We begin today's entry with a quote from a common responder to my realm forum posts, a beta tester who has been helpful and illuminating as it relates to the future of the 5-man game, as it's presented in beta:



"I did a heroic deadmines pug on beta earlier. Pugging in beta is like pulling teeth (our guild won the beta essay contest but a lot of the people who have keys haven't had time to play much). In the end the run completed after 2 1/2 hours, 6 healers and 5 dps ninja-logged or ditched after many, many wipes on trash and learning some of the bosses. (*name edited out to prevent spoilers* is going to be the "most deadly cataclysm heroic boss" a-la Loken)



It's probably going to be nerfed. The only reason the group lasted as long as it did was the tank we had refusing to quit despite being somewhat undergeared and incompetent, me kiting/tanking mobs after he died and in one case soloing two mobs while being the last person alive, and finally getting a competent healer that wasn't a crappy tauren priest or paladin premade before the fourth boss.



Seriously, heroic 5-man trash hits tanks harder than heroic 25-man sindragosa does currently at 80 and healers go oom within 30 seconds of pulling. The jump in difficulty from wrath to cataclysm heroics right now is so severe that the learning curve will take many months for players to adjust to the new class abilities and mechanics. People who don't have the backing of a solid guild behind them are going to find themselves very frustrated using the dungeon finder because bad players have as much right to use it as good ones do. They're going to have to nerf the dungeons because they're going to generate so many complaints.



I find the difficulty acceptable, but the majority of the players I am playing with in beta pugs or whatever don't, to the point where it's actually becoming difficult to find people even willing to test certain dungeons because of how hard they are to complete. And that majority is going to complain and start cancelling accounts because 5-man dungeons are more difficult on an individual level than 25-man raids in wrath have been."



Now, before I launch into the meat of this deeply considered and very long post, I do throw in the caveat that "beta is beta", and as of this posting there is a likely two month wait for the expansion, and numbers may be waiting in the master blizzard thinktank for the last minute of "ok guys, hit the button to line up the actual numbers, that was funny". Basically, we could all be making observations and having worries that are moot. This post lies in the "what if this is it?..." category.



An early WOTLK raid recruitment call I heard in LFG included the words "retards need not apply" (their words, not mine). It was at this moment that I decided that raiding in wrath wouldn't be my place, if these things need be said, the dodging of noobs that prevalent. Sure enough, through the rise of gearscore and other such addons, that was the case. That sentiment (of "that much noob dodging being bad design, IMO") will make sense by the time I'm done this post.



In the BC phase of WoW (when I was vastly more casual than I am today), my crowning achievement was a regular mechanar run where I got the "BC dungeon set" protection paladin helm. I did a lap around my apartment in joy. It was a blue. In this run, we started off with a warlock who needed to be told what banish and enslave demon were, and pointed out that he had never grouped before, and the only social interaction he had had was with his demons. That was ok with us, because this was a regular dungeon, and that's the purpose they serve. Now, think about that a moment, and extend that to wrath heroics.



Levels 1-80, there is absolutely no need to talk to anyone to just get to the level cap. That's always been the case with the level cap in WoW, and likely always will and should be, or else WoW becomes Final Fantasy 11, where you (apparently) just *don't solo*. The level cap is the reasonable goal for everyone to attain, on their own, with a level of skill taught by playing the game alone. Incidentally, I fully support incoming reports that 80-85 are harder, but still inevitable



So you're level 80, now what?



If you're focusing on PVE, it's possible (one might even argue "likely") that your goal is raiding. That's the destination for the ultimate gear and the ultimate tests of skill, there's just one minor obstacle in the way, and that's a heroic emblem grind to get the gear to raid, and, well, that's just a matter of LOLAOEing for a week or so and then you're good to go!



Seeing the problem?



The "ultimate test of skill" has no ramp-up. You go from leveling, to LOLAOE, to imposing on 24 other people's one of potentially only 52 annual attempts at a challenging, co-ordination and skill intensive encounter. No wonder everyone wants to know if you're a "noob", or wants to know your gearscore, there's no other timely way to guage if you learned anything on the way to this point.



At this point I'd like you to go back and read the quote I opened this entry with, or at least bring it to the forefront of your mind again. This is where it becomes relevant.



