WoW boss says: The mythical race was unhealthy, raids are getting easier

Raids in Dragonflight are getting easier – at least for the mythical raiders in World of Warcraft. They should be done with the raid in a few days.

It was a grueling race for the “World First Kill” from the Jailer in World of Warcraft. The best guilds in the world tried to defeat Zovaal first, spending millions of gold to secure every little advantage. But in the end, some ran out of breath. The raid was long, the race tiring and some pro teams even gave up.

With the next expansion Dragonflight, the races should be a little shorter.

What is the problem? Raid boss balancing is a fairly complex affair, especially in the mythic realm. Differences of just a few percent can turn a “pretty difficult boss” into an “invincible” or “way too easy.” Especially since the professional guilds often come up with special strategies or class combinations that simply cannot all be tested in advance.

As a result, progress in the mythical “World First Race” is not always as Blizzard imagined. Some bosses live far too short, others turn out to be insurmountable blockades.

In order for the event to remain exciting for both the raiders and the spectators, Blizzard has to hit the right spot.

Now what was said? in one Interview with PCGamesN WoW Game Director Ion Hazzikostas spoke about exactly this problem. He said:

[Das Rennen im Mausoleum] took a little longer than we would have liked. The ideal length is anywhere between 10 and 11 days. […] Getting that point right, from a boss tuning perspective, is tricky. Creating fights that are difficult enough to challenge the best guilds while not falling over too quickly and not being too tough is more of an art than a science in many ways.

Regarding Dragonflight, the plan is to make sure the raids are “not in one area [der Länge] that is unhealthy, frustrating or spoils the fun of participants and spectators.”

Why was the mausoleum so hard? The special feature of the Mausoleum of the First, however, was that the raid with 11 bosses was not only quite extensive, but also had 2 “final bosses”. Anduin Wrynn (Boss 8) was loaded with as many mechanics as if he were a real final boss. The fight against him turned out to be correspondingly tough, which prompted Blizzard to make numerous nerfs within a few days.

Added to this was the fact that some features, such as “Double Legendaries” were only unlocked during the course of the race, which meant a lot of growth in character power. Factors that contributed to the fact that the fights only became significantly more pleasant for the pros after almost 2 weeks.

After all: With Dragonflight, the raids should probably be a little easier to manage in order to give the Mythic raiders a somewhat more pleasant event. Nobody should expect that the raids are really “easy”.

Do you like that Blizzard is keeping an eye on the World First race? Or should they make it an official event straight away?