The Daily Quest: Too soon, Executus
by Anne Stickney 
Sep 16th 2011 at 9:00AM
WoW Insider's on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative, and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere.
Patch 4.2 was released on June 28 -- not a long time ago, all things considered. This makes the announcement of incoming Firelands nerfs a little puzzling. Obviously, Blizzard would like everyone to enjoy the raid content, but I can help but wonder if it's a little soon for nerfs. As a raider, it really doesn't feel like my guild's been wandering around in the Firelands all that long. On the other hand, I'm looking at it from the standpoint of the ICC buff -- it's just a boost to players to help get us through all that content. Still, I'm not quite sure how to feel about it.
The blogosphere's been abuzz with the news of the difficulty changes, so why don't we take a look at a few posts and see what everyone else has been saying?
Is there a story out there we ought to link or a blog we should be following? Just leave us a comment, and you may see it here tomorrow! Be sure to check out our WoW Resources Guide for more WoW-related sites.
Patch 4.2 was released on June 28 -- not a long time ago, all things considered. This makes the announcement of incoming Firelands nerfs a little puzzling. Obviously, Blizzard would like everyone to enjoy the raid content, but I can help but wonder if it's a little soon for nerfs. As a raider, it really doesn't feel like my guild's been wandering around in the Firelands all that long. On the other hand, I'm looking at it from the standpoint of the ICC buff -- it's just a boost to players to help get us through all that content. Still, I'm not quite sure how to feel about it.
The blogosphere's been abuzz with the news of the difficulty changes, so why don't we take a look at a few posts and see what everyone else has been saying?
- I Like Bubbles would like to extend a formal welcome to the Nerf Bat Overlords.
- Divine Plea is also welcoming the decrease in difficulty with open arms.
- Kurn's Corner, on the other hand, has a heck of lot to say against the changes. (Warning, some language in said post.)
- Falling Leaves and Wings ponders the nature of difficulty and challenge.
Is there a story out there we ought to link or a blog we should be following? Just leave us a comment, and you may see it here tomorrow! Be sure to check out our WoW Resources Guide for more WoW-related sites.
Filed under: The Daily Quest
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Manoos Sep 16th 2011 9:20AM
Well, I think we are about to become involuntary participants in Blizzard's experiment undertaken to find out how much they actually need to reduce the difficulty for the new Raid Finder coming in 4.3. Hence the sudden (and probably gradual) nerfs, until they see the numbers they want to see in terms of bossed downed by PuGs, etc. That is my tinfoil hat theory for you, Anne, in exchange for getting to regularly enjoy yours.
MattKrotzer Sep 16th 2011 9:24AM
I firmly believe that the nerfs are far too soon. When the new content is out, and people need to catch up? Great time for the nerfs. But when the next raid isn't even on the PTR yet?
Seems a bit ridiculous to me.
Nick Sep 16th 2011 9:43AM
I'm not sure the nerfs are required even after new content comes to be honest. With the new great for jp, a brand new 85 can have I level over 355 within minutes of hitting 85. That in itself is nerf enough for me.
I'm not sure there ever was a need to move from a linear model normals > heroics> raid1> raid 2> raid 3 etc.
Caz Sep 16th 2011 10:28AM
Wait - nothgin has been nerfed yet, right? Isn't is posdsible that this nerf won't even happen until 4.3 goes live?
I feel like there's been a lot of "the sky is falling" commentary on these announced but as-yet-unscheduled nerfs.
Caz Sep 16th 2011 10:31AM
Want to buy an edit button.... I should get some coffee and put my glasses on.
Knob Sep 16th 2011 1:13PM
@Caz: You do know they aren't unscheduled? They're nerfing them starting this upcoming reset on the 19th.
jfofla Sep 16th 2011 3:15PM
New Epac is coming in less than 6 months, so how can these nerfs be too soon?
MattKrotzer Sep 16th 2011 3:44PM
Simple: There's no content for players to move on to once they've completed this tier.
When they nerfed the last tier of raiding, it was in conjunction with the release of THIS tier of raiding. That makes sense. Make the last tier easier, so that the current tier is more accessible.
Making the current tier more accessible and providing no challenging content to replace it is going to hurt a LOT of guilds.
If people were concerned that players were becoming bored and taking a break or leaving the game before the nerfs, do you think making the content 20% easier is the best thing for player retention?
shieryma Sep 16th 2011 4:08PM
That's why I hope it's a progressive nerf. Every week, or every other week perhaps, each guild could look towards downing the current boss they're struggling on and working on a new one. After progressing a bit further, you reach a new snag. A week or two down there road, there is another small nerf and now you can tackle that encounter and move on. However, with a huge nerf in the 20%, you're going to be able to progress so much further than your current point that it's just going to seem like a gimme.
rapsam2003 Sep 16th 2011 4:37PM
Well, it would make sense if FL had been out for 6 months. However, it was released in June. That's a little more than 3 months ago. It's actually kind of annoying.
