Lich King Raids - Are They Too Easy?

A month or so has passed since the release of Wrath of the Lich King. For most WoW players the race to the end-game content and being the first to experience the so-called raid dungeon has been paramount. In this case it is Naxx, the old 40-man dungeon released a month or so before the Burning Crusade opened the Dark Portal. Now with Northrend open, Naxx has been revamped and moved as a 10/25-man version so everyone can experience its content.

Due to this a question has been popping up due to the observation that many guilds have been blazing through the content so fast. Is raiding in Lich King easy-mode now?

From my own experience that answer is both yes and no. I've listed a few things many players fail to realize about Naxx and the current Tier 7 end game content:

1) Naxx was an old 40-man raid (Tier 3) from the original WoW before Burning Crusade. Very few raiders managed to complete it before the BC release. When Blizzard removed it and revamped it for Northrend, the majority of the fights were only changed for a 10/25-man raid. So, all in all, anyone who experienced it before will know what the fights are likely to offer. Those that did not can look that information up. Also, Naxx was open for testing during the Lich King beta, so many beta players were able to experience everything in this revamped raid dungeon and could even write down strategies with the new class, Death Knight, and every classes' new revamped talent trees.

2) Blizzard stated many times that their raids were designed in order make the introduction Tier more player accessible - unlike the mistakes with the starting BC Tier 4 dungeons Mag's Lair and Gruul's Lair back in Burning Crusade. The difficulty is still there, but the complexity of the fights was frustrating for new raiders who had no experience raiding. Something like that kind of difficulty should have been introduced in later Tier dungeons, but not for a intro raid.

3) The Tier 8 raid coming up in patch 3.1 will increase difficulty unlike we've experienced in Naxx. With Naxx being raiding 101 for new raiders, the next raid will be more challenging for raiders that are experienced and prepared for the journey. When it becomes open on the PTR server, certain bosses or parts of the dungeon will be open to force focus testing-unlike Naxx in Lich King beta has experienced. With this in mind, players will be controlled in what they see and not have free reign to move around and explore the content for their personal benefit.

4) Unlike Naxx, you won't see Server First clear achievement messages a few days after release of the 3.1 patch. Naxx is known territory, but the new Tier 8 is not. If you recall how long it took players to clear SSC, Black Temple, Hyjal, etc, back in Burning Crusade during progression. Well, expect it here with new content that no one knows. Besides, the achievements adds more loot and rewards, instead of the regular points with Tier 7 right now. So, expect raiders to be working on it for some time.

Yes, Lich King is easy - but only for those that have the raid experience. One thing that burns me down in Burning Crusade were the many things to remember in the complex fights - like Prince Kael in The Eye. Oh my god, I hated that place since I wanted to shoot myself after wiping in Phase 3 or 5 'cause someone was not paying attention that got us all killed. However, I like the fact that they made the fights less complex so that players new to raiding can have a chance in experiencing the content - which was one thing BC lacked and is why the majority of guilds never had a chance to make it to Black Temple. Only a few hardcore guilds did. Now, don't get me wrong - we all want a challenge. But going through six phases or so in a fight, a fight that if one person screws up then it becomes a wipe...well you want to throw your keyboard at your monitor out of frustration. Cartman on the "Make Love, Not Warcraft" episode says it best for me - "God f**king damn it!!!"

In my opinion, raids should be designed so that the majority of your player base can experience the content. I don't see the point in wasting months of employee labor to only see a few elite raiding guilds clear dungeons while months of hard work result in your player base being frustrated in trying reach the end-game content. I'm glad they are designing the Northrend raids to be challenging, but not super-complex fights.

So, in all, it seems Lich King raiding is easy mode - but it comes down how you view it. Tier 7 right now is easy since it is the starting Tier for raiding 101. When Tier 8 comes out expect raiders to stick with it since it is all new territory, so I wouldn't worry about it. Anyway, for those of you that have already completed Tier 7, I will see you in Tier 8!