Raids in Dragonflight will be easier – at least for the mythic raiders in World of Warcraft. They are expected to finish the raid in fewer days.
It was an exhausting race for the “World First Kill” of the Jailer in World of Warcraft. The best guilds in the world tried to defeat Zovaal first and spent millions of gold to gain every possible advantage. However, in the end, some ran out of steam. The raid was long, the race tiring, and some professional teams simply gave up.
With the next expansion Dragonflight, the races are expected to become a bit shorter.
What is the problem? Balancing raid bosses is a quite complex issue, especially in the mythic area. Differences of just a few percent can turn a “fairly challenging boss” into an “unsurmountable” or “much too easy” one. Moreover, professional guilds often come up with special strategies or class combinations that simply cannot all be tested in advance.
This leads to progress in the mythic “World First Race” not always going as Blizzard envisioned. Some bosses die off far too quickly, while others prove to be insurmountable obstacles.
To keep the event exciting for both raiders and spectators, Blizzard needs to hit the right point.
What has been said? In a interview with PCGamesN, the Game Director of WoW, Ion Hazzikostas, spoke about exactly this issue. He said:
[The race in the Mausoleum] took a bit longer than we would have liked. The ideal length is somewhere between 10 and 11 days. […] Hitting exactly that point, from the perspective of boss tuning, is difficult. Creating fights that are challenging enough to test the best guilds, but that don’t fall over too quickly and aren’t too hard, is more of an art than a science in many respects.
Regarding Dragonflight, plans are to ensure that the raids are “not in a length [range] that is unhealthy or frustrating, nor that diminishes the enjoyment of the participants and spectators.”
Why was the Mausoleum so hard? The special feature about the Mausoleum of the First was that the raid, with 11 bosses, was not only quite extensive but also had effectively 2 “final bosses”. Anduin Wrynn (boss 8) was equipped with so many mechanics that he felt like a real final boss. Accordingly, the fight against him turned out to be quite tough, which led Blizzard to numerous nerfs within a few days.
Additionally, some features, such as “Double Legendaries”, were only unlocked during the race, leading to a significant increase in character power. These were factors that contributed to the fights becoming significantly more manageable only after nearly 2 weeks for the professionals.
At least: With Dragonflight, the raids are expected to be a little easier to manage, providing mythic raiders with a somewhat more pleasant event. However, it should not be expected that the raids will be truly “easy”.
Do you think it’s good that Blizzard is keeping an eye on the World-First race? Or should they turn it into an official event?
