tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296072451123411896.post3570907321827102875..comments2023-06-09T15:50:07.543+02:00Comments on Shy at WoW: 12 million subscribers! - but for how long?Sweetcherriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03904742253394231819noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296072451123411896.post-31941771631128944172010-10-09T13:42:04.483+02:002010-10-09T13:42:04.483+02:00I'm pretty sure they'll lose some subscrib...I'm pretty sure they'll lose some subscribers with Cataclysm, but on the other hand they might get others back that thought WOTLK was boring? There's constant turnover in the playerbase after all.<br /><br />And I think a lot of the changes simply come down to adjusting expectations. Someone might leave a group saying "I didn't expect this to take so long" now, but once everyone moves away from WOTLK's 15-minute dungeon idea, that shouldn't be a problem anymore. Also, instances always take a lot longer to clear when they are new. I remember spending four hours or something in heroic SL in early BC, yet at the end of the expansion we breezed through it in less than one. Same in WOTLK pretty much, where our first heroic runs took about an hour, now we get through in fifteen minutes.Shintarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16758343475446510635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296072451123411896.post-86465605274747051882010-10-08T13:59:43.427+02:002010-10-08T13:59:43.427+02:00And my beta client just froze, darn it!And my beta client just froze, darn it!Sweetcherriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03904742253394231819noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296072451123411896.post-83226997613200624402010-10-08T13:59:06.109+02:002010-10-08T13:59:06.109+02:00No, time spent, and difficulty are not the same th...No, time spent, and difficulty are not the same thing. Definitely related though. Because every pull requires CC and mobs have more health, require more dps, and you can only kill 1 or 2 at a time. Each pull takes more time. <br /><br />Lets say that a 5 pull currently takes 1,5 minute. And killing one mob takes 30 seconds. Than a 5 pull in Cata takes 2.5 minutes. Give or take about 15 seconds downtime in between pulls that is if you don't have to rez or run back. <br /><br />As to what the gear progression is intended to be, I think they announced it somewhere already. Normal dungeon > heroic dungeon > normal raid > heroic raid. Now wether they stick to this I don't know of course, but that was the plan. <br /><br />And you may be right, new players may not know anything different, but the current 12 million subscribers do. <br /><br />From Vanilla to TBC things became easier, and gearprogression became available to more people. <br /><br />From Wrath to Cata things become harder and gearprogression will be available to less people. <br /><br />Which transition will be easier on your subscriber base?Sweetcherriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03904742253394231819noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296072451123411896.post-47923704686894455212010-10-08T13:09:26.526+02:002010-10-08T13:09:26.526+02:00Is the time spent and difficulty the same thing in...Is the time spent and difficulty the same thing in your opinion? There is a relation - each wipe increases the time you spend in an instance, but ultimately, I can imagine a short and difficult dungeon as well as 3-hour faceroll one.<br /><br />I'm sure the instance difficulty is an issue, although I don't expect it to be a huge issue with the new players. It's all about expectations, someone who started playing in Wrath and got to 80 at patch 3.2/3.3 expects the dungeons to be a faceroll - someone who starts in Cata and never knew WotLK might expect a wipe or two in an instance.<br />I don't know what gear does drop in normal and heroic instances relative to what do the raids require. Maybe they intend us to go normals -> normal raids (-> HC raids if skilled enough) and heroics are intended for raiders (to get some badges if they miss a raid) as well as people who start late in the expansion. That would mean there would be people who don't experience Cata HCs (so they can't comment on how hard they are), people who overgear them (so they find them easier) and people who expect them to be hard (so they do not get surprised when learning that HCs are indeed hard).<br /><br />The actual time it takes to clear an instance is a different issue. It would create an issue for the players who don't have much time - they are able to raid for a couple of hours an evening or two per week but I doubt most of them would be able to spend 3+ hours playing WoW each day. I can't speak for others but if the dungeons took 3 hours per run, I would not log to WoW except for raids (and money grinding but that's boring and I only think of it as an additional price I have to pay for the game).