Rading in Cataclysm: Has Blizzard lost their mind?

You can read about what I am commenting on over at MMO-Champion on the changes for raiding in Cataclysm.

To get to the point, there will no longer be a 10 man raid and a 25 man raid each week.  There will be one raid each week.  If you do it on 10, you can not do it on 25 and vice versa.  Their concept is to make it so doing it on 25 does not feel mandatory. The same loot will drop in each version, just more of it in 25 to make up for the fact there are more people that will roll on it there.  That all makes perfect sense and I do agree with it 100%.  25 should never feel as if it is mandatory to get the best gear. 

There are many people that like 10 mans, I know I do.  Much less chaos in a 10 man and much easier to navigate.  I also believe that 10 man takes more skill.  You screw up in a 25 man and the raid will be fine and no one will even notice it most of the time unless it is an epic screw up but on 10 man if you screw up you could wipe the whole raid and it is almost certain that someone saw what you did even if it was something small.

The only thing that makes 25 mans hard is getting 25 solid people together.  That is a bigger task then downing the King even.  What is even worse is getting those same 25 people to come back later in the week.  People, on the large, are undependable and useless.  Trying to assemble a 25 man proves that, you do not need a dozen of years of schooling to study the human mind and how it works to see that we as a people are morons, you just need to try and get a 25 man together.

But really, I am getting off the point of my grumpiness and that is the fact we will only have one option and not two any more.

Who is the brain dead piece of shit that thought this idea up?  He should be fired so fast and his reputation in the business so burned that his grand kids can not even get a job in generations to come.  This is what happens when people that apparently do not play the game make decisions that effect the people that do play the game.  WoW is not the first to have this happen and will surely not be the last.  I have seen many games go down this path and travel the road to ruin.  Letting people that do not play the game make decisions on how the game is played can only lead to bad things.

Mind you, if I never had the option for both 10 and 25 mans I would not miss having it taken away.  Can't miss what you never had.  We do have it however and you can't just take something away from people that they have gotten used to without a damn good reason and "we do not want people to feel like that have to run 25s" is not a damn good reason.  Heck, it is not even a bad reason, it is a retarded reason.  They can do what they want to and have the same loot tables with just more in the 25s and let the players decide which one, or both, we want to do.  There you go, fixed your perceived problem that people will feel they "have to" do 25s because they won't have to but they will still have the option.

Ever heard the expression, Sometimes the simplest solution is the best one.

What Blizzard is missing here is the fact that having two options for raids is a good thing.  For my first example I will use the weekly raid.  I'll ask you one thing that I know everyone that has played has done it or noticed it happen.  Ever ran the weekly with someone and as soon as you down the boss someone says something along the lines of "oh crap I forgot to pick up the weekly".  No big deal now.  He can do it on 25 with a PuG. Not any more, thanks Blizzard.

For my second example we will use the small guild that only runs 10 mans.  You run your 10 man with your group and you run 25s with others in a PuG on the weekend.  This helps you meet new people and make new friends in the game.  Making new friends in the game makes you feel more of a connection to the game.  Any game like this, it is the community that keeps the game going.  Having two options gives you the ability to meet new people instead of just sticking with the people in your guild.  Taking away from having a second option takes away from meeting more people which takes away from the community and in the long term takes away from the "addiction" to the game.  If your 10 man team falls apart you might consider quitting the game.  But if you have other friends you ran with in 25s you can relocate easier because you got to know more people and where not just connected to your core group and no one else.

For my third example we go back the that small 10 man group.  Lets say day one they start a 10 man raid and they get the first 3 bosses down and on day two when they are set to continue one of the members has a wedding to go to and will not be able to be on.  Now they need to try and pick up someone to fill that spot.  Before they could drag someone in and they would not mind, they will help with this 10 and can still do 25 later.  But in the Cataclysm world why would they waste their one and only chance to raid for the week on a group that is already 3 bosses in?  I know I would never do that.  Blizzard basically just killed continuations for groups that do not have 100% return attendance.  Where they used to be able to continue, they can not any more.  It is Blizzards way of telling that guild they need to recruit people that have no personal life if they want to continue.  Thanks Blizzard.

For the fourth example we go to the ever fun reputation run.  All in all we all want instant gratification and that is what rep runs are about.  In the end you will get exalted in no time anyway just by running the raid every week but you want to get maxed out as quick as possible.  Personally I always liked rep runs just to get together with people and have some low stress fun.  It is a chance to meet people and more so a chance to test some rotation ideas in practical use instead of on a test dummy.  You get buffs on yourself, debuffs on the targets and real threat to deal with.  I have learned more about my rotation in rep runs then I could ever have learned on a dummy even if I spent 100 years on it.  Rep runs are good for many reasons besides just rep.  Practice, community, entertainment and even those rare drops that someone can use.

For my fifth example and one I know we have all been subject to at one point or another, the failed PuG.  Lets say, for arguments sake you missed out on your guild run and now have to join a PuG.  It starts out great, you breeze through the first boss as if you where downing Hogger at 80, no problem at all.  Somewhere along the line the team falls apart for whatever reason.  Someone gets bitchy because they lost a roll and leaves or the healers dog just shit all over the house or the tank has to wake up early tomorrow or whatever.  But you never get past the first boss.  You now ruined your entire week.  For what?  Nothing?  Hell no, this is not right.  At least now we have a second option.  One which Blizzard wants to take away.

There are more reasons I can think of for keeping the 10 and 25 versions but what difference does it make to complain about things.  Blizzard will do whatever it wants no matter what the people think. 

Blizzard will not care how the people feel about it because in the end it knows we will adjust and get used to it and it extends the life of their game longer.  In the end, that is all this is about.  It is not about "fairness" to those that can't do 25s.  It is not about making people feel like they need to do 25s.  It is about slowing down how quickly people can gear up because if people gear up to fast they get bored and will want new content.  By slowing down how fast we can gear up it keeps us interested in the game longer as we have something to aim for still and it allows them to take their time releasing content because they will not need to rush it any more because it is taking people forever to gear up.

The bottom line, the accountants, those are the ones that are making this decision.  Accountants do not make video games and there is a reason besides their lack of programming ability that they do not do that.  It is because when you start thinking about what is good for your wallet and not thinking about what is good for the game that is helping you keep that wallet full you are going to make some bad mistakes.

I sure hope they change their mind on this one.  I think if the community (that pugging and having more options created) gets together and lets them know that the content means more then their bottom line on this one and maybe they will reconsider.  They can always sell another my little pony if they need money.  Leave game play alone.  Add to it if anything, do not take away from it.