The latest WoW raid is quite tough. But according to a former pro raider, that’s intentional by Blizzard. You are supposed to enjoy the World First race for longer.
In World of Warcraft, the “World First Race” for the latest raid is currently taking place. The best guilds in the world are trying to defeat the Jailer on Mythic difficulty as the first. However, that it takes so long is purely intentional by Blizzard – at least that’s what Naguura claims. She was a raider at “World First” level for a long time and is now part of Team Liquid as a content creator.
In a interview with Dexerto, she explained that Blizzard intentionally designs bosses to be so difficult, so that the race for the first kill lasts a bit longer:
I believe one thing that not all viewers necessarily understand is that these teams have become so good at the World First Race that Blizzard is really trying hard to make the bosses more difficult, so that the race lasts a bit longer. […]
Because honestly, it would probably be a bit disappointing for the viewers if the last boss of a raid tier survives “only” 150 pulls when bosses in the past survived for months or caused 500 or 600 wipes. I believe part of that is because the teams today are simply much better, and therefore there are fewer wipes.
It should also be worth it for the professional guilds to have a longer race, as they have now turned it into their own event that attracts tens of thousands of fans on Twitch. Through streams, some of the pros earn money, and sponsors of the events provide additional income.
On the other hand, the time that professional players can take as their main profession is often limited. If such a race were to stretch over several months, it could lead to problems.
Blizzard itself does not promote the race for the World First Kill. They monitor the attempts, of course, and often apply hotfixes and bug fixes minute by minute or despawn a boss if something goes wrong, but they do not make a big event out of it.
How has World of Warcraft changed? In fact, it is quite easy to verify how much the change in bosses and their mechanics in World of Warcraft has been. To do this, one only needs to compare the current raid end bosses and their mechanics with the raid bosses from earlier times. Where Ragnaros might have had three mechanics that kept players on their toes, fights against bosses like Anduin, Sylvanas, or Denathrius have a dozen or more abilities that almost all players must pay attention to and play correctly.
The tolerance for mistakes has also become smaller. With the exception of LFR (the simplest difficulty), many bosses have several “guaranteed kill abilities” that can kill players within seconds or even lead to the complete defeat of the group.
Vicious cycle of addons and boss mechanics
Among some players or observers, there is also the opinion that boss fights in World of Warcraft are not so difficult because there are addons like “Deadly Boss Mods” that help – which is also one of the most important addons for Shadowlands. And while such addons definitely help simplify the overview and coordination in boss fights, these addons do not “play by themselves,” as is often mistakenly assumed. The
However, the widespread use of such addons has led Blizzard to upgrade the boss mechanics. Often the reaction time to abilities is significantly shorter than it was a few years ago, effects occur more frequently, and multiple mechanics overlap.
Blizzard is introducing more and more mechanics while addon developers try to list these mechanics more clearly and communicate quick, clear instructions to the players.
Slowly but surely, however, the peak of the iceberg is likely being reached. Boss fights in World of Warcraft have become so complex that, in principle, one or more mechanics must be considered simultaneously at all times. At some point, the limit of what players can process with their attention at the same time is simply reached.
What do you think of the evolution of raids in World of Warcraft? Is it good that boss fights are becoming increasingly complex? Or is it now too exhausting?
