Daily Thoughts: Too Easy is Still Too Easy

I finally got a chance to get into the second half of Mogu’shan Vaults as looking for raid (along with the first few bosses on normal mode as well, but that’s for another time) and I found the bosses to be much more interesting. These encounters were such that completely ignoring the mechanics may result in death (unlike the first half) where I kept my finger near the “Raise Ally” skill to bring up a tank or healer that may have died – cause we’d need them alive to win.

The first boss I landed on was the last one. The group had wiped on that encounter previously though we had little trouble collecting our loot that time. It did at least give me the impression that everyone had to at least catch on to what was happening or the healers would have trouble keeping up. After getting into my next group and passed the first bit of trash, the actual first boss was a little tricky if the group isn’t paying attention. Half of the team was dead before the boss fell. The second boss, Elegon, is a titan defense machine those is a little unlike those we’ve encountered before. This was the only boss we wiped on. Most of the raid, maybe, fell to their deaths, or something. Otherwise, the fight was tough but manageable. It as well ended with the raid looking like it might fall over if there were a small gust of wind.

So, if these fights were of appropriate difficulty for a raid finder situation, then why is this post about things being too easy still? Because the first half is still, ridiculously, too easy. Sure, raids typically get progressively harder as you go down the bosses, but even raid finder bosses shouldn’t be as much of a set of pushovers as the first three were – particularly given the raid is still pretty new and people don’t know it yet. Maybe I’m mistaken, but I’d like to think that most gamers (of really any type) want some sort of challenge as part of their enjoyment. Instead, the first half of MV shows people it’s a place to go to get free epics then it’s a slap in the face when the second half makes them work for it a little. Although I’m hopeful that future raids don’t aren’t such a walk in the park (which may be insulting to the difficulty of walking through a park), I can’t quite understand why these particular bosses were balanced this way. Any ideas?

Daily Thoughts: When Does Accessible Become Too Easy

I participated something last night that made me wonder if perhaps making content accessible to the masses can have an adverse side effect of making that content far too easy. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not one of those who hails back to the “harder” old days that let only an elite few actually see all of a raids bosses. I really like that there are normal modes to bosses that don’t require dozens of attempts to kill. I love the relative ease of blowing through a MoP heroic dungeon without much worry that I might be wiping to this boss for the next 45 minutes. I even enjoy the concept of the Looking for Raid feature. Particularly on nights where we’re short guildies online to do a normal raid or just so I can take an alt through the content without having to make a second raid / join a second raiding guild. So, keep in mind that I think it’s okay that the LFR bosses and trash pulls can be a low stress, easy-going, fun way to get some sub-par raiding gear. But after doing the first 3 bosses of Mogu’shan Vaults, perhaps we should consider that content that has been made so accessible that there’s no challenge left might not be worthwhile content after all. There may be some spoilers to raid content after the break, so be warned!

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