Midnight Season 1 Mythic+ Overview Midnight Season 1 Mythic+ Rewards
Are Mythic+ Actually Easier?
The best way to quantify this is by looking at completion rates: Jordan, our community loa of statistics on Twitter, has already done research on this subject with the help of Raider.IO, documenting a significantly higher percentage of timed keys, raw number of completed +10s, and highest level of keys completed all in the first week of seasons past.
Now, there are a lot of reasons for this. Some may be quick to point out that gear levels are generally higher relative to the same point in The War Within, though still more keys are being completed now compared to equivilent points of gearing then. More notable are the dungeon mechanics - there are generally less of them and very few pass/fail checks which will kill a player outright either, allowing players an easier time brute forcing their way through. Whether this is overcompensation for the class and addon changes or purposefully lowering the bar in order to make the game more approachable, the result is the same... Mythic+ dungeons are kind of easy this season.
There are also affix changes to consider. During The War Within Season 1, Xal'atath's Guile originally incurred a -15 second penalty starting with +7 keys, which has since been moved to +12, beyond the point of maximum rewards at which most players will stop pushing. This is a big part of why timers feel so forgiving, as groups with ten or more deaths are often still capable of clearing with several minutes to spare, directly leading to those higher completion rates.
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This isn't to say that dungeons are universally easy though. While mechanics are toned down, there is a greater emphasis on raw damage, especially when players are brute forcing their way through encounters which do not feature an absolute pass or fail. There are a lot of big pulls with lots of kicks to manage, Tyrannical bosses generally have a lot of health, overpulling tanks can still get shredded, and healers can fall behind, although the removal of their kicks and less emphasis on maximizing healer damage to beat tight timers means there isn't as much left for them to do other than heal.
Ok, but is that a bad thing?
This is a controversial question. Clearly, there are some obvious advantages, as players have an easier time pushing into mid-range and high level keys, farming gear, earning portals and achievements, as well as maximizing their weekly vaults for even more. It's an uncapped system, so players who are looking for more challenge can always just do higher keys.
On the other hand, easier keys also means players push into those higher keys more quickly... sometimes before they're really prepared for them, which can lead to friction between players who aren't as comfortable with the kind of bigger/faster pulls that are often demanded in higher level play. It's no secret that other players can be just as much of an obstacle as mechanics and timers, but it also leads to a dearth of lower level keys that players just don't have a reason to run anymore. Finally, there's an argument that easier keys means players finish their goals faster, which isn't inherently a bad thing, but can lead to a declining population over time.
It's also worth acknowledging that Midnight has been a major draw for new and returning players. While it is the middle of a trilogy, it's featured an extravagant marketing campaign, as well as squishing numbers, reducing reliance on addons, and introducing player housing, all of which are major draws. In that light, it makes sense that things may be a little easier under the guise of making endgame content feel more approachable.
Taliesin & Evitel discuss their own experiences and perspectives of a less difficult Mythic+ season (timestamped).
That brings us back to the question. Does an easier season encourage you to push further into the system, or does accomplishing your goals faster just result in less reason to play long term?
