Player's Perspective Gaming

Its all really the same. All bosses before Ulduar were "hard" at some point. Sure, people just went in and cleared the content, cause we had a preemptive strategy to work off of. All of the kind hearted players who ran the Naxxramas content in the “Vanilla Wow”, and even the lucky few who ran through during The Burning Crusade, all knew what they were up against, and all had an idea of what was going to happen in there. So, when the time came in Wrath of the Lich King, people knew exactly what to do in these fights and situations, which were toned down slightly and revamped for 10 and 25 players, rather than the classic 40.

Ulduar, The new raid dungeon introduced in patch 3.1, is only hard for some, due to its “newness”. As a collective, the players who were experiencing the endgame content in the initial installment of wrath, were asking and craving a challenge that would take them time to complete. Their answer, was Ulduar. With its release, people were rushing to the area to view the new dungeon, and Northrend and servers were crashing left and right. While some were able to clear and have content down the launch night, the world first Yogg-Saron kill, came to Ensida, only 2 days after the patch was released. People have questioned whether or not the guild had pushed themselves too far and too hard, or if they were coordinated and geared enough to do it without much error. Others, complained that the content was far too hard to be completed even by classic “hardcore” raider's standards.

Now in the recent patch of 3.1.1, there has been some noted changes about the fight, making it so that some mobs and add's that appear during a few of the boss fights, can be snared and controllable, making it easier for some of the people to progress into. Also, but this falls under the list of bugs that are more and more less apparent, but they have fixed the issue with pets and minions not being able to attack Kologarm. These, along with they hot fixed an issue with being able to sneak past some mobs leading up to the Mimiron fight, some argue that they are making some of the fights easier.

While the instance has been difficult for some players who can't PUG the raid, and some guilds have even disbanded over the difficulty and drama that results from the instance, some people are regretting that this instance may be “too hard” raid that was given by Blizzard. Comparing to the situations involved in the past, this raid could be similar to the installment of The Black Temple or Sunwell Plateau raids, that were released sometime ago during the end of The Burning Crusade, and that most guilds were not prepared (no pun intended) for the Ulduar experience that was intended. Though, the initial intent by Blizzard, was to bring in a raid that will simply “Amaze and blow people away” with its gear, graphics, design and challenges. This goal has been met.

Many guilds and their management, are now gearing up, recruiting and retracing their steps through the old instances, collecting any missing gear, glyphs, and rethinking their actions and rotations with the new changes to many of the classes and abilities that Patch 3.1 has brought among us, and some who had relied heavily on the abilities and moves that they have grown to be used to over the past near 5 month ago release of patch 3.0, have dubbed this patch as the “Worst patch ever” and a ruiner of the World of Warcraft. While some have either left the game or are taking a break, their voices can still be heard on the official community forums, located on the World of Warcraft website.

So, a new question has risen with this insertion of “Hard” endgame content. Will this be the first and only time that blizzard listens to the player base and inserts what is asked for, a “hard raid” that requires planning, training and strategies? Or will this be a harbinger to what is come ahead in later patches. We still have yet to go fully into the area of Icecrown, though with the introduction of the Argent Tournament, you are placed in direct vicinity of the Icecrown Citadel in their later quests. I could not wait longer, and went around to ask some players what they thought of the new instance. The initial thought was that many players I spoke with are wondering “If ulduar is this hard, what will the Citadel be like?” and “Will Blizzard make Arthas as bad, mean and tough as the lore and story makes him out to be?” Over time, we will tell.

So now, I open it up to you. What do you, the readers, think will happen? How are you favoring with Ulduar and the “Hard Mode” content that is a savior to the bored, hardcore raider? Is this a new chance for you to come back into the game with a challenge at hand, or is this a reason to quit all together because the content is simply too tough for the casual or mid-level raider? I myself have not been able to make it into Uldaur, and have not witnessed the Flame Leviathan fight that many players are all talking about. But I do believe the talk that has been going around many of the servers, and that is Ulduar, is no cake walk compared to Naxxramas, Obsidian Sanctum and The Eye of Eternity, and to progress into this new dungeon, your going to need a lot more than your Flasks, Feasts, and Bandages to make it out alive.

When the moonkin was first introduced, people thought nothing of it other than a big iron bird, that shot magical beams of light out of the sky, pummeling its victims into oblivion, and effectively logging their enemies out of the game, banning their accounts with all the moonkin's might. Do you remember that? Of course not, cause it never happened. The Moonkin's were a simple feathery bird, nicknamed the OOMkin, that threw out a few attacks, than ran around the area, /danced and watched as it became overly useless around its friends due to its lack of mana and ability to continue attacks.

