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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsDragon Soul Power of the Aspects buff to increase next week
by Adam Holisky 
Feb 22nd 2012 at 1:00PM
The Power of the Aspects buff currently stands at 5%, which went into effect on Jan. 31, 2011. So it took about a month for the buff to increase to the next level. Blizzard has said the spell will continue to increase but not at a set interval, as was done in Icecrown Citadel.
The full blue post is as follows:
Blizzard Entertainment
During the scheduled server maintenance on the week of February 28, the "Power of the Aspects" spell will grow more powerful, reducing the health and damage dealt of all enemies in the Dragon Soul raid by 10%. This spell will grow progressively stronger over time to reduce the difficulty and make the encounters more accessible. The spell will affect both normal and Heroic difficulties, but it will not affect the Raid Finder difficulty.
Don't need the help of the Dragon Aspects? The spell can be disabled by talking to Lord Afrasastrasz at the beginning of Dragon Soul.
We hope you continue to enjoy Dragon Soul, and that these changes encourage you to attempt a higher difficulty, or just keep pushing to down that next boss.
Don't need the help of the Dragon Aspects? The spell can be disabled by talking to Lord Afrasastrasz at the beginning of Dragon Soul.
We hope you continue to enjoy Dragon Soul, and that these changes encourage you to attempt a higher difficulty, or just keep pushing to down that next boss.
Filed under: News items, Raiding
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 4)
suzurambles Feb 22nd 2012 2:40PM
I did the whole raiding thing throughout Wrath, I've had those moments of glory too. But this is the same fight we saw when ICC was in progress, the same old back and forth. If what matters to you is really how you feel when your group downs a boss then achievements and nerfs and what-have-you shouldn't matter. Do the content with the nerfs for a week or two, learn it, clear it, and when you want that kick say that this week you're going to turn it off. When you win there, cause your team has been able to experience and clear the fight beforehand with help and they can be cool and knowledgeable in their approach, I bet it'll be just as big a rush as you hoped for.
Lord Alexion Feb 22nd 2012 2:53PM
Well, two things:
One - When blizzard shifted their design philosophy to cater to people who look at challenges with dismay instead of motivation, the entire playerbase changed. Nowadays it's pretty rare to find people who like to be really challenged. When wiping more than 3 times in the same boss, most people just feel frustrated and annoyed, instead of taking a breath and analysing what went wrong and "what did I do wrong". That's where the nerfs and buffs came from. The mentality of the playerbase now just can't handle defeat.
Two - Turning off the nerf/buff is not an one-man decision, and when you have a playerbase like described above, it's nearly impossible to turn the buff off. If they are progressing, they'll want the buff to wipe less. If they cleared it already, they'll want the buff for the fast run. Heck, I did ICC with a couple of friends last week and even then they didn't want to turn off the buff cuz they wanted to see the big numbers on recount. The debuff is not optional, this is an illusion. A sad, sad illusion...
WoW players in general don't want challenge, Simply put. What makes the majority happy is to be just difficult enough so you don't ignore the mechanics, but that the risk of a wipe is minimum. That's the truth.
clundgren Feb 22nd 2012 3:48PM
God forbid Blizzard would want to make the majority happy.
Look, serious progression guilds are done. Blizzard gave them about 2 months. Now we are into the next tier of guilds. Most will opt for the buff, and that's fine. That means most of their players want it. Again, you seem to want to play a different game that most other players. That's fine, but to expect the game to completely cater to what you've already admitted is a minority position is irrational.
If you are that serious about it, you need to find a group of like-minded individuals and go at it. Blizzard has made it so that the buff can be turned off just to accommodate you.
Killik Feb 22nd 2012 3:52PM
If you are still struggling at this point, frankly, you could use the help.
Lord Alexion Feb 22nd 2012 4:17PM
One - I already beat normal, and my difficulty is not with the content, it's with finding a solid group, something I haven't been able to do so far.
Two - If that was the case and I was struggling, one more reson for NOT wanting the nerf/buffs! what good is to down a boss because it got easier, instead of because the group got better? That kind of mentality is thew real problem =\
Kodiack Feb 22nd 2012 2:38PM
LOL this is so funny.
vynzul Feb 22nd 2012 2:41PM
Most people see the LFR as a lower difficulty. Even though it is easier raid teams are not doing LFR to replace normal or heroic modes. I think Blizzard has said that as well. LFR is for those who can't get a raid team together not for teams that can't through specific bosses.
People who are comparing an optional nerf on normal and heroic to the difficulty of LFR do not understand that why Blizzard implemented LFR in the first place. My raid team has struggled on some of the end fights and a small nerf will push us past it and onto heroic which will remain challenger for us instead of just slamming our heads against the wall.
Revynn Feb 22nd 2012 2:49PM
/sigh . . .
Well, at least we'll get H-Zonnozz next week
/sigh . . .
nathan.kreps Feb 22nd 2012 3:57PM
If your complaint is about other people, I don't think Blizzard cares. So, if you are concerned that other people can now clear something that you cleared at a harder difficulty, then Blizzard doesn't care. Their position seems to be that you should worry about yourself and not about other people running around in the same purples as you or with the same titles as you.
If you're worried that other raid groups will use the buff and get a kill before you, Blizzard doesn't care. At least I don't think they do. You can do the raid at whatever difficulty you like. You can experience the thrill of the kill at pre-nerf levels, or you can take the buff. It's not about the other group. Forget about the other group.
And, finally, if you can't find nine like-minded people to pre-nerf level raid with you, than you are pretty clearly representing a minority opinion in a game with almost 10 million active accounts. It's crazy to say that raiders don't want this buff and then, a sentence later, complain that you can't find 9 other players to do the content without the buff.
slim1256 Feb 22nd 2012 4:16PM
Heh - Nathan, I like the cut of your jib.
