All current raids to be nerfed by 10% with Patch 5.2
Bashiok posted late last night on the US forums, highlighting a change in the recent patch 5.2 notes. The addition is as follows:
Bashiok adds to his post, explaining how, in Mists, Blizzard is essentially trying to strike a happy medium between previous expansions' attitudes to gear progression. Cataclysm's gearing model devalued old content progression too quickly, allowing players to effectively jump straight into the current raids, while previous expansions had been criticized for their linearity.
Mists retains an element of that linear nature, with Bashiok saying that new characters will have to go through Mogushan Vaults, Heart of Fear and Terrace of Endless Spring, but that drop rates will be increased and the content made easier. He does note, however, that this 10% nerf is currently slated as a one-time reduction, rather than step one of a set of progressive nerfs.
What do you think of this? Hit the break for Bashiok's full post, explaining the philosophy behind the changes.
Woah, you're nerfing the old raids by 10%? I'm certain you don't have compelling and well written reasons as well as supportive systems to ensure my time is recognized.
Bashiok
Thanks for your question Bashiok, I'm SO GLAD YOU ASKED.
Something that has continued to evolve over the life of the game has been end-game progression, and what's required of your character to see what is at any one time considered the final raid. Originally it was a very linear path. You had to gear up through one raid before you could attempt the next, and the one after that, and so on. It meant that if you were even slightly behind the curve you could potentially never catch up. We began adding mechanics and options in Burning Crusade and beyond to ensure players could, with effort, have some ability to catch up. Fast forward to Cataclysm where we believe we went too far the other direction and a freshly minted 90 didn't really have to do anything before jumping directly into Dragon Soul.
In Mists of Pandaria we want to get back to where we were in helping people catch up, but only through some effort in completing prior content. We don't want it to be a linear A->B->C model again, because that causes a lot of undue burden on guilds attempting to catch up alts and replacements, but we also don't want the Cataclysm model of being able to more or less skip straight to the end, invalidating everyone's efforts who came before.
New characters coming into Mists of Pandaria will be going through Mogu'shan Vaults, Heart of Fear, and Terrace of Endless Spring, killing bosses, and gearing up before moving on. Due to that we'll be adjusting the difficulty, as well as item drops, to make progression a bit quicker without shortcutting people directly to the Throne of Thunder raid. With the release of 5.2 enemy health and damage in the three prior raids will be reduced by 10%. We expect this to be a one-time reduction, and not a slowly increasing reduction as we've done previously. In addition, item drops are being greatly increased, including those from Elder Charm of Good Fortune bonus rolls. In addition, as stated in the patch notes, costs of 5.0 and 5.1 Valor items are being reduced by 50% and 25% respectively.
IN ADDITION! If you're killing bosses in Normal and Heroic before 5.2 releases, and thus pre-nerf, you'll actually get Feats of Strength honoring the accomplishments you made before the change – which is pretty cool. IMO.
With these changes we hope to see players able to catch when coming into the game mid-expansion, or leveling an alt, but still putting in the time and effort to get to the latest tier.
Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
