Ahh yes, Friday.
Let me say that again because it feels so damn good to say it....
Ahhhhhhhhhhh yes. Tis Friday brother and sisters. Hoo Ray
Ok, I feel better now
Alot of information has been released this week about the upcoming patch, 3.3.
I am not going to go into much detail about it due to half of my blogroll has already talk about it and has some great insight in their articles. Larisa, PvD, and I think Clearcasting will have a post up later today about it...so go read them about the how the new raid, ICC (Icecrown Citadel) is going to work with the gated release.
However, I do want to write down and share some of my thoughts before I get into the subject line of this post.
Basically, a blue post stated that the first wing, 4 bosses, will be released and the rest of the instance will not be accessible for "several weeks". Then the second wing will be released, followed by another break. Then the third wing...and so on and so on.
Not to mention, the last boss of each wing will have only 5 attempts a week! Very interesting stuff and as a casual / mid level raider...I dislike the 5 attempts a week. The WoW forums and the blogmosphere is booming with statements about how this is going to kill so many guilds and ruin their personal freedom on how they want approach progression.
What do I think? I agree that it is going to kill alot of guilds. However, I do not think that this "new age" of gated raiding progression is going to be the smoking gun, it is going to be the raid instance itself.
Just like when Ulduar came out and everyone was QQing about how hard that it was before it got nerfed to the ground. Alot of guilds broke up due to it. Alot of people quit playing because of it, ie fellow blogger "Heal'n Hoofs" . It happens with every major patch that has a new raid instance. Guilds that are struggling with the current or old content and fail with the new content usually break up due to raiders leaving for other guilds that can hang in the new content.
So I am not going to blame any guild breakups over gated progression. In fact, I think its rather ignorant of people to assume that.
I know, ignorant people posting on the WoW forums? Unheard of...
/end_sarcasm
Like I stated before, I didn't really want to get into that much detail about it...so I will stop talking about it.
Now to the good stuff
Why do you raid?
Pretty straight forward question. Why do you raid...is it boredom and because there is nothing else to do? Is it for the phat loots and nothing else?
This question is a GREAT question to use for your guild's application if you are a raiding guild. I have used it before when I was an officer of a guild and it really shows you what type of person you are dealing with.
Now, the majority of people raid to continue the process of upgrading and improving their toon, i.e. MOAR EPICz! The whole concept of WoW since you created your toon was upgrading and improving your gear. You might not have made it your number one priority or a priority at all...but don't kid yourself and think that isn't the foundation of the game.
I know plenty of people that play the game just to mess around at the AH or to be social with friends. Hell, I have a guy on my server that is a level 10 paladin and all he does is joke around and (depending on who you ask) annoy the hell out of people or entertaining and make people laugh in trade chat. He is the most well known character on our server....and he is only level 10. He has been level 10 for well over a year as well lol.
Back to my point...I was reading CriticalQQ's post today and he stated that he only raids for a challenge.
Loot is good and all, but he looks at loot as a way to make the encounter less challenging. Tis an interesting point and I know that the way he feels is the minority, but I know there are hundreds of thousands of players like him out there.
So, what about me? What do I raid for?
Well I am glad you ask! I mean, this is my blog and stuff. If you don't care then you can go BE FEET!
You know, kick rocks, gtfo, ect...
right...
Thats right, I made a visual chart. I kinda rock face like that.
I will say this about my chart. It changes every time I go into a place more then once. Let me explain
I have been playing WoW since URBRS was THE ONLY end game raid. Roughly 2004. I have experienced atleast 90% of the content that Blizzard has put out over the 5 years I have been addicted.
When new content comes out, I fiend for it. I do research and find out if it is going to be possible with my casual / mid level raider playstyle. An example of content that I was knew that I wasn't going to be able to experience was level 60 Naxx at level 60.
