In World of Warcraft, the new dungeons are expected to be harder than the previous ones in Warlords of Draenor, but easier than those in Cataclysm.
With Warlords of Draenor, Blizzard plans to hit the “sweet spot” for the difficulty of the dungeons. In an interview with mmorpg.com, the Game Lead Designer Corty Stockton explains that with the 5-man dungeons in WoD, they aim for a middle ground between Mists of Pandaria and Cataclysm. He also emphasizes how important the LFR mode of the raids is for the development of WoW.
New 5-man dungeons are to be harder than in MoP, easier than in Cataclysm
In the last expansion, Mists of Pandaria, the dungeons were a bit too easy. In the previous expansion, Cataclysm, they tried to recapture the difficulty of “The Burning Crusade” at launch. The community was not prepared for that kind of difficulty anymore, as it hadn’t been seen for a long time.
Those who long for the past and seek a slightly harder challenge in World of Warcraft with Warlords of Draenor should prepare for the heroic dungeons or enter the LFR mode of the raids.
Stockton also emphasized how important the LFR mode is for the WoW team. After all, a whole team of content designers works on the raids – it would be pointless if only the core raiders, one or two percent of the player base, benefited from it.
The SF-MMO WildStar has been struggling with just this problem in recent months, which had once aimed to attract former WoW players.