But at the same time, it sounds like my guild will be making me a co-RL of our 3rd raid group. So, this will greatly help while the group builds cohesion and moves through the bosses to HMs. My goal is to get a reasonable look at HMs before 4.3 drops in January or February. And this would help, so I can't really say I hate it.
My overall feeling is sort of one of "Ok. That's weird."
rapsam2003 Sep 16th 2011 4:42PM
Oh, by "reasonable look", I mean 4/7. I don't know if we'll achieve that. It's too soon to tell, but it would be nice to do that.
By the way, I'm kind of wondering why they applied the nerf bat to *both* heroic and normal mode. I could see if they felt most HMs were over-tuned. (I don't think they are, but it makes sense to nerf over-tuned content.) I could also see if they wanted more people to progress through normal to get to HMs, and therefore nerfed normal. But nerfing both adds to the weirdness of it. It's like, "Ok...what was the reason for that?"
Snuzzle Sep 16th 2011 9:27AM
Plug for tomorrow's Daily Quest!
With Transmog on the horizon, I stumbled across this blog detailing the relative visual uniqueness of the weapons in WoW. So far, they've done shields, 1H and 2H swords, 1H maces, and staves.
http://www.deazeroth.blogspot.com/
I personally look forward to more and think this would be a great link for those people looking for a "just so" weapon to match their new gear in 4.3.
Fletcher Sep 16th 2011 9:45AM
Disenchanting Azeroth is certainly an interesting analysis of WoW's weapon models, but (having run across it a few days ago) I feel its focus is on novelty rather than quality. A thing may be highly different from all its peers, but that does not necessarily make it beautiful.
If your goal is to have a striking and unique silhouette, sure, Disenchanting Azeroth is great for you. If your goal is to have an aesthetically pleasing set which goes well together and fits the look or theme you want for your character, it's not the best of resources.
The clown suits of Outland were certainly eye-catching, but they weren't necessarily *good*!
Snuzzle Sep 16th 2011 10:11AM
The thing I find so helpful about it is that it shows you ALL of the models of a certain weapon type in the game. Reskins and recolors aren't shown, of course, but you can see every silhouette available to you at a glance. I take their "top ten" and cluster graphs with a grain of salt.
Snuzzle Sep 16th 2011 10:12AM
EDIT: And yes, that DOES help you find a weapon to go with your gear. I was seeing a lot of weapon models I'd just plain forgotten about that I would like to use on this character or that one.
Rubicon Sep 16th 2011 9:39AM
Hooray for the Nerfs! Now I can keep having the success pugging Firelands like I did T11!
babywhiz Sep 16th 2011 10:02AM
We pugged Throne a couple of days ago. Wiped 2x on Council, and 3 manned P3 Al'akir till death. That was kinda fun!
Yes, even T11, pugs can make your tummy turn.
Rubicon Sep 16th 2011 10:35AM
I have actually been pugging raids more often than FLG in some cases, and then trying to keep people who were pretty good. Now I am running a hodge podge FL pug group that consists of really good players in excellent guilds that just happen to be that 13th or 14th raider who doesn't get a slot often. We were able to down all T11 content in 3 and a half hours 3 weeks ago. It made us all feel so good to be able to get our achieves! We downed Shannox and Beth on normal FL difficulty, but I am really looking forward to seeing them all fall. The fun for me isn't about how hard or how easy content is. Its about how much fun you can have with a group of people in the limited amount of time we have!
John Sep 16th 2011 9:54AM
The raiding population has shrunk along with the player base as a whole, but faster. IMO, this is due to the stiff increase in difficulty of Tier 11 raids over ToC and ICC.
WoW is more of a social event than a halo / MW2 competition event for most players, and the fun got sucked out by the difficulty of raiding (and heroic 5-mans at the start of the xpac). My experience is that my guild lost a lot of people who stopped raiding due to the knife-edge character of boss fights (meaning, you are often 1 mistake by 1 person away from a wipe).
Raids became far less cooperative and a lot more recriminative (is that a word?).
People who blog and are way into raiding for the satisfaction of killing a boss after dozens of wipes will decry this change and may well quit the game. Blizz is betting that successfully bringing back social players will outnumber the losses of those who consider their in-game accomplishments to have been slighted.
babywhiz Sep 16th 2011 10:19AM
I agree. Our server is dead last for 10 man T12, and 227/241 for 25 T12. (it's not counting our 25 man Alysrazor kill from last night, so these numbers may change.). Our guild, being the only 25 man raiding guild on the server has a WORLD rank of 3333. Compare that to Wrath.....we never dipped below the 10k world rank for 25 man (Except for RS...but that fight was a preview to what was to come in Cata....). I'm not complaining, I just think it's very telling of how the theory of the hard core ramp up that Blizz did this xPac wasn't adjusted for the masses.