This is a hot topic that comes up over and over again as time goes by. There are players that feel World of Warcraft is way too easy and those that think it is way too hard. There are those that pine for the days of old in vanilla WoW when raids where huge 40 player, multi-day epic wipe-fest events. A time when, if you missed one thing, the raid died. There are those that also yearn for the WotLK days when you could grab any 10 fresh level 80s and defeat the Lich King easily. So has World of Warcraft gotten too easy over the years?

This topic was brought up on the official forums recently and respond to by Blizzard with this comment:

Bashiok Old Wow

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I understand and respect gaming masochism. But, I think that changing mechanics to be more reasonable and less punishing is an improvement, not a detriment, to games in general. Many of us Original Gamers pine for the days of D&D-based yore when games were seemingly intended to break us down into sobbing masses created by an uncaring necromancer of pain and suffering, or at least didn't try to avoid it. Overcoming all of the obstacles (I CHOOSE NOT TO SHOOT HER WITH THE SILVER ARROW... NOOOOO) was a big part of what gaming (I HAVE 1 LIFE!?), and especially PC gaming (HOW DO I LOAD MOUSE DRIVERS?), were about. But, I feel we're lucky to now be in an age where those ideals (intended or not) are giving way to actual fun, actual challenge, and not fabricating it through high-reach requirements (I NEED A FAIRY MONK WITH A MAGIC LOCKPICK?).

What we've always been trying to do, what WoW has always been about (and to which much of its success is due) is to make an accessible MMO. Anyone that looks back at the game at launch and wishes it was as challenging now as it was then is not aware of the painstaking effort put into making this game accessible as compared to its predecessors. Since release we've refined that intent, eventually evolving the very few masochistic designs WoW actually ever started with, but ideally still offering those same prestige goals that give that feeling of achieving something great if you're able to pull it off. We've made a lot of progress toward striking that balance and continuing to evolve the game, but it's not something we're ever likely to perfect, and we'll be constantly working to hit that elusive goal. Hopefully it's to the benefit of everyone playing and enjoying the game, and they'll continue to enjoy the journey that a living, breathing, persistent universe will take us on.

A Little Warcraft History

You know this couldn't sneak by the Messiah, right? This is a topic I just have to discuss and comment on.

Let’s start with a look back at World of Warcraft and what I have seen and heard as time has gone by. Sure, this is probably clouded by personal judgement and bias, but hey, this is an editorial.

Original WoW

The game was great and while not a huge step forward from previous MMO’s in terms of gameplay, it did take all the best features from every previous MMO and roll them up into one simplified, polished package of near perfection. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t really perfect, but compared to everything out at the time, it blew them away. Sure there were issues, such as being a little too restrictive on some things like race specific class spells like fear ward for only Dwarf Priest. There was also the limit to 40 player only raids. However, it was bang on for difficulty and grinds, and set a good balance. The average player could get through the game, and the average raider struggled for a long time on raids.

The Burning Crusade

The first expansion was much the same balance wise as original WoW with some shift to a little more freedom for players to play what they liked; not much but a little. Smaller group content also started to appear. This introduces some of the best raids and mechanics as viewed by many players.

Wrath of the Lich King

This expansion brought some great changes character wise allowing many different classes to fulfill many different roles. Better yet the quests and solo content where great, however, it became a face roll to win loot. Combat and raids and even grinds became so simple that everyone could get and do everything way too easily. There was no challenge to anything, and while some of the casual players loved it, many hardcore players got frustrated and took extended leaves from the game in-between patches.

Cataclysm

The newest expansion seems a bit too easy for class choices as almost everyone can do everything. Warriors, for instance, seem to be able to fully heal at will, huh, you’re a warrior? Instances and raids seemed more difficult at first and struck a good balance initially, but over time they have become too simple as gear has been earned by players. However, casual players still find the instance, heroic, and raid barrier too steep.