One of the reasons why I love the WotLK expansion so much is because Blizzard has made it possible for me to experience and see the content. I only have a handful of hard mode raid achievements, but I have almost all of the normal mode raid content down....haven't killed General V or Yogg in Ulduar =(
However, once I have beaten a boss, that fiend that I felt slowly goes away until I never want to step back into the content again...ie level 80 Naxx.
The "Lore / See Content" portion of the chart overall is 30% for me when it comes to new content. At max, it is only 30% of the reason why I raid and that number decreases by 1-5% everytime I go back after it has been cleared or 80%+ cleared.
Loot is always going to be atleast 50% of why I raid. This number goes up 1-5% as the Lore / Content portion decreases. Say what you will...but here at WTF, we KEEP ITZ REAL! I can not help it, its part of the fun for me. If months go by without a single upgrade or just a small side-grade, I get upgradetis and it takes ALOT to motivate me to raid. Add in the fact that it is farmed content and you have a better chance to find a cure for Pteronophobia (Fear of being tickled by feathers).
The challenge and social part are always an important part and without them I wouldn't like raiding. They are essential to my raiding career and if either one ever gets below the 10% threshold...I lose interest and stop raiding the content or stop altogether. However, to me they are the least important when it comes to the big picture.
I want to hear from you!
You don't have to make a fancy pie chart or anything....just break it down into percentages. I for one am very interested in reading your comments so please, if you have something to say...
SAY IT!
Until next time, I'm WTFout!!
6 comments:
I raid because I like to kill bosses, that other peoples don't get to kill. I raid because I like gearing up. I think it's great to have nice armor as a visual representation of your raid progression. I like having 25 people yelling in vent, because we killed a boss for the first time. I really like to have a change of walls from time to time, so I think it's great to have two istances per Tier. I just love MH and BT.
Oh...Damn, that was BC! I raid becasue...um....next question please.
I suspect the reason for these gated raids is because the bosses are far too easy to kill.
Back in Vanilla and even BC, what stoppped you was the difficulty of the bosses (apart from some nonsense like needing Ony cloaks, everyone with 200 Shadow Resistance etc).
Back then you couldn't even think to have Raggy or Kelthuzad down in a few weeks.
No doubt that if they let people go into Icecrown with no gates, the hard-core raiders would have Arthas down in a few days.
It's all very well saying it's good for everyone to see the content, but I really think that those who don't have time to raid still don't have time to raid, and the need to already own achievements makes pugging raids more difficult for people who can't raid regularly.
Why do I raid? For the cameraderie, for the loot, for the lore, for the challenge, and yes mostly for the challenge.
Being able to face-roll through content is not exciting or interesting; having to use all your skills and teamwork to get bosses down is extremely rewarding, and of course the loot is also a reward.
Making things too easy makes it all a bit meaningless, and I'm not advocating a return to raids only being accessible to the hardcore - those willing to go through extensive tuning quests and so on; rather that everyone have access, but not make encounters so easy that no effort is required.
First things first...
I love glaedr... he makes me laugh... not because what he says is so funny, but because he bugs so many other people.
I raid because of phatlewt, but also because its the bonding brotherly time i get to have with joe. sounds silly, but he isn't into sports, and out schedules don't mix well, its the only decent time to hang out and talk about stuff we both enjoy doing.
oh, and don't duel tubbs.
gearing is kind of an interesting catch 22. My paladin has about the best gear from heroics minus the emblem belt I never bought cuz I bought BoA gear. However, I didn't need better gear because I was only running heroics.
My idea of fun would be to raid say sunwell content in Cataclysm gear. No risk of dying, no challenge, just see the content. I don't want to learn the hagen dance, and I am perfectly fine with tank and spank. I guess when I raid, it's 100% to see stuff, any gear I get is a bonus. . .
I did make my own chart, but for some reason it will not post in here.
:)
So I posted it over on my blog. However, to save folks some time, my number one reason for raiding is pride. If you want to know the rest go check it out.
Hmmm...
I raid because I like to kill stuff.
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