I personally think the best solution would be to add a difficulty between the current normal and heroic dungeons. There are a LOT of people who are used to playing WotLK style instances, and there are a strong group of long term players who like the harder challenge. This would be a way to accomodate both and the implementation should not be too terribly hard for Blizzard.


Make the dungeons full of level 86 and mobs tune accordingly.


Make the loot item level 339. NO chaos orb drops! Let the last boss drop one piece of 346 loot and one 339.


Have the exact same types/numbers of boss mechanics as Heroics, just be a good bit more forgiving.


Give a nice sized justice point reward for the first random of the day, no valor, and 50% of the justic points that a heroic normally gives out.


This would allow the more casuals a path to gear up, experience the content and have some fun. This would also allow the people who like the harder runs to gear up and gain points faster, gain orbs, and get to show off their "heroic" gear.

 

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Heroic week 1 was fail for sure. NEWSFLASH! It was new. You blame me for following the gear progression line? I did not enter any heroic until 331 item level. Go moan some more on the official board bud.

Most of the people yapping about being casual on these boards aren't really casual. They play as much as all but the most hardcore of players do. They simply don't like playing the content that is needed to progress your character beyond the level cap unless it is as easy as mindlessly plowing through it like WotLK. Many of these same people have been complaining about any "endgame" that is challenging for years (a few here since the game came out believe it or not), yet continue to play and bash whichever person is in charge for not making the game the way they want it.

Frankly these days I don't really have the time or motivation for things to be a challenge either. Difference is I wait until they ease the content to where it is easy either via nerfing the content or when they release future content patches and allow you to purchase gear that makes the content easy rather than gnashing my teeth and complaining every day about it. As of right now I have 1 character to 85 and have done a few heroics and worked my trade skills up. Not much more really to do now that I find worth my effort so I log in every few days and play an alt for a bit very casually leveling a 2nd char to 85.

 

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The problem, as I have experienced it, is that the jump from normal to heroic is simply too great for casual play. Normal dungeons are easy, most dysfunctional pugs manage to complete them with a complete lack of communication, no CC and no assisting. Most of the bosses can be steamrolled with barely a thought to their mechanic. One or two overgeared players trivialize the content.


Heroics on the other hand are really, really tough. It will be a while before you randomly encounter people who significantly outgear them. To be fair there is margin for error but mistakes usaully result in everyone dying rather than just one or two people. Wipes can easily happen on trash which most players have not experienced since BC (if they even remember) and mistakes in boss fights are guaranteed wipes. The degree of teamwork required has had almost no chance to develop. It is incredibly easy and not very time consuming to progress to the point that heroics are your next avenue for advancement.


They trained people to expect success in a reasonable amount of time, gave them maybe 200 hours of casual gameplay in that mold, then gave them a giant cockblock. I can't imagine your average player is going to pay to be frustrated and have their character stagnate.

Good for you? Heroics were only difficult the first week BECAUSE of gear. The bitching that is going on now is nonsense. The challenge is gone. Now they are just making it too easy.

It's a bit shocking to see GC & co. show such signs of worry, reacting like that to a forum post that could / should have deleted instantly. Of course, the forum thread is just the trigger.


I guess the elitists who were complaining about wotlk being too easy were still paying, but the casuals complaining about cata being too hard are stopping to do it.

Blizzard wants to make money. Of course they will make it easier. Even with some crappy games coming out soon and "unhappy" casual players whining would be a loss.


Heroic dungeons, raids and whatever you do in WoW its suppose to be fun and people should be able to enjoy it. In the end if people cant "pug" something they will complain. And they are right to do so. With the "dumbing" down on games in general over the last decade, people dont accept seeing "game over" splashed on the screen. If only a small percent of the gaming population can complete a challenge then something is wrong. One problem that arise through a challenge like that is that another gaming company will do something about it. For now it really doesnt matter since nobody is really pushing out any decent mmo, yet, at least. Just stop for a second and think what will happen when that takes place.


Just like WoW came and showed the way another game can do the same thing.

 

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Where - specifically - do they tell players that are not having fun is that it will be fun if they hop through hoops?

 

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They've stated that the content will be easier once players (the community as a whole, I presume) acquire better gear, particularly in the next update. So, basically "grit and bear it". I opted out, personally, and of my old guild of about 20 IRL friends, only two still play. Seriously.

 

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