inb4: "Mythics were always 20man" please, just don't - troll somewhere else - I am referring to 10man "mythic" as being the highest raid difficult available.
Hi all,
Direct question: what are your thoughts whether they should give another shot at 10s available at the hardest raid difficult?
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I am stating my personal thoughts in the texts below:
short;
Since introduction of m+, i don't feel ilvl are that important and couldn't care less if 10s gave a lower ilvl than 25s - the sheer difficult of organizing bigger groups shall indeed be rewarded.
Anyway, in the end, weekly pve/pvp chests (and warforged, or new "corruption" items) will always close the ilvl gap between playerbase.
Required classes and specs can be worked with just how Blizzard well managed to do so for 03 entire expansions (WotlK, Cata, Pandaria) - As a last last resource, if really needed in order to implement a super cool new mechanic, they can give players an extra ability (like they give in us CC totems in MOTHERLODE!!!) or make many classes able to do a very specific mechanic (ie: disorient add Sinestra / Bastion of Twilight / Cataclysm)
10s and 20/25s don't need perfect balance - it can happen here and there where a boss is easier in a setup than the other.
In the race for world/rankings first, each race is its own: for Cataclysm and Pandaria, we didnt hear 10s guild claiming "world firsts" against 25s competing guilds and vice-versa - it was simply two different rankings.
In the end, I want challenging content that can be done in a smaller group of friends (just as m+ exists!) - For me, in 2020 and with my personal life as it is, attending a guild is pretty much hard and raiding content runs out fast (as LFG is enough to do all the content in weeks 1-3)
long;
To help some of you that weren't around in the game back in the days & if my memory serves me right...
Back to mid-late WotLK (Ulduar, TOC, ICC) I used to raid both sizes - 25 and 10 and enjoyed them equally.
The 25s was my main's guild raid group whereas the 10s was a close friends group.
The loot ilvl difference was understandable - Not only 25man were harder to group/organize, the dps-healing requirements overall were higher in the 25s.
WotlK Issues:
For some raids (TOC + onwards) it felt like a burden having 4 difficulties (10, 10H, 25, 25H)
It was a burden mostly because of Alts, Emblem of Triumph/Valor (currency that would drop bosses) and specifics drops (ie: trinkets or set pieces)
Then Cataclysm came and changed some aspects:
First, the 10/25s lockouts were shared and then the loot table ilvl was made equal between 10/25s.
My gaming routine didn't change much: still raided with a hardcore guild 25s and with close friends in the 10s setup.
At later expansion, other than my guild main raid, I also managed making some 10HC with 50% friends/50% pugs.
It was a concern for our 25s guild that we would face issues with recruitment (since people would rather just focus on 10s), but tbh it didn't affect us.
"Race To World First/Rankings" drama also didn't affect us, as we'd only compare ourselves/compete with others also raiding on the same raid size.
Cataclysm issues:
Since the removal of 4 difficulties, the downscaling of "2" difficulties with "2" raid sizes made pugging somewhat harder.
(didnt affect me, but) it was clear that pugs weren't being as common/successful as before (normals were harder to pug and heroics were plain impossible, as now 10H was indeed harder and now meant for organized groups)
Inbalance between same difficulties but different raid sizes - tuning encounters was very hard
The death of some 25s guilds (as some took a hit after recruitment became significantly harder)
Pandaria followed pretty much the same recipe, only change is that now we have LFR (since Dragon Soul)
Then Siege of Orgrimmar came and flex was implemented.
Raided only the 1st tier as a 25HC guild and the last tier in a 10HC group.
The cool part of the 10HC group is that we were a group of 7-8 friends and we'd pug the other 2-3 from a pool of 5-7 players that we knew/were around.
Pandaria issues:
The same as cataclysm + we had too many difficulties available: flex, normal, heroic.
Flex was amazing (tech-wise), but deemed too easy and low ilvl (same as LFR today)
Nowadays Dranenor/Legion/BfA:
Nothing much changed, except the flexible sizing now affects "normal mode" and "heroic" changed to "mythic" and now we have a built-in LFG.
Today issues:
LFG takes you far - you can fully clear normal and heroics weeks 1-3 (even if you are not that hardcore).
After that, you are left with not so many options: either you join a guild or raiding content is pretty much over (well, rekilling/farm is available, but I am speaking about challenges)
Mythic pugging is not possible for the great majority of the realms - Lockout ID assures that your group won't go far and will not be "interchangeable", therefore by joining a pug that kills (or even only attempts) the 1st boss and then disbands you are very likely not be able to regroup and further proceed into the raid during that week's lockout.