At the beginning of an expac, the Heroics always seem a little rough, but things even out quickly; even BC heroics got easier as gear and practice increased, though things like the timed run in Shattered Halls could still be a challenge for some groups.

There have been Blizzard comments about how much more knowledgeable the playerbase has become over time; many of the most helpful website began or evolved during BC and really took off in Wrath. LFD had a hand in it, and they stopped making fights that *required* certain class mechanics, or revamped various classes to have similar mechanics to even things out. Our characters are more powerful than they were then--I'm not just talking levels, I mean in how talents and gear inflation have altered things.

There are still plenty of folks who don't know what's going on, though, and can make a run difficult and headachey, and things seem harder than they should. It took a guild run to Zul'Gurub to get a new-to-the-game-as-of-Cata guildmate/tank a successful Jin'do kill; everyone in PUGS tried telling her to do it differently, but in the end, no one was wrangling the ghosts so healers would get overwhelmed (or they'd swarm and kill my tank friend when she tried to save the healer between big guy pulls) and they'd wipe. She was confused as to what she was doing wrong (tank/heal mentality: it's all our fault), but when she explained it to me, I wanted to bash my head on a wall and smack sense into those puggers.

Still, she willingly throws herself into LFD and asks for help to learn things after we take her through a new dungeon. She keeps trying, and learning, and eventually succeeding.

There have been a lot of changes in Blizzard's philosophy over time that have not only made things like heroics easier, but the players have gotten more savvy overall, and folks are far more helpful--even in PUGS--than people give credit for too often, if one just speaks up and asks politely. Sometimes they give you wrong advice, sure, but people still try.