Current State of the Game – Polarized Views

Currently in the game, it seems everyone is polarized. There doesn't seem to be any middle ground. Half the players find things way too hard, the other half finds things way too easy.

From the casual players' perspective they find heroics and raids way too difficult. They also complain that getting gear is too hard even from rep grinds. For instances and raids though they are in fact fairly difficult if you are just running into something with a PUG.

This is an issue for casual players as they are not on enough to form big in game social groups to look to for assistance. This means that they are in fact forced to PUG instances and then suffer because of lack of communication or knowledge of the instance.

Harder-core players or even casual players that run with a known group to do 5 players or even raids seem to find almost all of the content simple or even trivial. Proof of this can be found by the many players that earned the heroic achievements within the first few weeks that Cataclysm was out. It can also be seen by all the small non-hardcore guilds that have all of the raid content defeated. These are players that do not play all the time, yet still manage to play through the content through cooperation and teamwork. These players - whether hard core or just players with regular groups - are the ones that complain the game is too simple.

The Messiah’s Take on the Game

There are a few points to clear up first. For the players that complain about things like rep grinds being too hard, I think they need to get realistic. I personally don't see the rep grinds being an issue as most can be completed in a few days and if they were any faster or easier Blizzard would just have to hand you the gear for free.

Also for players that complain that PUGing an instance is too hard, I think they are missing the point. To me that difficulty should be a given as anything that requires multiple players requires some coordination. Players should expect this, yet for some reason don't. If you find a heroic or raid hard with random players because no one talks or explains fights, or because you never bothered to research the raid for yourself, might that be your fault and not the game's?

Now onto the actual difficulty of the game. I can see both sides of the argument here, I really can, even though I don’t agree with both. Because of this I think that what is actually the problem is that the game is in fact no longer hard enough for the more serious gamer and also not easy enough to satisfy the casual player. This makes it fall right smack dab in the middle, satisfying no one.

The hardcore players are rightfully pissed that there is nothing all that challenging for them to do in the game. The casual players are pissed that a lot of the content is too difficult to solo play. While I can understand the solo players frustrations, I can't truly sympathize with them as this is an MMO which means they really should find some friends and play it as a multiplayer game and not solo based, but that's a whole other issue.

So to comment back at Blizzard, I get the point that you want to make the game more accessible to players. I even think you have made the game much better because of that drive to make it accessible, however, in making it more accessible you have also succeeded in dividing the community.

I believe an MMO survives and thrives because of its community. That community is largely driven by large raiding guilds, large social guilds, and serious players that care about the game. The largest guilds - even those that start purely socially - tend to migrate to becoming raiding guilds, even if it is a small portion of that guild raiding. This is as it has been in almost all MMOs that have come before.

This leads to a situation that we have now, where the end game and raid scene are not proving difficult enough to keep the raid community entertained and happy, and that makes them move on to other games. The reverse also applies, by not making the full game easy enough for casuals, when they hit the end game and can not fully access all the content that makes them frustrated and they leave.

I think a choice needs to be made at some point. The few choices that I see are flat out tell the casuals that the game is really 2 games, one game to level cap for them, and at level cap a different game for raiders. Another option is to tell raiders that the game is going to be simplified to the point that anyone can get any gear they want without challenge and if they want it harder move on to another game. Or the game could be made to provide a serious challenge at all stages, but realize that probably 80% of the player base would disappear.

Then again, maybe Blizzard is on to something...

They are walking a middle road, upsetting everyone, making no one truly happy, yet giving us all enough to keep us interacting with and playing the game. Hmm, maybe Blizzard should be in politics, because they would probably do pretty well!

I for one really long for a harder, more masochistic game, with difficulty, death penalties, and a requirement that players actually have to think about what they are doing. I realize that I am in the minority though, and will give in and play the best thing out there at the time. Which, despite it’s foibles, still is World of Warcraft.

The Messiah has had his say on the matter, what’s yours? Make sure you make use of the comment feature below and let us all know your take on the difficulty of WoW.

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