The affixes in World of Warcraft are being completely overhauled once again – and MeinMMO demon Cortyn thinks it looks really good.
In World of Warcraft, a large part of the endgame takes place in the dungeons of the difficulty “Mythic+”. These become increasingly harder, but they also receive so-called “affixes” that add further challenges. Many affixes have been annoying to the community, as players felt they were “playing more the affixes than the dungeon”.
With The War Within, Blizzard aimed to revise the affixes and received a lot of criticism for the first proposal. They have now fully revamped the system again – and it looks really well-rounded.
The latest trailer for WoW: The War Within:
What has changed? Blizzard has taken the community’s feedback, especially the rather harsh criticism, to heart. Therefore, they now present a revised system for affixes with many new ideas that meet several community desires:
- A similar experience in terms of difficulty every week.
- Affixes that have both positive and negative properties.
- Affixes that have little impact on gameplay.
- Affixes that fit the current theme of the story.
These plans result in new affixes and a new distribution of them.
Xal’atath appears in the dungeons
From M+2 onward, there will be a new affix themed around Xal’atath. The affix changes every week – just like before.
- Xal’atath’s Bargain: Ascendant – During the fight, Xal’atath rains down orbs of cosmic energy to empower nearby enemies with haste and movement speed. If players interrupt these orbs, they can receive the bonus themselves.
- Xal’atath’s Bargain: Frenzied – Non-bosses enter a frenzy when their health drops below 30%. This increases their haste by 40% but also increases the damage they take by 20%.
The affixes strengthen enemies in various ways, while also giving players a benefit.
Tyrannical and Fortified remain, starting at level 4
The two “base affixes” that enhance either bosses or trash mobs in a dungeon will remain part of the new system. Starting at level 4, one of the two affixes will be activated. Sometimes the bosses are enhanced (Tyrannical), and sometimes the trash mobs are particularly tough (Fortified).
At M+10, the second affix of this type will also be activated.
Only one affix at level 7 – No gameplay mechanics
Also new is the affix that all dungeons receive from M+7 onward. It is called “Challenger’s Peril” and increases the penalty for dying in dungeons. Normally, a character’s death reduces the remaining time in the dungeon by five seconds – the affix increases this time to 15 seconds.
A wipe of the entire group thus costs a hefty 75 seconds, in addition to the run time. Many deaths can quickly ensure that the dungeon timer cannot be kept.
M+10 brings the second standard affix
Starting at level 10, another affix will become active, either Tyrannical or Fortified – logically always the affix that is not already active from M+4.
This means that from M+10 onward, Tyrannical and Fortified will be active in every week. This ensures that the highest dungeons with the best rewards are always at a comparable level and prevents there from being particularly easy and particularly hard weeks.
Soft cap at level 12
If you reach a difficulty of M+12, there will be an additional hurdle. This will be considered a “soft cap” for many, as the difficulty is dramatically increased here.
From Mythic+12 onward, the Xal’atath affixes (from M+2) will be disabled. Instead, there will be “Xal’atath’s Guile.” This affix causes all creatures in the dungeon to have 20% more health and deal 20% more damage.
Note that level 12 is not necessary for any gameplay-relevant rewards; it is purely about prestige and just to show off – to prove that you are the best of the best.
Dungeons as they should be
Even though it will only be shown in the tests how well the combination of Tyrannical and Fortified really works, I am absolutely thrilled with the basic idea of the new and revised affixes. It feels like Blizzard now has a clear vision of where they want to go with a major pillar of the endgame.
While Tyrannical and Fortified may be affixes that many players would love to see completely removed – I am very satisfied with the change. Because the result of the new affixes is a keystone system where the dungeons play a little differently every week, but the hardest dungeons (i.e., +10 and above) offer a comparable difficulty from week to week.
As a nice side effect, all the unpopular affixes like Bleeding
or Bursting
will be removed. You really can’t complain about that. Not even I can.
The times of “Push Weeks” with particularly easy affixes and “Dead Weeks” where the affix combination is so nasty that you prefer not to log in at all should be over.
This new direction will certainly require some balance changes to feel truly right. But the general design idea behind it is exactly what Mythic+ needed. The dungeons seem to be well-prepared for The War Within – now we just need the whole story to impress.
