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by Mathew McCurley 
Jun 29th 2010 at 9:00AM
Some very important information was released about Cataclysm yesterday on a G4 Xplay segment, discussing a Cataclysm storyline preview. However, some awesome pieces of news came out unrelated to the story at all. Check out the video to hear Tom Chilton, Cory Stockton and others discuss some pretty cool reveals. The two new important pieces of information were:
- Auto-quest complete technology: Players are able to complete quests in the field and immediately begin the next quest in the chain, without running back to the quest giver for the next step in the quest, allowing multiple quests to be completed without returning home. Think of it as Archmage Vargoth's staff on steroids.
- Raid boss quantity limits: Every raid in Cataclysm will have no more than six raid bosses per instance. Instances like Icecrown Citadel and Ulduar in boss number are gone, and the Serpentshrine Caverns/Tempest Keep model is back in. With a reduced number of raid bosses per raid, three full raids will be available at Cataclysm's launch.
Very interesting, especially the capped raid boss numbers. If you never played World of Warcraft during The Burning Crusade, you missed the proto-concept to these smaller, but more numerous, raids. Serpentshrine and Tempest Keep added up in boss numbers to a full 11-12 boss raid, but was separated into two encounters. Blizzard can now itemize across multiple raids instead of just one environment.
Filed under: News items, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 6 of 6)
scherbaddie Jun 30th 2010 1:19AM
Ever tried extending the raid id? What are your priorities? Sharding the same gear week after week or getting some variety/experience and 'finishing' the raid?
Also, you get out what you put in. People ('hardcore' or not) who spend two or three times as much time playing as you should finish content sooner.
It's not in Blizzard's interest to reduce the amount of time people have to put into the game - if you don't have enough time to do every boss every week now, you still won't in cata.
egburr Jun 29th 2010 12:04PM
"Auto-quest complete technology"
First thing I thought of? Suddenly, everyone (well, all Alliance) can easily get the Winterspring Frostsaber. Assuming it still exists then....
xanddra Jun 29th 2010 12:12PM
I think what people aren't realizing is, what's the #1 thing Ghostcrawler says when people ask about a battlegroup based looking for raid system? They say it's the time limitation, and how easy it'd be to get those same 10/25 people back together. With a capped limit of 6 bosses, it'd be easier to get it done in one night, and whatever you didn't get done, you just hop in to another group that's cleared to where you're at.
BuzzDX Jun 29th 2010 1:02PM
I'm not sure about the Auto-Complete quest thing. It will definitely make questing a lot less tedious, but we'll have to see how they implement it.
As for the boss limit, I kinda like it. Throw-back to BC style raids, which probably means more/harder/annoying trash mobs. :P
I think Blizzard is putting the limit in, so they can make more raids overall. I'm sure, depending on the number, that itemization and drops will be a pain for them. Blizzard had the Utgarde and Gun'Drak raids planned that never made it to the final cut. This idea should help prevent that from happening in Cata.
Milanor Jun 29th 2010 1:32PM
My reaction:
"Oh, that's kind of cool, wait raid boss limit what the FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU"
So much for epic raids. Sigh.
KPB Jun 29th 2010 1:43PM
I have to admit I like the idea of the auto-complete quests. Running back and forth just to turn in the quest and then get the follow up is boring and just a waste of time. I am just a little concerned with how it will be implemented. In a Sci-fi mmo it makes perfect sense for everyone to have a communicator/cell phone/something that makes this type of thing fit perfectly and make sense. Are was all going to get a goblin cellphone now? Is every quest giver suddenly going to be a powerful mage that appears in-front of you as soon as you complete a quest? How are they going to make this fit into the game world well with out becoming a joke?
I do like the limit of 6 bosses per raid. Being in a fairly casual guild that only has 1 main raid night for 25 man's makes/made progress hard in the longer raids. Do we lock out and work on the later bosses knowing that we need to learn the mechanics of the fight but pass up on the drops available to us from the earlier bosses or do we kill the bosses we know we can kill gathering more gear to make the later bosses easier? When locking out, we also seemed to have more trouble getting people to show. I can understand being less interested in the frustration and cost of dying multiple times trying a boss that you may not end up beating that week.
I could see larger raids like Naxx, ulduar and icc being broken into different "raids" while still having the same connected feel. Each wing in Naxx is a separate raid leading to unlocking the final 2 bosses. Uluar could be broken up in to 4 different raids the way the maps already seem to be broken up.
The Siege of Ulduar- Flame Leviathan, Ignis the Furnace Master, Razorscale, XT-002 Deconstructor
The Antechamber of Ulduar - Assembly of Iron, Kologarn, Auriaya
The Keepers of Ulduar- Freya, Hodir, Mimiron, Thorim
The Descent into Madness- General Vezax, Yogg-Saron
Icc could obviously be broken up by wings just like they were released. Heck you could even keep the same basic layout for everything just creating a zone line at the start of each of the 3 wings in upper spire.
