08-14-2006, 10:15 PM
Quote:Some of the later raid fights are very hard indeed. Some raid fights are very easy. Even the easy ones give better loot than the hardest 5-man content - no matter how skilled or dedicated a small group player is, they're never going to get anything even equal to tier 1 (by ilvl; some raid epics have poor enough stat distribution that lower lever items as as good). I have no objection to hard content giving better rewards than easy content; I object to easy content of one playstyle giving better rewards than hard content of another and to the lack of new content for other playstyles. (And no, buying icecream for an orphan isn't going to hold my attention for long. That it gets included as a entry in a list of the new non-raid content we've had since release shows how bad things have been.)
Even the most hardcore of hardcores and casual of casuals in my guild agree that the gear and progression gap between those who raid and those who don't is a problem that exists. The problem though isn't that raiders get better rewards, but that the non-raiders haven't gotten significant amounts of progession content. If they had just tossed in a 5man or 10man sometime during the last year the whole divide would probably be less and more managable.
From the sounds of it the expansion will be different with each play style having its own form up progression. For those who PvP there will be rewards based on how often you play, not based on playing the most. Sure those who can play all day long will still have the edge, but they won't perpetually getting further and further ahead as everyone else taking part will upgrade.
For the instances I hope they put the difficulty level to good use to make it so even PuGs can experience all the content, but not get quite the rewards the more organized guilds can obtain. I am kind of hoping eachraid zone has an Epic set for the Hard setting, and a semi Rare/Epic set for (Tier 0.5 like) Easy setting, with a corresponding 5man with green/blue and all blue sets. Sure everyone will still want the full epic set, but at least everyone has an option to progress based on their time and skill and won't have a large part of the population stuck in ilvl 55-60 blues with a smaller part in ilvl 80-90 epics.
Overall I think the expansion will give the majority a way to progress regardless of their prefered playstyle. Some people will still be unhappy, but with so many million customers there is no way to please them all.
The change to 25 man from 40 man raids will still be trying on many guilds, but in the long run will probably just be a bump in the road for most of the guilds that survive, or just see a surge in new guilds being created from the remains of failed guilds or players who choose to move on from their current guilds.