Thursday, March 5, 2009

3.1 Removing Glory Of The Raider

Not news for most of you, but a decently hot (if not warm) topic.

Patch 3.1 will remove the Meta for T7 Raid achievements, and the 310% drake that goes with them. I approve, heartily.

Am I saying this from the side of someone who has it? No. I'm saying it from someone who is three achievements away (6min Malygos, 20man Malygos, and Immortal) from getting it.

It is not certain that I'll finish H:GotR - Immortal being the rough one in that group. But it certainly gives importance to our remaining raids, and makes me rethink how we spent some of our time in T7 up to this point. I feel good about having taken the time to do some of the more out of the way achievements - as it gives us less to focus on now. I regret not having started super-serious Immortal attempts sooner, as we will be doing after this coming week's achievement cleanup sweep in Naxx (the last time we will be doing all non-immortal achievements).

Is it fair to remove them? Fair is a helluva term to use in a game that 11 million people play, where so many views and playstyle's exist. I can really only say that I approve of it: I think that this will keep the Raiding PvE 310% speed mount rare, and special - in a game where less and less is special, and I see more equipped Epics then Rares or Uncommons.

For those who don't seem themselves getting it this tier - there is T8. Perhaps with it out in the open that there is a window of time available to fully finish the raiding content, more people will push their guilds to (or find guilds which) chase achievements in raid content with 310% passion.

And for those that never see themselves finishing a raiding tier before the next is released (for whatever reason) - there is the non-raiding PvE What-A-Long-Strange-Trip-Its-Been mount.

So a 310% mount for being at the top of the PvP scene, PvE raiding scene, or casual/questing scene? Seems perfectly balanced to me. And if you don't excel at any of those three categories, well... I don't think you should get a distinguishing reward.

So if I fail to be among the top of the PvE raiding scene this tier, I accept not getting the H:GotR mount. And I would far prefer that, to getting a universally less meaningful mount for doing the same achievements in the next tier's gear, which would lessen the accomplishment of those that did go the distance.

6 comments:

Hexapuma said...

very well spoken. it seems like the majority of the wow community is complaining about the lack of challenge one minute and wants everything available the next...

Unknown said...

Don't confuse the actual majority of players, with the current vocal majority.

Satisfied players rarely go out of their way to draw attention to how good things are going. Angry players will make a dozen, all caps posts on every forum they know about how bad/wrong things are. This kind of behavior is actually true of just about every consumer good/service.

Darraxus said...

Immortal seems near impossible to me. You have to have everyone not have their head up their ass to get this one done.

Beth said...

I don't particularly care about getting the achievement for myself, but I do dislike how quickly they remove things. It seems like slower-moving guilds only have time to begin trying before the prize is ripped out of the game.

My guild is slow and steady and made the decision to focus 10's first, then 25's, in an effort to bring the guild back to a family-oriented society.

/sigh There's no way to satisfy everyone. It's still annoying.

Unknown said...

If something is good, then it is rarely spoken of while if something is bad, then it is sensationalized.

Perhaps slower-moving guilds should spend less time on non-raiding aspects of the game, such as drama, and pure more focused effort on their goals. One can be a hardcore player without having a 40-hour in-game job.

Anonymous said...

I've been quite casual in WOTLK. I've really only done pugs. Thus, I'm far from finishing either of these achievements. I would like to get a 310 mount, but it looks like I'll have a wait for the long strange trip reward. It won't keep me from complaing to blizzard in my monthly cancellation reason about the removal of these rewards. I know blizzard has to keep the hardcore people happy, but they take my money just as much.