After the initial hype surrounding the Black Temple in WoW, dissatisfaction remains. The timewalking system is not well thought out.
In World of Warcraft, the timewalking “The Burning Crusade” event is ongoing until the end of next Tuesday (24.10.2017). In addition to the old dungeons of the expansion, interested players can also form a raid group of 25 people to conquer the Black Temple. The values of the enemies and abilities have been adjusted to provide a small challenge even at level 110.
However, there are a few problems that the developers did not consider: the sheer size of the raid. The Black Temple is not something that a group of players can quickly roll through in just a few minutes. Depending on the group, you can easily spend 2-4 hours in the raid. This is particularly a barrier for LFR players and for all players with limited time.
LFR Assignments Give Raids a Structure
Newer raids at least offer the easy LFR variant, which divides larger raids into smaller sections with 1-4 bosses each. This way, even with limited time, something can be achieved.
If someone has to leave the Black Temple early because real life calls, they have very little chance of getting back into a “started” instance later. And that means that all previous bosses have to be killed again – without awarding loot a second time. Genuine enjoyment is not something this system offers.
The argument “then one should look for a guild” does not hold much weight here either, as raid-interested guilds have little interest in spending an evening in the Black Temple, taking away time from “real” raids. After all, the fights in the temple are no longer fresh, and the loot is so poor that even fresh characters at level 110 think twice about making a detour into the temple.
Cortyn says: My opinion on timewalking raids has changed over time. After the announcement, I was thrilled to once again face Illidan in style “as before”. However, if Blizzard does not tweak the mechanics here and perhaps splits the raids into different wings as is the case today in LFR, then I see a dark future for this feature. A large part of the community has simply evolved. Finding 25 players willing to go through a raid for 4 hours straight, the loot of which they no longer need, is simply not happening anymore.
Or to put it in Akama’s words: “I still remember how the temple once was…”
How do you like the timewalking raid “The Black Temple”? Is it still fun, and do you have a suitable guild for it? Or do you go with randoms and end up frustrated?
