Will MOP have 3 or 4 raids?

[Deleted]

The title speaks for itself, will we have 4 raid TIERS in this xpack like we have always had, except for cataclysm?

Or will it have 3 raids like every expansion, except for WotLK?

Unless they are comming up with something after the Siege of Orgrimmar, I don't see more than 3 happening.

[thoruga]

LFR for old raids sounds awful and a huge waste of development time to scale everything up and itemize them.

What you should expect is one of the best in between expansion patches ever that bridges us from expansion to expansion. Unlike Scourge invasion event or Halion. We may end up with raids , dallies, events, and everything all crammed into one. Doom Lord Kazzak makes his return.

rather then LFR, I think the new feature might be a SCALE DOWN system using their new Ilvl altering tech they developed for challenge modes so you can help a friend level or do an old raid ground without needing to have some jank ass lvl 70 xp stopped twink ect.

What I meant was exactly this. LFR that uses challenge mode technology to scale down ilvl, so you could basically queue up without hitting max levels and awards vanity items and original loot for transmog. That would give plenty to do between expansions.

[Bullettime]

3 raid tiers and a strong possibility of a short filler raid

[Viradiance]

Just because AQ and SWP didn't offer new 'tier gear', doesn't mean that they weren't raids seperately released with a patch. They still count as seperate raid tiers (in my opinion), which means that indeed only Cataclysm had just 3 raid tiers.

That said, I think 5.4 will be the last raid patch, seeing as Blizzard wanted to release more expansions more often.

By that logic.

Vanilla had 7 tiers:
Molten Core.
BWL
AQ 20
AQ 40
ZG 20
Naxx
BWS 10
Strat 10

Burning Crusade had 9 tiers:
Karazhan
Grull's Lair
Magtheridon's Lair
Serpentshrine Caverns
Tempest Keep
Zul'aman
Hyjal Summit
Black Temple
Sunwell

Wrath of the Lich king had 8:
Naxxramas
Eye of Eternity
Obsidian Sanctum
VOA
Lulduar
Trial of the Crusader
Icecream Citadel
Ruby Sanctum

Cataclysm had 6:
Baradin Hold
Bastion of Twilight
Blackwing Descent
Throne of the Four Winds
Firelands
Dragon Soul

Pandaland (will) have 5:
Mogu'shan
HOF
TOES
TOTh
SOO


But that's not how tiers work. There can be multiple raids along a parallel tier or half tier (AQ 40 was 2.5, BC had 3 dungeons on t4, 2 t5, 3 t6)

[Drithien]

Blizzard has made too much self criticism about the time between 4.3 and 5.0 I dont think they'll make the same mistake so soon. I think what we're gonna get is fastest new expansion or that unanounced feature will have so much to offer for players(crossing fingers for LFR for old raids)

I doubt we are going to have the last raiding tier of this expansion last as long as the previous ones. It's almost certainly going to last longer in my opinion, mainly for two reasons:

1. No matter how you view it, the last raiding tier of an expansion has to last somewhat more than previous tiers during the expansion, since it encompasses both the normal duration of the tier and the duration of the period where the tier is nerfed for some guilds to catch up. Right now there are guilds progressing in tier 14 in its nerfed state, while the others progress in tier 15. Come tier 16 some guilds will be progressing in tier 16 content while others will be finishing up tier 15. But in tier 16 there is no following tier to allow guilds to catch up. So the logical thing to do would be to add a period of time where tier 16 gets nerfed and let guilds that need the nerfs play. This is also hinted with the inclusion of the (in)famous unannounced special feature of Mists: being able to run older content as if it is current somehow. Why would they give players such a massive amount of content but not the time to enjoy it? Most probably in my opinion tier 16 will be extended so that guilds that need help in progressing in it will get it in the form of nerfs, while most of everyone else will play with the new special feature.

2. No matter how fast the developers work, there is no way to release a new expansion as fast as the current tier cycle makes some people think. A new expansion is a massive amount of content compared to patches, even major ones. Just testing would take a long time to carry out somewhat succesfully, and we don't even know anything about the expansion, much less have a beta testing date. Also the fact that Blizzcon is held in autumn and not the summer, and so late in autumn actually, where the new expansion is almost certainly going to be revealed, leads me to think we have a long way to go ahead of us before any 6.0s arrive.

[Deleted]

By that logic.
But that's not how tiers work. There can be multiple raids along a parallel tier or half tier (AQ 40 was 2.5, BC had 3 dungeons on t4, 2 t5, 3 t6)

Each individual raid isn't a separate tier, but aq20/40 and sunwell were separate tier even if they didn't have legitimate raid tier gear.

[Mawnix]

We'll have 3 tiers, which I have no problem with.

The tiers so far have been quite enjoyable.

I think Siege will be just as epic as ToT currently is.

[Millie]

Unlike Scourge invasion event or Halion. We may end up with raids , dallies, events, and everything all crammed into one. Doom Lord Kazzak makes his return.

This is something I would like to see, not specifically Kazzak but, if the next expansion is legion, we could get a final content patch after 5.4 that gives us the start of the legion invasion. Maybe some events and content based around it.

Unless they push out the next expansion faster than ever before, we're still looking at a near 1 year gap between SoO and the 2 year mark when they usually release the next expansion. A bridging patch can't just be a scourge invasion or even the Halion patch. It would need to be bigger in scope with a good amount of content to stave off that horrible year of nothing. Or of course get the next expansion out faster.

[Golden Yak]

I think 3 tiers is a good number to have. Sure Wrath had 4, but remember what the 3rd tier was - only 5 bosses using one tiny raid zone. Spend that time plumping out the other raid tiers, sez I. Hope 5.4's raid tier will have at least as many bosses as 5.2.

[dacoolist]

I believe a MOP will have 3 raid tiers total.

5.0/5.1 - MSV/TOES/HOF
5.2/5.3 - TOT
5.4/5.5 - SiegeOfOrg

[Mormolyce]

They've pretty much come right out and said that we get one story patch next, followed by Siege and that's it.

The mark of a good expansion is not whether it has 3 or 4 raid tiers anyway.

[Black Rider]

IMHO we'll get 5.5 but not raid after SoG