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Good news for 'casuals' in the test center patch notes
IcoGames
Member Posts: 2,360
Quoted from the official site
High-Level Instance ChangesAlong with the new Armor Sets, the high-level 5-10 man dungeons have received some changes regarding loot. Many items have been improved in quality and use. In addition, several epic items, such as Headmaster's Charge and the Runeblade of Baron Rivendare, have had their drop rates significantly increased. In order to preserve the challenge of these dungeons, they have had their instance caps lowered. Stratholme, Scholomance, and Blackrock Depths now allow a maximum of five players inside, and Blackrock Spire allows a maximum of ten.
So we have two significant changes here:
1. Epic items should start dropping more frequently in instances, such as Stratholme.
2. Some of these instances have had their max player limit capped at 5 and 10.
For the casual crowd, this is good news. We'll have access to epic items from the more accessible instances. More importantly, the new caps allows us to gather pick-up groups easier.
Although I'd like to see more 5 man instances, in the least this is a welcomed quick fix that will address concerns of a broad community.
Ico
Oh, cruel fate, to be thusly boned. Ask not for whom the bone bones. It bones for thee.
Comments
Im reseving final jusdgment for this patch till I see it. It could actually be really bad for casual gamers as well. This so called drop rate better be huge or it will just be one big time sink as well. Instead of being able to blitz thses dungeons with 10 or 15 people doing multiple runs as a guild , we will no longer be able to. Instead you will be stuck forming pickups or guild groups , trotting out there , and doing a 3 hour run, 2 if no one goes afk and you dont whipe. Can it be done faster...probably but in reality , averqage groups for those places are 3 hours easy. And that doesnt guarantee you will even get your set gear item.
Like I said though , the gear drop rate better be bumped way up or else they just made this whole thing harder and mroe of a drag to do the same instance over and over and over for ungodly hours in the same damn instance. All the while you are stuck doing this with 5 people, while the rest of your guild has to do 5mans as well. Not really sure if I like this idea a whole hell of alot.
So we shall see, hopefully this drop rate is alot better and maybe these runs wont take so long. If so, it could end up being good...I hope.
im not over powered! look it took me 10 minutes to kill that guy
Of course you're not guaranteed the item you're looking for; either by loot tables or someone else winning the roll. I can't tell you how many instance runs I did to finaly get all of my beaststalker gear.
As for time, you could be right. Most of the runs I did in the upper level instances varied greatly depending on the group. For example, I did a UBRS run in 1.5 hours and on the very next run it took 3 hours. It all depends upon the make-up of your group and the disposition of the constituent players.
On balance, I view this change as a good move on Blizzard's part.
Ico
Oh, cruel fate, to be thusly boned. Ask not for whom the bone bones. It bones for thee.
Strath is so easy to 5man its silly, if you have a good group make up and people who half ass know how to play you can do 5 man ud strat in under a hour and live strat in under 2, ubrs might take awhile longer but it really depends on how wel geared your group is, how fast your pulling and if you wipe or not.
there's pros & cons with any change.
It's gonna reinject the challange of doing these runs, and up the rewards for a successful run, but it's also gonna make it hard for new 60's to collect gear, and for some classes to get runs.
Every group has to have a healer & a warrior and a resser. Your first choice is always gonna be a priest, warrior, lock, and shamie (if you're horde), that only leaves one or two slots for the hunter / rogue to try to get into when they're competeing with mages etc (and that sheep is pretty sweet).
It's also gonna make it harder for a new 60 to learn the ropes. Many a new guy learned a few tricks from watching me tank or heal for a group. But if there's only room for one warrior in the group, the new guy can't see how I position the fight, call the targets & sheeps before hand etc.
Still, over all I'm in favor. Five man is great fun, the best part of the game, I just wish they'd also release some more 5 man content.
Nick
The race doesn't always go to the swiftest, nor the battle to the strongest, but that's the way to bet.
It is if you have good gear & some experience. But how would u rate the chances of some new 60's still using green gear against the Baron?
You need some decent AOE for him, and a competent healer. I wouldn't even bother trying with a PUG.
The race doesn't always go to the swiftest, nor the battle to the strongest, but that's the way to bet.
I'd like to think that most gamers welcome a challenge; especially in a game that's slandered to be devoid of such. On a postive note, at least you won't have to worry about rolling against another x class on set items. ^_^
Ico
Oh, cruel fate, to be thusly boned. Ask not for whom the bone bones. It bones for thee.
I like a challenge.....I however joined a guild to play with the guild not a few friends. If I wanted to play with a couple people....id just stick to a friends list. All those instances were great to run 10 and 15 man bliz runs. I gained armor faster that way than I ever would 5 manning it 24/7.
And I highly doubt these changes bring gear to the casual gamer faster. Certain items you may see around a bit more, but I think there is an alterior motive behind this. Maybe just getting ready for increaed levels and the new expansion coming some month down the road. Make its more of a timesink so other gamers stay around longer? Im not really sure.
Not all the instances will be adjusted, you'll still have oppurtunities for 10 - 20 instance groups. For example, neither ZG or the new AQ20 instances will be affected.
In my estimation, this was a quick fix to address concerns voiced by the 'casual' community.
