once...
I'd have been in favor of that 3 use to 2 use nerf... but a 3 use to 1 use nerf? insane.
Sny Feb 4th 2010 2:48AM
I think a gating system for heroics would help keep them relevant, the optional bosses have always been kind of a joke in terms of difficulty and implementation, (Eckanyone?). This is already being present in a raid setting and helps to keep people from steamrolling through content and farming it a week later.
I wouldn't mind less dungeons if every tier or so a new boss was introduced with an appropriate difficulty and loot table.
Thearchermage Jan 12th 2010 2:47PM
This has been mentioned before in other threads, but maintains a special relevance when it comes to Old Kingdom - tanks are becoming huge jerks.
Often, my lfg groups cycle through four or five tanks before we find one who'll stay (I heal). The ones who do stay stand a good chance of being schmucks - i.e. skipping bosses.
Now, if the whole group is all for skipping the optional bosses in old kingdom, hey - that's fine. But when all three dps and the healer beg, plead, and grovel at the feet of the tank for heaven's sake to stop pulling and go the other way, and he just plays the jock and keeps merrily trucking his way onward, there's a problem.
I, as the healer, will oftentimes offer to stop healing the tank and let him just die, but the dps are so afraid of him they'll never go along with the planned reprimand. "He'll just leave and go find another group - heal him, or we'll kick you!" No matter how disappointed a group is with their tank, they are held in such cowed terror that they won't ever go against his jerkface demands. They don't understand that yes, he may just drop, and find another group of pussy dungeoneers who'll let him do whatever he wants, but not to make sure he understands that his exclusivity does not make him a god would be wildly irresponsible.
You sometimes need to lose a battle to win the war.
We need a system that labels conceited tanks (and players in general) as such that they might live with their shame and understand their role as one of many.
"Pwntank the Self-Important Asshat" might have trouble finding groups, and rethink his former asshattery. Although, some of the players I've met recently through LFG might wear such a title proudly.
Claire Jan 12th 2010 3:20PM
*slowclap* Way to make the very minor issue of optional bosses into an epic struggle for self-respect.
kubien Jan 12th 2010 3:31PM
I'm loving the change to Old Kingdom. Mostly, the Elder change. Since I get Old Kingdom 90% of the time as my first dungeon on almost all my characters. I am so tired of that dungeon :(.
Nexus and CoS changes are nice too.
It would be nice to have the Tribunal event in Halls of Stone shortened. Maybe even some speed buff or something like that for running from the Tribunal to the last boss.
Halls of Lightning it would be nice to have less trash after... forget the name, the boss that disburses into sparks. You can avoid some of it, but I've also run into avoiding trash and ending up with bad timing and getting 4 of the big guys, plus a big guy and 2 little guy groups at the same time.
Fizzlle Jan 12th 2010 4:50PM
I think the worst offender now in terms of groups falling apart after people drop is HoR. The offenders almost always seem to be tanks but heals drop often also. So many times these roles load in, scan the gear of the party and then drop (as evident thanks to Target of Targeting them). I don't think they mind because as a healer or tank you have insta-queues so they can requeue as soon as the debuff expires. This wouldn't be so bad but I have (often) waited around for 10 minutes waiting for a dropped tank or healer to be replaced. Most often the group drops one by one until I am left back where I got pulled in to group, only to requeue again. This is especially frusterating when queue times are around 15-20 mins and the group falls apart three times in a row (happened two different days now).
Hammer Jan 12th 2010 5:02PM
@Kubien
Your the casual QQ that is killing/has killed the game. Go play pacman or something if you thought Old Kingdom was too hard.
Clydtsdk-Rivendare Jan 12th 2010 7:33PM
@Hammer
You're the hardcore QQ that is killing/has killed the game. Go do hardmodes if you thought Old Kingdom was too easy. If you can.
Brouck Jan 12th 2010 7:33PM
I don't ever remember being "that guy", you know him, the one that complains that Blizzard is making things too easy, griping about non-skilled players getting T9 and not being "hard core". That being said, I cannot really justify two of three of these nerfs. Sure, I am all about skipping the Lore in CoS, as long as you have done it before. But seriously, why reduce the number of rifts Anomalus opens, or nerf the number of times Jedoga rises into the air, only for convenience sake? I fell it takes away from the flavor of those instances and is a nerf only for the sake of nerfing. A well skilled group will shave at maximum two minutes from their run time, for the sake of what?
Hammer Jan 12th 2010 10:12PM
So the casual baddies who don't understand game mechanics and only know tank and spank won't die?