Post-Nerf Difficutly Under Discussion
Some players want to see the raids in their original iteration, while others welcome raids being more forgiving and easier overall. In this article, we'll not only go over the pros and cons of both pre- and post-nerf raids in TBC Classic, but also look into the future of Classic WoW's raiding scene.
The Difference Between Pre-Nerf and Post-Nerf
The Pre-Nerf state of a raid refers to the original difficulty of the raid. While Post-Nerf refers to the state of the raid after receiving changes that reduced its overall difficulty. One example players have seen on the PTR with Tier 4 raids includes Nightbane from Karazhan, dealing significantly less melee damage to the tank, while his intermission phase also drastically reduces the health of his Restless Skeleton adds and damage from his Searing Cinders debuff.
Nerfs to Tier 4 and 5 TBC Raids
Other changes to encounters include Gruul's Shatter ability doing significantly less damage should players fail the mechanic, or Magtheridon's infamous Manticron Cubes not applying the debuff that prevents players from interacting with the cube again. Across the board, nearly all bosses also receive health and damage reductions, making all these encounters significantly easier to overcome. Players testing on the PTR have been able to overcome many of these encounters, even with several members of the raid dead, missing healers, or accidental pulls when everyone in the raid was not ready.
Magheridon and the "Pug Breaking" Manticron Cubes
Common sentiment among players is that Tier 4 raids are already relatively easy, even in their pre-nerf state. However, going into Tier 5 raiding with Tempest Keep and Serpentshrine Cavern, a Tier where raid difficulty exponentially ramps up, especially with encounters like Lady Vashj, this begs the question: "Should TBC Anniversary move forward with Post-Nerf raids, or look to revert their decision?"
The Pros and Cons of Post-Nerf Raids
Benefits of Post-Nerf Raids
There are several factors that should be considered when discussing PvE content difficulty in Classic WoW. In regards to the Anniversary servers, the biggest factor to consider is that these servers may be on an accelerated release cadence, meaning that players won't have as much time as they did back in 2006 or 2021 to complete the raids. In a post-Nerf state, raids would be easier, and players would, theoretically, be able to defeat more bosses and earn more loot in a shorter timeframe.
Another aspect to consider is what Blizzard wants from these servers. Are these Anniversary servers meant to be a trip back to 2006, for players to experience the content as it was back then? Or is this just more of a "let's go back and relive some memories with our friends" situation, where Blizzard simply wants people to log in and have fun, engaging in "soda and pretzel" content?
In regards to the original Classic progression servers, which are now on Mists of Pandaria, the player population has changed dramatically since Classic launch in 2019. However, there is a notable pattern of player drop-off when more difficult content is released. Via Ironforge.pro, we can see a drop off during Phase 2 of TBC Classic with the release of Tempest Keep and Serpentshrine Cavern, and an even bigger drop off during progression of Phase 2 of Wrath of the Lich King Classic, with the Ulduar raid.
The boxed sections highlight player dropoff during Phase 2 of TBC (left) and Phase 2 of WoTLK (right)
Should Blizzard want to keep a stable playerbase throughout all of TBC Anniversary, they might think that keeping the raids at a relatively easy state, to encourage more PUG (pick-up-group) raids to exist. Maybe with easier raids, we can see more Trade-Chat PUG groups successfully clearing the raid, eliminating the requirement of needing a locked-in guild raid night for players who may not have a consistent gaming schedule.
Negatives of Pre-Nerf Raids
On the other hand, there are also several factors to consider about The Burning Crusades Raids at their original difficulty. One question a player should ask themselves is: "Are these raids really that hard?" Looking at Tier 4 raids, should it really be that hard to organize players to be able to click the cubes correctly on Magtheridon? Is it really too difficult for players to be able to spread out properly on Gruul to prevent dying to his Stoned and Shatter mechanics?
Many challenges back in the original TBC came from the lack of resources we have now. Getting 25 players on Ventrilo (the original Discord) to communicate during an encounter wasn't as easy as it is now. Having access to fully fleshed-out raid guides, both written and in video format, didn't exist the way it does today. Is content that's twenty years old really that hard that it needs to be nerfed?
Another factor to consider is the arguably negative concept of encouraging a push away from group coordination and skill, rewarding the player and their team for doing so. As mentioned earlier, players testing on the PTR have accidentally started encounters leading to 4-8 of their 25-player team dying at the beginning, and still completing the encounter in one try.
Should the content be so easy that mechanics don't matter? One very concerning aspect of this is the lack of major healing needed on the PTR raids. It has been speculated that raids will very easily be able to drop down to just 2 or 3 healers (and in some cases even just 1) for large amounts of the content! Is this something that Blizzard should encourage?
At its core, raiding has been about group coordination to defeat a boss or encounter. Should we steer away from that towards more of raiding being a "social event" in Classic? Is there a place for challenging raids in Classic WoW? Or should players who want to raid in more challenging environments just look to playing Modern WoW?
A Potential Compromise
Perhaps the answer may not be black and white. Going forward into Tier 5 and the rest of The Burning Crusade, maybe we could find a happy medium between the two: Nerf some of it, but not all of it.
Maybe Lady Vashj and Kael'thas's Mind Control abilities can no longer target the tank. Maybe consider reducing a boss's overall health, but not the damage it deals, to still encourage having 4-5 healers in a raid team, and discourage tanks from wearing more DPS gear versus proper tank gear. If the murloc adds on a Post Nerf Morogrim Tidewalker encounter, have 75% reduced health and deal 50% less damage, maybe only reduce it by 50 and 25 instead!
