Although this topic has probably been done to death, I'd rather save myself hours of trawling through posts. I'm going to post the points of 2 major opinions, and I'd like to see peoples opinions on the opinions.

Opinion 1: A WoW with Add-ons and published boss strats.

-Most raid groups know generally what they're doing. They know what abilities are coming, and when (thanks to add-ons such as DBM), and after 1-2 wipes of getting used to what abilities look like and where raiders can move, it becomes a matter of executing that strategy perfectly. (This of course is changed by gear, but personally the last time I wiped because of a tank dying to a boss hit, instead of someone slipping up to a raid mechanic, was when Festergut was first released [toc10 geared DK + 3 inhales = ouch], but that could just be my proass tanking, /flex)

-This makes raiders less patient when 1-2 people aren't as quick practical learners as themselves. (ELITISM IS BORN!)

-Progression is MUCH quicker, since the population who raid on the first night don't have to wipe multiple times on every boss to learn all of its abilities.

-Blizzard have to release new content much quicker to keep people entertained, and keep the money rolling in, which means the gap between the people who cleared every week and got geared can clear the new content almost straight away, and the people who weren't so progressed can't do the new content, so get left behind.

(An example for this would be when ICC first came out. You have 2 guilds. 1 who has cleared togc 10 and 25 a few times, so their 10 man team is has a 1up on the other guild, who are only toc 10 normal geared. The geared guild go in, know the full first quarter, and clear it in one night. They hang out for the next month, clearing every week, getting a buttload of 251s and 264s for the next wing. The less geared guild go in with the same knowledge, and after 2 nights have only got gunship down on 10, and can’t get Marrowgar down on 25. By the time this less geared team have got Putricide down, the geared team have killed BQ and Sindragosa, and are bored waiting for Lich King. The less geared team start screaming ‘YOU’RE RELEASING CONTENT TOO FAST’ while the more geared are going ‘WE’RE BORED, RELEASE QUICKER.’)



Opinion 2: A WoW without add-ons and published boss strats.

-Everyone walks in to a raid not knowing what the hell they are doing (except perhaps hints from friends in other guilds, but why would they tell you what they learned from an hour of wiping?). Guilds dedicate the first 5 or so attempts of every boss to surviving as long as possible, and players need to be much more aware, soaking everything in (debuffs, projectiles, what kind of fire they have to not stand in on this fight), so regardless of gear, people must wipe a few times at least.

-Players must be WAY more patient to raid. (Whether it be sitting through the hours of wiping per boss, or waiting a month or so before guilds feel confident enough to bring people in, and quickly teach them the fight (essentially carrying them).

-Players, again, must be much more aware. No add-ons = No DBM = NO TIMERS. OH NOES! You must BE PREPARED always, unless you’d rather your raid leader called “Bone storm soon… I think… Uh… maybe now? C’mon game, don’t make me a liar… There it is. Bone storm, spread out.”

-Progression takes longer, because again, people have to learn (ie, wipe) on almost every ability on a boss, before THINKING they know everything, only to reach an unknown third phase and wiping again.

(Take Sindragosa. All you know is she’s a dragon, so head = cleave and tail = swipe. So: Wipe on the pull. Wipe again because someone walked down the stairs and pulled again. Wipe on Unchained Magic. Tank doesn’t have frost resist gear and dies. Death grip, none of the melee move, and die to the aoe+Chilled to the Bone. First Air Phase, 3 people stack and get ice blocked, people try to kill the ice blocks and die to frost bombs. People then die in ice blocks. Wipes. Wipes. Wipes. And then when you have it all down, BAM, Phase 3, mechanic combine. That takes enough wipes as it is. What’s more, is you’re doing this WITHOUT AUTOMARKS. You need someone watching the raid 100% of the time to see who gets the beacons.)

-Blizzard can release content much slower, because people are CLEARING it much slower. The gear gap is smaller, because geared or not, you’re still learning and wiping a lot more.



*Perfectly aware that there will never be a WoW without publicised boss strats. But Blizzard should make new bosses more mysterious somehow.