Ghostcrawler explains why Heroic dungeons are hard (or appear to be)
There’s a big debate right now in World of Warcraft: Are Cataclysm heroic dungeons too hard or just right.
The two camps are at each other’s throats, with supporters of the harder content welcoming the return of crowd control, marking and other “lost skills” with the AOE-fest that was the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. Meanwhile, critics are pointing out the flaws of most encounters that require pitch-perfect timing, so that one mistake can lead to a wipe.
Throughout the debate, Blizzard kept mostly quiet as it gathered more feedback in-game and in the forums. Lead systems designer Greg “Ghostcrawler” Street has just broken the silence with a pretty in-depth discussion not only on the intent behind harder Heroics, but also on why groups might be failing.
Ghostcrawler pointed out the basic responsibilities for each of three roles. Tanks should make it easier for the group to burn down mobs with the help of marking, DPS should use their skills wisely especially crowd control abilities, while Healers should engrave the motto of triage above their monitor screens.
But for those who still clamor for less wipes while earning their loot and Tier gear points, Ghostcrawler suggested that a few tweaks will be made but not on content per se, but on how the dungeons decide whether a player is fit enough to handle the Heroics. For him, there could be better ways to screen players so they experience the normal version of version of dungeons first, which helps a lot in teaching the tricky fight mechanics.