flexible-raid-sizes
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Flexible raiding's magic numbers
Blizzard Community Manager Bashiok has blue-tagged an interesting discussion on the US forums today, asking for more feedback on Flexible raiding's numerical breakpoints. Bashiok Right now there are some assumptions being made about mechanical breakpoints in Flex, but there are also some valid concerns. The orbs on Norushen for example may need tweaking. What would be super helpful is if people have examples of breakpoints they think limit them to having a certain number of people, and what those are. It's in everyone's best interests to be able to invite whoever they want, and not feel like they're limited to some number because of mechanic scaling. source The forum thread in questions certainly brings up some valid concerns. Bashiok mentions the Norushen orbs, where going over a breakpoint by just one player can provide a substantial DPS or healing boost for a boss which can prove a tight DPS requirement for some groups. The Sha of Pride's prisons are another one which seems reasonable -- over a certain number and you'll get three prisons as opposed to two, so it'd be easier for some groups to just not bring that one player who tips the balance. What's more, on AoE mechanic-heavy fights like Dark Shaman, simply having more people standing in bad is a problem, if they're not able to put out the DPS, or are failing at mechanics. Crawler Mines on Iron Juggernaut could well be another problem, as could Malkorok's swirls and Matter Scramble in Spoils.
GuildOx launches Flex Raid ranking
WoW ranking database GuildOx has just announced a new feature -- world-first Flex guild progress ranking for Flex raid groups. According to data gathered by the fine folks at GuildOx, 64% of guilds that have raided Siege of Orgrimmar on normal mode have also completed kills using Flexible Raids as well. Given the popularity of the format, GuildOx decided to create a ranking list for guilds that raid on that difficulty. Flex ranking works the same as the usual raid progress ranking, with guilds being ranked by the number of encounters completed, and the date of their last kill. For players that are diving full-force into Flex raids, the new rankings list should be a nice addition. And for players that haven't delved into Flex raids, it's interesting to see just how many guilds are taking that step, and how far they've gotten in the content. Myself, I'm curious as to how the rankings will be received -- since Flex raids can take any number of people, they're an entirely different animal than 10 or 25 man raiding. With 10 man ranking, you know you're being ranked against other 10 man guilds, and the same applies to 25 man raiding as well. But with Flex, you could be raiding with 12, and another guild with 24. Interesting questions aside, it's nice to see we've got a ranking system in place for Flex raiding enthusiasts. As always, rank listings can be filtered and sorted by region or server. You can check out the full list of ranked guilds and their progress on GuildOx.
Watcher clarifies ilvl distribution in patch 5.4
Players participating in patch 5.4's new Flexible Raids have noticed that the ilvl for Siege of Orgrimmar loot is set to 540 -- just below the 541 ilvl of current Heroic Thunderforged gear, but above current heroic gear from Throne of Thunder, which is set at 535 before any valor point upgrades are applied. To some players, it may seem as though Blizzard is now encouraging the same kind of multiple-instance running that occurred with the Trial of the Crusader raid and its many, many difficulties. A thread on the official forums points out that if Flexible Raid gear is better than heroic gear from the previous tier, players will be obligated to run both Flexible and Normal difficulty along with LFR in order to gear up more quickly -- since Flex difficulty doesn't share a lockout with normal modes, it's entirely possible to do so. While the arguments for and against have been both fast and furious, Ion "Watcher" Hazzikostas stepped in to clarify just what the reasoning was behind the different ilvls for the different difficulties, as well as the purpose of Flexible Raids.
The Queue: Put them in front of me
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Matthew Rossi is the dark force behind a triptych folded cardboard sheet with a lot of tables printed on it today. It's no secret that I spent a lot of time playing pen and paper RPG's. This is a story from one of those. Friend of mine was running a Werewolf: The Apocalypse game, one of White Wolf's original "Noun: Definite Article Gerund" games. I actually liked both Werewolf and Mage: The Awakening, just because you could do some crazy stuff in these games. I turned an ancient vampire into a chair once! Paid for that one in paradox, whoo boy. Anyway, so we're at the table, all of us playing werewolves (as you do) and we've discovered that the mayor of the city is in league with the Wyrm (the game's ultimate antagonist, think Sargeras meets a Captain Planet villain) and has a host of Nexus Crawler minions waiting for us. One of our more (up to that point, anyway) meek and mild players is incensed with this betrayal and she says "I'll tear out his heart for this!" The GM smirks and says "First you have to get past his private army of fomori." She takes off her glasses, stands up straight and says with an actual growl "Put them in front of me." And that, my friends, is why I love gaming. Put them in front of me. Let's get on with the show! Slothcloctimus asks: Question: Why is there not a third phase in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms? I love the first phase -- when you first enter and all the pandaren are coming in for the first time. It feels like you're part of something big. Then when you hit 90 and start the Golden Lotus quests, you get a second phase where you're holding off the Sha attacks and the mogu and everything. The dailies kind of dragged on, but I love how the story ended with the epic quest at the end. Then I turned the quest in, saved everything....and flew over the same bad guys still there on my way out.