Killik Feb 22nd 2012 3:57PM
This seems like a fairly hefty nerf. It would be interesting to see what Blizzard considers a 'success' in terms of proportion of players to complete a raid throughout its lifespan. It seems clear they're putting their thumbs on the scales whenever it seems like there's a dip in the graph.
clundgren Feb 22nd 2012 4:38PM
I don't think Blizzard cares so much about absolute numbers of players completing raids, or at least, I don't think that's the primary motivation. They care about people continuing to feel like the game offers them something.
At the start of Cataclysm, we saw a fairly dramatic drop-off in subscriptions. No one exactly why that happened, but Blizzard implied, and my anecdotal experience also suggests, that part of it was due to the game being suddenly much harder so that many players found themselves unable to progress, got frustrated, and left.
Certainly that is exactly what happened in my guild. We went from two full 25-person raids in the ICC era to, by this summer, one 10 man raid in Firelands.
Blizzard is aware that the nerf, even while optional, may turn off a portion of their player base, perhaps even leading some of those players to leave for a game they consider more of a challenge. But they are weighing those numbers against the volume of players who are happy to get some help so that they can continue to progress. Blizzard more or less tried to make the former happy at the beginning of Cataclysm, and I think they have determined that doing so is a losing strategy. So they have gone back to the Wrath model.
Finally, I think it is a bit of a myth that players get "better" through wiping and wiping to an encounter. In my experience, player skill doesn't change a whole lot, especially when we are talking about players who have been at it for a long time, as most raiders have. The players don't really get better, they just acquire, through brute repetition, the muscle memory that applies to a particular encounter. This will eventually lead to success, perhaps, but I think there are limits to how much satisfaction the typical player gets from this activity. While wiping a hundred times to get a kill is satisfying to a certain kind of player, I think those people are a tiny, tiny minority.
Killik Feb 22nd 2012 5:06PM
I totally agree that what really interests Blizzard is keeping players feeling involved in the game. However, the only way they have to measure these things is in the raw numbers that come back from the game itself.
I think this sort of semi-gated progression through raid content is the company's latest attempt to please most of the people most of the time. Also, to get maximum mileage out of the content. Certainly, I'd look for it again in MoP's initial raids. Maintain a flow of successful players, rather than aim at 'hardcore' or 'casual'.
WoW's main competition these days would seem to be *more* casual-friendly games, such as TOR. As such, most of their strategy would probably be aimed at retaining the more casual end of the WoW playerbase. The ultimate hardcores they have sewn up because the world firsts remain prestigious, the B-list raiders just don't have many options where to go.
Jaq Feb 22nd 2012 4:00PM
Oh look, it's people who have either already completed the raid or who most likely are lying through their teeth about how they won't use it making broad, sweeping statements about how Blizzard doesn't cater to them anymore.
I'm shocked by this turn of events. SHOCKED I say!
runzwithscissorz Feb 22nd 2012 4:01PM
Oh look...its this again. Blizzard told everyone last month that this was going to happen this month. Guess what? Another 5% goes away in March.
slim1256 Feb 22nd 2012 4:16PM
AHHH! How could they! RAGGGGGGEEEEE!!!!!
Killik Feb 22nd 2012 5:20PM
Every month, 5% more rage.
amnbrownie Feb 22nd 2012 4:50PM
I'm not in favor of the nerfs, on principle, for Heroic mode. I thought that was the point of it being difficult? For regular...no big deal. But I've found the bright side of things...I can be finished with this tier a lot sooner, and I can move on to something else more entertaining. 6 months + is far too long to spend on only 8 encounters, and if this nerf means I see less of the bosses, then I guess I can't complain. These days, I just raid to hang out with my friends.
Lipstick Feb 22nd 2012 5:26PM
Feels too soon.
Lets hope my guild can get down heroic yor'sahj tonight without any further buffs. Our guild formed the week of the 5% buff and cleared 8/8 first night with nary a wipe in the mix and 1/8 H the next week. Last week saw us at 50% on yor ... as much as I dislike these progressive/buffs/nerfes they are a real kick in the pants if we want to get down a specific boss before it's nerfed further. Each successful week we've done DW in a slightly harder version by having him assault a harder aspect first. This just means that this week is the last week for us to get chromatic champion before it gets even easier to kill.
So that's like 5% every month or so ..
Doesn't seem too bad. So long as they keep the pacing that way. 4 weeks is long enough to work on a few more bosses, without hitting the next buff cycle.
CursedMonk87 Feb 22nd 2012 7:22PM
I'm fine with the (OPTIONAL) progressive nerf. For us, it made slogging through the first 6 bosses that we had already downed before the nerf less of a stressful race against people's bedtimes and actually a more relaxing time working together. Yes raiding is supposed to be FUN, not soul-crushing. We downed Spine and Madness the first week after the nerf. Is that a sign of being too easy? Or are we just better raiders than we used to be? I think the nerf helped us on spine, because we were pushed to the limit to down him. I think Madness is actually a pretty simple and predictable fight so we had no problem downing him on our first night of attempts. I don't think the buff helped us all that much.
That being said, I think there should be a little bit of an extra reward (besides satisfaction) for downing bosses with the nerf turned off. Maybe a higher drop rate for BoEs or more rare and epic gems from the motes. Shouldn't more work provide more reward?
I haven't checked, but does anyone know if you can turn it back on after you've turned it off in the same lockout? Such as tell the aspects to hold off while you burn through the first 6 and then ask them to help you get over the wall?
And to the dissenters to the buff being optional: I really feel bad that your GMs are so power-hungry and raid teams so unfriendly that you all can't diplomatically decide to keep the buff or not.