08-15-2006, 04:16 PM
I'm shocked... I'm shocked that everyone's arguments appear to have missed the big picture view of what Blizzard has done. The 40 -> 25 change needs to be taken in context with other changes. I'll be brief:
First, 40 -> 25:
40 -> 25 does not inherently alter the difficulty of potential fights. Virtually all end game fights can be scaled down to 25 man. 3/8ths less HP, a little less than 3/8ths less damage, one less add, etc. Doing so will not affect the difficulty of the fight.
The introduction of a difficulty slider for instances resolves most of the remaining issues. A pug should be able to run a lvl70 x 25man raid on easy mode and succeed. Whereas a hardcore raiding guild should be able to get significant challenge while running that same instance on Elite difficulty. The rewards will be comparitively better for the latter.
Blues have already established that a lvl60 instance on Elite difficulty should pose a reasonable challenge (and reward) for lvl70s geared out. As such the lvl70 instances should be nearly impossible at that difficulty.
What this change does is to make more content accessible to more people without reducing difficulty nor the reward differential between casual and hardcore.
An additional component of the 40 -> 25 is that a guild of 60-70 which needs to restructure down to 40 will encounter in-game mechanisms to aid in that endeavor. They are threefold:
1. Not all players will purchase the expansion immediately. All may want to, but barriers of money and parents (especially for the large pre-college population) will be a short term impediment.
2. Characters still need to level up to 70. It has been established that the time to get from 60 -> 70 will be comparable to the time taken to get from 1 -> 60 (as it should be). Players who raid have taken anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 years to get from 1 -> 60, the jump to 70 will be divided similarly. Those that don't level quickly will be left behind.
3. Most raid encounters will be designed to benefit from a Horde Paladin or an Alliance Shaman. Those characters do not already exist at level 60. As such a guild will need to power-level / wait for a character to 'catch up'.
All of these factors will affect the existing 60-70 members at different rates. As such the 'first' 40 of the correct class makeup to pass these barriers will become the new guild. Guilds will break apart because of the grind to 70 and not because of the new raid size. The smaller raid size will actually be beneficial because it means that the entire raid need not wait for the few slower players to begin raiding again.
The effect of the grind to 70 (from 60 or 1 in the case of new classes) will recreate the process by which guilds formed for end-game content at 60. The need for a guild to 'boot' half their members will be replaced by a first-come first-served mechanism.
Thoughts as always are welcome and desired.
-Kershner
Dehmien | 60 UD Priest | Stonemaul
First, 40 -> 25:
40 -> 25 does not inherently alter the difficulty of potential fights. Virtually all end game fights can be scaled down to 25 man. 3/8ths less HP, a little less than 3/8ths less damage, one less add, etc. Doing so will not affect the difficulty of the fight.
The introduction of a difficulty slider for instances resolves most of the remaining issues. A pug should be able to run a lvl70 x 25man raid on easy mode and succeed. Whereas a hardcore raiding guild should be able to get significant challenge while running that same instance on Elite difficulty. The rewards will be comparitively better for the latter.
Blues have already established that a lvl60 instance on Elite difficulty should pose a reasonable challenge (and reward) for lvl70s geared out. As such the lvl70 instances should be nearly impossible at that difficulty.
What this change does is to make more content accessible to more people without reducing difficulty nor the reward differential between casual and hardcore.
An additional component of the 40 -> 25 is that a guild of 60-70 which needs to restructure down to 40 will encounter in-game mechanisms to aid in that endeavor. They are threefold:
1. Not all players will purchase the expansion immediately. All may want to, but barriers of money and parents (especially for the large pre-college population) will be a short term impediment.
2. Characters still need to level up to 70. It has been established that the time to get from 60 -> 70 will be comparable to the time taken to get from 1 -> 60 (as it should be). Players who raid have taken anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 years to get from 1 -> 60, the jump to 70 will be divided similarly. Those that don't level quickly will be left behind.
3. Most raid encounters will be designed to benefit from a Horde Paladin or an Alliance Shaman. Those characters do not already exist at level 60. As such a guild will need to power-level / wait for a character to 'catch up'.
All of these factors will affect the existing 60-70 members at different rates. As such the 'first' 40 of the correct class makeup to pass these barriers will become the new guild. Guilds will break apart because of the grind to 70 and not because of the new raid size. The smaller raid size will actually be beneficial because it means that the entire raid need not wait for the few slower players to begin raiding again.
The effect of the grind to 70 (from 60 or 1 in the case of new classes) will recreate the process by which guilds formed for end-game content at 60. The need for a guild to 'boot' half their members will be replaced by a first-come first-served mechanism.
Thoughts as always are welcome and desired.
-Kershner
Dehmien | 60 UD Priest | Stonemaul