I think this will also be important with 10/25 mans sharing lock outs. Being able to break a 25 man raid down into multiple 10 mans is nice but wouldn't help for our guild. Our 10 mans run on tuesday, wednesday, saturday and our 25 man night is friday. I don't see any way a single long raid would work with this but multiple smaller raids would. We just need to plan the 10 man's do raid x this week and the 25 man does raid y and we can switch that up as desired to give everyone chances at the different raids.
Drumming Madness Jun 29th 2010 1:54PM
What I think on this.
I loved the large scale raids and 11-13 bosses. Now before you yell at me for being the elitist jerk I just want to say that I'm not a super core raider.
The large scale felt more epic but if they can turn 5-6 bosses into a huge ulduar feeling raid im all for it!
What I wish they would do is for example take icc and say make it so after Saurfang it is a different lockout, but someone will have to of completed the saurfang for the whole raid to go on.
Wyntress Jun 29th 2010 1:58PM
It doesn't have to be some cellphone / mage thing. Lorewise, it could simply just getting all the information you need upfront. For example, explore this region (first quest), kill 10 of these guys (second quest), use the quest item on the braziers (third quest), and kill the chief (fourth quest).
Felwood comes to mind for me where this would improve our quality of life dramatically.
Azure Jun 29th 2010 2:09PM
What I question is the fact Blizzard said they wanted to focus more on the endgame in this expansion and that is why there would only be 5 levels added. I know hey are re-doing 1-60 but 3 Raids, with a maximum of 6 bosses feels very light on raiding to me. Each raid will have only 1 lock out. I dont see much endgame focus here.
What about people who like to raid and thats why they play?
They can and will be done with thier raids in one night.
Adamar Jun 30th 2010 8:47AM
Three raids with 6 bosses makes for a total of 18 bosses.
WotLK started with Naxxramas (15 bosses), Malygos, Sartharion and Archavon. So that is a total of… wait for it... yes... 18 bosses!!
The number of bosses is not decreasing; they are just spread out over different raids so it will be easier to kill them all for pugs and casual raid groups.
tkc Jun 29th 2010 2:10PM
I think this is a good idea. The mega raids like Naxx, Ulduar, and ICC are too big for my tastes. This is a personal preference of a casual raider. ToC was the right size for me in that it could be finished in one run.
I've always been a fan of the Scarlet Monastery setup with the various wings. You could do one wing real quick or you could do a bunch of them.
The raid lockout extensions are a good idea too. Especially for the bigger raids. If you only have time for one raid per week then the lockout extension works great.
Burnt Jun 29th 2010 2:22PM
I like this, and at the same time I don't. I understand the reason behind this and everything, but I think limiting every raid to 6 bosses isn't the right move. Take Kara for instance, it had I think somewhere between 8 and 10 bosses, but it could be cleared in one night. Not at first, but after awhile it only take 3 hours to go through all the bosses. I think making another Kara like instance would be awesome.
At the same time I can understand this, my time like everyone's is limited and I don't have the time to commit to raiding every night nor do I have the time to bash my way through 12 bosses in a week. Anyways, interesting update, hope it works out well.
MDrules Jun 29th 2010 3:01PM
Breaking up a raids into smaller raids is going to help a lot. First off for people that like huge epic raids, this will not effect you in a major way. My main toon I have in a raiding guild and we have set raiding schedules and pick up where we leave off. If we get lower spire plague wing and blood wing down first night, pretty much the same 25 people are going to pick up the next night and keep going. Lets say I have other commitment that night, and I can't go. When cata comes out I now have the option of PUGing the raid that guild already if I so choose to.
My alts will benefit also. I don't have the time to dedicate to them raiding regularly, so I raid them when I can fit it in. Depending on what I have going on in my life, I may not be able to raid at all on my alts or I might have a whole weekend. Extending raid lock outs is great for guild runs, when you know that a majority of the people are going to be showing up again. But I have no clue when I am going to run again, and I can guarantee it won't be with the same group.
Grovinofdarkhour Jun 29th 2010 3:01PM
We used to make it 5 or 6 deep into Ulduar on a Friday night, and everybody would agree that we'd carry over the raid ID the next week so we could get farther in. But then Tuesday would roll around and the weekly raid quest would be FL or Razorscale, and that plan went right out the window. One of the many frustrations that eventually let to me handing over our raid-leading reins to a guildie.
Anything that helps assure that crap never happens again, is a good thing.
Sarah Jun 29th 2010 3:05PM
As much as I love the sprawling gigantic dungeon model, I understand why they're going out. Hopefully the 6 boss dungeons will find a way to be just as epic.
James Jun 29th 2010 3:28PM
I consider myself imbetween casual and hardcore, and I estatic about this! 6 bosses per raid is plenty IMO, so long as they dont do it TOC style. Even the 'hardcore' raiders get burnout. I remember in 3.0 pushing for naxx full clears and then going straight into OS3D. Talk about a long raiding night. Anything that makes it so I can hang out IRL, or at the very least, sleep a bit healthier, is A-OK in my book.
Tim Jun 29th 2010 8:26PM
Auto quest complete? Prayers answered! Sweet idea.
Elmouth Jun 30th 2010 10:50AM
6 bosses isn't a raid, its a 5-man ...