<br /><br />Jen, IMO, TBC was different - the instances were not much more difficult (if they were more difficult at all) compared to Vanilla (the bosses often were but Vanilla trash was quite difficult by itself) and they took much less time. Now they're going to be more difficult (especially trash) and much longer. I don't think it's like the change from Vanilla to TBC at all.Imaknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296072451123411896.post-36456387470917417832010-10-08T12:41:15.400+02:002010-10-08T12:41:15.400+02:00Cataclysm is being built so that you have to run n...Cataclysm is being built so that you have to run normals to be able to do heroics, once fully geared in dungeon gear you can run heroics. <br /><br />The premades all have full dungeon gear, so heroic starter gear. <br /><br />Once you have all your heroic gear you can start running raids. <br /><br />Wrath has never been as hard as the Cata heroics are currently. And yes, I do remember when even some Wrath dungeons were somewhat a challenge, but really, never to the point of wiping 8 to 10 times on one boss. <br /><br />And oh..I forgot to mention. Heroic Deadmines in the guild group? We wiped only a couple of times. The instance just takes that long to clear, what with every pull taking relatively long due to needing a lot of CC and only being able to handle 1 or 2 mobs at a time. (pulls often still have 5 or 6 targets, which makes CC absolutely necesary)<br /><br />And yes, I agree, 15 minutes is bad too, but I feel that once a dungeon lasts longer than 2 hours...bad. 2 hours for me is the max, I simply don't HAVE more time to spend on a weekday.Sweetcherriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03904742253394231819noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296072451123411896.post-46995155825229155792010-10-08T12:08:56.789+02:002010-10-08T12:08:56.789+02:003hrs is overkill but an hour is good. 15 minutes ...3hrs is overkill but an hour is good. 15 minutes is as almost as bad as 3 hrs.<br /><br />I hope they find the middle ground.<br /><br />Gobble gobbleAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296072451123411896.post-23685332585480486432010-10-08T11:09:01.944+02:002010-10-08T11:09:01.944+02:00How good was the gear of the groups you are trying...How good was the gear of the groups you are trying heroics with? I predict that before long everyone will outgear the heroics and they will go back to being trivial.<br /><br />No-one will admit it now but I remember wiping repeatedly on the Snake boss in Gundrak and Loken in HoL back when WotLK came out and I was still in a mix of SWP gear and leveling gear. This was in guild groups full of people who had cleared SWP at 70 so hardly bad players either.masithnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296072451123411896.post-72694961572608469992010-10-08T10:58:49.182+02:002010-10-08T10:58:49.182+02:00Hmm..yes, but you have to see it in time. TBC was ...Hmm..yes, but you have to see it in time. TBC was a massive improvement over Vanilla (even though people like taking trips to memory lane). And then Wrath made it even easier. To go back now to TBC will make a lot of people go ugh. <br /><br />And the dungeons are okish on normal (though they still take a bit), but heroics take forever. <br /><br />And while the content is gorgeous, there are things they don't do that they should do. Like portals to the bosses where it takes 5 minutes to run back, especially if you wipe several times, the runback is horrible. <br /><br />But, there's still time, and like I said, I hope they retune it a little still.Sweetcherriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03904742253394231819noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296072451123411896.post-31403322457254135322010-10-08T10:50:34.871+02:002010-10-08T10:50:34.871+02:00I don't think it's so bad. We had TBC and ...I don't think it's so bad. We had TBC and we didn't see a mass exodus. Maybe people will start playing again... and once we get better gear, heroics will become easier again. They did say it will be easier than TBC and I hope they're right, wiping while wearing T5 wasn't fun :/<br /><br />I don't know about other dungeons since I didn't level and I don't have a premade char, but Blackrock thing and Throne of the Tides were fairly short at level 80. Painful (especially since I was healing without my addons), but not unmanageable.Jenhttp://www.storiesofwow.comnoreply@blogger.com