Ico
Oh, cruel fate, to be thusly boned. Ask not for whom the bone bones. It bones for thee.
look pug = wipe
You still have to join a big guild to prevent wipes and help you get items even if you prefer to play casually. btw, every high end instances requires at least 4-5h of work depending how good you guild can bring down bosses. I'm sure 5h for most guilds. Would you say this is casual?
The normal endgame instances in Wow are perfectly doable with 5 people in around 2 hours. Do make it more casually appealing Blizzard has changed the old blue sets into more attractive and powerful sets. And as far as I know most of the questline for these are solo quests in the gameworld. Not instance runs. Regarding the instances they have made it more likely that epic loot drops. The mobs, bosses have changed abit too. I think many people have a rather weird look on the casual aspect. Casual doesn't mean terrible easy loot or rewards. Casual means that you don't have to play 5 hour long sessions.
im not over powered! look it took me 10 minutes to kill that guy
Oh i get it....an attempt at wit , well done
the point i tried to make ( and failed to do ) is that i've had zero luck in groups so far , take this for example :
I joined a group for a raid on SM , all 5 of us were new to the instance and none of us were of a very high level , we were slowly working our way through SM when our group leader says " Sorry i have to go and feed my rabbit , GL " she left and our group fell apart shortly after.
I joined a 3 man group to raid RFD , myself ( 47 hunter ) a 51 paladin and a 35 druid , again just after entering the instance the druid says " Must go , cya " . Its so irritating when stuff like this happens .
" I'll only join your group if i can have *insert item* "
" lol you're to low lvl , get lost noob "
It's gotten to the point where i will just skip dungeons and buy whatever i need now
umm ZG will still be 20 man and the reason to go is the loot is better and its better looking then the tier zeros imo.....couldnt really make out which of the two you were trying to say so i answered them both
im not over powered! look it took me 10 minutes to kill that guy
Sweeeeet.
Shayde - SWG (dead)
Proud member of the Cabal.
It sounds great, so great in fact, I pitty those who canceled
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09f911029d74e35bd84156c5635688c0
umm ZG will still be 20 man and the reason to go is the loot is better and its better looking then the tier zeros imo.....couldnt really make out which of the two you were trying to say so i answered them both
I think you misunderstood my comment......I know its a 20 man. My point was that we like to do ZG on the weekend.....but ppl will be wanting to 5man as that is the main time ppl have to do instances, that way they cna get there gear.
Also ZG armor will still be better than epic set armor? I havent really seen much to read about this, maybe soemone can drop some info.
Thanks for the clarification Bama; I misunderstood your statement as well.
On a side note:
Some the ZG gear is actually quite nice. I've noticed a few players, mainly Hunters, Warrior, and Mages, switch to trinkets and items found in ZG.
Ico
Oh, cruel fate, to be thusly boned. Ask not for whom the bone bones. It bones for thee.
You are sadly mistaken if you think capping strath/scholo at 5 man helps casuals in anyway.
1) Unless you are a mage, priest or warrior good luck.
2) The time it takes to run either of these instances in 5 man precludes being a casual player.
The drop changes are great, forcing people to 5 man a instance that was has been "raided" as 10 man for over a year now is beyond stupid. It just proves the lack of support from Blizzard to really give casuals what they wanted. They think just recycling the same old dungeon and slapping a "casual friendly sticker" on it will solve their problems.
5 man dungeons being easier to get pickups, thats funny. Try being a hunter or rogue and saying that.
http://www.greycouncil.org/
i think that introducing the epics is a bit silly. what is supposed to happen to the loot that is the result of the long chains through Stratholme, Scholo, and UBRS?
Also, while the new blue items and purples won't be as good as MC loot, it still trivializes the amount of time you have to spend in MC to get the tier 1 items.
You're average raiding player has to spend a couple hours in MC a couple times a week to get tier 1 items and with 40 man raids. At this rate, with normal DKP rules, you're never guaranteed you'll get an item per week. My guild has been running MC for 2 months and no one is full tier 1 yet. (Some people are 7 parts tier 1 with a tier 2 helm from Onyxia). We clear through Shazzrah on a weekday night, and the rest on the weekend. Thats over 7 hours of work for one epic, if you are lucky and have the DKP. And you can only do MC once per week.
COMPARED TO:
To get the Tier 0.5 items, you need only spend a couple hours in an instance with a good group to acheive your quest and get an item. I'm guessing you could do all the items in one week, since there are no instance timers for Strat/Scholo/UBRS, and 5/10 skilled players can easily PUG those instances.
So these new epics really trivialize the amount of time spent in MC in order to get tier 1 items.
Odd, I've been running 5 man UD Strat runs with my Hunter in the past year. Could be my uber skilz, but who knows. >_<
From my own experience, you can 5 man UD Strat in about 2 hours. If that precludes being a casual player, I posit mmo's isn't their gig. Having said that, who knows what will occur after these instances have been adjusted.
As I've stated previously, I see this as a 'quick fix' type of solution, and a good one imo.
Actually, I see this as helping hunters and rogue. Both classes have needed cc abilities used in smaller groups. Especially hunters, as they can provide an emergency off-tank with their pets.
Ico
Oh, cruel fate, to be thusly boned. Ask not for whom the bone bones. It bones for thee.