The ideas expressed in the above quote are not new, I've seen countless incarnations of the same sentiments in many places I read, and the culture shock they all predict rely on the constant repetition of five words I've come to hear and hate in countless daily heroic runs.



"It's just a five man"



Oh really? Just a five man? Just a group undertaking with a daily (as opposed to weekly) lockout that involves personal awareness skills and class knowledge? Just a scaled down (in group size only) litmus test for how well you do in both the co-ordination and social aspects of MMO play? Just the most abundant form of group content in WoW? Just a five man?



I contend that heroic dungeons will take their rightful place as the missing "ramp up" point. I contend that being geared enough to actually raid may become its own badge of competence. This can all be done by Blizzard sticking to their guns on the difficulty of these heroics.



The most notable things (off the top of my head) that make raiding hard are:



1) Organization of the run itself, including healthy social cohesion of the group.

2) Co-ordination of the players

3) Execution of a complex encounter

4) Gear levels required

5) Personal skill levels required



In the WOTLK model, all five of those points are dumped into the player's lap at the raid level, not much earlier. In Cataclysm, should these heroics stay as is, 3,4 (a typical staple),and 5 get a head start in the player's personal programming for raid readiness. Heck, even point 1 is touched on, as someone can indeed go from level 1 to "raid ready" with little to no conversations longer than "gogogo" (*cringe*).



I contend that, as a "raid prep boot camp", heroics are more than justified to be as hard as raids. It's a daily lockout, you can run them randomly (because of said random lockout), there is a free and available access to them. They don't have to be easy, as a matter of fact, it is in the best interest of the game that they are NOT.



Which brings me to a common tangent touched in the above quote, and often in many such discussions. The WOTLK ideal of "It's just a 5-man, this is what I do when I'm bored, the guild's not active, and I want to run group content, it needs to be easy enough to do so." Actually, no, it doesn't. What that paraphrased quote describes is regular 5-man content. "Soloable group content" is fine and dandy, but there must, there MUST be a bridge to that 24 person imposition. There must be a built in and reliable "you're good enough" point, when you start involving that many people, and that point, I contend, is the heroic dungeon.



I am fully ready to accept the culture shock that, while I have 8/10 classes to 80 now, all decked out in "sleep-farmed" tier 9, I may get one or two characters to that point in cataclysm, with the others decked out to the extremity of regular 5-man content. I am ready for "5 man raids". I am ready to look in the mirror and say "I like my main enough to do heroics on him, but my *insert red headed stepchild class (for me it's rogue)*, they can stay in regulars, I don't like that class enough for heroics."



So, what about all these people that will, apparently, quit? That's a common sentiment.



Who are they really? What are they really complaining about? That they were challenged? That they were challenged in a 5-man? I think the latter is the big forthcoming culture shock. People like challenge, but they currently don't see the 5-man as the place for it. Blizzard appears to disagree. I tend to agree with Blizzard's disagreement. So who's going to leave over this? Team gogogogo? I'm afraid it's not in Blizzard's or the game's best interest to cater to them. People that don't feel they shouldn't need a guild/social circle to do 5-man content? This is an MMO. Meet people, make friends, then meet more, and make more friends. Blizz can't back down on that, or else team gogogogo gets more members, and make no mistake, team gogogogo are "the opposing team" to an MMO's sense of community. There is a fine line between incentivizing community, and enforcing an unhealthy level of co-dependancy. I believe Blizzard have almost nailed it, if not completely so. You can see almost every boss, and almost every room in every 5-man on regular mode, why does heroic mode have to be guaranteed loot? It doesn't.



I am all about inclusion. I am not a "leet poopsocking raider" telling you that my epics need to be rare and hard-fought so that I mean more than you. I am all about everyone getting what they want out of their leisure time, but I respect and see the logic behind Blizzard's apparent stance on making heroic mode be HEROIC mode, even at the 5-man level. By the time you are on 9/24 other people's time, you should know what you are doing. This heroic model addresses that, and I support it. Having the game gear AND prepare you for raid content will make it vastly easier for raid leaders to eyeball if someone is on par with the raid they are forming.



I know what you might be thinking:



"What are you trying to tell me, that I can dodge noobs?"



No, Neo. I'm trying to tell you that when Blizzard is ready, you won't have to.





Thank you for reading.