So Blizzard has dropped a bombshell: Zul’Gurub and Zul’Aman are returning to World of Warcraft as the newest five-man heroics. Who saw that coming? No one? I’m not surprised, to be honest. Until I saw the official English language post, I was convinced April Fool’s Day had come a month early.

How the hell did Taiwan get to know about this before the EU/US anyway?

A massive song and dance was made when Blizzard announced that Zul’Gurub was
being transformed into a group dungeon rather than remaining a raid. Bye-bye mounts and pets and, of course, Hakkar.

I’ve got a confession to make: I’m convinced Hakkar the Soulflayer (and his entourage) could well retake his title as hardest boss in the game come 4.1. Just before
the launch of Cataclysm, three friends and I went in (all in T10 gear) and we only just defeated him without dying. He was that tough and I confess, I cheered a little when I heard about the change. But after wandering around the desolate subzone, I admit to suddenly finding the place so very lonely.

Now, less than three months later, Blizzard has done a u-turn and decided Shadowfang Keep and Deadmines aren’t going to be the only classic dungeons getting a turbo-boost. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for retooling content to be fun for folks who are at the endgame but on the other hand, it feels almost… lazy.
This said even though, like Shadowfang Keep and Deadmines, the storyline has
been redone and the lore moved a few frames forward, so in a way neither are the same dungeons we were introduced
to back in vanilla WoW.

The problem is that both instances are so-called ‘recycled content’, eg
rather than creating a new dungeon, Blizzard is just recycling an old one with some new features and better loot. In effect, they’re cutting corners by using stuff they’d already done and - judging by the many, many locked threads on the
official forums - a lot of people are pretty cheesed off.

This is just the latest announcement which makes me wonder where WoW is going. I still maintain what I said in my earlier editorial about WoW now being more about profit instead of the game, that corners will be cut to make sure the expansions are released on their pre-determined release date instead of when they are Done™.

The thing is, I would rather they just left Zul’Aman (an instance I’ve never finished) as it is, ditto Zul’Gurub. Hakkar, for example, needs to be run late at night with pizza/high quality milk chocolate/chinese food and alcohol, Skype/Vent and some good friends, it’s the only way the instance is bearable and fun. The new heroics, they’re going to be hard and definitely not fun. I’m no longer a hard core raider and enjoy soloing stuff or just doing easier instances for fun with a bunch of mates.

I admit I don’t like change, in fact I hate it. It freaks me out but this… this is different, this is just Blizzard being lazy - and Blizzard. I wonder how long it’ll be now until we see a retooled Magisters’ Terrace or Sunwell Plateau. When will Dire Maul become a level 85 heroic? What about Zul’Farrak? In five years time, will we be seeing a remake Stonecore or Grim Batol?
Will the next expansion just be a retooled Burning Crusade with a few extra
zones tacked on to count as engame content?

I don’t like where this is going, safe to say though Classic WoW is officially dead. I just can’t shake the feeling Blizzard is trying to bury it’s greatest success and all the reasons which made the original game so beloved, in favour of its latest expansion.
And based on public reaction to last week's announcement thus far, I'm farily
certain I'm not alone.

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