Although, at endgame in vanilla WoW, it was a formidable opponent, yet still downsized. When The Burning Crusade hit, the class was looked over, tuned up, and changed around. Many people loved the changes, and as a whole, the class took a hit. Its raid effectiveness was damaged to some and buffed for others. The fact that people could use most of the main abilities that were needed in raids, like Abolish Poison, was a slight hindrance in some situations, but not too much to complain severely about. The plus crit and damage that is applied to most of the raid that was introduced in the 2.4 Fury of the Sunwell patch, was a huge help for those who wanted to raid and be useful as well. But, some people were not happy with some of those changes. They still complained about not being completely useful in most situations of PvE and nearly useless in PvP. What this melted down to is not enough sustained DPS in raids, and not enough burst or max damage in PvP, unless you were feral.

So, in light of the occasion, most druids decided to make the switch to feral or restoration. While in feral spec, they were able to farm, pick dps spots in random 5 man groups or daily heroics, do some pretty good pvp, and when the time came, they could dps in the raid that they wanted to go into, if allowed by the leader. As restoration, they could go into pvp, whether it be arenas or battlegrounds and heal many, they could heal some questing friends or guildies, heal their 5 man groups or daily heroics, and most of the time, they would be a shoe in for their scheduled raids, as many have come to realize, a druid healer, is one of the best around. But, when they switched to that “Spec of Taboo”, that arcane / nature combo, it quickly became Nuke or Nothing. If things were not destroyed in the time it got to the Moonkin, it was almost doomed without the proper gear. But with it...it was glorified.

So thus, the Boomkin was born. With the major changes to the class in patch 2.4, it brought many different changes, including the epic flight form changes and many revisions to the balance tree, bringing the Moonkin to dangerous threat levels all across the boards. They could now cast a number of spells at level 70 with the proper gear which made them a force to be reckoned with in the arena's, battlegrounds and in raids. They were great with crowd control, great with burst damage and great with sustained DPS, and were awesome with their “ganking” power. For awhile, with their constant cyclone with no diminishing effects, and the ability to put other druids into quiet mode with hibernation, made them tough to beat in pvp, and mostly in the arena. But still, the nerf came when Wrath of the Lich King was released.

With the slower cast times, improved levels of spells, and limited range on spells, it makes some casting druids completely respec back into feral, simply for leveling up to 80. Or, if the druid was audacious enough, they would stay as restoration and either solo mobs and just heal through damage as their dots ticked away, or heal through instances after instance which could become quite tedious fast. As a collective community, there is a huge outcry that the druid class is horribly underpowered as a whole, and that some serious buffing is needed. I, for one, do not play a druid, so I cannot attest to these claims but from what I have seen, a druid, with a light off-healer, is a near unstoppable opponent in pvp. I have fallen victim to a druid many times on my mage and on a rogue, they simply apply barkskin and laugh as I try to break through their defenses while their teammates stop me in my tracks.

Though within a Naxxramas raid, things can be hectic for all casters, especially during the Heigan fight, but for druids, whose main burst of damage rely on their procs, it can be especially difficult. See, the new eclipse buff they have been given, allows for a buff towards their damage, but allows you a limit of almost one attack given you are under the casting debuff, and with another 11 seconds of Eclipse left, well, its times to dance. After the dance, you must apply another wrath of moonfire, and hope for another Eclipse proc that you can make use of before its dancing time again. While some say that it is uncalled for, to have casters, even while under a full effect of Nature's Grace, a talent which gives spells a 100% chance to apply a 0.5 reduction in cast time, is still out spectrum as spells simply take too long a time to cast.



Most druids I have talked to during the PTR have something to complain about there also. They noticed that they no longer have as much armor in their “Tanking” forms, and some less damage mitigation. Some say that this patch, 3.1, with the release of Ulduar, is a patch for Death Knights to rejoice about, while other classes look on with envy. Could this patch, with no real improvements for druid tanks or moonkin's have anything to offer for the rest of us? Or is it a simple misunderstanding and people are just jumping to conclusions? I for one, hope that when my druid reaches 80, I will have as much as I have seen people have in the past.

What do you think? Reply in a comment or drop me an email at my registered email in my profile with the subject “Questions & Comments”, and ill be sure to answer your questions in my next article. Until then, Enjoy your stay in the World of Warcraft.