Starting with Normal or Heroic raiding?

[Chasin]

(I've also made a post about this on the official battle.net forums, but I'd like a fast response.)
Me and my guild have been having a crazy discussion about this topic lately. Since the first raid is approaching soon, I really need some clarification on this.

Our guild has been debating about the fact that wether it would or would not be possible to start raiding on Heroic difficulty from the start. The opinions have been different. Some people say it would be way too hard with the current itemlevel of heroic dungeons (so 630+-) and some say it would be possible.

Ofcourse with Blizzard's new changes in the pre-patch, flex -> normal, normal -> heroic & heroic -> mythic, it's been unsure what to do with the new content.

We've had several guild members who used to clear full heroic runs on previous content, just in case to give you guys some sort of image about our guild. We raid 5 hours a week.

So I was wondering what the forums have to tell us about this topic.

Kind regards!

[Deleted]

Not sure if you can enter heroic mode if you haven't killed the last boss in normal

[Deleted]

Not sure if you can enter heroic mode if you haven't killed the last boss in normal

There is no such requirement anymore they removed it so people could already try the easyer bosses on a harder difficulty.
Btw hc dungon gear lv 630 is ment for hc raids just like last expansion i believe.

[MasterDinadan]

I'm pushing for normal. If it's too easy, we will clear it fast and jump into heroic with better gear. If we don't clear it easily, it will show that we are in the right place.

[Boramir]

it has been stated that:

-normal lvl 100 dungeon gear is what you will want (at least) to do normal raiding
-heroic lvl 100 dungeon gear is what you will want (at least) to do heroic raiding

[gaymer77]

I believe my guild is going straight into heroic raiding. We were previously a normal raid guild & when flex was done away with we were a heroic raid guild. Hopefully we won't have to do much "normal" raiding at the start.

[Chasin]

Hmm I guess it's just the 'namechanges' that Blizzard applied to difficulties that makes it a bit confusing.
I know our guild would be very satisfied if we could even down the first boss on the first run.

[MasterDinadan]

it has been stated that:

-normal lvl 100 dungeon gear is what you will want (at least) to do normal raiding
-heroic lvl 100 dungeon gear is what you will want (at least) to do heroic raiding

That seems off since raid finder requires 615 or something, which is higher than you get from level 100 normals.

[Txiv]

That seems off since raid finder requires 615 or something, which is higher than you get from level 100 normals.

No this is blizz intention for raiding. Lfr does not play a part in balance anymore for " normal" raiding and needs to be treated differently.

630 will be enough ( though with difficulty) to do heroic highmaul

[Deleted]

Not sure if you can enter heroic mode if you haven't killed the last boss in normal

Of course you can, heroic is the old normal, which never required anything. It's not like you had to finish LFR before you could enter flex, and finish flex before you could enter normal in SoO.

[Ham on Rye]

Do both to gear up faster.

[Sheridanjohn]

Just starting at heroic and then will do normal later in the week for the loot.
Looking at say MSV I don't think guilds that were raiding at a heroic level post 6.0 will clear highmaul in the first week.

[Norch0811]

I'm going to start off with normal

[Hey There Guys its Metro]

Starting with Heroic, as we are progression minded. We will try some Mythic the following week, but depending how Dec 2 and 3 go, we will probably only spend a few hours on one boss and then move on back to Heroic for gear options.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

Straight to heroic with normal being the off night optional raid. We would like to then jump pretty quickly into mythic but.. starting a week after they come out a ton of people end up out of town for the holidays. So.. likely will just wait on mythic until after that point. We aren't server or world racers so the week or two lost isn't going to make anyone cry.

[Bigbazz]

It's a new guild for me in WOD but with some members from my previous guild. Traditionally they have been a server first competition guild who clears Normal in the first week and starts Heroic in the 2nd. But the new way of raiding will change things, there is no rush to clear Heroic mode when it is Mythic that will matter, I assume Mythic will unlock a week later?

[Dracodraco]

It's a new guild for me in WOD but with some members from my previous guild. Traditionally they have been a server first competition guild who clears Normal in the first week and starts Heroic in the 2nd. But the new way of raiding will change things, there is no rush to clear Heroic mode when it is Mythic that will matter, I assume Mythic will unlock a week later?

It's the exact same as it has always been. Heroic = normal, mythic = heroic. Substitute the two words for each other - you'll want to rush through heroic so you can do mythic second week (like you used to rush through normal so you could do heroic the second week).
The only new thing is that Flex is released the first week along with Normal, and is now called "normal".

[Bigbazz]

It's the exact same as it has always been. Heroic = normal, mythic = heroic. Substitute the two words for each other - you'll want to rush through heroic so you can do mythic second week (like you used to rush through normal so you could do heroic the second week).
The only new thing is that Flex is released the first week along with Normal, and is now called "normal".

I know how it works, but this time Flex (Normal) does open the same week and we haven't had a previous tier of raiding to gear up with. With Mythic not opening for a week it makes more sense to run through Flex (normal) first to gear up your raid and then hit Heroic for progression. Rather than hitting Heroic without having taken up the gearing opportunities of Normal.

I mean if you're feeling lucky you can go hit Heroic first, and I'm sure those with Beta experience will have those bosses down in no time without needing to go through normal first. Of my guild though I'm the only person who has raided on the Beta, normal will be a welcome warmup.

[Deleted]

The right way is heroic first, then normal.

Doing it the wrong way: Weapon drops in normal, DPS gets it. Then weapon drops in heroic, DPS gets it, the normal version is discarded.
Doing it the right way: Weapon drops in heroic, DPS gets it. Then weapon drops in normal, and a tank or a healer can get it.

Wrong way: One item for the raid.
Right way: Two items for the raid.

[Varabently]

I think our plan is to start with heroic, then if we feel like gear is a problem we'll drop down to normal for a week or two.

Who knows what the final tuning is like though. I know a lot of people in my guild are > 630 ilevel (I'm 637 with no BoEs), so it will only get easier with more gear. It seems pretty reasonable you could get 640, if you're crafting gear plus doing challenge modes. I've only done two challenge modes and I'm at 637. Could have done 5 more maybe.