The Blackrock Depths should be a whimsical activity for the birthday of World of Warcraft – but the raid was brutally hard.
In World of Warcraft, they are currently celebrating the 20th anniversary of the MMORPG. This is celebrated with many new contents, including a revamped version of the dungeon “Blackrock Depths”, but as a raid. However, those who thought they could stroll through it comfortably like through so many other event contents were quickly taught otherwise. The raid is brutally hard and poses some challenges even for professionals. Now there have been initial nerfs.
WoW celebrates birthday with a brutally hard raid
What kind of raid is it? The raid “Blackrock Depths” is a new raid with 8 bosses, which can be loosely recognized from Vanilla. However, all bosses have received new mechanics and, of course, modern loot. The raid is available for 10-15 characters and in the difficulties LFR, normal, and heroic – for the duration of the event, until early January 2025.
What is the problem? In short: the difficulty. Even on the normal level, some bosses turn out to be significant obstacles. Many groups have entered the raid a bit over-motivated in the last couple of days, expecting to finish it within an hour – but even after a few bosses, a lot of coordination and communication is necessary. Bosses like Golem Lord Algemas, The Seven, or General Angerforge made mincemeat out of the raid groups, who often retreated grumbling.
Is this really a problem? Essentially yes, because a significant incentive of the raid is lost. To complete the raid on normal difficulty, most groups need gear that is already significantly better. Those who enter the raid with an average item level of 615 will hardly be excited about rewards with item level 600.
Therefore, the raid simply didn’t feel rewarding enough, prompting many guilds to say: “We can also continue in the Palace of Nerub’ar, where we can obtain better gear more easily.”
This is how Blizzard reacted: The developers listened to the criticism and within the first days have already applied some hotfixes. Most bosses have now been slightly simplified, especially for smaller group sizes (about 10 players). Many abilities now have a smaller radius or deal less damage. So those who had problems with the raid last Wednesday or Thursday should try going in with a group again in the coming days – many of the fights are now significantly easier to handle.
Is the raid still worth it later? Yes, definitely. Because as soon as players collect 100 of the event tokens, the bosses in the Blackrock Depths will also drop event tokens. So those who want the pretty HD versions of the Tier 2 sets will likely make a few visits to the raid in the coming weeks.
The birthday of World of Warcraft is being celebrated particularly long this year. You have time until early January 2025 to experience the new contents. If you need tips on how to farm the reward tokens best, we’ve explained that in this guide.