The main decision behind all of this for TBC Anniversary, however, should be the first factor we mentioned when comparing the pros and cons. Should this be an accelerated server, perhaps nerfed raiding content is the right move. The Anniversary servers have played more similarly to seasonal servers, like Season of Discovery, compared to the original Classic Progression servers and Modern WoW. And although SoD did have challenging raids, they were always quickly nerfed to adjust to the majority of the playerbase. Like SoD, if players have a much smaller window to clear the raids and get the loot, maybe challenging raids aren't appropriate in this iteration of Classic WoW. But, again, that begs the question: Is there a place for challenging raids in Classic?
The History and Future of Classic Raiding
As mentioned earlier, players invested in Classic WoW currently have either recently played Season of Discovery, are on the Anniversary servers, or are playing Mists of Pandaria Classic. The latter is part of the original progression servers, which have seen much longer cadences between content patches since 2019, thus allowing for pre-nerf content to take place.
The former, however, are at faster content paces. In Season of Discovery, we saw challenging content with the raids in that version. Even raids such as the Level 40 Gnomeregan had some challenges. And we very much saw that difficulty ramp up with Naxxramas's four Hard Mode difficulties and the SoD-exclusive raid, Scarlet Enclave. With this in mind, what level of difficulty should we expect in the next iteration of Classic WoW?
The guild <none of the above> during the world first clear of SoD's Gnomeregan
Back in 2005, when Molten Core was first released, it took 154 days before it was fully cleared. That's around a whopping five months! Blackwing Lair took 77 days. Back then, Razorgore was considered a very challenging encounter! Skipping over to The Burning Crusade, Lady Vashj lived a total of 73 days before she was finally defeated for the first time (legitimately*, sorry <Nihilum>), and Tempest Keep took a whopping 130 days from its full release to be cleared! However, in their "Classic" versions, these raids were always cleared on the first day of their release. Even in Mists of Pandaria Classic, Heroic Throne of Thunder was cleared in under two hours by <Numen>! It took <Method> two weeks before Ra-den was first defeated back in 2013.
A look at Molten Core's first clear ever courtesy of method.gg
Now, if you're asking why this is being brought up, it's because there should be a question that everyone should be asking themselves. In regards to raids, should the game feel more like Classic, where we go into a game that we already know and look to improve our knowledge and skill upon, or should it feel like Vanilla, where we go into unknown and new content in an original version of Azeroth, and learn a boss's mechanics by trial and error and how to properly overcome them?
The Difference between Classic and Vanilla
Now, this question could apply to a variety of other gameplay mechanics and systems about Classic WoW, but we're going to focus on just raids here. Once again, let's look at Season of Discovery's Gnomeregan raid. This raid didn't take 154 days to first clear, but it still took time for even top guilds to overcome its final encounter, Mekgineer Thermaplugg. Why? Because the first guild to kill it, <none of the above>, didn't know you could kick his poison cast during his third phase until an hour into progression!
Countless guilds found themselves wiping to encounters like Twilight Lord Kelris in Blackfathom Deeps, Firemaw with his Black affix mechanic in Blackwing Lair, and several of the encounters in Scarlet Enclave, even in their post-nerf state! Why? Because mechanics were different, the mechanics mattered, and we didn't know the mechanics before the fight.
High Commander Beatrix in the Season of Discovery Exclusive Raid: The Scarlet Enclave
Strategy guides were not available before a raid's launch, and there was no in-game dungeon journal for players to study before starting an encounter. It was "pull the boss and let's figure this out". And once one team figured out the encounter, they could share it with others. Doing this in a 2004 Azeroth replicates the Vanilla feeling of WoW, versus the Classic feeling.
"DUST TO DUST!"
Except for SoD's Scarlet Enclave and Sunken Temple in its original state, none of the encounters were actually that difficult, once they were solved. The difficulty came from the three aspects mentioned earlier: Different mechanics, mechanics mattering, and no prior knowledge of the encounter. If a mechanic doesn't punish players for failing to properly do it, or doesn't actually deal significant damage, the mechanic might as well not exist. If we go into an encounter already knowing the fight, then we're playing a Classic boss encounter.
Season of Discovery's Scarlet Enclave was a step in the right direction for Classic Raiding. Now, were some of the mechanics incredibly over the top? Absolutely. High Commander Beatrix and Reborn Council Pre-Nerf, for example, were grossly overtuned. But how a large portion of the encounters were in their final, post-nerf state (ironically enough) still offered a challenge to the players, dealt genuine mechanics, and required group coordination to complete them.
Should Classic raids be at the difficulty level of Mythic Dimensius? Probably not. Some mechanics we've seen from recent versions of Classic should also be left in the past. Two examples include Hard Mode 4 Kel'thuzad in SoD's Naxxramas's Mind Controlling tanks, and arguably the most despised encounter in all of Classic WoW's six years: MoP Classic's Heroic Ambershaper Un'sok and his RNG construct mechanic.
Controlling a Construct in arguably the least popular boss in all of WoW Classic: Heroic Ambershaper Un'sok
But for the next version of Classic, for the sake of the health and longevity of the overall game, challenging raids should be welcomed, not discouraged. The game should not be on an accelerated content pace. Players would not be strapped for time to complete the raid before the new one comes out. Encouraging group organization and reward players for mastering new mechanics that matter, without having the actual difficulty of something like a Mythic raid.
What do you think about Classic raiding? Do you think the future of raiding should be easy and fast, or do you welcome more challenging encounters? Let us know in the comments down below!
