The Classic Raid Diffiulty Debate
As a part of their initial raid testing for The Burning Crusade Anniversary, Blizzard stated that, while Tier 4 content would be released in its post-nerf state, they would be willing to discuss and evaluate the release difficulty of Tier 5 raids.
Dungeons and Raids
Although we still plan to release Tier 4 content (Karazhan, Gruul, and Magtheridon) in its post-nerf state, we recognize some of the community’s desire for more challenging content, and we want to continue the discussion and evaluate what that may mean for Tier 5 — specifically Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep.
However, we want to experiment with delivering more challenging content elsewhere in TBC, and listen to the community to get their thoughts.
However, in the recent release date announcement, Blizzard did not confirm whether the Tier 5 raids would be released in a pre-nerf or post-nerf state. This could indicate that they are waiting until after PTR raid testing to make that decision. Since a Phase 5 PTR has not yet been announced, let's explore the one metric that could indicate whether players prefer pre-nerf or post-nerf raids - raiding population.
Data provided by ironforge.pro
The first raids of The Burning Crusade Anniversary were all released in their post-nerf states, and the raiding population has continued to increase nearly every week since launch. This could be an indication that the raids are so easy that players are able to bring fresh alts into the raid as well, but let's take a look at what happens when difficult raids are released in their pre-nerf states.
The above chart highlights two distinct player population dropoff points during Classic progression. The first major decline occurred when Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep were released in their pre-nerf states, during The Burning Crusade Classic (2021). The second highlighted decline occurred in Wrath of the Lich King Classic when the infamously difficult Ulduar raid was released.
The pattern seems to indicate that when content is easier, players are more likely to continue playing and even run additional characters through the raids. While the opposite is true when the content becomes too difficult, guilds fall apart and players quit.
Have you been enjoying the post-nerf Tier 4 raids in The Burning Crusade Anniversary? Do you think Tier 5 should be more difficult, or do you prefer a more relaxed raiding environment? Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below!
